heritage – Page 2 – Industrial Heritage Networks

Spring 2025 Online Industrial Heritage Network Meetings

February 28, 2025mikenevell

The next round of online Industrial Heritage Network (IHN) meetings is taking place this Spring. The IHN networks are a chance to meet those working, volunteering, or researching in the industrial heritage sector.

Four lunchtime IHN meetings will be held in late March, and will run from 12noon to 1pm, and there will be an IHSO update followed by news and updates from members. The first round of 2025 IHN meetings will take place on the following dates and will include the following groups:

21 March – East of England
25 March – South East
26 March -North East
31 March – London

Zoom links for the meetings will be sent to each region nearer the dates. If you would like to join any of these Industrial Heritage Networks as a member please email the IHSO here: mike.nevell@mikenevell

Heritage Trust Network & Locality Bring ‘Heritage Toolbox’ to West Yorkshire

January 20, 2025mikenevell

The Heritage Trust Network is launching a pilot programme of learning and skills development sessions for heritage organisations, including industrial heritage organisations and sites, in the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. The programme has been commissioned by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority as a pilot to facilitate resilience and capacity building in heritage organisations, particularly grass-roots, community-led organisations.

The pilot programme will be delivered in partnership with Locality, the national membership network supporting local community organisations to be strong and successful (see their website here: https://locality.org.uk/). There will be an in-person discovery event for organisations/groups that are interested in participating on the 13^th February in Bradford, and an online discovery event on the 27^th February where they can find out all about the programme.

If you’d like to take part, or you know an organisation who might please book a place via Eventbrite or share details. Any queries can be sent to: admin@heritagetrustnetwork.org.uk  

Folloow the link belwo for more details.

Heritage Trust Network & Locality bring ‘Heritage Toolbox’ to West Yorkshire

Applications for AIM Connected Communities Grants 2024 Now Open

October 31, 2023mikenevell

Applications are now open for AIM’s next round of Connected Communities funding, from which several industrial heritage sites have already benefitted. Grants of £15,000 – £100,000 are available to museums delivering projects in the eligible areas that will improve community connections through high-quality volunteering opportunities and/or reducing loneliness and increasing social bonds. Expressions of Interest must be made by Monday 27 November.

Over the last few years nearly £3 million has been distributed on behalf of the Government by Arts Council England via partners Libraries Connected, Creative Lives and AIM, through the AIM Connected Communities programme. This has created more than 1,000 volunteering opportunities and support more than 4,000 people experiencing, or at risk of, chronic loneliness.

Who can apply? Museums and partnerships or consortia including a museum in one of the 27 eligible areas in England. Organisations do not need to be members of AIM to apply. The scheme is also open to Accredited and non-Accredited museums. Eligible areas include several industrial connurbations, such as Barnsley, Barrow-in-Furness, Burnley, Doncaster, Kingston-upon-Hull, Middlesborough, Rochdale, Sandwell, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Tameside, Wakefield and Wolverhampton.

Further details on how to appley here: https://aim-museums.co.uk/for-aim-members/grants/aim-connected-communities/

To support potential applicants, AIM are hosting online workshops:

8 November – Introduction to Connected Communities.
21 November – The role of museums in supporting wellbeing and alleviating loneliness.

Historic England Free Industrial Heritage Webinar on Elsecar

February 14, 2023mikenevell

Historic England’s next free lunchtime industrial heritage webinar takes place on 23 February, 1300 – 1400. This webinar will describe the work and findings from the Elsecar Heritage Action Zone which ran from 2017 – 2020.

The model industrial village of Elsecar was developed in the late 18th- and 19th-centuries by the Earls Fitzwilliam of Wentworth Woodhouse to exploit nearby abundant coal and iron reserves and much of the landscape comprising ironworks, collieries, housing and supporting infrastructure survives to this day. The webinar will consider this nationally important landscape through the research programme, protection and management strategies, community outreach and engagement, how Barnsley Museums are building on this legacy with an ambitious programme and vision for the village, and potential lessons for elsewhere. It will be of interest to all those involved in the investigation, interpretation, management and presentation of our rich industrial heritage and how it can be at the forefront of place-shaping and regeneration.

Details of the event and how to register can be found here: https://events-emea5.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1414989231/en/events/event/shared/default_template_simple/event_landing.html?sco-id=5413177798&_charset_=utf-8.

Heritage Open Days – Register Now!

March 16, 2022March 15, 2022mikenevell

Registration is now open for Heritage Open Days 2022, which this year runs from the 9th to the 18th September. Last year more than 100 industrial archaeology and heritage sites opened their doors for free to the public in England alone.

