Changing Lives | Heritage Lottery Fund

Week by week we're telling stories about people whose lives have been changed for the better thanks to money raised by National Lottery players. We've awarded over £7.1billion to over 40,000 heritage projects across the UK.

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How seeing into the past shaped Victoria’s future

A chance meeting in a busy charity office was to determine the path of Victoria Ross’s career. Working as an intern for RNIB Scotland in Edinburgh, Victoria, who herself is partially sighted, came across Catriona Burness filling in an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project, Seeing Our History, was to research the lives of visually impaired people in Edinburgh during Edwardian and Victorian times.

"I have always been fascinated by history, and the opportunity to research the lives of people like me really appealed,” explains Victoria.

"I asked straightaway whether it was something I could get involved in."

Thanks to funding from the National Lottery, Victoria, as part of a small team, spent the next six months building a picture of individuals’ lives. She scoured records from The Register of the Outdoor Blind (a term used to describe those who were blind yet able bodied - derived from the fact that they did not need to be housed in an asylum), and cross referenced them with Parish records. Gradually she put flesh and bones back onto the names in the Register, lifting them off the page and into an Edinburgh far removed from the welfare systems of today.

One such character was John Richardson who, born in 1852 in the Borders town of Oxnam, lost his sight at the age of 14. With his father, a shepherd, and the Parish concerned that it might have to support John under the Poor Law, he was sent to the Blind Asylum in Edinburgh to train as a weaver. During his teenage years he was noted as having good character and by the time he was 30 was earning a decent wage as a mattress maker. However, drunkenness and absenteeism began to appear in his records. His wages were cut and eventually he was dismissed for stealing horsehair and selling it on to dealers.

By 1901, John was addicted to alcohol and found living in the noisy, overcrowded, Jubilee Lodging House with hundreds of other itinerant men. In Edinburgh’s Craigleith Poorhouse in 1914, he died a pauper, the very thing he had been sent away from home to avoid.

It was stories such as these that Victoria and the other volunteers uncovered and compiled into both popular podcasts and two books, ‘Feeling Our History’ and ‘Hearing Our History’.

RNIB Scotland’s Catriona Burness, who led the project, said that Victoria came into her own during the course of the research: “From personal experience Victoria knows the difficulties and challenges of living with sight loss.

“She blossomed while involved with the project and developed her self-confidence, speaking on behalf of all the research volunteers at our project launch.”  

Victoria says she found the work inspirational and, thanks to the research skills she developed, decided to take on a Postgraduate Diploma in Careers Guidance.

“It made me think very differently about history and gave me the confidence to take on further study. I was fascinated by how people’s disabilities influenced their life chances, especially in an era when such opportunities were so severely limited.”

To the National Lottery players who made the project possible, Victoria says: “[Buying a National Lottery ticket] is a great investment in people. I feel more confident and more able to go for things. It’s helped me to make friends, who I keep in touch with.”

She has recently fulfilled her ambition starting a full-time job with Skills Development Scotland.

Little did John Richardson know that the story of his struggle to survive as a blind person in Edwardian Edinburgh would, a hundred years later and thanks to Victoria and an HLF project, help visually impaired people today find fulfilling careers.

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The story so far...

Since February 2016, HLF has shared the stories of 100 people whose lives have been changed for the better thanks to projects funded with money from the National Lottery.

Find out more about the campaign here: http://bit.ly/2lTCy7i

#ChangingLives

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Empowering women, creating a sisterhood

Diverse heritage, shared experiences and hopeful futures – a project made possible by National Lottery players has brought together an incredible group of women and changed their lives for the better.

BAM! Sistahood!, run by the Angelou Centre, saw Black, Asian, minority ethnic and refugee women across the North East take the lead in exploring life as part of an increasingly diverse community. They recovered lost and under-represented stories – from the involvement of Pakistani women in trade unions in the 1970s to the creation of Panah, a refuge for black women in Newcastle. The project focused on using digital tools, building skills and ensuring the women involved could become the custodians of their own heritage.

With many of the group facing challenges such as domestic and sexual violence, disability, mental health issues and socio-economic disadvantages, the support of the project and the other women involved was vital.

Ismat, Uma, Ruth and Kemi

“The BAM! Sistahood! project empowered me. To me it truly is a sisterhood.”

Ismat Ara arrived in the UK from Pakistan just a few years ago and joined the project in 2014. Being multi-lingual and with a background in teaching, she quickly became crucial in recruiting and supporting other women to fully participate. However it was her own experience that made her realise why getting involved was so important.

“I remember intimately what it felt like to be alone and without support and to have no family in a new country. That is why I enjoy supporting other women so much.”

Described as a beacon of joy and enthusiasm, Ismat regularly led activities and always had extra food to share! The mother of three is credited with having a radiant warmth that put other women at ease and encouraged them to share their stories.

Uma has been actively involved in the project for three years, overseeing its digital element. Her innovative ideas and skills in photography and henna art have seen her become a creative and integral part of the group.

As a lone parent on a low income, the project’s provision of childcare and travel expenses was crucial for Ruth Nyimba. Her talent for writing became clear very early on and she became the project’s Poet in Residence, helping other women to share their voices through poetry.

From taking professional portraits to documenting an inter-cultural cooking demonstration, Kemi played a huge part in ensuring women from a variety of backgrounds were represented. She became actively involved in advising the heritage and cultural sector on how to engage and work inclusively with black, minority ethnic and refugee women.

The sisterhood today

From Digital Photography to Volunteering and Leadership, Ismat, Uma, Ruth and Kemi all gained accreditation for the skills they developed as part of the project.

