Memories of people involved in salvaging the ss Great Britain are to be immortalised forty years on using animation and oral history.

Funded by an AHRC Knowledge Catalyst award and the Heritage Lottery Fund, the 'Visualising Voices' project, a collaboration between the University of the West of England (UWE) and the ss Great Britain Trust, will help ensure the story of the ship's rescue reaches a new generation.

Using animation it will bring to life the oral histories of those who experienced the rescue of this iconic vessel, including Bristolians who witnessed the return of the rusting iron hulk, Falkland Islanders who recall its previous resting place on the other side of the world, and divers, technicians and engineers involved in the rescue.

Project leader Gill Sandford from UWE said, “This project is unique - this is the first time that a museum has worked with an animation production team in this way. The project will involve several interdisciplinary teams of staff and students from UWE's School of Creative Arts.”

The ss Great Britain was the world's first propeller-driven, iron-hulled, ocean-going ship, designed by Isambard Brunel and built in Bristol in 1845. She had been in The Falklands since 1886 after being damaged in a severe storm. In the 1930s the ship was scuttled having been used by the Falkland Islands Company as a storage hulk. The hulk was rescued and towed all the way from the South Atlantic, returning to the same dock where she was built, 127 years to the day after she had left it

Further information on the project is on the UWE website.

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Notes for editors:

AHRC Media Contact: Jake Gilmore, Communications Manager, tel: 07970994586

Arts & Humanities Research Council: Each year the AHRC provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.


The AHRC Knowledge Catalyst scheme supports partnerships between universities and non-academic partners such as business, charities, not-for-profit organisations and some publicly funded bodies. The scheme aims to exploit the research base in the arts and humanities for commercial and/or cultural gain and make such activities accessible to organisations for whom the KTP scheme is not appropriate.

The scheme works by identifying a project that will significantly enhance the operations of the Enterprise Partner, and employing a recent graduate to work on the project, supported by an academic.

The successful projects will create a host of opportunities and benefits:

•the Enterprise Partners gain significantly as the project is focused around their needs
•academics benefit through implementing arts and humanities research expertise in a non-academic environment
•the employee gains through working on an important and innovative project, earning a market-rate salary that reflects this.
Projects of between 3 and 15 months can be supported, and the AHRC will fund 60% of the cost of successful projects.