Image posted on Facebook by Dave Moore: ‘Collaborative history at it best; Brian Stringer author of the clayhanger Kid books working with public historian Dave Moore to produce an audio version of the two books for people with visual impediments.’. Dave Moore left, Brian Stringer right.

The collaboration initiated by this blog between top local history wonk Dave Moore and The Clayhanger Kid himself, Brian Stringer, is proving to be productive indeed – and a couple of days ago, I spotted a beautiful video interview with Brian recorded and produced by Dave. It’s excellent, and you can watch it below.

This whole thing started after I published a request for help by Brian Stringer, who’s a noted local author and community activist. Brian had received requests to make audio versions of his books ‘The Clayhanger Kid‘ and ‘The Clayhanger Kid Two‘, and needed a little bit of help to get them recorded.

Blog reader and contributor Dave Moore, Lichfield Discovered conspirator and tireless campaigner for Sandfields Pumping Station kindly stepped forward. It seems the two gents have been working together, not just to make the audiobooks a reality, but to produce fresh and interesting material about local history and matters arising.

Dave had this to say about the film:

Brian Stringer is the author of a self published book the Clayhanger Kid. This film is an abridged version of an oral interview conducted by the Public Historian David Moore.

Broadly speaking it is a term that describes a broad range of disciplines undertaken by people who have an understanding of history, but wish to work outside of the restraints of academic history.

The historian Ludmilla Jordanova give us a definition of public history, “all the means deliberate and otherwise, through which those who are not professional historians acquire their sense of the past”.

I know Dave thinks long and hard about the process and nature of the work we do, and in the above sense, all of us here collaborating – whether it’s the partnership with Brian, the great work on Pepper Alley or the brilliant approach taken by Lichfield Discovered – are involved in public history.

Long may it flourish – and as long as there are exponents like Dave and Brian, it will.