Ismat continues to promote the use of digital technologies in exploring heritage to women across the North East. Her role has had a lasting effect. She said: “I not only integrated myself as a BAMER woman in the wider community but I also try my best to encourage other women who were hesitant to share their stories and by supporting others I learned to respect other cultures and values.”

Uma was able to improve her English and her confidence to such a degree that she wrote and performed a powerful poem to nearly 300 people as part of a celebration event.

She said: “It was good learning new things, meeting people, working together. It’s helped me to get involved.”

Ruth said: “The project assisted me in rediscovering my love for poetry.” After performing her heritage poetry at the 2016 Women of the World conference in Bradford and at a spoken word event headlined by established artist Akala, Ruth’s talents are gaining the recognition they deserve. Today she is working with New Writing North to deliver writing workshops in schools and publish her own work.

For Kemi, involvement in the project gave her the self-esteem and inspiration needed to enrol in further education and she successfully secured her first job last year.

Thank you National Lottery players

Rosie Lewis, Deputy Director of the Angelou Centre, said: “The National Lottery provides vital funding for community organisations to not only survive but thrive, as well ensuring that we engage and involve some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. As seen in this project, National Lottery funding can generate further jobs and opportunities for all and greatly benefits society as a whole.

“The heritage of black and minority women in the North East is a part of the UK’s heritage and everyone should get the opportunity to know more about it.”

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Antoinette and Wayne really dig their new-found interest

Although not new to volunteering in their local community Antoinette Scivier and her brother Wayne had never undertaken any archaeology, despite Wayne being an avid fan of TV’s Time Team.

But then they joined with other local people in trying to make sense of the unpublished archive of a 1950s excavation at the site of Preston Hawe Manor, a medieval mansion at Tadworth in Surrey, the site of which had all but long since disappeared beneath a housing estate.

It was decided that the only way to resolve a number of unanswered questions from the archive was for the local community to carry out their own excavation, organised by the Raven Housing Trust and backed by professionals from Surrey County Council’s Archaeological Unit. Thus the Community Excavation project was born, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Taking part

Antoinette and Wayne were keen to take part. “It was a chance to learn more about the history of our area, “ she says and the pair of them soon found themselves re-bagging and cataloguing finds, sorting them by type and area found and re-ordering the archive which dated from the original excavation by local archaeologist Brian Hope-Taylor in 1952-4.

Both Antoinette (40) and Wayne (44) became fully involved. Antoinette uses a wheelchair but says that although the site was bumpy is was flat enough and access was not a problem. Both are delighted with the range of skills they acquired during the course of the project, made possible by National Lottery players.

Exciting excavation

“We learned about different styles of pots and medieval tiles and weighed and sorted them into their types, cross referencing the finds with the archive and the overall site plan,” says Wayne. They also got involved in laying and cutting a practice trench in the back garden of a fellow member of the community group. And they learned about excavation, supervision and geophysical surveying.

“The whole project was exciting but especially finding the south west corner of the chapel that matches up with the black and white photo from the Brian Hope-Taylor 50’s dig,” he says.

He adds: “It enhanced my skills, I got to engage with members of the public, and how to work as part of a team.”

Antoinette says she gained confidence, enjoyed working in a group and made some good friends. “And I learned how to make a short film about the project.

“Our group went to the Beacon School in Banstead and used their media suite, with the help of two media studies teachers.” 

A DVD of the project has now been produced and will be shown soon alongside a talk at a local venue.

Planning a future

The brother and sister team are now building on their new-found interest. They are hoping to form a Friends of Preston Hawe Manor and Chapel group, are still researching the site and looking for new funding to take the project forward.

Wayne has been volunteering at other nearby digs, such as one at Woking Palace, and is also in charge of maintaining the display cabinet of finds from Preston Hawe situated at nearby Tadworth Community Leisure Centre. He also looks after the interpretation board that has been installed on the Manor site.

From having no previous practical experience of archaeology, Antoinette and Wayne became the project’s mainstay volunteers, and vital to the ongoing story of Preston Hawe Manor.

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Hazel builds head of steam for boilersmith career

A fascination for steam engines has been turned into a career opportunity for Hazel Pennack. Following her life’s ambition was assisted by a Skills for the Future project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and run by the Boiler Engineering Skills Training Trust (BESTT).

“I've always wanted to be an engineer and have been interested in steam engines. I've been around steam engines my whole life,” says Hazel, 34, who grew up in Harrow Weald and now lives in Gloucester. “My dad has built a 5" gauge locomotive and holidays were always based around a steam railway. We'd also go to museums and heritage centres, which I loved.”

Her interest led her to a degree course in engineering design and appropriate technology at Warwick University. “I wasn't really aware at that time of any other options available such as an HND or an apprenticeship, so Uni seemed the only option,” she says. In a following gap year she also spent time at the Kew Bridge Steam Museum, now the London Museum of Steam and Water.

An exciting opportunity

Then she saw a stand advertising an apprenticeship with the BESTT while visiting the London Model Engineering Exhibition. “It seemed like an opportunity too good to miss.  I was unemployed at the time,” she says.

Hazel was accepted onto the scheme and placed at Hatch Heritage and Steam Engineers in Swindon, qualifying as a boilersmith.

“I love the heritage aspect,” she says. “I learned a lot and I also gained a lot in terms of self -confidence.”

Having successfully completed her apprenticeship and while on the lookout for other job opportunities she is currently volunteering at Gloucester Waterways Museum as head engineer looking after their steam-powered bucket dredger, the oldest vessel of its type in Europe which was restored a couple of years ago, also with the aid of an HLF grant.

A further ambition is to own a steam engine of her own. “I’d love to have an Advance steam roller or a 4/4.5” scale traction engine,” she admits.

