A stroll down memory lane is literally taking place at St Bathans on Saturday and the public is invited to join in.
St Bathans Community Board chairwoman Trisha Batkin said about 10 former residents, now in their 80s and 90s, would return for the day to share their memories of their time in the town.
Members of the Central Oral history project (COHP) would be on hand to interview the former residents and record their memories, Mrs Batkin said.
COHP manager Carolyn Squires said the group had about 30 volunteers trained in interviewing, recording and cataloguing oral histories.
Oral histories were conversational and led by the person being interviewed, Mrs Squires said.
‘‘Using their own words you can hear the expression in their words. You hear the emotion, the meaning and values that people have around events in more depth.’’
Mrs Batkin said the former residents would be divided into groups and topics including school days, musterers’ tales, characters they remembered and gravedigging stories would be discussed.
It was hoped they would also be able to drive slowly through the town and anyone interested would be able to listen to the history of St Bathans and the place of various properties in that history as they passed by.
Former residents would include those who had been musterers, those who lived on stations in the area including Lauder, Hawkdun and Two Mile, a granddaughter of the original Vulcan hotel owners and a rabbit board worker.
St Bathans post office and gold office will be open on Saturday and Sunday with a pop-up shop with donated vintage and classic clothing and shoes for sale.
The money raised would go towards restoring the old post office, Mrs Squires said.
