Down Your Wold Final Evaluation Report
Introduction and Background
The Lincolnshire Wolds was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1973, part of the reason for this designation was for the rich archaeology and cultural heritage of the area.
The Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service has a small dedicated team working in partnership to help protect and enhance the nationally important AONB for all who live, work and visit the area.Despite the archaeology and cultural heritage being noted for its importance, very little research has actually been carried out.
LWCS were keen to engage people more with the heritage of the landscape but struggled with their current staffing and budgets to offer the guidance needed to support new and existing community heritage groups.
After a successful partnership with Heritage Lincolnshire through the Lincolnshire Wolds Walking Festival both organisations felt a joint heritage project would help to achieve objectives for both organisations. Like the walking festival project officer, the Down Your Wold project officer is employed by Heritage Lincolnshire and sits within the Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service team based in Louth, on the edge of the Wolds.
Aims and Objectives
The Down Your Wold (DYW) project was planned with the intention of being a two year project to help to raise the profile of the heritage in the Lincolnshire Wolds while giving volunteers the skills and knowledge to research and record their surroundings.
The aim of the project was to work with five communities to help train them to research where they live, with three communities developing a range of interpretative material including interpretation panels for installation during the final stages of the project. These aims have been met successfully through a variety of community input, in addition however a wide range of additional community heritage events and activities have been undertaken – many of which have arisen through further partnership support and engagement not always envisaged in the planning stage of DYW. Due to the strong volunteer involvement the project has been able to deliver better value for money than initially budgeted for.
The following objectives were set in the approved Heritage Lottery Fund application. The table shows target aims against what was actually achieved in the two year period.
Target / Actual / CompletedTo employ a dedicated Heritage Project Officer to deliver training and run events for volunteers. / A change in project officer left a two month change over while the role was re-advertised and notice period worked. / Met
To inspire and assist Lincolnshire Wolds' communities to become involved with and learn about their local heritage
by running 40 events over two years. / 120 events ran over the two year period. This includes 47 events coordinated by community groups. / Exceeded
To investigate and record how settlements in the Lincolnshire Wolds have evolved by carrying out 100 surveys with volunteers. / 122 surveys carried out covering a number of different topics using a variety of different skills and received training on various topics. / Met
To disseminate the results and share information through a Lincolnshire Wolds heritage website, an on-line toolkit,three interpretation boards, pdfs and leaflets. / established with an average of 1000 hits per quarter. Online tool-kit with 10 How To guides available to support community groups. Interpretation panels in Walesby, Nettleton and Sutterby. Heritage leaflets created for 20 different places available in DYW geocaches. A Heritage Spotters’ Handbook has also been created to encourage families to discover more about local heritage. / Met
To increase wider understanding and appreciation of the heritage of the Lincolnshire Wolds by involving at least 80 volunteers and five communities. / 242 volunteers have been engaged with the project from taking part in one off events through to coordinating a local heritage steering group. Communities engaged with are Nettleton, Walesby, Sutterby, Hemingby, Utterby, Brinkhill, Rothwell and Louth – but events have been held in 16 different locations. / Exceeded
Getting the project going
The project began in April 2013. A dedicated steering group was established containing a great mix of heritage/landscape experts from Heritage Lincolnshire, the Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service, Lincolnshire County Council and Historic England. Also on the steering group were four dedicated volunteers from community heritage groups in the Lincolnshire Wolds. The group contained a very effective mix of skills and knowledge to support the Project Officer to move the initiative forward.
The steering group members were:
Heritage Lincolnshire – Liz Bates and/or Alison Berwick
Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service – Stephen Jacks
Lincolnshire County Council – Beryl Lott
Lincolnshire County Council -Sarah Grundy
Lincolnshire County Council – Cath Pike
Community Representative, Brinkhill History Group – Pam Banks
Community Representative, Spirit of Sutterby - Geoff Wheatley
Community Representative, Spirit of Sutterby – Denise Wheatley
DYW Project Officer – Sam Phillips
The first recruitment of the Project Officer was successful, but the candidate proved to be unsuitable for the role. It was clear that the job description needed to be amended to more clearly state that the role required skills in community engagement and the purpose was to facilitate and support these communities, rather than carry out research on their behalf. The partnership set out to recruit the role again, after the Project Officer resigned from the post. Interviews were held and the candidate appointed demonstrates key skills in community engagement and an enthusiasm for the heritage of the Lincolnshire Wolds.