You can join the largest festival of history and culture in the UK as an organiser by simply submitting your event, thereby putting your local area on the map, enabling you to tell the stories of people, places, and events that really matter to your local area. This year’s theme is Astounding Inventions, which seems tailor-made for industrial sites. Potential organisers can download a resource pack full of inspiring materials and ideas for events and activities.

Follow this link for more details on Heritage Open Days website

Heritage Digital Fundraising Seminar, 30 November 2021

November 23, 2021mikenevell

On the 30th November Heritage Digital will be running its latest business support session, a webinar on ‘Developing a fundraising strategy for your heritage organisation’. Digital methods are now the most popular way to give money to charitable causes in the UK, yet conservation, environment, and heritage charities took only 4% of online giving in the UK in 2019, the year before the pandemic hit.

This free session will specifically benefit those small and mid-sized heritage organisations receiving under £1 million per year in income, and those within heritage organisations responsible for digital/fundraising. The session will provide participants with:

The basic principles of digital fundraising
The main methods of effectively fundraising with digital
The core elements of a digital fundraising strategy

Museum Re-opening Guidance

December 2, 2020mikenevell

A partial re-opening of the heritage sector is now underway in England with the ending of the second lockdown today (2 December 2020). However, industrial heritage sites, along with other cultural and museum venues, remain closed under the revised Tier 3 COVID-19 restrictions.

Re-opening guidance for museums were issued in July 2020 by the National Museum Directors’ Council (NMDC) Planning and Remobilisation Group, with support from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and contributions from across the museum sector, including AIM. They are intended for use by museums in England. Separate re-opening guidelines are available for Scottish and Welsh cultural and heritage sites. This is guidance will also be relevant for all industrial heritage sites planning to open early in 2021.

The Association of Independent Museums and the Museum Development Network have produced a checklist to be used in conjunction with the Guidelines, to help museums take a strategic, well informed, approach to making decisions on re-opening and implementing a safe and effective plan in conjunction with the national guidance for museums.

More details here: Museum Reopening Guidance and Checklist – AIM – Association of Independent Museums (aim-museums.co.uk)

Rebuilding Heritage – Latest Free Support Programme Announced

November 27, 2020mikenevell

Applications are now open for the next round of free support from the Rebuilding Heritage programme. Rebuilding Heritage is a free support programme, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to help the heritage sector respond to the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heritage organisations and businesses can apply for one-to-one support in business planning, fundraising, and communications and marketing, and for a place on group training in leadership and in managing staff wellbeing.Full details of the support on offer and the application process are available on the Rebuilding Heritage website. The closing date for applications is Wednesday 16 December and decisions on applications from the Rebuilding Heritage team will be confirmed before Christmas. Details here:

Home – Rebuilding Heritage – Free Support Programme for the Heritage Sector

A Village in Lockdown: Understanding the Impact of Covid-19 on Port Sunlight

September 23, 2020mikenevell

IHN North West member Port Sunlight Village Trust (PSVT) has received a Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund grant from Historic England to understand and document the impact of Covid-19 on Port Sunlight and to identify ways to mitigate the threats and maximise the opportunities for the village’s heritage and its community.

The main focus of the project is a programme of stakeholder research and engagement that includes the village’s residential community – of tenants, owner-occupiers and landlords – as well as businesses, clubs and societies. PSVT now wishes to commission this important piece of work, which must conclude no later than 1st March 2021. The deadline for tender submission is 10am Thursday 24 September, 2020. For further information and to view the full brief, click here:

A village in lockdown: Understanding the impact of Covid-19 on Port Sunlight

Heritage Open Days 2020 Go Online

September 7, 2020mikenevell

The cross-compound horizontal steam engine at Grane Mill, Haslingden, Lancashire, that used to power 11 looms. Open for HOD in 2020.

Each September, Heritage Open Days (HOD) highlights places of historical interest, providing free access or conducted tours to the public. This includes a significant number of industrial heritage sites. This year’s HOD is still going ahead but with many places providing online events, such as the Etruria Industrial Museum in Staffordshire and Stacey Arms drainage mill in Tunstall, Norfolk. For those sites still physically open constraints will be in place as a result of Covid-19.

Many industrial heritage sites not normally open to the public will be accessible, such as Bradwell Windmill in Buckinghamshire; Grane Textile Mill and Marsh Windmill both in Lancashire; Guns Mill in Gloucestershire; Newland Iron Furnace and Warwick Bridge corn mill, both in Cumbria; Stevens Windmill in Cambridgeshire; and Sunny Banks Mills in Leeds. Individual access details, booking directions, and appropriate COVID-19 protocols for each site can be found on the HOD website below.

You can find local places to visit from September 11-20th at https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/visiting.

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