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Former tree surgeon Graeme branches out

Former tree surgeon Graeme McGrath switched from managing trees to volunteers, thanks to HLF-supported traineeship scheme with the National Trust.  

After leaving school Graeme, now 46, wasn’t sure what he wanted to do as a career and fell into various jobs from pub work and fire alarm installation to doing a stint as a security guard for Channel 4's Brookside and Hollyoaks. He quickly realised he needed a job he enjoyed rather than just something to pay the bills.

A keen gardener, he enrolled on an arboriculture course on Lord Derby’s estate, eventually completing a BSc in Arboriculture to become a self-employed tree surgeon. A few years later the economic downturn coupled with increased competition impacted his business: “When I first started I could work eight days a week; I was turning work away all the time. By the end of it we were lucky to get even three days’ work,” he remembers.

Wake-up call

But it was a more personal wake-up call just after his 40th birthday that set Graeme on to an altogether different career path: “The final straw for me was the diabetes,” he says. “I didn’t realise I had it at the time, but I found myself at the end of a branch one day literally shaking like a leaf. I couldn’t get down. I had a few days in hospital while they got me back under control and I realised then, from that point on, I shouldn’t really be playing with chainsaws.”

“The final straw for me was the diabetes. I didn’t realise I had it at the time, but I found myself at the end of a branch one day literally shaking like a leaf.”

Graeme had always thought the National Trust would be a good organisation to work for but when the Volunteer Management Traineeship – funded through HLF’s Skills for the Future programme - was advertised at nearby Speke Hall, it was his girlfriend who talked him into applying: “I thought she meant a ranger job or something like that, but then she said it was for a Volunteer Manager. I thought: ‘I’ve done plenty of volunteering, but I’ve never managed anyone. I’ve only ever managed trees.’”

Having already convinced himself he wouldn’t get the job, Graeme was delighted to be selected as one of only 17 trainees based at National Trust sites across the country. Some 18 months later and he graduated from the programme with an Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) Level 3 qualification in Volunteer Management.

Championing inclusion

Fuelled by his own experience growing up in a Liverpool council estate, Graeme has become a champion for inclusion in his new role: “In the late 1980s, aged 19, I moved to the south end of the city, Toxteth, which was so multicultural and vibrant, I knew it was the place to be,” he says.

“I thought: ‘I’ve done plenty of volunteering, but I’ve never managed anyone. I’ve only ever managed trees.’”

He loves the diversity of his home city and has worked hard to form sustainable partnerships with local housing associations, the NHS Social Inclusion Team and the Liverpool Guild of Students in a bid to make volunteering and Speke Hall more accessible to the communities on its doorstep. He says: “Working in partnership with existing service providers allows us to reach some excluded groups that we would not ordinarily be able to access alone.”

Based on the latest volunteer satisfaction surveys, Speke Hall is now among the National Trust’s top places to volunteer in the North. Regarding himself as “not much of a trumpet blower”, Graeme won’t admit that’s down to him, but believes having a dedicated person to manage and look after volunteers does make a difference: “My role is to deal with whatever issues the volunteers have. I think that’s probably why the survey results have gone up because the volunteers know there is a dedicated person there specifically for them and any queries they have. I’d like to think that because our volunteers are happy, and the staff are happy, then the visitors are happy too.”

Finding his feet

For Graeme the personal benefits have also been far reaching, and not just from a health point of view: “I’ve really enjoyed it. I feel like I’ve found my feet now and I’ve got the confidence to do well in the role. As a Volunteer Manager you can’t even imagine the things you will be doing until you are doing them. I never thought I would be dressed up in tights in a Tudor costume with a falcon on my arm.”

“I never thought I would be dressed up in tights in a Tudor costume with a falcon on my arm.”

From managing trees to people, one thing Graeme is adamant about is the fact he, and others like him, would be unable to make a move into the heritage sector if it wasn’t for paid traineeships like the one he attended: “I think it’s absolutely brilliant they are prepared to do this. By funding this and the accreditation, HLF and the National Lottery have definitely helped open up the heritage sector. There are so many people out there like me, who are passionate and should be given a chance, but without funding, without paid traineeships, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

And he adds: “I have been very fortunate to secure a full-time volunteer coordinator job at Speke Hall after completing the traineeship in November. I have a contract until the end of February 2018 which I hope will be renewed! I would like to stay with the National Trust as long as possible but feel, with the accredited training and experience, I would have a good chance of finding work with other volunteering organisations if need be.”

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Research gives Tony a surprise

A former Chatham dockyard apprentice discovered that ancestors of his had worked in the same place two centuries earlier.

Tony Gutteridge, now in his seventies, also helped what is now Chatham Historic Dockyard develop new working practices to take advantage of skills offered by disabled people.

The Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust (CHDT) was seeking to enlist volunteers to research details of past shipbuilders as part of an HLF-supported project called Command of the Oceans. Tony read about it in his local newspaper in early 2015 and was immediately interested. He contacted the Trust but pointed out that, as a result of a motorcycle accident several years earlier, he now used a wheelchair so would probably not be able to visit the dockyard itself.

New discoveries

“If the research involved researching at home online or using spreadsheets I would be very happy to oblige,” Tony explains. “As an ex-Chatham dockyard apprentice of the early 60s, I am interested in the history of the ‘yard’ and thought it would be great to find out more of the dockyard’s past.”

“As an ex-Chatham dockyard apprentice of the early 60s, I am interested in the history of the ‘yard’.”

Paul Barnard, CHDT Fundraising and Stakeholder Relationship Manager, takes up the story: “As a lot of the work our volunteers do revolves around working in historic buildings and more specifically, buildings that are not normally open to the public, we do have some issues around gaining access to workspaces,” he explains. “We wanted to work with Tony as he was highly enthusiastic about joining the team so we developed a programme of work for him that allowed him to undertake this research at home – something that is completely new to us as well.”