As a result of this process the community engagement elements of the project were delayed and the timetable and milestones revised to take account of the need to recruit again.
The Project Officer wrote to all Parish Councils in the Wolds and also scoped out both local and national events and partners to help generate further interest and participation in the project. Initially the Project Officer arranged several taster sessions to entice local volunteers, this alongside an integrated marketing plan including social media, website, Wolds News and press releases, helped to generate much local interest in the project.
A programme of activities was set up and the Project Officer also established contact with a number of local groups to help explore potential projects that would fit within the DYW aims and objectives.
The Spirit of Sutterby is a key example of a community group engaged within the project and furthering community heritage in a deeply rural and sparsely populated area. The focus of their interest was a small parish church in Sutterby and it grew considerably during the life of the DYW project.
Groups which have really thrived have benefitted from a volunteer with a heritage background being directly involved in their steering groups. This has allowed a more joined-up approach to event planning tying activities to one another. It has also allowed for the professionals to share their contacts and expertise leading to a better quality of speaker and tutor.
Feedback shows that the variety and flexibility of DYW has been the projects main strength. Allowing the project to belead by the communities has enabled volunteers to take ownership of their activities and value the events they run.
It must be added that individual "taster" events and activities still definitely have their place for introducing new opportunities and promoting wider engagement.Findings suggest that many people are unable to volunteer their time on a monthly basis for group meetings, but were often more likely to come along to special events and activities depending on their particular motivations. From the Project Officer’s observations many event attendees were people who attended as a one off or just attended subjects they were interested in.
Events and Activities
The original target for events was 40 to be held over the two year period. Thanks to strong volunteer involvement DYW managed to deliver 120 events. These in the main were coordinated by DYW or the community groups under the project umbrella, in particular the Spirit of Sutterby group who coordinated 47. The project also had a presence at countywide events, such as the Lincolnshire Show and National Cycling Time Trial, which allowed the project to reach a wider and more diverse audience to help promote the Lincolnshire Wolds as a destination for exploring its unique and special heritage assets – such as its deserted medieval villages, ancient tumuli and the areas many tranquil churches.
A real plus for the project was that it could be organic and flexible - although certain engagement activities were planned throughout the year, once the audience started to grow and develop their own interests and ideas the project was able to adapt to provide more events which suited individual volunteer needs and their specific learning journey. This is demonstrated in the following table with regards to the amount of development events held and a significant number arising from volunteer requests.
Type of event / Number of eventsPublicity/Shows coordinated and attended / 22
Taster sessions / 21
Training events and activities / 32
Events developed from volunteer requests / 46
Noticing that the project was mainly attracting retired people, the Project Officer decided that creating some heritage geocaches would be a great way to entice families into discovering about heritage.
Wider promotion
A major achievement and legacy for the DYW has been establishing the Lincolnshire Wolds Festival of Archaeology, tying in with the National Council for British Archaeology two week long archaeology festival in July. The umbrella approach of the Lincolnshire Wolds Festival of Archaeology allowed several different community groups and attractions to link-in and plan their own events. Over 1,000 attendees participated in the two annual Archaeology Festivalsorganised over the life of the project, with an aspiration for delivery of a further Festival in the summer of 2016.
DYW also held events as part of the Wolds Words Festival which is managed by East Lindsey District Council. This provided important economies of scale for our advertising with the advantage of additional free publicity helping to extend coverage and opportunities for ever audience engagement.
Alongside the steering group partners the project also worked with the following additional partnership organisations to deliver events and activities:
Partner / Links madeLincolnshire Medieval Graffiti Project / Delivered 4 events
East Lindsey District Council / Ran events as part of their Wolds Words Festival in October 2014
Walkers are Welcome / Group delivered 4 geocaching training sessions
Council for British Archaeology / Lincolnshire Wolds Festival of Archaeology in line with the national festival in July. CBA gave additional promotion of the festival on a national level.
Lincolnshire Archives / Ran numerous events to give DYW volunteers an insight into how to use the archives and what documents are held for certain locations.
Lincolnshire Remembrance Memories and Memorials / Worked closely together on a Wolds in Wartime event. Also partnered together for project promotion and linked training events such as oral history recording and photography training.
