STORIES of some of the most exciting and terrifying times in the history of Harwich can now be heard courtesy of a newly-installed listening bench.

Recordings, painstakingly collected by the Harwich Society between 2009 and 2013, have been installed in the bench, located in St Helen’s Green.

The clips highlight some of Harwich’s most significant moments in history, particularly memories of the 1953 flood, which wreaked havoc on the town and the surrounding area.

The bench was put together by Harwich Inspired Youth Action in collaboration with the Essex Re cord Of fice and the Harwich Society, with the oral history project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

HIYA is made up of 11 to 18-year-old children who are aiming to change the image of young people in their community.

The project, entitled You Are Hear: Sound and a Sense of Place, aims to install similar benches all over Essex.

Sarah-Joy Maddeaux, of the Essex Record Office, said: “The opening ceremony was lovely, the mayor and mayoress of Harwich were there to cut the ribbon.

“I was there representing the record office, there has been a great amount of work put into this over the past year.

“This is part of a three-year project and is one of eight benches being installed this summer across the county.

“This project is about digitising our recordings and making them available online and taking them directly to the community through these benches.

“We hope people will be able to enjoy these pieces of history without having to travel to the office in Chelmsford.

“There will be people who never thought to come into the record office who will now get to enjoy these enlightening clips about their town.”

The bench joins others like it in Colchester, Kelvedon, Great Waltham and Castle Hedingham.

The project is primarily funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, with additional support from the Essex Heritage Trust and the Friends of Historic Essex, at a total cost of £311,200.

It hopes to see the estimated 30,000 recordings in Essex Sound and Video Archive digitised and catalogued by 2018.