Impact case study database

Building on her underpinning research on the histories of widowhood, Muller created the War Widows’ Stories (WWS) project. Its main focus lies on enabling war widows to tell their life stories through oral history interviews and art and, in doing so, to create an intricate, participatory, accessible history of war widowhood in Britain. This has achieved three key types of impact: a) improving war widows’ sense of wellbeing and facilitating their post-traumatic growth; b) raising awareness and increasing understanding of war widows’ lives; and c) strengthening the political advocacy of war widows as a group.

a) Improving war widows’ wellbeing and facilitating post-traumatic growth

WWS has worked directly with 128 war widows. The project has facilitated the post-traumatic growth of participants and of members of the wider war widows’ community by making them feel heard, demonstrating the value of their life stories through publication and exhibition, helping them process and express their loss and grief through storytelling, poetry writing, and embroidery, and enabling them to understand their experiences as a shared history:

“At last I was being listened to. There was relief to be able to talk about what had happened. For years no one wanted to know […] I now feel a sense of closure, of peace.” (Rita Armin, S1)

“Even though you are talking about a deep, deep sadness, it gives you a feeling of freedom. And to see my husband’s name and talk about him makes you think, ‘There, that’s the last thing I can do for you’.” (Wendy Hutchinson, S1)

“I revisited some of my own baggage that I have not been able to deal with. I realised that I am still angry. I did not think of it as a social history but as an unfortunate personal event that I had to deal with.” (Event Attendee, S1)

“Somehow it helps to say something, to express it out loud. I must have needed to do it. This has helped me a great deal.” (Angela Evans, S1)

“Sewing my square gave me a strange sort of peace. I could think about how (my husband) died while I stitched so the sewing was giving me a control. It's hard to explain but it worked for me.” (Lauran Hamilton, S1)

b) Improving war widows’ political advocacy

WWS has improved war widows’ political advocacy by documenting and analysing war widows’ experiences and thus contributing evidence and knowledge to the WWA’s campaigns. On 15 November 2018, Baroness Janet Fookes, President of the WWA, drew on the project’s oral history interviews and the War Widows’ Quilt to seek support in the House of Lords for the WWA’s campaign for the reinstatement of pensions to those women whose war widows’ pensions had been stopped upon remarriage after their husbands’ passing (S3). Mary Moreland, WWA Chair, explained that “the quilt and the project help the Association raise awareness of the challenges war widows face every day. Our voices are sadly still absent from most public institutions, including museums. We cannot tell the stories of war without the stories of those left behind” (S2). Group Captain Mark D Heffron, Head of Welfare Policy at the Ministry of Defence, noted that the project’s oral history interviews are ‘thought provoking and powerful’ and that the project showed ‘a resolve to support all those who suffer as a loss of loved ones through war. We can all learn from these memories, experiences, and feelings of our war widows; we cannot and will not forget those who gave their lives in war, nor the sacrifice made by their widows” (S4) David Whimpenny, a Trustee for the Royal British Legion, acknowledged that “this work delivers a vitally important and missing element of the nation’s archive of remembrance” (S5).

c) Raising awareness and increasing understanding

WWS has raised public awareness and increased understanding of war widows’ lives through its outputs, events, and media coverage in the United Kingdom. The project and Muller’s research have been featured extensively in the national media, including BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking and The Essay, BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, BBC Arts Online, BBC Radio Scotland’s Sunday Morning with Ricky Ross, ITV Wales News at Six, ITV News London, and in the Daily Express, reaching a total of 3,345,000 listeners, at least 4,936,200 viewers (ITV News London), and 295,079 readers (Daily Express). The project’s website has received 8,410 unique visitors since its launch in 2016, while its events were attended by 201 members of the public. The War Widows’ Quilt was exhibited at the Queen’s House (Royal Museums Greenwich) from 8–11 November 2019, with the exhibition launch event attended by 100 guests, and with the exhibition period seeing 2,000+ visitors to the venue. Audiences attested to the fact that the project has significantly raised awareness and increased understanding of war widows’ lives.

