Platt Hall Collections Chat

A safe space for conversation

Like many people at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, we turned to Zoom to connect with with our regular partners to ask the question 'How can Platt Hall be a supportive and useful resource at this difficult and challenging time?'

Collection Chats grew out of this conversation and started online in May 2020 in partnership with Robert Darbishire GP Practice, Women's Voices, Manchester Rape Crisis and Buzz Health and Well Being as a way of combating lockdown isolation.

These sessions provided a safe space for small groups of people to explore the Platt Hall collection together. Each session took two images of objects chosen by a participant from the collection as the starting point for shared and individual responses, reflections and experiences. The conversations went in many directions - we talked about favourite sweets, how best to eat a mango, make-do-and-mend, and remembered childhood games. Following the easing of restrictions we moved Collection Chats from the screen to face to face at the Hall. See below for some of our lockdown chats, and the objects that inspired them.

If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Ruth at [email protected].

It was really a refreshing experience in this stressful pandemic situation. I saw friends I didn't see for along time and also some things (objects) that I didn’t pay attention to before. There was a positive energy, which I needed because I was at home with my son alone for a long, long time."