Project Update #2 23.JULY.2015
Firstly, thanks to everyone for the warm welcome you have given myself and my colleague Anne Lovejoy as we have settled into post.
Visits
Anne and I have now visited colleagues at Gloucestershire Archives, Yate Heritage Centre, Somerset Heritage Centre, Swindon Heritage Centre, the British Library, B&NES HER office, the Bristol Know Your Place team and our HLF grants officer in Exeter and are getting a really good picture of the rich heritage resources and distinct character of each region, as well as of the challenges you all face. We’re also building links with various heritage networks in the region and have received some enthusiastic initial responses so far, and we’d be pleased to be put in touch with others too, so get in touch if you have any upcoming events with your networks or members which you would like us to attend.
Help us spread the word
We are now officially a live project! A press release marking the official launch of the project was issued today, and is attached to the bottom of this email for information. The project page on the South Gloucestershire website is now up to date and can be found here:
We have also established a Facebook and Twitter account which will chart the progress of the project and hopefully generate interest and support for the project as we go along. You can follow the project on Twitter: @KYPWestEngland and on Facebook at: Know Your Place – West of England .
Any help you can give in distributing the above links and press release to your contacts would be greatly appreciated.
Digitisation
The archive digitisation work continues at Wiltshire until mid-August, Gloucestershire from September to mid-October, and Somerset from late-October / early November on; and at the British Library who are supplying us with early Ordinance Survey maps. We have negotiated a phased delivery of digitised maps starting in late Autumn, which will allow us to work our way through the material county by county. I hope to be able to confirm the schedule of which county we’ll be working on, when, by the end of August when a few more project details will have dropped into place.
Next steps
The digitised maps will need to be prepared before they can be added to Know Your Place, in a process of image ‘cropping’ and ‘georeferencing’, so they line up with other historic maps and can be stitched together to cover a region. The team have been exploring the best way to work with volunteers to achieve this and Anne will begin recruiting and training volunteer groups soon. Any groups or individuals who would like to be involved in volunteering for the project, please contact us to find out more.
With best wishes,
Felicia Davies, Project Officer, Know Your Place – West of England.