In the 75th anniversary year of both the NHS and the arrival in the UK of the ship HMT Empire Windrush, Untold Stories celebrates these parallel anniversaries through two interwoven project strands.
From January to May 2023, Manchester Metropolitan University poet Dr Kim Moore was Writer-in-Residence at Trafford General Hospital, the first NHS hospital to be opened, supporting staff to tell the story of their working lives within the NHS and produce their own creative writing. From January to June 2023, Manchester UNESCO City of Literature Community Champion Jackie Bailey, with award winning writers plus a musician, collaborated with members of Manchester African Caribbean communities who have worked in, or whose families have worked within the NHS to tell their NHS stories.
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This website, designed by Cyril Lyons, features stories and creative writing from participants in the Untold Stories project, illustrations by six students from Manchester Met’s BA Illustration with Animation and MA Animation in response to this writing, portraits of participants by photographer Chris Saunders, and film made by filmmaker Ricardo Vilela. Visitors are invited to visit the accompanying exhibition at Manchester Poetry Library, curated by students from Manchester Met’s MA Contemporary Curating: Birce Cennetoglu, Lillie Tew-Weaver and Rowan Bell.
A full evaluation report for the Untold Stories project is available here.
A one-page executive summary of the report is available here.