PARCS Grows Everybody is an intergenerational oral history project celebrating the history and legacy of the Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Crisis Service from 1981-2021. We are delighted to present this exhibition sharing explorations from the project in Aspex Gallery’s Learning Space.

The resulting oral histories will be stored in the archive at Portsmouth History Centre in perpetuity. This exhibition coincides with the launch of this important collection.

This project documents and aims to protect the legacy of an organisation which played a central part in local and national history. From its grassroots beginnings, PARCS grew to become an essential service for those affected by rape and sexual violence in Portsmouth; supported with love and care from the individuals at its heart and influencing service provision further afield We hope the story of PARCS will inspire you and activate you to play your part in helping shape the future of the sexual violence sector.

For the duration of this exhibition, our work can also be found in Portsmouth History Centre; The Big Screen Portsmouth; No. 6 Cinema; and around Portsmouth.

There will also be a series of workshops led by members of the project team sharing learning and opening up conversations about the work in different ways.

Following this the PARCS oral histories will have a permanent home at the Portsmouth History Centre.

About the team

The PARCS Grows Everybody Oral History Project and this exhibition were created and produced by former PARCS employees Kim Hosier and Gemma Green, alongside Oral Historian Anna Cole, and with direction and management from the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (Juliet Scott- project director; Emily Kyte- project manager).Georgie Parry-Crooke provided independent evaluation and sense-making; and Michael Gunton (Portsmouth History Centre) provided archival support.

The Young Feminist Collective (Holly Bedford, Lillah Butcher, Rosina Lucas, Erin Norris, Keira Power, Eleanor Price, Denesha Rocastle, Catherine Rowland, Alexandra Ruddock, Marianna Smitheram and Arianna Vignali) supported in the design of the project; and have made significant input to all areas of the project, as well as playing an essential role carrying out the interviews and in identifying the themes explored in this exhibition.

This project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

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