AHI Conference 2012

The Association for Heritage Interpretation 2012 annual conference (http://www.ahi.org.uk) focused on quality and the visitor experience, putting heritage interpretation at the heart of designing the experience visitors have of a property.

The presentations and visits have highlighted the necessity of considering the visitor experience from the outset of interpretive planning. It is not rocket science, however a number of speakers have shown the efforts they have made to change organisational thinking and avoid the scenario of staff simply deciding what they will do to visitors without finding out what visitors desire. Examples ranging from the National Trust and Historic Royal Palaces to interpretation for visually impaired people and pre-schoolers demonstrated why interpreters and property managers should consider how visitors do and should experience a place to offer a more satisfying and accessible visit. The benefits include an enhanced sense of place leading  to higher values of a property and its heritage, as well as financial return from longer and repeat visits. Numerous speakers showed the link between heritage interpretation and tourism development, and the need for thorough planning and evaluation. To me, it seems essential that interpretation is closely linked with tourism assessment of a property.

I was particularly interested in properties which encourage visitor participation in their engagement with the place, partly building on the new ways people interact with their world through social media and people's resulting expectations of interacting with 'bricks and mortar'. The concept of the participatory 'museum' can be applied to other types of venue, and is an essential approach to communicate with audiences who expect to interact actively with their world, as well as being a way to develop a sense of ownership of a property for those audiences.

I gave a presentation about providing interpretation to pre-school children and their families in such a way that this audience can enjoy a visit to countryside and historic house properties. Pre-school children can engage with and remember carefully chosen key messages, while their parents or guardians can also engage with the property rather than miss out because of needs of their children take them away from concentrating on the property's heritage stories. Appropriate interpretation can be integrated into the needs of the pre-school family through play, art, crafts, story telling and even snack time.

Conference visits were made to Blists Hill Victorian Town, Much Wenlock Museum and RAF Cosford. All three venues offer different visitor experiences which engage people with specific heritage themes. Blist Hill is a reconstructed 1900 industrial town populated with costumed interpreters, Much Wenlock interprets the local cultural and natural heritage witha focus on the birth of the modern Olympic movement, while Cosford has opened a huge Cold War museum which goes someway beyond just being about big planes. I would take the Blist Hill property managers to task about their claims for 'authenticity' as if they are creating something which is an unsullied real 1900 experience rather than. 21st Century tourism representation.

Overall, the conference has offered much to inspire interpreters to place an understanding of visitors central to developing interpretation projects.

Calver Weir Podcast

The first podcast from the Calver Weir oral history project is now online. It features Ray Fowler talking about his experiences, projects and successes as Sales Director at Sissons, who made stainless steel products at Calver Mill during the second half of the 20th Century. Some were shipped to the Falklands. The interview was recorded by the oral history volunteers and edited by inHeritage.

http://www.calverweir.org.uk/page1/page1.php

Henge Diggers Exhibition

Bill Henge Diggers exhibition opens in Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum on the 8th September.

You can find out more on Bill Bevan Photography.

Details of the exhibition opening times on are the museum website.

The exhibition is funded by the Arts Council with support from Manchester Museum and Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum.

Tideswell Photography Workshop

Today Bill led a workshop on street photography and portraiture for Tideswell Living History Group. Members of the group learnt skills and principles to enable them to take street scenes of everyday life in Tideswell and district and portraits of oral history interviewees.

The day was divided in two - the morning on street photography and the afternoon on portraiture. Each began with a presentation on ethics, composition and lighting with examples from my own work and that of others. Participants then practised the photography skills on Tideswell's streets and with each other. Practise sessions were followed by each participant talking through three examples of their shots with feedback from others.

Example of the fantastic street photographs taken by the participants can be seen on Tideswell Tales. Everyone took great photos of Tideswell and some great portraits of each other. I look forward to seeing the further results of their work in the future.

Hunter Schools Test Pits

 Pupils and staff from Dalton Listerdale School, Rotherham after a good day's digging

Today is the last day of the Hunter Archaeological Society test pits. Children and archaeologists have battled through the rain to dig almost 70 test pits in their school grounds in Barnsley, Dronfield, Rotherham and Sheffield. Almost 150 junior school children between 7 and 11 have had the hands-on opportunity to be archaeologists and dig up their playing fields in search of clues from the past. The excitement of finding objects has led one class to do an 'archaeology is cool' dance at the end of their session. Finds include pottery, clay pipes, bottles and old marbles.

Our educational heritage officer and cartoonist are following-up the test pits with sessions interpreting the finds.

The Sheffield Star has featured in project, despite it mis-identifying Hunter member Martin Waller in the photograph - http://bit.ly/RM5B7S

 

Jim Rylatt with pupils from Dobcroft Juniors, Sheffield

The Hunter test pits are one of our ongoing educational and community archaeology projects. To see completed projects please visit out projects page.

No News Is...

... good news. We hope. My apologies for not posting inHeritage news updates for May and June. We've simply been too busy to find time to update the news section. Which does count as good news.

The highlights of the last two months have been:

Bill toured Scotland for two weeks in May to work on his next book - Walk Into the Dark Ages. He covered hundreds of miles, from Dumfries to Shetland, Aberdeen to Iona, visiting and photographing Dark Ages sites.

The Hunter Archaeological Society Centenary Weekend was a roaring success in mid May.

The Lune Aqueduct Digital Memories project is up and running, and the first oral history interviews should be done this month.

Hope and Castleton historical societies have been making some interesting discoveries in the record offices. The wet weather delayed the landscape survey work, which is now well under way along with the test pits.

The first Calver Weir oral history interviews have been undertaken and the first podcast should be online within the next couple of weeks.

We'll endeavour to keep you updated with July's news as it happens.

Calver Weir Audio Trail

The Calver Weir Audio Trail is now available online to download and copy to your mp3 player ready to explore the heritage and wildlife of the area around the weir and Calver Mill.

The trail takes you on a journey along the River Derwent from Curbar Bridge to Froggatt Bridge and back. On the way you can discover the features in the landscape which tell the history of the mill and its weir. You also encounter the rich wildlife which makes its home along the banks of the river.

To download the trail, visit http://www.calverweir.org.uk and click on the New Audio Trail link on the right hand side of the home page.