So Tony got to work as one of a number of volunteers looking into the dockyard workforce at a particular point in history: 31 March 1803. Information sourced from original paybooks had to be collated and converted into a more usable form, namely spreadsheets. And then efforts were made to discover more about the individuals concerned. 

“I don’t know why but for some reason I love spreadsheets,” says Tony. “The challenging part was being able to read Georgian handwriting which is certainly different to today’s. Also some of the paybooks had deteriorated over the last 250 years so were difficult to read.” He adds: “I got a lot of pleasure in carrying out the transcription work and satisfaction in knowing I was helping on a very worthwhile project.”

Ancestors uncovered

And there was an unexpected bonus, says Tony, who had previously attempted to trace his family history in the Medway towns. “In fact, while transcribing the 1803 paybook I did indeed find two relatives, so this was very satisfying.” The documents revealed one Thomas Gutteridge described as a ‘servant’ (i.e. apprentice) house carpenter and a William Gutteridge - a shipwright caulker. They were crosschecked with baptism records in a local church.

“The Trust now know that in the future, if further similar projects are proposed, they can call on me to help.”

Tony’s involvement has had a lasting effect on the historic dockyard as well. Says Paul Barnard: “It has enabled us to develop systems of working that allow volunteers to work remotely if they are physically unable to access our workspaces. We hope to use the learning we have developed through working with Tony with other disabled volunteers in the future.”

As for Tony, he is now looking forward to other opportunities: “Now that I have successfully completed the work on the project, the Trust now know that in the future, if further similar projects are proposed, they can call on me to help,” he says.

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Daniel begins his dream career in heritage

“Ever since I remember I have always had a strong interest in heritage but I never really considered it could offer me a long term career.” So says Daniel Longman whose wide ranging interests have included writing local history books, penning articles for a genealogical magazine, running a small tour guide company, and being appointed a magistrate.

Finally though, his love of heritage has translated into his dream job as he starts his new role as Heritage at Risk Officer for Sefton Council, a career he has landed thanks to his involvement in a Heritage Lottery funded project with nearby Knowsley Council.

Out of reach

Life chances changed dramatically for Daniel just over a year ago. “At the start of 2015 things were not going well,” he says. “I was licking my wounds after falling short of the mark in some legal exams, stuck in a dead-end phone job dealing with pensions and, to top it all off, aged 26, I was back home living with the parents.”

He realised retraining was the answer but postgraduate course fees were out of his reach. “My dreams of working in heritage were set to remain just that.”

Then a friend forwarded an email from Knowsley Council which had been awarded a £1.85m Townscape Heritage Initiative grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore, repair and re-use historic buildings in the Lancashire town of Prescot.

A sense of purpose

The council was looking for an intern and Daniel jumped at the chance. “The year-long role came not only with a salary, but a fully funded place at the University of Central Lancashire.” He would be studying building conservation and adaptation. “Fortunately, it was not all books and PowerPoints and I have had chances to undertake various site visits to enhance my knowledge,” says Daniel.

He is also full of praise for the way in which the Townscape Heritage project he worked on boosted the fortunes of Prescot and the community. “I have seen how Prescot slowly but surely is casting aside its tired and neglected image and regaining its sense of place and purpose once again” he says.  Recently, plans were approved to build a Shakespeare North playhouse and education centre in the town, an echo of Elizabethan times when Prescot was one of only a handful of English towns outside of London to have a purpose built indoor playhouse.

And Daniel too, has high hopes for the future. He will complete his Masters in Building Conservation and Adaptation in December, and he has just taken up his post at Sefton where his responsibilities will include addressing problem sites in Sefton through enforcement, maximising opportunities for investment and working with the local community to raise the profile of the area.

“I wonder if people buying their weekly National Lottery ticket ever stop to wonder about all the good that this can do for so many people,” says Daniel. 

“Townscape Heritage Initiatives are a case in point. They are not only transforming buildings, they are transforming lives.”

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Inspired by art archive to become an artist

Sixteen-year-old Channah took part in a HLF-supported youth heritage project and discovered the confidence to make her own artwork, lead a talk and present an exhibition.  

“It made me grow in confidence and have more self-esteem.”

As Camden Arts Centre celebrated its 50th birthday year last year, Channah joined their newly formed Youth Collective Group, set up as part of its Living Archive project supported by HLF. Channah had never visited the gallery before.

“I’d never done anything outside of school before to do with art or heritage so I was really intrigued to join the project…I’d never used an archive and I’d never heard of a vitrine before.”

As well as exploring an exhibition archive, Channah had the chance to discuss her ideas, make her own artwork including prints and a sound piece, curate a vitrine of objects, take part in a group exhibition and give a public talk. Alongside the items and artefacts in the archive, she found inspiration and the confidence to develop her own art practice.

“I went on to curate my own vitrine and I really enjoyed talking to the group about the items that we liked and what we related to in the collection. Kara Walker’s exhibition at Camden Arts Centre inspired me and made me think about my own history and my ancestors, about where I came from.”

“I thought more about how I view society today and how I view other cultures which is what I made some of my artwork about.”

Camden Arts Centre has a history of enabling people and artists to make things and has exhibited a high number of female artists. Its very first exhibition was called The Artist at Work and its programme also supports artists-in-residence.

“Now I feel more confident about talking about my artwork. I haven’t taken part in any exhibitions before and as part of the Youth Collective Group I created my first exhibition and I found it very exciting – I felt proud and independent.”

“My favourite part of the project was feeling a sense of belonging - people coming together through their love of art and expressing and finding themselves through making.”

