Working in partnership with the Stuart House Trust, a team of young people from Liskeard School and Community College will use the Liskeard Heritage Trail, produced in 2005/6, as a starting point for their own research into the town’s history. After carrying out interviews with local older people about their memories of the town, and examining material in the Town Museum and in the County Record Office, the young people will film the trail, adding their own commentary to the printed information already available, and load this onto a set of ipods to be held at Stuart House and made available for loan. They hope also to make the trail available on the internet so that visitors can download it onto their own ipods in preparation for exploring the town.

The HLF grant will provide equipment to carry out the project, including a computer and cameras, as well as the ipods, and will allow the young people to receive training in using them, as well as in interviewing, film making and presentational skills. In addition it will enable the young people to visit the County Record Office in Truro and the Cornwall Centre at Redruth as part of their research.

Anthony Wood, Stuart House Project Officer and Simon Pollard, Head of History at Liskeard School and Community College expressed delight at the award.  They said: “Thanks to the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, local young people now have the opportunity to work at the front edge of available technology to produce something of real quality and value for the town, whilst also acquiring technical skills and knowledge of their local area that they can take forward for the future.”

Commenting on the importance of the award, HLF’s Head of Region for the South West, Nerys Watts, said: “Young people are the future champions for our heritage and a priority audience for us, so we are very pleased to be able to support projects such as this one that tap into their enthusiasm to learn about their community’s past and to make a positive contribution to sustaining our heritage for the future.”

Notes to editors

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From our great museums and historic buildings to local parks and beauty spots or recording and celebrating traditions, customs and history, HLF grants open up our nation’s heritage for everyone to enjoy. Since 1994 it has supported more than 26,000 projects, allocating over £4 billion across the UK.

Young Roots Programme page.