Be part of Colchester Castle's future!

Colchester Castle is going through an exciting transformation! The Castle temporarily closes its doors on 6 January 2013 for a major redevelopment project, creating new museum displays and improved visitor facilities.

The Museum Service are looking for people aged between 16 and 24 years old to join our ’16-24yrs Discussion Group’. The forum is a chance to discuss the plans for the re-development of the Castle and to have a say about the new displays, over free food!

In the last two sessions the group have started to discuss gallery layouts, images, colours, fonts, object labels, interactives, ideas for audio visual experiences and lots more!

Amanda Chan, Discussion Group Member said “Being part of the Castle’s youth-forum has given me a great insight into the museums/heritage industry, which is really useful for my own personal career goals, but also provides an interesting and fun way to help out with an important project.

Members of the group will also have the chance to be part of a new initiative from the Children’s University. This scheme allows young people over the age of 15 to earn credit for hours spent volunteering with any accredited organisation, including time spent with the Discussion Group. Your contribution will be marked with a nationally accredited certificate which can be listed on CVs and applications. If they would like to join this programme, Colchester and Ipswich Museums will pay the joining fee.

Members do not need to have an interest in history or the Castle to join the group; they just need to be willing to give an honest opinion about what they think! Members will be able to help us make changes for the better as we work with the group’s ideas, input and advice on how to make the Castle a fun, engaging and exciting place to visit.

Forum meetings are held once a month, the dates vary so you will need to checkout our website www.cimuseums.org.uk/get-involved/discussion-forums, but the next meeting will be held on Monday 16th July, 5.00pm to 7.00pm at Colchester Castle. For more information you can call Laura on 01206 282434 or email laura.hardisty@colchester.gov.uk.

ENDS

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Contact Laura Welham, PR and Press Officer, Colchester Borough Council. Telephone: 01206 508782 or 07815088150

On 19 July 2011 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded £3,267,400 towards a major redevelopment of Colchester Castle. This funding will ensure that the Castle continues as a top quality visitor attraction for tourists and as a place in which local residents and schoolchildren can learn and take pride in the long history of their town.

The project has been worked on intensively and detailed plans have been drawn up to create exciting new displays that do justice to Colchester’s nationally important heritage, the outstanding collections and the amazing building in which they are housed. The museum project team has consulted widely with local people and set up two user forums to inform the development of the new displays and visitor facilities. One of the headlines from this audience development research shows that, across the board, local people have a strong sense of pride in the town’s long history and that the Castle is a focal point for this.

The HLF are contributing 77% of the funding towards this £4.2m project. The equally vital match funding comes from Colchester Borough Council, the European Union through the Norman Connections project, Renaissance museum hub funding, the Friends of Colchester Museums, the Essex Heritage Trust and the Friends of Colchester Roman Wall.

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported more than 30,000 projects allocating £4.6billion across the UK, including over £300million to 3,000 projects in the East of England alone.
Website: www.hlf.org.uk

Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service
Our vision is to create a museum service that is a source of pride, inspiration and fun.
 

Nadine Haven -28/07/2012 03:06

Good post! This is the kind of information that should be distributed on the online community. I would like to read more of this.