We are pleased that CHER (Community House Eton Road) has recently been awarded a 2 year grant of £55,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to support for their 'A Thousand Voices' project. A part-time project co-ordinator role is currently being advertised [see below].
Thousand Voices Project & Job Opportunity in Maindee
A Thousand Voices follows a similar approach to Finding Maindee by working with the community to collect and archive the stories. In this case people who have been involved with Community House since 1962 when the Presbyterian Church of Wales rebuilt the old church as a community centre with a chapel at its heart; so that the congregation could reach out to all the people of Maindee.
The deadline for the project coordinator is Monday 19 September 2016. For more details of the job please email mpriday@googlemail.com.
These stories will be collected and saved. The award will allow us to employ a co-ordinator, who will work with volunteers. The volunteers will be offered training in collecting stories, preserving photographs, digitising material and photography. The end of the first year will culminate in a celebration and exhibition of this work.
The second year will involve three local primary schools. The pupils will explore the history of their own families, with the support of an artist and a writer in residence. Their work will become the focus of a celebration and exhibition at the end of the 2nd year. Bilingual school packs will be developed for use by other Newport schools.
We hope that the project will bring back many happy memories for story tellers and residents but will also inspire young people to be proud and knowledgeable about their families and Maindee and also to become further involved with CHER.
The project will be supported by The Peoples’ Collection Wales and The Gwent Archives who will be train volunteers and store the collected material. The stories and other material will be stored digitally and the public will be able to view them on our website or on tablet computers in Community House.
Philip Champness the Chair of Trustees at CHER said
“We are delighted to be able to involve local people in generating and understanding their history in Maindee.”
Richard Bellamy, Head of HLF in Wales, said:
“So much of our local history is woven into people’s reminiscences and experiences. A Thousand Voices will capture these elements of our shared history that is in danger of disappearing as it slips out of human memory. Thanks to National Lottery players, HLF is able to support such projects that conserve people’s contribution to their heritage.”
If readers have stories, photographs or artefacts they would like to share or would like to be involved as a volunteer, please email CHER at heritageproject@etonrdch.org or telephone 01633 265486. If you leave your name and phone number or email address the co-ordinator will contact you in due course.
The Gwent Archives