“I am now doing A-level Fine Art, Sociology and Religious Studies. As I had discussions at Youth Collective Group I realised that these subjects could interlink together and give me ideas for my art. Before this project I thought that I wouldn’t be able to do art at university, but when I came to the gallery I realised that I could do it.”

Gemma Wright, Head of Education at Camden Arts Centre, said: “It’s been a really wonderful year, we couldn’t have launched the Youth Collective Group without funding, so we’re really grateful to all the National Lottery players who enabled the project to happen.”

Channah is still making artwork and is passionate about a future career in the arts as a result of her experience.  

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Sanna has designs of the world of costume-making

An aspiring costume maker is looking to bigger stages after recreating her late grandmother’s wedding dress more than four decades on from the ceremony.

Sanna Javid was bullied at school and had been shy and unconfident before taking part in the Yesterday’s Dreams HLF Young Roots project run by Friction Arts in Birmingham. The 18-year-old has grown in confidence after making the exquisite cerise dress without any photographs, relying on descriptions given by her 72-year-old grandfather, Manzoor, over the phone. 

Sewing from an early age

The teenager, from Bournville, Birmingham, began sewing at the age of 10 but gave hints of her talent at an even earlier age by stitching doodles into nursery books.  She became involved with Friction Arts more than three years ago. 

At the time Sanna rarely left the house and at home her love of making clothes was viewed as a hobby rather than a serious career choice. “I grew up lacking confidence,” she says. “When my sister told me about Friction I had to pluck up the courage just to phone them. I was really nervous about going along but in the end I loved it. I don’t know where I’d be now without it.”

Without National Lottery players, Sanna would not have had the chance to join Yesterday’s Dreams, which asked young people to explore their family heritage. 

Recalling the big day

“My granddad is amazing, he’s the most chilled person in our family,” she says. “He was in his 20s when the wedding happened but he was able to remember the dress was shiny and it was a cerise colour with a floral design and she was wearing a lot of gold.”

The pensioner, who is a hit in the family with his warm and playful character, lives in Lancashire and was still a young man when the ceremony took place in Pakistan. But Sanna used interview skills gained through the project to help him recall the big day and went on to exhibit the finished replica outfit at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG).

Bringing the family together

 “Because my grandmother passed away 13 years ago it has been difficult to speak to him about her but he remembered every aspect of the wedding and how happy she made him. In a way it has brought my family together and for my relatives who have seen the dress it was quite an emotional experience because the original did not survive and there are no photographs of the wedding. I felt proud to see the finished piece and I know my late grandmother would be too.”

“Getting involved with the projects and speaking to people pushed me out of my comfort zone,” she says. “But I enjoyed it and it’s made me a much more confident person.”

Exhibiting at BMAG

More than 13,000 people visited the exhibition over the summer, where they were able to admire Sanna’s dress. She made contemporary tweaks which included hand-printing delicate roses – her grandmother’s favourite flower – onto the outfit. 

“I’d made things for one or two other exhibitions but never anything like this, it was a massive confidence boost,” Sanna says. “I’ve had an amazing time on the project and created something that I never thought I would have been able to. I’ve learnt so much along the way and I’ve been able to find things out about my family history that would have been difficult to talk about in other ways. I now get people asking if I can make things for them and where I would have had doubts before, now I know I can go away and do it.”

Growing confidence

As Sanna’s confidence grew she led and performed in a fashion theatre show called ‘Pigs Can Fly If You Believe’. She works part-time at McDonald’s to fund her way through a theatre studies degree at Birmingham City University, with the aim of working in costume-making after graduating. The university student’s CV also includes a triple distinction in BTEC Art & Design from Bournville College and an internship at The Blue Orange Theatre.

Nita Newman, of Friction Arts, says: “Sanna went from a very quiet, softly-spoken person to speaking to 350 people at the private view for the launch of the Yesterday’s Dreams exhibition. Not only has she grown in confidence, she is far ahead of her years in the skills she has and can run up a dress in one evening. We tell people to follow their dreams, and Sanna is doing just that.”

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Ameha goes from pizzas to plaster to prizewinner

In the workshop of Ornate Interiors, a heritage plastering specialist in Leeds, Ameha Shewaye is making a running mould for an ornamental cornice. It seems a haphazard process, with the spray and drips from the wet plaster creating what looks like a monochrome Jackson Pollock ‘floor painting’ all around him. But this is intricate work that uses traditional skills and materials to restore the plaster mouldings in historic buildings.

Ameha’s talent for plasterwork was spotted last year by a Heritage Lottery Fund-supported scheme, Re-Making Leeds. Getting a placement at Ornate Interiors made him feel like the luckiest man in the country, he says. ‘I’ve found gold and diamonds,’ he laughs. ‘Coming to Leeds and Ornate Interiors has opened a big gate for me.’

Thanks to an innovative heritage construction skills programme supported by National Lottery players, Ameha, who is originally from Ethiopia but grew up in Italy, is benefitting from a year’s placement at Ornate Interiors. ‘It’s all thanks to people across the country who buy Lottery tickets,’ says Ronnie Clifford, managing director of Ornate Interiors.

Re-Making Leeds was developed by Leeds City Council with partners Leeds College of Building and York College to train talented young people in specialist crafts, and give Ameha, and so many other people in Yorkshire, the opportunity to progress. ‘It’s so rewarding to see someone with as much talent and potential as Ameha being given a chance to develop exceptional skills and restore the most amazing buildings,’ says Ronnie.

The plaster Ameha is using is made from a lime and sand mortar reinforced with horsehair. ‘When I first started here,’ he says, ‘I couldn’t believe that they used horse and goat hair in the plaster. I’ve had to learn many new techniques and principles.’

