Coasts in Mind Exhibition where you can share your experiences of local coastal change
Hazel and Oliver from the Coasts in Mind team are excited to share two announcements with Love it Local readers: our exhibition in Poole Museum is officially open, and our Community Archive is now live for public access! Read on to learn more about the project, and for your invitation…
Coastal communities are constantly adapting to their changing coastline, but just how much changes during the course of a human lifetime? Coasts in Mind is exploring what coastal change means to the communities around the shores of Poole Harbour. With the help of knowledgeable local people (this could be you!), we are documenting the lived experience of coastal change.
Coasts in Mind is…
1. Showcasing the value of local knowledge
By gathering oral history interviews, photos, and through group memory workshops, we are recording the stories of people who have witnessed change. The data we collect is shared on our Community Archive website, which you can access at cim.mola.org.uk/map
Have you worked in a coastal industry (the gasworks, boat building, fishing, or pottery), witnessed the erosion of the coast or land infilling, or experienced floods and extreme weather events? We invite you to start telling your story at the link above.
We’re interested in all aspects of change, and we value the insights from a diversity of people across age groups and backgrounds. From fishing and marine biodiversity, to watersports, power-stations, and sea defences. From community heritage traditions, to boats, coastal archaeology, and land erosion. We want to capture the changes that represent you. Anyone is welcome to contribute to this project. It’s all about bringing communities into the coastal change dialogue on both a national level, and at home here in Dorset.
2. Developing employability skills and experience in local 18-25 year olds.
As the Harbour land and seascape continues to evolve, it is younger generations who will be navigating those changes. We are providing workshops for youth organisations (age 18-25) who don’t usually have access to heritage-based opportunities.
We worked with students from SWRAC, a specialist college and independent education provider in Dorset. Students gained unique heritage skills by curating a cabinet of coastal curiosities for our exhibition in Poole Museum. They began the day with a self-guided tour around the museum, paying attention to how objects were presented and interpreted. After a delicious lunch, the Museum’s Curator briefed them on top tips when writing information panels and caring for delicate artefacts. They then selected objects that represented change, wrote out their own panels, and lastly, installed them into the display case. Read our full blog on the workshop by going to cim.mola.org.uk/blogs, and ‘2026 in Poole Harbour’.
And this just in – we very recently worked with The Chatterboxes, a YMCA project run by young people with disabilities. We asked how they would like to explore our project themes in a way that was meaningful to them… and the verdict was through cooking! So, we held a workshop with White Pepper Chef Academy based in Poole, where the group explored coastal food and foreshore forageables under the guidance of professional chefs. We’ll be revealing details of this exciting day on our Instagram, Facebook and newsletter in due course.
We are welcoming direct partnerships with local youth organisations (aged 18-25), particularly groups who may not usually have access to heritage-based opportunities. Please get in touch if you would like to be involved in a funded, tailored workshop.
3. And finally… our new exhibition with Poole Museum!
This free, community-generated exhibition showcases the memories of coastal change that have been uncovered so far. It includes images, quotes, a cabinet of coastal curiosities (with thanks to SWRAC students), a short film, and two activities for you to reflect on coastal life. This exhibition is always evolving, and we will soon be adding new components and creative activities.
Hazel and Oliver are stationed in Poole Museum most Wednesdays throughout summer for drop-ins to scan your photos, hear your stories, and give informal tours. Check out the Museum opening hours to catch us, or contact us in advance to arrange a visit with your community group.
4. FREE guided collage workshops
Local artist Jodie House is to deliver a series of FREE guided collage workshops.
Each two-hour session will include an introduction to collage as an art form, followed by access to hundreds of archive images and materials to create your own collage response to coastal change in the harbour.
The sessions are open to all, no prior experience necessary, just a curiosity to create and share your understanding of how Poole Harbour is changing. We encourage everyone attending to bring a photo of a place or event around the harbour that means something to you and that you’d like to include in your artwork. The team will scan and print the image for you to use.
Times: Wednesday 1st, Saturday 4th and Wednesday 8th July 2026, 10am – 12pm and 1 – 3pm
To book please visit https://poolemuseum.digitickets.co.uk/event-tickets/78665?catID=65371or reply to this email stating your name, session time, and the number of tickets you’d like.
Find Coasts in Mind on Facebook and Instagram, or join our newsletter by going to the bottom of our website (cim.mola.org.uk/). Get in touch with Hazel and Oliver at CoastsInMind@MOLA.org.uk. We hope to see Love it Local readers contribute to our project, or to meet you at Poole Museum!