“A reminder that bereavement lasts forever.” (Event Attendee, S6)

“It’s individuals speaking and that’s why it touches me […] It communicates human experience to you.” (Charlotte, Exhibition Visitor, S6)

“It’s nice to get away from the poppy conversation. It’s good not to go down the hero-worshipping route yet again, but to think about the cost of war.” (Gemma, Exhibition Visitor, S6)

“It’s shocking and yet it’s great to see. To understand what is behind these sad stories. Each little square says so much.” (Maximo, Exhibition Visitor, S6)

“When I saw this from afar, I was drawn to it because it’s a pretty thing. Then, when you get close, it hits you … the stories.” (Anonymous, Exhibition Visitor, S6)

“I like the way the widows are less passive than they’re usually portrayed. […] It really was quite a powerful impact. Almost embarrassing, like you’re intruding on someone’s grief. The raw feeling.” (Beatrix, Exhibition Visitor, S6)

Ultimately, stimulus of Knowsley’s regeneration will be centred in, and focalised by, the SN Playhouse which will become fully operational in 2022. But realising the overall ambition has pivotally depended on establishing precursory levels of cultural and economic regeneration, public realm improvement and increased educational aspiration in the borough. Crucially, capture of SN capital funding has, in itself, worked to produce exceptional levels of community involvement in, and commitment to, regenerative and transformative activity (see 5.1; 5.2; 5.3 and 5.4). In this context, a programme of community-engagement, co-creation, knowledge exchange, educational and heritage-based cultural activity has run throughout the REF Impact period. The varied forms of impact arising from SN, as a major urban transformation project, have involved SN trustees; KMBC Directorates and teams; SN community volunteers; and groups affiliated to SN. Graham has collaborated with all of these and has played a particular role in leading and advising on heritage-based, educational, and community events and initiatives. While the full benefits so far accrued through SN are too extensive to be fully detailed, they can be indicatively evidenced through quantitative data relating to some aspects, and by more qualitative description of selected examples of SN sub-strands.

Indicators of SN’s overall impact to date:

• Capture of capital funding for the SN Playhouse (2016-2020: £30.1m), plus a further £14.3m public realm funding, contingent on SN, has attracted business investment into Knowsley and began Prescot's economic regeneration (see 5.3 and 5.4.) In 2018-20, eleven new, independent, leisure-related businesses (such as Shakespeare-linked, independent 'eateries' and bars e.g.: ‘The Bard’; ‘Harrington’s’ – named after the builder of Prescot’s original playhouse, so evidencing the penetration of SN’s research story into community consciousness) replaced derelict, betting, charity, or pawn shops in Prescot's central streets; a Prescot-business collective spontaneously formed; 124 temporary construction jobs (continuing through the Covid-19 lockdown period) were created for local people. The construction of 1,500 new homes by national developers (Barratts, Anwyl, Taylor Wimpey, and Countryside), directly resulting from Prescot’s development as a new cultural destination, as described in the Masterplan, is underway (see 5.3 and 5.4). Public excitement was expressed in 2018’s/19’s widely-tweeted slogans: 'Knowsley’s on the up!' and 'There's a buzz in Prescot!'

• Public-realm improvements began in 2018 and are largely complete (5.3 and 5.4) Prescot’s historic marketplace, reconfigured as an outdoor performance space with a bistro and café-bar, opened in 2019 with Imaginarium, (formerly MATE: a community theatre company, affiliated to SN), as the operator; and the Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) – important to the marketing and experience of Prescot as a vibrant, historic town – began in 2013 and will be completed in April 2021 (to mid-2020: 15 Conservation Area buildings were restored; and 8 new town-centre dwellings plus two new business premises were created from previously vacant buildings). The Historic-England-funded Heritage Action Zone which aims further to ’foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of the historic environment through heritage-led regeneration’, ‘combining, heritage, culture, community, enterprise and regeneration’ aspects, includes restoration of the historic ‘Cockpit House’, adjacent to the SN Playhouse. (5.4).

The reach and impact of SN's core programme of cultural and heritage-based activity, can be suggested by statistical indicators:

• Nationally: BBC One’s The One Show - documentary features on SN and collaboration with SN in running a children’s playwriting competition in 2020, ‘As You Write It’, reaching a total of over 35m viewers and attracting 1300 competition entrants. Articles in: The Financial Times (2019: global paying readership over 1m; 650K online readers); The Stage (several articles: 400,000 per month [online]; 30,000 readers per week [print] readership); The Big Issue (11 Feb 2019: 82,000 copies per week; an estimated 406K readers).

