On Saturday 25th February 2025 we held our first in-person Network event since COVID – a Heritage Workshop in Ayscoughfee Hall, Spalding. I think it was a successful event with 32 people attending from 17 different organisations representing heritage, history and archaeology groups as well as from the academic world. We will be putting out more information on this website as well as the presentations from the day but I thought it would be helpful just to capture the key points from the workshop.
Fenland Heritage Network
FHN has been running since 2020 providing a forum for history and heritage groups from across the Fenland region to share information on their activities and events. Since the COVID pandemic this has been the first in-person meeting of the group and it gave an opportunity to introduce the new Centre for Fenland Studies and for groups to discuss the shared challenges they face. It was felt that the Network was of value and its activities in support of groups should be expanded. It should also provide a mechanism for the local history/heritage sector to engage with the academic world in research.
Communications
To help organisations establish links and to work together it was agreed to share contact information and this will be sent out shortly. The current FHN website provides information on local groups as well as events and news items. It will be expanded to give more information on Fenland issues and to enable the sharing of research material. The Network will also make more use of social media, and in particular Facebook to share information and promote activities.
Workshops
It was clear that many of the groups at the event were facing similar challenges and the Network can assist by holding a series of workshops including:
- Preparing grant applications and fund raising,
- Identifying and delivering training needs, and
- Communications and the use of social media.
In addition, to assist with research projects the Network could deliver a series of focussed training workshops such as the use of primary source material, understanding landscape and local history.
Future Meetings
It is proposed to hold further in-person meetings across the Fenland region with the next being held in the summer. If anybody would like to host a meeting and has a suitable venue please get in touch.
If you have any activities, events or information you would like sharing on the FHN website please let me know and I look forward to meeting again later in the year.
Michael Gilbert
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