Floating Memories:Brighton Swimming Club

Archives/memories 1860–2013

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Floating Memories focuses on archiving over 150 years of the sporting and sea bathing heritage of the Brighton Swimming Club. In summer 2011, work began to create an accessible archive that delves into a fascinating and extensive heritage of swimming in Brighton using archives that date back to 1860.

Documented and conserved

Artefacts now properly documented and conserved, include reels of unique 16mm film footage from the 1940s, letterpress posters, scrapbooks, gala programmes, badges, competition adverts, letters, photographs and newspaper cuttings. The legacy of this project is an archive at the East Sussex Record Office, an online archive, a film archive at Screen Archive South East, and a permanent exhibition at the Brighton Fishing Museum.

Collaboration between volunteers and professionals

The Club’s archives have been at the heart of this project and with hundreds of items available there have been extensive opportunities for volunteers to participate in heritage learning. Work throughout the duration of the project has included research, training, oral history, exhibitions and events. It has involved over 40 volunteers, 65 students, and a range of professionals from the arts and heritage sector and beyond.

Would you like to find out more?

If you want to find out more about this project you can visit the website www.floatingmemories.co.uk, which makes the heritage of swimming and sea bathing in Brighton available for everyone to discover and enjoy. The catalogue can be viewed here and the oral history recordings can be listened to here.

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