Thousands to be spent on celebrating local heritage in the East
Great Yarmouth, Ipswich, Stowmarket and Stevenage are all set to benefit.
Last updated 26th Jul 2022
The East of England is ready to unveil their working-class heritage through community-led projects.
Four towns have been given funding through Historic England’s Everyday Heritage Grants: Stowmarket, Stevenage, Ipswich and Great Yarmouth.
A total of 57 projects are being funded across the country, with grants ranging from £6,000 to £25,000. The projects will focus on heritage that links people to overlooked historic places, with the goal to celebrate working-class heritage that are close to home.
Sean Curran, Senior Inclusive Heritage Advisor for Historic England, told us: "We believe that heritage is for everyone. Our country's heritage belongs to everyone. And I think sometimes people forget that they have heritage on their doorstep."
He continued: "You don't have to go and visit a big castle or ruins or stately home to engage with heritage. We think it's really important that people can celebrate and recognise the heritage that surrounds them every single day."
Projects in the East
Sean told us about the projects in our region: "In Stowmarket, Footprints Theatre Company CIC has received £25,000 to produce 'Stowmarket Stories', which tells the stories of people living and working in rural East Anglia.
"Whereas for Stevenage, in order to honour the ordinary lives of working-class people who contributed to forming the history of the town center, Stevenage Museums will draw people of all ages, with the help of a £10,000 grant.
"There's another one in Ipswich, which is called 'The Work Furnace'. This is by the Eastern Angles Theatre Company, and this will be a big community street procession with banners, props and puppets, with the work furnace or the oven being used as the symbol of Ipswich's heyday.
"While in Great Yarmouth, the project took a unique name to remind us how the past is here in the present: 'Working from Home'. In a partnership project by Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust and Reprezent Project, the project will include poetry workshops, street murals, and a series of photographs recording working-class migration.
"They will also collect photographs of participants, places of origin, and their stories of arriving in Great Yarmouth."
Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, said: “I’m excited to see the wide range of creative approaches and subjects proposed for Everyday Heritage Grants: Celebrating Working Class Histories. These community-led projects demonstrate that heritage is all around us and accessible to everyone. They will highlight that wherever people live they are surrounded by historic buildings, landscapes and streets, industrial and coastal heritage that can help bring communities together.”
"The projects selected contribute positively to participants’ wellbeing, as well as providing innovative volunteering opportunities for young people or those facing loneliness and isolation. Each project will enable people to creatively share overlooked or untold stories of the places where they live and encourage communities, groups and local people to examine and tell their own stories in their own ways."
The projects in the East of England were selected from more than 500 nationwide applications and are among 57 successful bids being announced today.
The announcement follows an open call earlier this year, inviting community or heritage organisations across the country to apply for grants of up to £25,000 in a bid to further the nation’s collective understanding of the past.