Project:
Sustaining our coastal heritage: the value of local knowledge
Project Leader(s): Dr Selina Stead
Staff: Mrs Joanna Redhead
Contact: selina.stead@ncl.ac.uk
Partners: Heritage Lottery Fund; Blyth Valley Borough Council; Sir James Knott Trust
To provide opportunities for the Blyth Valley community to share their knowledge about the coastal heritage that has shaped the identity of the community today. We hope to raise awareness and improve access to Blyth Valley’s coastal heritage, change people’s perceptions of their local coastal environment and generate wider public appreciation of management issues so as to create a lasting benefit for future generations.
The need for stakeholder participation and to increase awareness of marine environmental and heritage issues is highlighted in reports such as DEFRA’s ‘Safeguarding our Seas’ and ‘Seas of Change’ (2002), and in the government’s citizenship strategy. The importance of communities and their heritage is also central to the Northumberland Strategic Partnerships regional development plan.
Through interviews and focus groups we are gathering local knowledge, oral histories, traditions and language, and using this to inform a series of participatory workshops and develop education and interpretation materials. Preliminary response to the project has been very encouraging. We have volunteers working on the interviews, three local schools are involved along with many different community groups. Information will be accessed via the project website, heritage trails and guided booklets. Findings of the project will be disseminated to the public via the local media and in educational journals.
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Professor Selina Stead
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