Nothing can replace the spoken word of a person telling their life story and that is what Brian Andrews of the Kurri Kurri Coalfields Heritage Group is passionate about.

Mr Andrews and other volunteers have been working with the University of Newcastle Library’s Cultural Collections to digitise the museum’s collection of photographs and oral history.

It has collected and stored 10,000 photographs and more than 700 audio recordings.

A free oral history workshop will be held at Cessnock Library on Wednesday, July 22 from 9am until 1pm and lunch will be provided.

“The focus of this workshop is to take a look at the importance of oral history,” Mr Andrews said.

“You might find yourself asking who am I in relation to your family, a group or a community when you discover the roots and branches of your family tree.”

The Coalfields Heritage group, located in the grounds of Kurri Kurri High School, became the custodian of the late John W Delaney’s collection of 700 oral history audio tapes spanning 20 years.

He interviewed hundreds of people from different walks of life – miners, vignerons, business men and women from around the Coalfields.

“Every story told by the people he interviewed, who are now mostly deceased, adds a great richness to the region’s history,” Mr Andrews said.

“Attending this workshop will help people plan, organise and collect their history. It might give people the confidence to assemble and store their own recordings.

“It will certainly help people see their world, not only through the eyes and experiences of others, but give them a deeper appreciation of how things came to be the way they are.”

Places for the workshop are ­limited and bookings can be made on 4993 4399 by July 8.

The tapes are being digitised as part of the Voices of the Hunter project. The tapes are on loan by the Coalfields Heritage Group to the University Library which is digitising them with the assistance of a grant from the Coal & Allied Community Development Fund.