This oral history collection comprises 140 interviews with residents of the Coalville and Whitwick area of Leicestershire. Interviewees recall memories and events going back as far as the turn of the 20th Century and mostly related to the local area. There are also accounts of Cornwall and India.
There is considerable material on the experiences of childhood, including school, games, the domestic environment and childhood work between 1900 and the 1940s from the point of view of a child. Life experiences of young and older adults are also well recorded in this collection. Work is prominent, particularly the mining industry, a major employer in the area. Other occupations which feature significantly include quarrying, brick-making, farming, factory work and domestic service. Professions are also represented, for example the work of a female general practitioner in Coalville. Many interviewees recall leisure and entertainment, such as the local Wakes and the cinema in Coalville. Local aristocracy, families, shopkeepers and trades people are described and events surrounding them recalled, providing a backdrop to the more personal memories of Coalville, Bardon, Whitwick and Copt Oak. Major local events, such as the Zeppelin raid on Loughborough in 1916 and the extreme cold conditions experienced in the same year, also feature in this collection.