• At a local level frequent articles in the Liverpool Echo (circulation 35,038) and BBC NW News (average audience 700,000).

• In total, 56,430 Knowsley residents participated in a Shakespeare North-related event in 2018. This number is also indicative of numbers in previous years and in 2019.

• Each year (except for 2020 Covid-19 period), an average of 22,000 people attended Knowsley Flower Show and 6000 people visited Prescot's Elizabethan Fayre where SN Communities Group (chaired by Graham) had information stalls, engaged in lively discussion, ideas-pooling, consultation and debate with townspeople, and hosted children's activities (making ruffs, Tudor rose birthday cards etc.)

• 26,789 people visited Prescot Museum's exhibition of Shakespearean Costume, engaging in knowledge dissemination and creative activities in 2018.

• The annual Shakespeare Schools Festival, funded in Knowsley by KMBC as a direct investment in SN-related educational activity, has involved between 12 and 19 Knowsley primary and secondary schools in each of the years 2014-2019 (pre-Covid). SSF's mission is to 'use the unique power of Shakespeare to develop self-esteem, articulacy, literacy and teamwork for students; skills they need to succeed in life'. 9500 audience members have watched 4276 students from Knowsley schools performing, demonstrating an increased interest in educational activity. Through children, a wider family audience has been built for SN.

• An audience of 800 attended a single-night performance by The Lord Chamberlain's Men of The Tempest at Knowsley Hall in 2018 (Knowsley Estate in collaboration with SN.) Similar audience numbers were attracted by Much Ado About Nothing in 2016 and A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2017. The keen appetite for such performances evidences Knowsley community's adoption of their new Shakespeare-heritage identity.

• Community and Youth Theatre productions by MATE/Imaginarium Theatre, a key SN associate company, has converted many members of the local community from thinking that 'Shakespeare's not for us. It's too posh' to a genuine pleasure in, and excitement about, Shakepearean performance, Prescot's emerging cultural identity, and new potentials for themselves and their children. MATE's outdoor, promenade community productions have attracted c. 2000 local Knowsley people each year as audiences and have involved 3500 people (aged 5 to 85) in performances, backstage activities and workshops over the period.

The flavour, value and benefit of SN community and educational enhancement activities are more qualitatively instanced by two particular examples of SN sub-projects:

1. Lost Castles, August 2018 (with Graham as collaborator and advisor on literary and historical aspects): 7070 Knowsley residents (adults and children) learned how to build a replica of Hamlet's Elsinore Castle from cardboard boxes through workshops, then created Elinsore during a day-long event at Knowsley Safari, followed by a demolition fiesta day (as part of 2018 LCR-wide project). This was an information exchange, skills-building and community cohesion event, that aimed to create a ‘pool of talent’ with pathways into the creative sectors; and to showcase the region as a centre for cultural innovation to local residents and nationally through a reach of over 5m social media users. 100,000 people attended at least one day of the Lost Castles weekend; 48.8% of participants surveyed had never before taken part in a cultural event; and 98% of participants reported a more positive sense of local belonging and a keener interest in local culture. In feedback, the impact on lives of socially-isolated people was particularly strongly voiced: one resident reported she had not previously spoken to anyone for the past six weeks, but would now become actively involved in SN, for instance. Knowsley participants commented on the cohesive effects of ‘being involved in the camaraderie of a community project’; how ‘Everyone of any age, ability, background could engage in making something so huge and beautiful’ and a particularly moving narrative account of ‘One person’s Lost Castle story’, described how ‘The whole concept of this project blew me away’; ‘The feeling of pride and accomplishment was absolute’; and how the event engaged people imaginatively, emotionally, and socially:

The workshops taught the kids (and adults) what we can do with careful planning and lots of teamwork. The build taught everyone what can be achieved if you only have the vision to see it and the will to see it though. The deconstruction reminded us of what it is to be kids. To forget reason and logic. All that time. All that effort. And for what…Adults don’t get it. The reason was simple, but you can’t explain it – only feel it. Smashing that castle was one of the greatest moments of my adult life…the best part of a wonderful time I spent with strangers who became neighbours.’ (See 5.2 and 5.4.)

