The project will work with 12 volunteers many of whom will be young people living with learning difficulties or physical disabilities themselves. They will chart the changes in society since the 1990 Community Care Act and the impact it has had on people’s lives since then.

A recent survey by Mencap suggested that people with learning difficulties are often the subject of bullying and hate crime. Charity One-to-One, set up to assist such members to become active members of the community, will be running the project entitled We Live Here Now, to challenge perceptions and widen community understanding of these groups.

The young volunteers will be supported by project workers, to capture the memories of older people who have lived through the same challenges as themselves, and who may have lived in long stay institutions prior to the Community Care Act, before they were moved back into the local community.

The project participants will learn exciting new skills in capturing oral histories and using photographic techniques learnt with the Oral History Society and Enfield Camera Club to interview older people with learning difficulties in their homes and current environments. They will also carry out archive research about life in the institutions and look at how they have been redeveloped, many are now luxury housing developments. They will then learn how to curate an exhibition using the material gathered during their research to show the community how these people have been living a new way of life. A new website will also be set up as part of the project together with accompanying DVD and booklet.

Commenting on the funding Sue Bowers, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the London region, said: “This project will have considerable wider benefits. It will empower people with learning difficulties to learn from, talk about and reflect on their heritage as a socially excluded minority, and it will go on to not only challenge but re-educate people’s understanding of them.”

And leading the project, Lesley Wells from the One-to-One charity, said: "We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us the opportunity to do this. One-to-One (Enfield) was set up in 1991 as a result of the Community Care Act and is run by people with learning difficulties. We now have over 500 members, many of whom have come back to live here since the closure of the hospitals. The project will tie in with our 21st Birthday Celebrations and will help us to show people how important community inclusion is for our members."

The exhibition will run for four weeks in Dugdale Centre in Enfield Town in 2012 and will also tour Edmonton, Bush Hill Park and Winchmore Hill.

Notes to editors

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage.  HLF has supported 33,900 projects, allocating £4.4billion across the UK. 

Enfield has been identified as a priority development area by the HLF because it had received less funding than the regional average amount. Local organisations have been encouraged to work up schemes and submit them for consideration.

HLF has granted £47,200 to One-to-One to carry out the ‘We Live Here Now Project’ project.

Further information

Robert Smith, HLF Press Office on 020 7591 6245 or roberts@hlf.org.uk

Lesley Walls, One-to-One on 020 8373 6241 or lesley@one-to-one-enfield.co.uk