Connect Connects Project

Following a number of successful projects, the Group were in discussion with a number of people who mentioned that there was very little information regarding the role the textile industry played in the lives of people living in Preston, in particular the minority ethnic communities.

With this idea, the Group were successful in gaining funding to look at researching the stories about the textile industry and the people who worked in them.

The project aims and objectives:

The project had the following aim;

"To examine how the textile industry affected the lives of the people of Preston, in particular the minority ethnic communities".

The objectives were;

1. To conduct 100 interviews
2. To organise focus groups
3. To undertake in-depth interviews
4. To present the findings via the website, booklet and DVD.

What We Did

Weavers at a Mill (1953, Courtesy of Ron Freeth, Countryside Books)

The Group identified a number of local people in the community through various marketing and word of mouth techniques (INFORM) and organised meetings with them to discuss the project (CONSULT). These individuals were then trained to become community researchers and then carried out interviews through the use of questionnaires (INVOLVE).

The community researchers were then involved in the planning of focus groups (COLLABORATE) and subsequently facilitated the focus groups amongst the participants (EMPOWER).

Following the completion of the project, the community researchers were given the skills and knowledge to be able to carry out a similar project on their own or collectively without any support from the Group (INDEPENDENCE).