Gordon Tempest
Location: Durham
Little did Gordon Tempest know, but when he joined a heritage trail project in Durham, his efforts would end up in a mortuary.
Creating a stronger identity for the East Durham community was a positive outcome from the project, says Gordon, "we wanted to pull local villages together". Volunteers developed an eight mile long heritage trail, connecting five former mining villages. They also created a display of archive material and other project outputs. "We have a heritage centre in a chapel mortuary", says Gordon. The unusual venue enjoyed a new lease of life when it played host to visitors keen to see more of the villages' history. Who says celebrating a community's culture and heritage has to be conventional.
The choice of venue did not dampen local peoples desire to be involved. "The spins offs have been incredible. The group has 100 members and volunteers", says Gordon. This includes young people who produced a mural and models of local miners' cottages, which were displayed at the heritage centre cum mortuary.
Although help from volunteers was never a problem, funding was another issue, "fortunately, LHI was there to help", says Gordon. With funds secured, the volunteers set about keeping local knowledge alive, recording ordinary events and everyday people. "Members who are in their thirties are seeing things that they remember disappear. They want to preserve local knowledge before it goes. There's a whole way of life disappearing , so the archive is vital", adds Gordon. Since the start, the project's aim has grown from creating the circular walk to having a wider mission - regenerating the local area.
The project has created ripples of interest and not just in the North East, but at an international level as well. "the impacted is very wide - we have visitors from the local area and Canada, Australia and South Africa. We even have supporters in America, who are helping out with project work - producing articles and photographs". As a result, there are growing links between people in the villages and the area beyond.
"Without the funding, it would not have happened", concludes Gordon, "it's been brilliant, really worthwhile, and good to see young people involved."
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