In 1990 the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Records Office asked the Society if it could help organise a project to record the memories of elderly Stratford residents. ‘Oral history’ has an important part to play in our understanding of the past and the Trust, though it does its best to preserve the written record relating to Stratford’s history, was all too well aware that unwritten reminiscences were falling through the net. The Society responded enthusiastically and over the years Society members Cyril Bennis and later Neville Usher have conducted more than 250 interviews. Neville has also undertaken the formidable task of transcribing these so that ‘easy-to-use’ hard copies are available for researchers. These tapes and transcripts are held at the Records Office and have been frequently consulted. Robert Bearman, the Trust’s Head of Archives, has publicly thanked the Society on several occasions for their valuable help in undertaking a task which the Records Office simply did not have the resources to do themselves