Gwent Archives Was Keen to Contribute
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The total word count for the section below must not exceed 2500 words. A maximum of two additional documents may be submitted to support your entry not exceeding 5MB in total or provided as a ZIP file. Alternatively please provide relevant links. Project title : Your Place in History: Chartism Context: Describe the background/reason for this project. What challenges or opportunities were you faced with? 4th November 2014 saw the 175 th Anniversary of the Newport Chartist Uprising of 1839 and Gwent Archives was keen to contribute. We had developed links with the Chartist Anniversary Committee and their Education Sub-Committee, and, in September 2014, we would be recruiting two Project Officers who would deliver the ‘Trials to Trails Project’ (part of the Cynefin Project) – a crowdsourcing project focused on the transcription of the Chartist trail documents. In January 2014, Gwent Archives arranged a meeting with Les James, a member of the Chartist Anniversary Committee and editor of the ‘Celebrating the Chartists’ newsletter. As a group, we wanted to contribute towards remembering the Anniversary, develop a ‘bank’ of volunteers who may be interested in volunteering on the ‘Trials to Trails Project’ and create awareness of the Chartist related documents that we had in our collection. The Chartist Anniversary Committee already had a loose calendar of events for September 2014 onwards – mainly consisting of day schools, lecture programmes and the Annual Chartist Convention. Due to this, and that the majority of the events focused on what had happened in Newport, we felt we needed to take a different approach. The Chartists had travelled from all over Gwent to Newport, and this was something that was often overlooked. Since May 2013, Gwent Archives had successfully been delivering a series of events called ‘Your Place in History’ (YPIH) – an all-day event which consisted of a two hour guided history tour of a locality in the morning, with lunch at the Archives, followed by a display of documents and tour of Gwent Archives in the afternoon. We had achieved good numbers and reviews with previous YPIHs and developed partnerships with those able to deliver the mornings’ tours. With this in mind, it was decided that we would deliver a ‘Your Place in History: Chartism’ series which would look how Chartist affected that locality in the morning session, with the afternoon focusing on the Chartist related documents we have in the Archives and the ‘Trails to Trials Project’. The resulting Your Place in History: Chartist events took place at the following; 21 st May 2014 – Your Place in History: Chartist Nantyglo & Blaina 28 th May 2014 – Your Place in History: Chartist Tredegar & Sirhowy 25 th June 2014 – Your Place in History: Chartist Pontypool & District 16 th July 2014 – Your Place in History: Chartist Newport The morning sessions for the first two events were delivered in partnership with Blaenau Gwent Access to Heritage, who we had worked with in previous YPIHs. The YPIH: Chartist Pontypool & District and YPIH: Chartist Newport were delivered in partnership with local Heritage Consultants who were linked with the Chartist Anniversary Committee. Aims and Objectives: State the aims and objectives that were set for this project – where possible these should be SMART objectives – for example, how many new users or people attending the event were you hoping for? If possible, include budget and timescale information. What is a SMART objective? Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound Aims & Objectives • To contribute towards the 175 th Anniversary of the Newport Chartist Uprising • To generate interest in the upcoming ‘Trials to Trails’ Project • To look at Chartism outside of Newport and at the wider Gwent area • To attract new audiences • To raise the profile of Gwent Archives • To strengthen existing partnerships and create new partnerships Audience • Current users of Gwent Archives with an interest in the Chartists. • Potential new users with an interest in the Chartists, who either had not considered visiting us previously, or had been unaware of the Archives existence. • Current or new users who had an interest in local history, and were unaware of their localities connections with the Chartists. Delivery of Event • Based on previous YPIHs, numbers were limited to 15. This ensured group manageability, but also for transportation reasons, as we would need to use a minibus to transport participants back to the Archive for lunch and to collect from the audience at the end of the day. We knew we could achieve between 10 to 15 bookings for each event. • The standard format for a YPIH was 10am – 3.30pm, which usually consisted of a 2hr slot for the morning session of a guided history walk, a 1hr slot for travel and lunch at the Archives, and a 2hr slot for the afternoon session of documents and/or a tour of the Archives. Based on previous experience, we knew that this was achievable for the events which took place within Blaenau Gwent, with some small adjustments for Torfaen. However, we