Saturday Heritage Fair – Bringing Leicester’s Past to Life
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The Saturday Heritage Fair at Leicester Adult Education Centre (11 October 2025) showcased local history, storytelling, and community heritage. Produced by Soar Sound Radio, the event featured interviews with the East Midlands Oral History Archive, Vikings of Middle England, The Elizabeth Heyrick Society, the Literary and Philosophical Society, and Satsang Radio. Organiser John Coster highlighted how heritage connects people through creativity, conversation, and shared memory. The accompanying podcast captures Leicester’s diverse voices, exploring how oral history, re-enactment, and local media bring the city’s past to life and inspire future generations.
The Saturday Heritage Fair at Leicester Adult Education Centre on 11 October 2025, organised by John Coster, was a celebration of local stories, shared memories, and creative ways of keeping history alive. Produced by Soar Sound Radio, the event brought together a remarkable mix of people – collectors, re-enactors, archivists, and community broadcasters – all united by a passion for discovering how the past continues to shape our sense of belonging in Leicester today.
Throughout the day, Soar Sound’s community reporters, Roger and Harkesh, interviewed exhibitors and visitors whose work connects the city’s cultural history with contemporary life. From oral history and traditional crafts to social justice campaigns and living history displays, each conversation offered a glimpse into the many ways people care for and interpret Leicester’s heritage.
Colin Hyde from the East Midlands Oral History Archive described a collection spanning more than six thousand recordings, capturing memories that reach back to the nineteenth century. His work shows how personal recollections, once preserved, become part of a shared archive that tells the story of everyday life across the region.
Nearby, Jason from Vikings of Middle England explained how re-enactment brings history off the page and into public spaces. His craft as a blacksmith and his detailed knowledge of Viking life remind us that learning about the past can be tactile and immersive. His enthusiasm for storytelling through metalwork and costume linked history to lived experience and imagination.
The Fair also highlighted the people behind Leicester’s built and social history. In character as Victorian architect and mayor Arthur Wakeley, actor Ken Ogborn gave voice to one of the city’s influential figures whose name still shapes its streets. Later, speaking as himself, Ken reflected on how performing historical roles deepens empathy and connection between people today and those who came before.
Emily from The Elizabeth Heyrick Society shared the story of a pioneering Leicester campaigner for the abolition of slavery. Her call for immediate, rather than gradual, abolition and her leadership within women’s networks marked her as one of the city’s great moral reformers. The Society’s campaign for a statue and educational resources aims to restore Heyrick’s rightful place in public memory.
John Coster, organiser of the ninth annual Heritage Fair, spoke about how the event has grown into a meeting place for individuals and organisations interested in heritage as a living, shared practice. From oral history and archives to local newspapers and digital storytelling, he described heritage as a way of linking communities through curiosity and collaboration.
That spirit of connection ran through all the conversations, from Nigel Wood of the Literary and Philosophical Society, who spoke about Leicester’s long tradition of open debate and learning, to Sajan and Shanti from Satsang Radio, whose broadcasts create companionship and cultural continuity for listeners near and far.
The Heritage Fair demonstrated that Leicester’s heritage is not confined to museums or monuments. It is sustained in the relationships between people who collect, record, and share their stories. Whether through archives, re-enactment, performance, or radio, these creative acts of remembrance form a bridge between generations, reminding us that heritage is not just about preserving the past, but about reimagining it for the future.
The full podcast of the Saturday Heritage Fair is available from Soar Sound Radio, featuring all the interviews recorded on the day.
