Cite this as: Bray, J. and Payne-Lunn, S. 2026 Worcester Life Stories, Internet Archaeology 73. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.73.8
Worcester Life Stories was launched in 2020 as a collaboration between Worcester City Council's Historic Environment Record (HER) and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care Trust, funded by the National Lottery and Historic England. It grew from a desire to connect the HER's vast collection of 20th-century photographs with the audiences to whom they were most relevant, and with recognition from the Trust's Older Adult Mental Health Service of the power of reminiscence and Life Story work to improve health and wellbeing. This core partnership was forged to enable co-creation of two online platforms widening access to the collection and supporting local people, carers and professionals to engage with Life Story work as a therapeutic and communicative tool. From the outset, the University of Worcester's Association for Dementia Studies were engaged as partners, supporting the research, evaluation and impact. This article provides an overview of some of the key activities of Worcester Life Stories, the interaction between heritage and health approaches, and the evaluation of the two web platforms 'Know Your Place Worcester' (KYPW) and ‘Life Stories Herefordshire and Worcestershire' (LSHW), developed as part of the project.
Corresponding author: Jennifer Bray
[email protected]
University of Worcester 
Sheena Payne-Lunn
[email protected]
Worcester City Council
Figure 1: The two web platforms Know Your Place Worcester and Life Stories Herefordshire and Worcestershire © Worcester City Council, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care Trust and Verse One
Figure 2: Volunteers at the Tudor House Museum working on the photographic content in October 2020 © Worcester City Council
Figure 3: A visualisation of how the project was to be delivered © Worcester City Council/ Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care Trust
Figure 4: Share Your Stories - one of several inter-generational workshops, based in sheltered housing schemes in Worcester © Worcester City Council
Figure 5: Access to heritage information - local school children learning to use Know Your Place © Worcester City Council
Figure 6: The unveiling of a new memorial and information on the bombing of the MECO factory, Worcester in 1940. Irene Allen shared her eyewitness account with the Worcester Life Stories project and unveiled the memorial to those who lost their lives © Worcester City Council
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