Sharing Suffolk Stories

Suffolk Archives is developing a countywide programme of activities to run alongside the development of the building of ‘The Hold’, which will engage more people than ever before with Suffolk’s archival heritage.  One of the largest parts of the programme is Sharing Suffolk Stories, which will run until Spring 2022.

The idea is simple; through the initiative, we will support groups of people to learn more about where they live, create their own responses to it, and share their work as widely as possible – including to new audiences.  Participants will be supported to delve into our collections to uncover unique stories about the people, places and events of our county, often hidden in the archives.

The ‘sharing’ could take the form of producing a new booklet, creating digital resources, or putting on a talk or lecture, but we would also like to encourage sharing stories through artwork, drama, storytelling, and music!

So if you or the people in your community have a research idea and would like to talk about whether it would be suitable for the Sharing Suffolk Stories initiative, please email

Stories from the archives that might inspire you can be found here!

Our current projects are:

• Land and Shore
• Pride in Suffolk’s Past
• Britten’s High Street – The history of shopping in Aldeburgh
• Mildenhall Storytellers
• Stow Stories
• Soil Sisters – Putting the Women’s Land Army on the Map in Suffolk
• Rooted in History
• Stories of RAF Lakenheath
• US Black Aviation Engineers based in Suffolk in WW2
• Clifford Road Primary School – Home Front Project
• Ipswich Housing Action Group
• Sudbury Market

Sharing Suffolk Stories is supported by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Coastal Communities Fund.