Held at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, they attended the event to share their experiences of being involved in Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) ‘Young Roots’ projects, and help launch a series of brand new films encouraging others to get involved in #YoungRoots and apply for grants of up to £50,000 to explore their heritage.

Robbie Grabarz, 2012 Olympic Bronze Medallist and Gold Medallist at the 2012 European Championships in Helsinki, said: “I’m delighted to be able to share my story. Sport is my passion and I went after my dream, helped by Lottery funding. I hope that I can inspire some of the young people to go after theirs. Heritage is all around us, and I’m really excited to hear more about the stories that they will uncover.”

The museum was transformed for the day into a dynamic backdrop with heritage inspired circus acts and spoken word artists for the first screening of the films featuring young people involved in #youngroots projects across the UK – all asking This is Mine – What’s Yours?

Projects featured showcased the breadth of experience gained by young people inspired to uncover the heritage around them. They included:

• working with a professional film maker exploring the history of Sawston’s old buildings
• a youth centre (in a previous life the town cinema) and the first village college in Cambridgeshire (founded by Henry Morris)
• producing a film, exhibition and event about the aviation industry in Hatfield
• exploring the history of circus in the North East - uncovering the history of women from Pakistani, Bengali, and Somali backgrounds in Cardiff

Stuart Hobley, Development Manager for HLF, said: “Our projects show just how much young people enjoy finding creative and unique ways of celebrating local history. The Young Roots programme is open for business and we’d love to hear from any groups that want to apply.”

Follow us on Twitter: @HeritageLottery and @HLFEoE, #YoungRoots.

Further information

Please contact Vicky Wilford, HLF press office, on 020 7591 6046, email: vickyw@hlf.org.uk.