Louth Town Council / Premises used for the Wolds in Wartime exhibition
National Trust – Gunby Hall / Ran two free events for the Archaeology Festival, also offered free use of room for training and feedback sessions.
Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology / Great support with the Nettleton and Claxby mining heritage project.
Lincoln Diocese / Ran events and assisted with project promotion
Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership / Worked with Sutterby on survey sessions and recording
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust / Worked with Sutterby on survey sessions and recording
Classroom in the Wolds / Events for young people at a reduced rate.
Lincolnshire Wolds Walking festival / Delivered walks over the festival period. `
Caistor Arts and Heritage Centre / Community Dig as part of The Lincolnshire Wolds Festival of Archaeology 2014
Event case study
One of the most rewarding events which took place was a village test pit weekend in Walesby. Walesby is known for its deserted medieval village site so the villagers were keen to see what evidence of past settlements they had in their current village location.
Flyers were distributed to all homes in the village asking people to participate and eight properties came forward to take part.
Professional archaeologists delivered a teaching session before the weekend to talk to people about archaeological techniques and identifying finds.
During the morning of the first day of the test pit weekend people were shown how to get their mini excavation started. Residents were keen to get started so went off to their own properties to begin. Archaeologists were always on hand to offer support to the diggers – they visited properties around the village in order to give help and advice to residents.
This event was great not only for discovering new information about the area, but it also became a great social event, with villagers getting the opportunity to spend time with residents who didn’t usually get involved so much with village life, due to work commitments.
One household had invited several family members to come along to assist with their dig, so ended up with three generations of family members being involved.
A dose of friendly competition spread throughout the village with people wanting to know how far people had dug and what they had found. Finds included everything from a glass eye from a toy right through to a Bronze Age worked flint.
The village hall was used as the test pit HQ and provided a meeting place for residents to discuss their progress. A meeting was held there at the end of the weekend to look through people’s finds.
A feedback evening took place after the event to talk through the final report and what their discoveries meant.
Feedback received
Volunteers and community group development
The community representatives who were part of the DYW Steering Group proved to be extremely valuable to the project. Through their dedication and hard work the project’s targets for events and volunteer numbers more than doubled. Their advice and ideas about what events would interest their groups allowed the professional fees budget to be used most effectively.
The original target for volunteer involvement was to work with 80 volunteers over the two year period. Again, thanks to strong volunteer leadership from several DYW community heritage groups this reached over 200.
There was a clear split with community groups, some had a plan of action and enjoyed the fact that DYW could be flexible and adapt to their project needs. Other community groups needed more support with coming up with research ideas and what activities they could work on. Other groups were formed on the back of taster events and walks which inspired volunteers to want to get more involved.
Other participants were happy to attend a few activities and talks linked to a particular subject without having to actively commit their time. This allowed volunteers to become involved with the project as an individual, rather than setting up a group.
This table shows the number of visits, over the two year period, the Project Officer made to community groups to promote the project, offer support and to provide administration:
Group supported / Individual visits (not including events)Nettleton / 7
Walesby / 8
Hemingby / 3
Utterby / 2
Brinkhill / 2
Rothwell / 3
Louth / 4
Caistor / 2
Sutterby / 5
The Project Officer also did additional promotional talks and project updates at the following meetings:
Meeting / DateEast Barkwith History Group / 26/04/14
North Lincolnshire Society for History and Archaeology / 20/05/14
Walesby Friends of the OldChurch / 03/07/14
Asterby and Goulceby Parish Council / 20/04/15
LWCS Joint Advisory Committee / 23/04/15
Community group case study
The Spirit of Sutterby group first formed during the start of DYW with several volunteers interested in researching the small abandoned church in the hamlet of Sutterby, after they visited it for a church service. Little did they know that two years later, they would be writing a project plan for an additional three year project, because of all the discoveries they have made while being supported by the DYW project.
DYW budget for professional support has allowed the Sutterby group to bring in a variety of tutors on numerous subjects which include everything from learning watercolour techniques and surveying slugs right through to transcribing old documents and excavating skills which they used at the church to discover previous foundations.
They are currently in the process of becoming constituted and looking for grants to continue their project delivery. They aim to produce academic documents alongside trail leaflets and interpretation.