Cross-border connections
Heritage Open Days is part of a wider European festival and last week we had the chance to catch up with our sister coordinators from the other UK programmes. It was great to see how we connect and discuss ways we can support each other more, particularly for those communities who live on the borders, and the organisations that cross them.
Our thanks go to European Heritage Days for enabling the meeting to happen. Extra special thanks also to the team at Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre who hosted a brilliant site visit for the group. We knew we had to include one in the agenda to really show off what local organisers in England can achieve through the festival. The PPMCC team were EXCELLENT, we strongly recommend making a trip if you can or check out their collection and work online. We came away buzzing with ideas from the community garden and stories of decorated ship's biscuits plus a peanut from the Titanic!
Match-making
Conversations with partners is such an important part of our work. HODs is an amazing community network as well as a showcase for fab free events, so we love it when we can connect people to help them do more. This year the chats have led to exciting matchmaking offers with Icon and WES. Keep an eye out for some great events featuring conservation and stories of women in engineering this September!
Early festival highlights
Across the country local organisers are once again rising to the challenge of our annual theme. This time it’s ‘Astounding Inventions’ and they’ve been brewing up some especially inventive events for us all to enjoy. The long lead press release has just gone out with a few early highlights – from the history of gas to the invention of the very English tradition of change-bell ringing. Watch this space for more… the event directory will be live next month!
Charlotte’s choice
Our Registration Assistant, introduced herself on our last Take 5, and has been avidly reading through registrations since then. So I had to ask what’s caught her eye so far (answer – a LOT, but I’ve limited her to mentioning one here!)
The invention of the Apple' is one of my favourite events so far. How does one invent an apple, you may wonder? The team at the Cider Museum and King Offa Distillery will use the science of pomology to look into inventive growing methods, the development of new varieties, and the many delicious ways we have learned to eat or drink this fantastic fruit.
Stand and deliver!
For the first time the HODs team brought the bunting to the Museums+Heritage show in London. This is an excellent event full of fascinating trade stands and inspiring talks. It was brilliant to meet so many people there, friends old and new. The new pink tote bags were a big hit and the team worked hard to deliver for the festival community – our feet and voices were certainly tired out in the best way! We'll be sending a follow up note to people soon, but if we missed you do just drop us a line - we are here (and love) to help you share your extraordinary stories.
Find out more
- Got a story/place to share? - Find out how you can join our festival community
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- Read more on the blog - Look out for ‘Take 5 with the team’ posts in our Blog stream
- Meet the team