2. SN Community Symposia. These sell-out events (filling Prescot Church Hall), were created in response to public demand and were organised by the SN Communities Group, chaired by Graham. They seek to offer high-level, innovative research in a lively and accessible form to Knowsley people (see 5.2). In 2017, speakers and performers for ‘Then and Now: Shakespearean Theatre, Prescot and Knowsley’ included: cartographic historian William Shannon revisioning the Burghley Map of Lancashire; Northern Broadside’s Conrad Nelson; Peter McCurdy (builder of the SN Cockpit Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe, and the Sam Wanamaker Theatre); and LJMU’s Rebecca Bailey. The 2019 Symposium, ‘Shakespeare North, Voice and Sound’ featured David and Ben Crystal on Shakespearean Original Pronunciation; Tony Crowley on Merseyside language; the Oxford-postgraduate lutenist, Sara Liber Salloum; Jane Boston from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Kathy Dacre (SN trustee) on voice in theatre; Carole Arnold, a Prescot head teacher whose imaginative, primary-school project ‘Prescot Loves to Talk’, fostering articulacy in Prescot children, is connected to SN. It focussed on matters of diversity and empowerment through language, bringing the excellence of nationally recognised speakers and performers together with Knowsley people, their local concerns and attributes on an equal footing. Through interactive and often humorous sessions, it produced a palpable sense of excitement, pride and an affective warmth between speakers and audience. Feedback emphasised the event’s success in fostering a sense of mutuality and dialogue between participants with different roles and diverse backgrounds and described how those who attended were still buzzing days afterwards (see 5.2).

Graham’s role:

As well as participating in specific aspects of the project’s delivery, Graham has directly presented her research and her vision for the overall project development through numerous talks and workshops for KMBC from 2005 (initial presentation of the SN idea), through 2016 (Prescot Masterplan, 5.6 & 5.7), to 2019. In 2014-19, Graham gave 21 public talks to regional community groups, including particularly significant lectures to: The Royal Town Planning Institute; VIP guests to Merseyside Arts Theatre and Education (MATE)'s 2015 community production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and subsequent annual Shakespeare performances by MATE and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men; and, in July 2015, to a key consortium of businesses and organisations: Knowsley Ambassadors. (See 5.3 on these as funding and project-realising conversion activities.) Such forms of dissemination have been extended by her membership of stakeholder boards such as: Prescot THI Advisory Board and contribution to THI funding applications; the founding Knowsley Place Board; Knowsley Visitor Economy Network, Love Prescot), helping embed the project in SN-associated local initiatives. Her research has been further disseminated though community consultation meetings; TV and radio interviews; and academic conferences. Activities informed by Graham’s research also stimulate new cycles of research and application, creating a generative loop of research and impactful enterprise. Future scholarly publications theorising, reflectively analysing, and further disseminating SN educational and community sub-projects are in press or contracted to be published in 2021-2022.

Moran’s book, Shrinking Violets, received widespread attention, nationally and internationally. It was BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week in August/September 2016, attracting 3,231,000 unique listeners (Rajar figures), and was extracted in the Independent and Australian Financial Review. It was widely and favourably reviewed in the UK, Europe and America. Many reviews focused on the positive impact it would make in challenging reductionist readings of a multivalent condition. The Daily Mail reviewer wrote that ‘to a shy person, this book is incredibly cheering. It shows us we are not alone.’ The Observer called it ‘fantastic and involving … a feat of empathy’. Introducing Shrinking Violets as the Sunday Times ‘Thought Book of the Year’, the reviewer called it ‘beautifully written’ and ‘a strange and fascinating way to think about our shared humanity’. (CS1)

Before and after publication, Moran wrote articles on shyness for the Guardian, the Radio Times, The Conversation, the Daily Beast and other media, and blogged for Psychology Today. Readers’ comments on these pieces underline their impact: ‘What an unusual and beautiful description of shyness, seeing it as just a natural trait instead of something to be eradicated.’ (CS2) ‘Beautifully written piece … It struck so many chords with me.’ ‘I've learnt that most people are sympathetic to shyness because … we can all relate to it as this lovely article shows.’ (CS3)

