A PROJECT to capture stories of migration into Swindon is calling on people to come forward to help celebrate the town’s diverse cultural heritage.

Create Studios have embarked on the year-long project See Me Too to record the personal experiences of the people that have come to Swindon over the last 100 years.

Funded through a £43,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery fund, the project hopes to record more than 40 interviews. These will then go on display to the public and eventually be stored for future generations in Swindon’s Local Studies Collection.

Didem Gorum, the project coordinator of See Me Too, told the Adver: “Swindon is so diverse and migration is such a big part of Swindon’s history, but no one talks about it that much. There are hardly any recordings from people who have migrated to Swindon.

“We want to create more history for people to go and discover to learn about Swindon because it is such a massive part of our identity. I think that’s why it’s so important, and it needs to get into the general conversation.”

The project is hosting a second drop-in session for people to share their stories of migration to Swindon at Swindon Central Library tomorrowJune 23 between 10am and 4pm.

The stories gathered so far include railway workers who came to Swindon before World War Two, members of Windrush generation from the 50s and 60s, and the Nepalese community.

“The Caribbean community really enjoys talking about it and it’s something they’ve been doing for years,” added Didem.

“The Nepalese community haven’t had much coverage and people asking about their heritage. And when we went to interview them we had dozens of them wanting to be interviewed dressed up in their uniforms.”

Shahina Johnson, Create Studios artistic director, added: “The team at Create Studios are really proud to have brought the HLF award to Swindon, enabling this positive exploration of our heritage to happen, involve a wide range of people in our town, and produce a lasting legacy for the archives.”

Nerys Watts, head of HLF South West, said: “Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, we’re delighted to support See Me Too which will enable people of all ages to discover and celebrate the history and legacy of migration to Swindon.”

The stories interviews and videos will be launched at the first exhibition on October 24 at the Steam museum’s Hawksworth Hall.

It will then move to the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham in November until January 2019, before returning to Swindon Central Library until February 25.