‘The mortar has to be the right consistency and mix so you can bring out the decorative details,’ he adds. ‘Often they’ve been damaged or painted over many times and you have to match them to the original mouldings.’

From Italy to Leeds

Ameha had worked as a plasterer in Italy until the global recession closed down the company he worked for. He came to the UK three years ago to find work, leaving his wife Netsenet and three children behind in Terni, in central Italy. They have since been able to join him in Leeds.

When he found that his Italian construction industry qualifications were not recognised here, he got a job in a bakery, then as a pizza delivery worker, while studying for a UK plastering certificate.

Ameha never rests on his laurels. There is always something new to learn, especially on site, he says. ‘I’ve learnt to secure the dropped mouldings in old buildings. The weight of the plaster causes them to sag and drop over time. Sometimes it’s impossible to recreate the old castings in the workshop so we have to work in situ. I find this fascinating and love being in the old houses and buildings.’

Going for gold

He has worked on restoration projects at Oldham Town Hall and York Theatre Royal. ‘It can be tricky but once you’ve finished a job you feel proud. It’s like a work of art,’ he says. He calls it the ‘king of skills’.

For the past two years Ameha has been entered in SkillBuild, the national construction competition run by CITB (Construction Industry Training Board). He won silver in the plastering category last year and announced that he would be “going for gold” in 2016. His confidence was well founded. He was named first prize winner at an award ceremony at the NEC Birmingham at the end of last month!

[heritagelotterychanginglives]

Changing Lives: Georgia breaks down barriers

Bringing the work of the disability arts movement to the public (and peers of the realm) has transformed the job landscape for 22-year-old North Londoner Georgia Macqueen Black.

Georgia, who has Type 1 diabetes – which she describes as “an invisible disability” - left Cambridge last year with an English degree but with no clear idea of what to do next.  Then she found out about a volunteering opportunity with Shape Arts working on the National Disability Arts Collection & Archive (NDACA) thanks to a project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

This was a case of ‘deja vue’ for Georgia. At age 11 pictures of her had featured in a Joseph Rowntree Foundation Unison and Equalities Commission media campaign that aimed to raise awareness of disabled people in society. That campaign had been run by David Hevey who is now the organisation’s project director.

Making contact once more with David Hevey she learned about the NDACA's ‘Van and Scan’ project that involved travelling the country with a small team tracking down, collecting and copying artwork and ephemera resulting from 30 years of the disability arts movement. The artwork will help tell the stories of how disabled people and their supporters broke down barriers, forced changes in the law, and changed public perceptions of disability.

“I think what attracted me to NDACA as a whole and particularly  ‘Van and Scan’ was being able to learn about such an important period of the UK’s cultural and political history,” says Georgia.

Initially involved with getting word of the project out on social media she travelled to Shrewsbury on a photoshoot featuring artist Tanya Raabe-Webber’s portraits, then to Holton Lee, Dorset, where a former disabled artist’s residential centre yielded up a host of artwork and posters stored in the attic.

She was also tasked with organising an event publicising the project at the House of Lords, curating a display of scanned artwork and producing pop-up banners. More than 100 guests attended the event, held this April, and Lord Melvyn Bragg was among the high profile speakers.

“The highlight of the evening was when John Kelly, a disability rights performer and protestor, sang the famous Johnny Crescendo protest song ‘Choices and Rights’”, recalls Georgia.” John even managed to get the whole room to sing along with him! There we were, overlooking the Thames in our Westminster location singing for ‘Choices and rights… In our lives’! It was a special heritage moment, as the lyrics reflect the barriers disabled people faced when fighting for equality many decades back – barriers which many still feel need to be overcome.

“Ultimately, it was all thanks to the depositing artists, the partners, the stakeholders, and, of course, the funding of Heritage Lottery Fund and the National Lottery that brought everyone together, so that we could experience the cultural heritage-story of the Disability Arts Movement in such a meaningful way.”

She adds: “Managing my condition makes me more understanding and sensitive of anyone else who has to deal with impairment and barriers, and I have definitely felt empowered by the disabled activists and artists who make up the history of NDACA.”

Her role with Shape Arts has also changed. In July she started on a two-year post as NDACA’s Engagement and Marketing Officer. “If you had told me a year ago I would have such a title I wouldn’t have believed you, but here we are, and I can’t wait to get the public to engage with the Disability Arts Movement heritage-story when we go live in 2018!”

[heritagelotterychanginglives]

Rachel bags an award

Working with prisoners, a domestic abuse charity, young children and the elderly have all been aspects of Rachel Duffield’s job since she joined an HLF-supported project in Norfolk.  

The role as learning and engagement officer has helped Rachel change her own life while she has been helping others to change their appreciation of heritage.

She has found her working life taking on a new impetus – and even a new persona - since her involvement in the Voices from the Workhouse project at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse run by Norfolk Museums Service.

“I had been in my previous role a long time and felt ‘maxed out’ with what I could offer,” says Rachel. “Now, my role as Learning and Engagement Officer has made a massive difference to me. It has certainly clarified what I’m good at, and galvanised me into action in terms of my plans for my own career progression.”

The main targets for the skills that she has “dusted off” for the role are hard-to-reach community groups, as well as the visiting public, especially people unlikely or unable to visit a museum because of their personal circumstances.

“My role as Learning and Engagement Officer has made a massive difference to me.”

One project involved working with dance and drama A-level students and a playwright from domestic abuse charity Leeway to create a dramatic performance based on the experiences of Victorian women of the workhouse. Another meant visiting HMP Wayland to create an artwork project with prison inmates, including those in the personality disorder unit. There are now plans to get other prisons involved.