Moran spoke about shyness at major literary festivals such as Words by the Water (March 2017), Ways with Words (July 2018) and Gladfest (September 2019), allowing him to engage with audiences in Q&As and book signings (CS4). ‘I went to your talk about shyness,’ one audience member wrote, ‘and it gave me an appreciation of my own … It has made me see my “strangenesses” in a new light.’ (CS5) He was interviewed about shyness by major publications in the Netherlands (Volkskrant), Denmark (Weekendavisen), Ireland (Irish Examiner), Spain (El Mundo, El Pais), Poland (Charaktery) and Italy (La Repubblica). An interview for the BBC website had over 280,000 unique browsers, its author commenting that ‘with Moran as its reluctant, mild-mannered cheerleader, the Shy Pride movement may have just been born’. (CS6) Moran was also interviewed on BBC Radio 4, BBC World News, BBC World Service (twice), the Irish station Newstalk (twice), RTÉ Radio 2 (twice), ABC Australian Radio National (three times) and radio stations in Spain, Melbourne, Cape Town, Montreal and Salt Lake City, often interacting with listeners in call-ins. Introducing Moran on BBC Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed, Laurie Taylor said that ‘in my insensitive, snap-out-of-it extrovert way, I’ve never regarded [shyness] as meriting any great degree of personal or sociological attention, but a new and quite beautifully written book has changed all that’. (CS7)

Moran reached new audiences in diverse ways. He performed a stand-up routine on shyness at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre (Liverpool Bright Club, March 2017); appeared alongside practitioners of ‘shy activism’ and autism awareness, Hamja Ahsan and Paul Wady, at the DIY Cultures Fair, Shoreditch (May 2017) and Writing on the Wall, Liverpool (May 2018); and contributed to Jamie Thom’s book A Quiet Education: Challenging the Extrovert Ideal in Our Schools (John Catt, 2020).

A significant strand of this impact targeted vulnerable groups who may find it hard to articulate their shyness. Moran was interviewed by Teen Breathe, a magazine promoting mental wellbeing in young people (November 2018), and for the Creative Introvert Podcast (13 March 2018). He spoke about shyness and masculinity at the Being a Man festival (Southbank, November 2016) and was interviewed on this subject by joe.co.uk (18 November 2016), melmagazine.com (7 December 2016) and the podcast The Modern Mann (27 March 2017). He also spoke to the careers site The Ladders about coping with shyness at work (8 March 2017), particularly in working environments that value dialogue and collaboration, by focusing on one-to-one interactions and prepared public speaking. He was interviewed by Canvas8 (10 February 2017), a behavioural insights practice offering paywalled resources for clients including Coca-Cola and Unilever, on getting the best out of shy employees. This resulted in an internally circulated report, ‘The science of shyness’, in which Moran emphasised the importance of not seeing shyness as something to shake off but as a resilient and paradoxical condition. He gave talks about shyness in academia to PGR students at Birkbeck (June 2016) and LJMU (November 2019).

Web comments about Shrinking Violets evidence its impact on readers: ‘Inspiring and reassuring to know that others … suffer with shyness in ways similar or far more extreme than I have.’ ‘Shrinking Violets is not a miracle cure for shyness – it’s more like a hand reaching out to take yours, a reassurance that you're not alone.’ ‘Anyone who is shy, or knows someone who is ought to read this book to better understand themselves or others.’ (CS8) ‘Being shy I'm not sure I can articulate how good this book is … I don't think I've read anything as human as this about shyness.’ ‘I found this book a very positive encouragement … given how negatively shyness can be portrayed/viewed by the world at large.’ (CS9)

In the many letters and emails Moran received from readers, and comments on his own website, the positive personal impact of his work and its broadening of understanding were common themes: ‘Your book helped me I think overcome some difficulties, or at least better rationalize the human relations and my stand in interacting with others.’ ‘The best part about reading is where you come across something, a thought or feeling you had felt peculiar to yourself, written down by someone else, and they’ve expressed it in a way that perfectly synthesises your thoughts … Shrinking Violets gave me lots of those moments.’ (CS5) ‘It’s definitely altered how I feel about my own shyness, which I used to see as an ugly affliction that needed to be cured.’ ‘I understand [my wife and daughter] a bit better after reading your excellent book.’ ‘A remarkable achievement … as a shy and reserved person, I … valued your analysis and observations.’ ‘Your book helped show me that I ought to go easier on myself.’ (CS10) These responses evidenced a key argument of the book: that shyness is a condition that affects everyone differently but speaks to our common humanity.