From St Mellitus to the Last Post

Thanks to a grant from The National Archives, from May to June 2024 the ERO partnered with Deaf artist Damien Robinson to hold a series of workshops exploring the history of the D/deaf community in Southend-on-Sea.

We had previously worked with Damien on a project about a deaf man in Essex and his life in the late nineteenth century. Through that project, we saw D/deaf history being told only from hearing perspectives. 

We wanted to work with the Southend and south Essex Deaf community to find out more about their history, to learn about it now and record it for the future.

We began the workshops by looking at material already preserved in archives, like newspapers, the census, and the records of organisations like RAD and the Essex Deaf Council.

Using that material as a starting point, we then mapped out spaces that had been important to the Deaf community over the past hundred years, discussed material brought along by participants, and filmed short interviews in British Sign Language to record people's memories. These are now archived in the Essex Sound and Video Archive at the ERO.

Thank you to all our participants for their time and generosity, to our interpreters, and to the team at the Forum in Southend for giving us a tour and hosting the workshops. 

Southend's Deaf history zine

Take a look at our digital zine telling the story of Southend's Deaf history, from 1900 to the present day. 

The zine is in English and BSL and features archive images as well as the memories of participants. It works best on a laptop or tablet. 

If you have any feedback, get in touch!