Oral history and education in Northern Ireland: Kate Melvin in conversation with Anna Bryson, Denver Charles, Lesley Emerson, Alan McCully and Sean O’Connell

In January 2022 Kate Melvin approached Anna Bryson and Sean O’Connell to discuss the potential contents of an article on the use and role of oral history in schools in Northern Ireland. She explained her ambition to publish this piece in this Special Issue of Oral History and asked if they might help with the background research. Anna and Sean are based at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). Anna is the Northern Ireland Regional Networker for the Oral History Society and both are editors of Oral History. They gladly agreed and met Kate online the following month. The idea was that Kate would then draw on this discussion to shape her article, consulting with the group as necessary for clarification and further detail. On 18 July 2022 we engaged in a lively and thoroughly enjoyable discussion, in the course of which we all felt we learned a great deal. The last correspondence we have from Kate suggested that, from her point of view, it was ‘really helpful, useful and informative’ and she wished us all a ‘very good summer’. Little did we know what a terrible summer it would turn out to be for poor Kate. Within weeks of our discussion she fell seriously ill and sadly passed away on 19 September. We share in the deep sense of shock and sadness that gripped the oral history community upon hearing this dreadful news. We can only conjecture as to how Kate might have sewn together the themes that emerged from our discussion last July. Rather than attempting that task on her behalf, we have decided to publish the full transcript. As will become clear, Kate was a naturally gifted interviewer, gently guiding our contributions with informed curiosity and encouragement. We offer it here as a vivid illustration of her substantial contribution to the oral history community. She will be sorely missed.