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Investigation into the Historical and Natural Heritage of Mill Lane Nature Reserve
Location: Walsall
The project was based on Mill Lane Nature Reserve, an area of open space in Walsall adjacent to The Walsall Deaf People's Centre. The site was reclaimed in 1991 but its history stretches back to the 18th century when it was worked for iron and coal. It was later used as a railway siding.
The group aimed to design an interpretative trail, produce leaflets, interpretation boards, a video and hold a celebration event at the end of the project. All events were to be signed in British Sign Language as a way of encouraging local deaf people to get involved.
Outputs and Outcomes
Overall, the Walsall Deaf People's Centre is delighted with how well the project went. As well as the restoration of the Mill Lane area, the numerous outputs from the project include a CD Rom with music, telling story of the project, and a Video with signing that has been presented to many other deaf groups.
A huge amount of local knowledge of the site came to the fore and the end of project event was very successful.
Harder to predict were the outcome of the project, but perhaps this is where the greatest benefits are to be found – in the continuing activities and changes to attitudes that the project generated.
Because the information boards produced were of such good quality and design, the Centre has become involved in the local authority’s design of information boards across the borough. As a result, many deaf and hard of hearing people now use the area because of involvement through the project, and because the information boards are ‘deaf friendly’.
In turn, this has bolstered use of the centre. More members of the public are getting involved in the centre and for example are learning signing. This was unexpected and is very welcome. The more contact the two communities have, the greater the understanding there will be between them, to the benefit of all.
Finally, the project has also been very useful in helping deaf people of all generations gain an understanding of how to operate better in the hearing world.
Learning from a groundbreaking project
Deaf org – This was an unusual project for a deaf organisation to get involved in, groundbreaking in more ways than one!
Invaluable in establishing the conditions for success was the consultation undertaken to match hearing with deaf people. Also the importance of good publicity cannot be underestimated.
Ideally, the centre would have liked more money; larger than expected voluntary contributions were needed because projects with deaf people may take twice as long to deliver (person to person), because of interpretation and the associated needs of the deaf.
Silent Stories - A perspective from those who work with deaf people
There are some 350 deaf people in Walsall; a community within a community.
Of this community, the young in particular were very interested in the project. Older public members of the public worked with younger deaf people, working alongside each other, breaking down barriers, promoting understanding of both groups through a shared interest. In turn, deaf people led the older ones, especially with visual work.
Perhaps surprisingly for those of us with good hearing, much that deaf people know about the heritage and history of their own community is learnt by storytelling. The project helped break this down and open it up. Because there is little written material of the history of deafness, the oral history is vulnerable to loss through the death of those who hold the knowledge. Recording the stories helps to safeguard them for the future.
Deaf people have their own experience of the world; not generally shared with the hearing population, and look for confirmation of their experiences through contact with their deaf elders. The project thas highlighted this and provided an opportunity for moving forward the way in which the oral histories of the deaf community are shared and recorded.
The Future
During the industrial revolution in particular, deaf people tended to have manual jobs; lack of appropriate education was a cause but they proved to have a great eye for detail and are not as easily distracted as the hearing population!
The Centre would like to look at a project that examines the contribution that deaf people have made to the development of Walsall. Some interesting anecdotal stories arose as a result of this project. For example a former Mayor may well have been deaf, and may have built the bell tower on the town hall so that he would know when meetings were happening!
Group Name |
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Walsall Deaf People's Centre |
| Project Contact |
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Diana Miles
Senior Countryside Ranger
Walsall Countryside Services
Tel: 01922 459813
Fax: 01922 451830
Email: milesd@walsall.gov.uk |
| Address |
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Walsall |
| Finishing Date |
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31 December 2002 |
| Local Community Involvement / Partnerships: |
| Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, Walsall Deaf People's Centre |
| Grants: |
Heritage Lottery Fund: £13,623
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