Keep Whitby's Stories Alive
Free to visit, independent, and kept going by people who care about this town's past.
Why it matters
Every voice and object we save is one less lost for good
We are an independent, member-funded charity with no regular grant to lean on. The maritime museum on Church Street stays free to visit because that is how it should be — the whaling era and the jet trade belong to everyone who walks through the door.
Since 2008 we have recorded more than 400 oral history interviews with fishermen, jet workers and their families. Many of those voices are now gone, and the recordings are all that remain. Conservation materials, recording equipment, archive storage and our schools programme for local primaries all cost money we raise ourselves. Your gift keeps the lights on and the stories told.
Help us record the next 400 stories
£10 covers the archive storage for one oral history interview. £30 helps a class of local schoolchildren visit the museum. £100 funds conservation for a single jet or whaling-era object. Whatever you can give keeps Whitby's heritage free and open.