Kendal Oral History Group.

The Kendal Oral History Group in Cumbria was formed in 1987 to record the life stories of local people who have spent all, or a significant part, of their lives in Kendal and the surrounding area. Their recollections are helping to create a collective history and picture of life which complements the official records of the time.

It is only within recent years that the historical importance of oral or spoken history has been realised. The intention of the Kendal Oral History Group is to compile a picture of earlier times through the memories of some of our older residents, all of whom have memories which may be of great historical interest. Such recollections may be about work or play, good times or bad times, friends and acquaintances and will probably not be written down or known to anyone else.

The Kendal Oral History Group is made up of a small group of volunteers who undertake the recordings, transcriptions and other activities. Currently the archive contains almost 450 recordings with people born between the 1880s and 1980s.

Kendal Local Studies Library, Cumbria,  holds a set of Kendal Oral History Group materials. The Index and the summary sheets of each interview are on open access and are available to anyone who wishes to use them. Full transcripts of interviews can be made available via a member of the library staff.

Recordings of the interviews can be heard by prior arrangement.

Copyright of all interviews rests with Kendal Oral History Group, Kendal, Cumbria

Any request for a copy of pages from a transcript/ transcripts should be made using the copyright declaration form giving details of intended use KOHG Copyright declaration

Further information on the Kendal Oral History Group materials and how to use them is available on the Archive webpage.

Our most recent Get Together was held in April 2023 and was attended by c.30 respondents and their guests.  Following light refreshments  there was a  presentation on K Shoes using materials from the archive. In addition there was an excellent display of extracts and photographs on K Shoes put together by Jonathan Humble and Sharron Highley of Kendal Local Studies Library.

The photographs of the Get Together on this page were taken  by Peter Holme

Privacy Notice

Kendal Oral History Group is committed to preserving the privacy of those people we interview or have interviewed in the past. Personal details of all interviewees are deposited with Cumbria Archive Service and will remain closed for at least 80 years after the date of interview.

We use the names of people we have interviewed but only when they have specifically given permission for us to do this. We never pass on personal or contact details to a third party.

We do not keep information on those people visiting our website.