Tuesday 21 October 2014

Heart of Conflict - official press release

It always takes quite a bit of time to put together a press release - so thought it worth putting this one up on the blog. It has been signed off by the Heritage Lottery Fund and may well go up on their website.....


PARISH STORIES FROM WORLD WAR ONE: HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND BRINGS CORNISH HISTORY ALIVE

Girl Guides, volunteers and local historians in Camborne, Redruth and surrounding parishes in west Cornwall are joining together to collect memories, objects and stories 100 years on from World War One in a project funded through a grant of £6,300 from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) First World War: then and now programme and run by the charity Bridging Arts.

“This project, Heart of Conflict, will bring volunteers together to research just what happened when dozens of young men joined up in west Cornwall in 1914 and subsequently,” says Bridging Arts trustee Susan Roberts. “So many never returned. We are thrilled to have received backing from the HLF so we can work with groups and volunteers to uncover stories and objects to create an exhibition recording this history and showing ways that the conflict affects people’s lives today.”

Camborne Girl Guides, trained by Pool-based community enterprise company Azook, will visit residential homes locally to record stories and memories. Praze Women’s Institute and other community groups are collecting objects, and talks by local historians and visits to memorials and museums will be arranged.

In February a selection of objects, recordings and stories will go on display at Cornwall Studies Library in Redruth. This exhibition will subsequently tour to other libraries, churches and schools – so that as many people as possible can view them and add to the collection. A website, created especially for the project, will be regularly updated with photographs, background and recordings.

An Education Pack will be written around this that schools across the country can download.

Explaining the importance of HLF’s support, the head of the HLF in the South West, Nerys Watts, said: “The impact of the First World War was far reaching, touching and shaping every corner of the UK and beyond. The Heritage Lottery Fund has already invested more than £58 million in projects - large and small - that are marking this global centenary. With our new small grants programme, we are enabling even more communities like those involved in the ‘Heart of Conflict’ project to explore the continuing legacy of this conflict and help local young people in particular to broaden their understanding of how it has shaped our modern world.”

ENDS

Notes to editors
1. About Bridging Arts
Bridging Arts aims to tackle difficult social issues through art-related projects. For more information, visit www.bridging-arts.com or call Susan Roberts on 0794 12 52 444.

2. About the Heritage Lottery Fund
Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported more than 37,000 projects with over £6 billion across the UK. www.hlf.org.uk. Follow us on twitter @heritagelottery #understandingWW1

Through its First World War: then and now programme, HLF is making at least £1million available per year for six years until 2019. It will provide grants between £3,000 and £10,000 enabling communities and groups right across the UK to explore, conserve and share their First World War heritage and deepen their understanding of the impact of the conflict.

To find out how to apply for funding visit www.hlf.org.uk/thenandnow. If a group needs a grant of more than £10,000 for a First World War project, it can apply to HLF through its open programmes www.hlf.org.uk/firstworldwar


UK Government Centenary plans

In June 2013, the Government set out its plans to mark the centenaries of the First World War commencing in 2014. These plans include a £35m refurbishment of the First World War galleries at the Imperial War Museum (IWM); The Government’s principal partners in the commemorations will be the Heritage Lottery Fund and the IWM, but will encompass support for a multitude of other initiatives, large and small, as they come together in the months and years to come.

For further information, images and interviews, please contact
Susan Roberts, Chair of Trustees at Bridging Arts on 0794 12 52 444 or info@bridging-arts.com.

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