UKAPT is one of the first successful recipients of an Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) ‘All Our Stories’ grant out of over 1,000 applications.
Dr James Moir, IHBC member and UKAPT Director, has written to BPTs as follows:
The £10,000 grant gives you as BPTs a unique opportunity to showcase the range of projects being undertaken throughout the UK via this website. The ‘In Perspective’ project will enable us to make a series of 20 short films – each one focussing on a different angle when it comes to delivering a BPT project. Who would you like to nominate from your team to take part? – it could be your project manager, a construction worker or craftsperson, an apprentice perhaps, or your fundraiser, a volunteer trustee, someone who has funded your project, a researcher, an end user or simply a local resident who is pleased to see a valuable piece of history being saved. Each person will be invited to present a view on the value of rescuing buildings at risk, and to demonstrate their passion and commitment to the project.
By weaving these different ‘‘perspectives’ into the website’s pages, the aim is to paint a picture of the diversity of the BPT movement, demonstrating not only the huge range of projects and end uses but also the variety of individuals and skills involved in delivering these complex and inspirational rescues.
For each building has its story to tell, and the ‘In Perspective’ project will illustrate how these stories can touch not just trust participants, but also much wider audiences drawn from the local and wider community. It will give a flavour of the huge economic, social and environmental benefits these projects can bring. Above all, the ‘In Perspective’ project will give out a strong key message of ‘Come and Join In’, with clear signposting as to how to do this.
Perhaps you already have a clip or interview which we could edit and use? Or we can help you in various ways – we have some cameras to give away, with the opportunity to provide training, so that you can go on to record your whole project. Or we can help you to source and produce the film clip. There will be prizes for the best videos! And I hope to be able to announce soon some more collaborative opportunities in partnership with De Montfort University.
All Our Stories, a brand new small grant programme, launched earlier this year in support of BBC Two’s The Great British Story – has been designed as an opportunity for everyone to get involved in their heritage. With HLF funding and support, community groups will be carrying out activities that help people explore, share and celebrate their local heritage.
The popular series presented by historian Michael Wood and supported by a programme of BBC Learning activities and events got thousands of us asking questions about our history and inspired us to look at our history in a different way through the eyes of ordinary people.
The programme and HLF All Our Stories has proved a real hit and now we are one of hundreds of successful projects around the UK to receive a grant.
TV Presenter and historian Michael Wood, said: ‘We British love our history, and no wonder: few nations in the world, if any, have such riches on their doorstep, and so much of it accessible to all of us. It is really tremendous that Trusts all over the UK will be inspired to get involved to tell their own stories and to dig deeper into their own past. It’s brilliant that so many people are being given the chance to get involved though the Our Stories grants. Having travelled the length and breadth of the British Isles this last year filming The Great British Story, I am certain that fascinating and moving stories will be uncovered which will not only bring to life the excitement of local history, but will illuminate and enrich every community’s connection with the national narrative.
Sue Bowers, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund London said ‘Clearly the success of All Our Stories has reinforced the fact that we are indeed a nation of story tellers and that we want to explore and dig deeper into our past and discover more about what really matters to us. This is exactly what the grant will do for UKAPT as they, their members and supporters embark on a real journey of discovery’.
Please do contact me as soon as possible if you would like to take part!
For UKAPT see: http://www.ukapt.org.uk/
