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John Parker - my LHI story
from DCA Community News magazine
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from DCA Community News magazine
Location: Dorset
An extract from an article about the Shaftesbury Hangings project published in Community News, the quarterly magazine of Dorset Community Action (issue 94, Summer 2003)
LHI funds - provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Nationwide Building Society - have already enabled people in Shaftesbury to explore the past and present of two of the town’s rather special open spaces, Abbey Park and Castle Hill, and to plan Heritage Trails that will link them together, and tell people more about the area.
“Our investigations developed into a wider survey into the heritage of the old town,” explains John Parker, Project Leader for the Swans Trust, who are co-ordinating the LHI’s Shaftesbury Hangings Project.
“First the history, then a study of the archaeology, because it’s a very rich archaeological site. Then a description of the geology, and how that geology influenced the development of the area and was used by local industry and building. Then a study of the old buildings in the town and how they used the old materials and vernacular designs of the area.
“And finally we commissioned someone to do a management plan for the open spaces, and suggest how we could sustain their ecology. The LHI scheme has paid for the experts in ecology and management of the open spaces, but the architect, the geologist and the archaeologist are all volunteers.”
Copies of the resulting reports are available in the local library and museum. Visitors to Shaftesbury Arts Centre in February saw an exhibition of maps & pictures related to the project’s proposal, and there are plans for an interactive CD for use in local schools.
“It’s made a lot of people think a bit more about where they live and realise how special the place is,” says John Parker. “There’s an awful lot to be said for just stirring up people’s interest - a lot of different people have been involved, and that has been very useful in developing the sense of community.”
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