felt the distance from Newport to Gwent Archives was too far and would impact on the length of the day. With this in mind, we managed to find a host for the lunch and afternoon session in the form of Newport Museum. • The morning session of YPIH: Chartist Blaina & Nantyglo and Tredegar & Sirhowy were delivered in partnership with Blaenau Gwent Access to Heritage, with the morning sessions of YPIH: Chartist Pontypool & District and YPIH: Chartist Newport delivered in partnership with local Heritage Consultants with links to the Chartist Anniversary Committee. Resources • Staff time was minimal – created publicity material in-house and distributed mostly electronically, preparation of refreshments, preparation of document display and Education Room, one member of staff attending the morning session and one member of staff supervising the afternoon session at Gwent Archives/Newport Museum. • Each event had at least one ‘recon’ day, where a member of staff walked the route with the partner leading the morning session of the day. This meant that we were familiar with the route and able to answer any enquiries in the office regarding difficulty, distance and plan of route. • Lunch - £90 x 4 events = £360 • Minibus - £120 x 2 events = £240 . Blaenau Gwent Access to Heritage was able to supply a minibus for 2 events, free of charge. This meant that Gwent Archives only needed to arrange transportation for YPIH: Chartist Pontypool and Newport. • Total Cost = £600 • Contribution by Cynefin Project = £300 • Total Cost to Gwent Archives = £300 Strategy & Planning: Outline the strategy taken to achieve your objectives and justify your marketing approach – did you undertake any research for example; have your developed new or existing partnerships; did you target a new audience or try a new approach to promoting your services? To deliver the morning sessions of the YPIH: Chartist events, we needed to approach existing partnerships and create new ones. For Blaina & Nantyglo and Tredegar & Sirhowy, we approached Blaenau Gwent Access to Heritage (BGA2H). We had already delivered YPIHs with them in previous years, so already had a partnership in place. Through BGA2H, we were able to create a link with Blaina Chartist Visitor Centre, who allowed us to use the centre as a starting point for the Blaina & Nantyglo walk. We have since strengthened this link with the Centre, who will be hosting our ‘Gwent in the Great War’ exhibition in 2015. In terms of new partnerships; for Pontypool and Newport, the Chartist Anniversary Committee linked Gwent Archives to two Heritage Consultants that we had not worked with previously. Due to the distance of Newport from Gwent Archives, we approached Newport Museum to host the afternoon session. They were also willing to display some of their Chartist related documents for the event. Like Blaine Chartist Visitor Centre, the Museum will also be hosting our exhibition in 2015. In order to promote the event, we took a more coordinated and wide-spread approach. Previously, after creating publicity materials in-house, display posters in-house, distribute publicity material amongst our mailing list of existing users and networks, publicised it on the Gwent Archives website, Twitter and Facebook and would have gone out to the target area to distribute posters and flyers. For the YPIH: Chartists events, we did the above, but also circulated it to Communications Officers for the five counties, who distributed the information to the community boards and free press publications; utilised our new quarterly newsletter; and advertised the event in the ‘Celebrating the Chartists’ Newsletter, a free monthly e- newsletter. Tactics and Implementation: Set out the plan of activities undertaken to implement the strategy and evidence these over time and against budget. Include examples if appropriate – you may append or link to two additional pieces of supporting evidence – if internet links are included please ensure these will remain live until March 2015. What promotional activity did you undertake; did you use social media and/or traditional media? • January 2014 – Initial meeting between Gwent Archives and Les James from the Chartist Anniversary Committee. Months and localities were decided upon. • February 2014 – Basic details of YPIH: Chartist Event (month and where) with contact details to register interest circulated in No.3 of ‘Celebrating the Chartists’ Newsletter. Meeting arranged with Blaenau Gwent Access to Heritage to discuss possible partnership. Dates, times, transportation and lunch arrangements agreed, with ‘recon’ day arranged. • March 2014 – Dates and details for YPIH: Chartist Blaina & Nantyglo and Tredegar & Sirhowy confirmed in No. 4 of ‘Celebrating the Chartists’ Newsletter. 21 st March, Gwent Archives distributed the posters for all four events on the Gwent Archives website, Facebook, Twitter, our Spring 2014 newsletter, and distributed amongst our mailing list of existing users and networks. We also contacted each of the Communication Officers for five local authorities, and posters were distributed amongst the community boards and free press publications.