The Strathmartine Stories project launched in 2014, funded through £69,200 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and a £7,500 contribution by Thera Trust. The project was led by a partnership of organisations – Thera Trust, Dundee University Archive and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The project was supported by Advocating Together, the Living Memory Association and the Scottish Oral History Centre. The project documented the history of Strathmartine, the personal stories of people with a learning disability who lived there, and the staff who worked there.
The project built a vivid picture of what life was like for people living and working at Strathmartine Hospital. It documented the lessons learned to inform and promote good practice around supporting people with a learning disability.
As part of the project we produced:
- A website showcasing the stories from Strathmartine Hospital
- A short documentary film, Breaking Down the Walls
- Two storytelling toolkits, one for use by workers in the health or social care sectors and one for use by individuals and families to record their own story.
The project ended in the summer of 2015 with ‘Strathmartine Discoveries’, a showcase event which brought people together to celebrate the project’s findings. The interview recordings and other memorabilia have been deposited with the University of Dundee Archives and are available for the public to view.