The PCC of St Edmundʼs Church Chingford are looking for an Oral Historian with project management and curation experience to deliver a local history resource, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. At the end of the project, we want to deliver at least five curated boxes telling stories of St Edmundʼs and South Chingford. To complement these, we want to develop a minimum of one, reusable, hour-long workshop for an adult audience for visiting groups. We also want to develop resources for childrenʼs groups, youth groups, and schools. An early years specialist who is part of the St Edmundʼs PCC will be able to support children’s resources.
The role-holder will need to work closely with local historians, local historical societies and museums, the wider community of South Chingford, skilled volunteers at St Edmundʼs, the Vicar, and interested partner organisations. Partner organisations include Age UK, Chase Lane Primary School, Salisbury Manor Primary School, the South Chingford Community Library, Royal British Legion Chingford Branch, and community groups who use our church halls. We hope that through the project the local community will have the opportunity to develop skills in interviewing, interpretation and analysis.
We already hold significant records and notes following interviews conducted to chart the history of St Edmundʼs up until the 1970s. This project will add to that work, through a series of Oral History interviews adding to our understanding of the people that make up our parish. You will then work with those interviews and our collection of artefacts, photos, and documents to deliver the story boxes.
The project will include:
– Working with volunteers and local historians to understand the knowledge already held within St Edmundʼs, offering training for those involved in interviewing.
– Identify, arrange and conduct oral history interviews exploring the history of St Edmundʼs and South Chingford. Interviews should focus on filling gaps in current knowledge.
– Transcribe (or arrange transcription), analyse, and interpret interviews with the aim of delivering story-boxes
– Curate a resource including at least five stories of St Edmundʼs and South Chingford using interviews conducted as well as existing collection of St Edmundʼs. At least some parts of the resource should be translated into common local languages.
– Contribute to delivery of a celebration and launch event.
The successful candidate will:
– Have proven expertise as an Oral Historian. We expect this to include a relevant post-graduate degree, membership of relevant professional networks (e.g. Oral History Society), and examples of completed projects. Please tell us about any additional qualifications or accreditations you hold with regard to training others, curation, methodology and other related fields.
– Have experience working with community groups or churches, engaging with local people and partners, and honouring local historians.
– Have project management experience and proven ability to manage volunteers, transcription process, curation, and delivery. St Edmundʼs can offer:
– Strong links with local community organisations: we already have participants in mind and will make introductions.
– Interested and engaged volunteers
– Space to work within St Edmundʼs Church and St Edmundʼs Centre Please submit a brief CV highlighting your most relevant recent experience along with a covering letter to include a breakdown of how you propose to complete the project including allocation and time and budget. Please indicate an estimate of how many interviews you would be able to conduct alone and how many with volunteer involvement.
We intend that the project will begin by October 2026 and it must be completed by the end of February 2027. The maximum budget including transcription and delivery of a celebration event is £18,500 incl VAT. This is the full budget inclusive of all costs e.g. equipment, software, and anything else needed.
CV and covering letter should be sent by e-mail to [email protected], F.A.O. Revd Ruth Holmes (Vicar) and Andrew Setchfield (Churchwarden).
Post location: Chingford & Remote
Post Duration: 5 months
Post Commencement Date: 2026/10/01 or ASAP
Application Closing Date: 2026/09/30