There has been work with Year 8 students from a school for children with learning difficulties, work with the Norfolk Deaf Association, residential homes for the elderly, and now Rachel has another project underway: Brick by Brick is looking at the differing functions of the workhouse walls - to protect, to isolate, to separate and to exclude people.

Moaning Martha

Rachel has also delivered workhouse tours to hundreds of visitors as a costumed character, the grumpy workhouse inmate Moaning Martha, who also tweets in a Norfolk dialect. Martha has morphed into Rachel’s alter ego and this helped her pick up the third prize in Visit England’s Tourism Superstar Award 2016. As Martha told her Twitter followers: “Ar bin give a serstifficut, hinta.”

Reactions to Rachel’s work underline the impact she has had on her many different audiences. Following her visit, an inmate at HMP Wayland decided to create a prison newsletter in 19th-century style; and the drama tutor for the domestic abuse charity commented: “Thank you for the opportunity to find out about and understand these stories. So much – and so little - has changed in women’s lives.”

[heritagelotterychanginglives]

Changing lives: for Conor there’s no place like stone…

When Conor Scullion, 27, signed up for a Diploma in Conservation and Restoration he had no idea he was setting himself up for the adventure of a lifetime.

The following year he was out in New Zealand helping to repair one of that country’s most iconic buildings from earthquake damage and had a thriving business with two other workers.

Back in 2011 he was a bricklayer based at Derrytrasna, Co Armagh. At work he developed a love for stone, volunteering for all the stone work going on the sites he was working at.

“I’ve no idea what it is with me and stone”, he says. “But I just knew that that was what I wanted to work with. And I’ve always been fascinated by listed buildings and old churches.”

So when the Construction Industry Training Board advertised for stone mason trainees Conor applied and was accepted.

The course is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and so, thanks to National Lottery players, Conor set about living his dreams.

Whilst still on the course he was drafted in to help restore the City Walls in Derry/Londonderry in preparation for the City of Culture celebrations. He made new sandstone copings, and repaired the granite steps on Shipquay Street.

He also worked on Carrickfergus Castle and the dramatic Dunluce Castle which is perched on cliff tops on the North Antrim coast.

But he also had a thirst for travel. Whilst he was still on the course New Zealand was hit by a severe earthquake which killed 185 people and devastated Christchurch – and that country appealed for skilled craftsmen from all over the world to help repair the damage.

It turned out that there were no New Zealand stone masons available, or else none suitably qualified in heritage work and so, after a Skype interview, and armed with his diploma, Conor flew out to Christchurch to work on the iconic Arts Centre. 

“It could not have worked out better,” he said. “I finished my course at the end of February and was on a plane on 30 April.

“At that time the recession was bad over here and, although I could get work, it was really tough. So this was a great opportunity.

The Arts Centre project was at the time the world’s biggest heritage restoration programme, with a budget of around £350 million. It is still on-going and not due to complete until 2019.

Conor loved the work and found himself so much in demand that he was working on other jobs every weekend. Within months he had applied for New Zealand residency and had recruited two staff. He had a thriving business.

Then true love intervened. Earlier this year he returned to Northern Ireland to marry his girlfriend Jacqueline and settle back home.

He immediately set up CS Masonry and Restoration Specialists and business is booming. 

“It’s going great, I’m really busy. Snowed under.” he says. “Stone work is very much in demand and it is great to be building a new business here: after all, you can’t beat home.”

[heritagelotterychanginglives]

Theatre archive directs Matthew to a new career

Matthew Waters was working as a pensions advisor when he spotted an opportunity that would set him up for a career much closer to his heart.

A lover of history with a Master’s in Classical Civilisation, Matthew had volunteered at the Museum of London while studying and, while he knew he wanted to enter the world of heritage, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do.

Scrolling through the internet and applying for everything museums-related he could find, Matthew came across an opportunity to work on the archives of Peter Brook, Britain’s greatest living theatre director, who also directed films including the 1963 classic “Lord of the Flies”.

Thanks in part to an HLF grant, the Victoria and Albert Museum had acquired Brook’s chaotic archive of personal papers, including correspondence with Vivien Leigh, Ted Hughes and Laurence Olivier, diaries, drafts of scripts and rehearsal notes from the past six decades.

The V&A is rehousing, cataloguing and digitising the collection at its archive, based in west Kensington, and the HLF grant also helped to fund outreach and volunteering opportunities.

Finding direction

The theatrical project was perfect for Matthew, who is something of an amdram fan, having performed in local youth theatre productions of Oliver!, Les Miserables and We Will Rock You. An amateur artist too, he was keen to see the hand-drawn designs for costumes and sets.

He was taken on, juggling the volunteer role two days a week with another new position as heritage assistant to the archaeologist at his local council, as well as helping out at the Surrey History Centre.

It proved to be a life-changing experience for Matthew and gave him much-needed direction. “It has given me a plan, which is something I didn’t have coming out of uni,” he says. “It’s been really good to see how it all works behind the scenes.”

He learned essential archival skills such as object cleaning, cataloguing and appraisal, sorting out boxes, folders and envelopes stuffed full of papers and cleaning, measuring and logging the materials as well as learning to use the archivists’ online catalogue system.

Discovering secrets

Highlights he came across included the scrapbook Brooks’ dad lovingly put together of his famous son’s press cuttings. There were also dozens of theatre programmes: “He would write about the actors in the programmes,” Matthew reveals. “He would write G for Good, VG for Very Good and longer words for the people he didn’t approve of!”. The “opinionated” director notoriously fell out with Laurence Olivier and there were a few “stern letters between these two”.

“It is great to see new things every day – [you get] a new folder of records and learn something else.” Matthew says. “You know you are working to provide access for researchers and members of the public. It’s closer than a museum because people can come in and touch the records themselves.”

