Alongside taking turns with 'helpdesk duty' it's really important to us to get out and about to see events in action. It helps us to support organisers locally and reconnect with the festival experience as visitors to see where we might do more to help in future.
Sarah's northern lights
I began the festival in Hull for a local launch on the Thursday evening, where I heard the sad news of Her Majesty’s death. It was particularly poignant to be with a group of our amazing volunteers at that moment, and really helped highlight the importance of our decision for the festival to go ahead for local communities with the deepest respect for Queen Elizabeth’s memory. Over that first weekend I spoke to many visitors and volunteers who shared their connecting stories as the festival events brought us all together.
Alongside the memories there was a lot of inspiration and pride too in our local places and communities. I learnt, and saw, how the East Riding of Yorkshire has always been an area of pioneering innovators, shaped by its geography. From the oldest in-situ street gas lamps to a beautifully renovated medieval friary, the most incredible archive tour and even sight of a listed loo! Hull and Beverley have so much to offer, and it’s so much better to discover it in the company of the incredibly knowledgeable and friendly locals. As ever (and you’ll find we all say it!) the events are fascinating, but it’s the people who make Heritage Open Days so very special. Keep watching our website as I hope to share more stories from the sites and volunteers with you.
Alex goes west (and under?!)
After a non-stop summer of registering, supporting and promoting events across the country, September raced around the corner and it was time to get out and about and reconnect with our festival community. For my 5th festival, I travelled to the West Midlands to explore wonderful Worcester… from the beautifully designed ‘Capability Brown’ landscapes at Croome Court to the captivating stories of past residents of Hartlebury Castle, it certainly didn’t disappoint. I then got down & dirty and joined the ‘Roots in Time’ community excavation, to help unearth the millennia of stories buried within the landscape. With artefacts from Iron Age & Roman settlement enclosures, it was incredible to discover the history hidden below our feet.
I finished this year’s festival by exploring the ancient and sacred history of Evesham Abbey. Here I met some of the fantastic volunteers who bring these stunning sites to life. Yet again, the extraordinary effort and enthusiasm of volunteers and staff at events across the country, really show how special Heritage Open Days is & why people keep coming back for more.
Charlotte’s local inspiration
As the Registration Assistant, I certainly enjoyed the opportunities to attend events that I had read about all year! I discovered that fencing is a LOT harder than it appears in Gosport and was able to enter a WWII air raid shelter while on a tour at the Royal Hospital Haslar - I definitely have a new found respect for everyone who used them because there were many spiders! I stumbled upon a hidden treasure in London where poet Khadambi Asalache had transformed his house with astounding handcrafted wooden fretwork and paint and was left in awe at how a seemingly normal 19th century terraced house could be transformed. I was also fortunate enough to visit Leith Hill Tower, which is 1,000 feet above sea level; the views were breath-taking, and it was fascinating to use a monocular to see the sea or even where the HOD's HQ is. The highlight of my travels was definitely seeing the HODs bunting everywhere and people having fun exploring the HODs events – bring on 2023!
Liam criss-crosses the country
With two jam-packed weekends coordinating photography and filming across the country I had the pleasure of going to 20 events over the festival. Kicking things off in the South, I caught the Latin Verse Machine at the Alfred Gillett Trust, and got to meet a life-sized Lego Suffragette statue in Weston-Super-Mare. Moving on to Bristol I checked out the Old Vic Theatre and Bristol Archives. Then to Exeter for a tour of the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, a visit to Powderham Castle, and a celebration of Coade stone at the Belmont in Lyme Regis.
Over the second weekend, I headed north and had a busy Friday exploring several of the delights that Berwick-Upon-Tweed had to offer. Including their New Wave event, ‘Crime Unlocked’ - it was especially brilliant to catch three New Wave events across the festival this year (I also saw Devon & Exeter Medical Heritage Trust’s Art & Surgery Interactive Exhibition whilst I was in the south and Crook Hall’s family sports day on the way home!) As always it was absolutely fantastic to see first-hand the dedication and enthusiasm of local communities across the country.
What did you discover?
A huge thank you to everyone involved in the festival this year, be it by visiting, organising or volunteering!
Please tell us how it all went – we’d love to share your stories!
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