New project to highlight 'overlooked' working-class stories in Bodmin
Historic England has announced £774,000 of funding for projects across the country
Historic England has announced funding for more than 50 creative projects to highlight working-class stories from “overlooked” parts of the country, including in Cornwall.
57 projects will benefit from £774,000 split into grants ranging from £6,000 to £25,000, including stories from West Yorkshire’s boxing clubs, Leicester’s hidden nightclub scene and Deptford’s 19th-century slaughter houses.
Historic England said the money will further the “collective understanding of the past” and “address the imbalance over which histories are remembered”.
The projects will take various forms, with some producing films, online articles, artwork and oral history recordings and others hosting celebratory events and exhibitions.
After an open call for applications in February, the 57 projects were selected from more than 500 proposals.
In Cornwall, ‘A Cornish Camera – Bodmin at Work’ will connect local communities with working class histories of Bodmin to tell these stories in new, creative ways using previously unseen photographs of buildings and people from the George Ellis Collection, while volunteers including young people and isolated older people will find, research, and animate the lives of working class people in the rural village of Godolphin.
Among the criteria for successful bids were projects that provided volunteering opportunities for young people or those facing loneliness and isolation, and projects that contributed positively to participants’ wellbeing.
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.”
Heritage minister Nigel Huddleston said: “This inclusive and accessible project clearly demonstrates that heritage belongs to all of us.
“This is a fantastic initiative that will help communities from across England engage with the working-class heritage in their area in new and exciting ways and see these untold stories being put into the spotlight.”
About the project in Cornwall
A grant of £8,000 has been awarded to Kresen Kernow and IntoBodmin for the project ‘A Cornish Camera, Bodmin at Work’.
Led by Kresen Kernow and IntoBodmin, this project will connect local communities with the working-class histories of Bodmin, Cornwall.
It will use previously unseen photographs of buildings and people from the George Ellis Collection, one of Cornwall’s foremost photographic collections, to inspire people to explore the history of the town.
Workshops hosted by IntoBodmin, a community and arts organisation in the town based in the Old Library, will be designed to engage people from the local area with the untold histories captured in the images.
This work will culminate in a celebration event, an exhibition, online content and 200 digitised images. The collection contains 95,000 glass plate negatives, covering 1939-1982, and will spark discussion and sharing, and aims to have a positive impact on wellbeing, creativity and connection.