At the V&A he was one of only three remaining volunteers after the project finished - “No one from that project has lasted as long as me!” - and after the Peter Brook project was finished he was given his own task – to archive the museum’s Sean Kenny collection. Matthew has worked over the past few months to catalogue archives about the Irish theatre and scenic designer. He also helped out on the V&A’s archives for theatre company Talawa.

“As an archivist, you are sort of invading their lives, but it’s the way you learn most about people,” he enthuses.

Matthew is passionate about his new-found career plan. He is now studying for a postgraduate diploma in archives from Dundee University, working on evenings and weekends to get the professional qualification, which is essential for all archivists. “I couldn’t have done it without the [V&A experience],” he says. “You need six months of volunteering before you can apply – because I was here, I got on the course.”

Students are also expected to volunteer or work in the sector while they learn. Matthew will finish studying for the qualification in September 2018: “The aim is to get a paid role in archives while I finish the course,” he says. “I’m being a bit picky now – because I’m getting married in August!”

He adds, “Because of this experience, I have a direction and a life goal.

“It has set me on a path and I think I am going on a direction I am happy with – I just need to finish my course and find a job!”

[heritagelotterychanginglives]

Different faiths make connections through First World War stories

Leicester children of different religious faiths were given a unique opportunity to learn about a previously unknown shared history, thanks to an HLF-supported project exploring the First World War.  

A Century of Stories, run by Leicestershire County Council, gives local people and organisations throughout the county the opportunity to discover their own personal connections, and those of their communities, to the conflict.

As part of the project, Sikh, Muslim, Hindu and Christian children looked at how people from their own faiths were involved in and affected by the First World War and discovered a shared heritage with other religions.

“When I was at school I had no idea that our culture had such a contribution to make to the war and the children have learned that.”Jasbir Mann, Headteacher of Falcons Primary School

The children, supported by their primary schools, looked at letters sent from the front line to families back home and thought about what they would have written had they been there at the time. They also produced artwork, a tree dressed with messages of peace and a dramatic dance performance.

“This is being carried out in a number of different faiths,” says Alex Wallace, history lead at St John the Baptist School, “and that shows great unity within the message and great similarity within the faiths. Instead of concentrating on differences we are concentrating on similarities.”

The revelation that the war had involved soldiers of all faiths came as an eye opener. “For many years the Sikh contribution has been hidden. When I was at school I had no idea that our culture had such a contribution to make to the war and the children have learned that,” says Jasbir Mann, headteacher of Falcons Primary School.

As the project ended all those involved gathered at Leicestershire County Hall to share the performances and displays each school had prepared based on what it had discovered.

Thanks to National Lottery players, the experience created by the project had a profound effect on the people who took part, creating connections in the community and between faiths that might not otherwise have been made.

“Thank you for the opportunity this project has given us,” says Imtiaz Patel, Deputy Head of Madani Schools Federation. “It’s allowed us to work collaboratively on a project - to work together on something that really shows our connection.”

Watch the film

Watch the film about the project on the National Lottery website.

[heritagelotterychanginglives]

Scout learns about terror of the trenches

For Morgan Taylor, the First World War was just a part of the distant past, until a Scout group heritage project brought it much closer to home  

Seventeen-year-old Morgan Taylor has grown up with the Scouts, having first joined the organisation when he was only 11-years-old. He’s been fortunate enough to have had lots of exciting and interesting experiences during this time, but none have had such an impact on him as his latest venture.

Morgan is a member of the 1st Menai Bridge Scout Group, which thanks to National Lottery players, is currently working on a two-year project exploring the role of North Wales Scouts and Scout leaders during the First World War.

“It actually scared me to think that could have been me.”

Morgan freely admits that initially the project didn’t grab him: “I was aware of the many commemorations around the First World War and important anniversaries associated with it, but I wasn’t really convinced it was so relevant to our lives today. It was over a hundred years ago, and so much has changed over the decades.”

Changing attitudes

His attitude soon changed, however, when the group discovered a Scouting connection to the war. “John Fox Russell was an Anglesey Scout in the Wolf Patrol group, and during the war was awarded the Victoria and Military Crosses, some of the highest honours possible for his service. As soon as we realised that he was only my age when he joined the army – a 17-year-old teenager – we couldn’t believe it. It actually scared me to think that could have been me.”

Morgan and his fellow Scouts began collecting information from local archives and libraries as part of the £22,000 HLF-supported project, but while reading the stories gave them some context about the realities of the war, nothing could quite prepare them for their visit to the battlefields. The foreign journey formed only a small part of the overall project, but it had a significant impact on many of them including Morgan.

The true impact

“As part of our research we organised a visit to Ypres in Belgium to see the iconic war memorials there and some of the most infamous scenes of battle. It was here that the true impact of the war really became clear to me and the other Scouts.

“Seeing line upon line of graves with names of soldiers from different countries, some of them younger than I am now, was quite upsetting and it felt very real all of a sudden.”

“Seeing line upon line of graves with names of soldiers from different countries, some of them younger than I am now, was quite upsetting and it felt very real all of a sudden. While there we managed to track down the grave of John Edwards, who was Scout Master of our Menai Bridge group when war broke out in 1914. Seeing his grave really brought it home – one day he was scouting, the next day he was fighting in the trenches.

“Worse still were the rows of unmarked graves, where the names of so many soldiers are still unaccounted for because their bodies have never even been found.

“It’s uncomfortable to see, but at the same time I’m really glad we went and had that experience because it has made me think and feel differently about the First World War. It doesn’t just seem like some distant event which we remember each year - I feel more connected to it and genuinely feel thankful that those men and boys who fought and died to protect us today.

“I will always remember that gratitude, having been there and been part of that history for a moment.”