CASE STDIES OF ENGLISH HERITAGE OF OUTREACH PROJECTS

1. Middlegate Garden, Great Yarmouth

As part of the regeneration of the South Quay in Great Yarmouth, the East of England Outreach Officer worked in partnership with Great Yarmouth Borough Council and Seachange, a local community arts organisation, to re-landscape an area of derelict land between two EH properties – Row 111 and the Old Merchants House – to create a community heritage garden.

The project focused on the regeneration of an urban space through the arts and establishing a real and meaningful relationship with the local community from the neighbouring Middlegate Estate. Local residents were consulted throughout the scheme on the design of the garden, through the Residents Association and public meetings.

The garden was soft-landscaped by offenders working on Community Punishment Orders through the Probationary Service, and site-specific public art and street furniture inspired by the sea-faring history of the area was created by the local Youth Offending Team. Over 220 local residents and families attended the launch in June with fruit trees planted around the garden, herb borders and a central spiral.

The regeneration of Great Yarmouth through arts and heritage is accelerating and English Heritage, through the Outreach Officer, is an integral part of this, enjoying full support and confidence of many different local partners. In addition, the Select Committee from the ODPM visited the site as an exemplary case study whilst looking into the role of heritage in regeneration.

A Heritage Youth Club has since been established at one of the EH properties to sustain the value of the project, maintain the garden, and to continue to inspire and work with the local young people.

2. DAWN Arts, Oldham

The Housing Market Renewal (HMR) process is one of the biggest issues facing English Heritage in the North West. EH is already making a strong contribution to the process by working with the Pathfinders in identifying historical and architectural significance and promoting repair and rebuild where appropriate. However it was identified that there was an opportunity for the North West Outreach Officer to work with local partners in facilitating public engagement with the process. This could be through gauging public attitudes to change, understanding what communities value about their historic environment or assisting them to preserve or record the historic and social fabric as it stands.

The DAWN Arts project is a long term project which facilitates community participation in the HMR process in Derker and Werneth in Oldham. It is building capacity and fostering a sense of ownership in the process of change through a two year programme of arts and cultural activities. In 2004, a launch event saw the two communities of Werneth and Derker come together in a lantern procession to link the two areas, and a community consultation event in a local park. Future activities will include arts and poetry projects looking at the history of the area, which will be displayed on the shutters of houses scheduled for demolition.

Derker and Werneth Network (DAWN) Arts is a partnership project between AKSA Housing Trust, the Community Cohesion Agency, Oldham HMR, Groundwork, English Heritage, Arts Council, Action Factory and the local community. It aims to:

 facilitate community participation in the remodeling of neighbourhoods affected by Housing Market Renewal by enabling tenants and residents, in particular young people, to have a say in decisions and changes affecting their lives  to provide opportunities for artists to work with residents to empower and build capacity of people living in the intervention areas and engender a sense of ownership of the process  to provide opportunities for residents to work with artists and to participate in the life, image and design of their neighbourhoods.  promote community cohesion by celebrating the cultural diversity of communities and provide opportunities for residents from different communities to interact.

3. Witley Court Revisited, Worcestershire

Two parallel projects have been run at Witley Court to address issues of cultural, intellectual and physical access at the site, and produce a more socially inclusive interpretation of the site.

‘ Access at Witley Court’ explored intellectual and physical access on site by working with people with a range of disabilities and learning abilities. In partnership with the West Midlands Disability Arts Forum, focus groups including wheelchair users, people with learning disabilities, people with visual impairments and Deaf people, were invited as consultants to Witley Court to feed back on their experience of the site. This project was about understanding how to enhance the visitor experience and access for all at the site and approached issues related to access from a visitor perspective.

Through their recommendations, a series of short, mid and long term changes to the site have been proposed and a programme of works will begin in 2005. Recommendations included improving signage, the audio tour, staff training in welcoming people with disabilities and physical access to the house.

An interactive CD Rom has been produced using Witley Court as a case study for carrying out best practise consultation with people with disabilities, which will be disseminated across the heritage sector. A copy will be included in the Easy Access to Historic Landscapes.

‘Reinterpreting Witley’ explored issues of cultural access through consultation with hard- to-reach black and ethnic minority audiences in order to highlight the barriers which prevent people from visiting heritage sites and to understand how EH could improve the experience of diverse new audiences at Witley Court. New research was commissioned to show the multi-cultural links that could be made at Witley Court. Focus groups of people from different cultural communities, including Asian men and women, Chinese elders and an African and Caribbean youth group, visited the site and fed back their experiences on interpretation and accessibility, and the cultural reinterpretation of the site. This consultation has led to plans to introduce tours in different community languages covering the history of the site and its wider cultural context.

4. Groundwell Ridge community archaeology dig, Swindon

This was a Beacon Project, managed by the Centre for Archaeology, with the support of the Education Officer and Outreach Officer in the South West. A Community Education and Outreach Officer was employed by the Centre for Archaeology for six months to manage the programme of outreach and education activities. These were developed to widen participation and interest in the seven week excavation of a Roman site.

Working in partnership with Swindon Borough Council, and a range of community and voluntary groups in the area, activities included the development of a community website, a drama project with young people at the Swindon Foyer, and training for local residents as guides for Heritage Open Days. Swindon residents also took part in the excavation as volunteer archaeologists. Education activities provided by the Education Officer include a mock excavation for school and youth groups, activity trails and a family learning art group producing a mosaic for a local school.

Nearly 200 local residents were actively involved in the project and approximately 2000 people visited the excavation over the summer period.

For more details, go to www.groundwell.org.uk

5. Revealing Hidden History at Tide Mills, Newhaven, East Sussex

Tide Mills in Newhaven was the largest tidal mill in Sussex in the 19th century and as such represents an important part of local history. However, it has been neglected since it was effectively destroyed during World War Two as part of the Coastal Defence Strategy.

The South East Outreach Officer worked with Sussex Probation’s Brighton Community Punishment Unit to clear and re-interpret this site as part of their Enhanced Community Punishment Orders, which aim to develop community service by involving offenders in projects which have a focus on increasing the personal skills and employability of participants. To work in and for the care of the historic environment has proved to be an excellent way of adding value to offer a more meaningful experience for ex-offenders. The project at Tide Mills offered the very practical work which ECP aim to provide. Developing interpretation for the site, with a professional graphic designer, provided opportunities for the participants to find out about the historic environment and develop useful research skills, basic ICT and presentations skills invaluable for future employment.

Installing new interpretation panels on the site also made the site more accessible for local residents. This helps with raising pride and interest in the site locally, which is vital in an area where regeneration is a high priority.

The Brighton Community Punishment Unit is keen to sustain the project and maintain a commitment to keeping the site cleared and accessible to the public through ongoing involvement of teams of ex-offenders. A further development of the project will hopefully see an archaeological survey of the area in partnership with Sussex Probation and the Centre for Archaeology.