Saturday Heritage Fair – Voices of Leicester’s Living History
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The Saturday Heritage Fair at Leicester Adult Education College celebrates Leicester’s diverse history through storytelling, oral history, and community collaboration. Produced by Soar Sound Radio, this podcast features interviews with local historian Ned Newitt, the Media Archive for Central England (MACE), Leicester Civic Society, St. Philip’s Centre, the Silk Road Project, and Gro Social Capital. Together, they explore how art, archives, and civic action connect past and present, highlighting Leicester’s heritage as a living, shared experience. Listen to the podcast to hear the voices shaping the city’s story today.
The Saturday Heritage Fair at Leicester Adult Education College once again proved how rich and varied Leicester’s cultural story is. Recorded by Soar Sound Radio, this second set of podcast interviews captures a day filled with conversation, curiosity, and civic pride. Through these exchanges, the Fair became not just a celebration of heritage, but a portrait of Leicester itself – diverse, reflective, and deeply connected to its past.
Community reporter Harkesh Farmer opened the event in conversation with Denise from The Evington Echo, who described the magazine’s role in sharing local news and stories. That sense of local connection set the tone for what followed: a day of discovery among people committed to keeping Leicester’s history alive.
Local historian Ned Newitt spoke about his long engagement with the city’s past, from Chartist hymns to the evolution of social housing. His research reveals how working-class people shaped Leicester’s identity through creativity, activism, and community spirit. His books, including The Slums of Leicester, remind us that history isn’t just written in grand events, but in the ordinary streets and lives that built the city.
Phil from the Media Archive for Central England (MACE) described how film can serve as a window into the past, preserving moments of daily life that would otherwise fade from memory. From 1920s footage of children travelling from Leicester to Mablethorpe to modern community videos, these archives give voice to forgotten experiences. His appeal for residents to share their old recordings highlighted the role local people play in shaping collective memory.
The civic dimension of heritage came alive through Bert McNeal, chair of the Leicester Civic Society. Speaking with conviction about the Society’s long-running campaign for a better Leicester, he linked architecture, environment, and civic participation to a sense of shared belonging. For Bert, heritage is not only about preservation but about participation – ensuring Leicester remains a city that people of all backgrounds can take pride in.
From there, the podcast turned to contemporary reflections on belonging and identity. Tom from St. Philip’s Centre discussed the Memories of Living Well Together project, which recorded over a hundred stories from people across Leicester’s communities. His work highlights how the city’s diversity creates a kind of everyday harmony – a quiet, civic confidence that embraces difference without losing its sense of home.
The artistic and global dimensions of heritage were explored by Davia, whose Silk Road project connects Central Asian art with wider cultural narratives, and Meg, a Leicester-based dance artist developing projects that blend visual art and performance. Together they reflected on creativity as a bridge between cultures, with Davia emphasising the need to de-centre Western art traditions and open new spaces for diverse artistic voices.
The day concluded with Russell from Gro Social Capital, introducing the idea of a “pocket museum” – a community-curated collection of fifty objects that tell a local story. His approach treats heritage as a form of social connection, built slowly through conversation, shared memory, and local imagination. It’s a model that fits Leicester perfectly: reflective, inclusive, and grounded in lived experience.
What stands out across these interviews is a shared conviction that heritage is not fixed in the past. It is an evolving practice, carried by those who care enough to remember, reinterpret, and share. Whether through archives, performances, publications, or community projects, Leicester’s people continue to shape the story of their city — one that celebrates both its history and its ongoing capacity to renew itself.
The full podcast of the Saturday Heritage Fair is available from Soar Sound Radio, featuring these and other interviews recorded throughout the day.
