What is a  Great Place Hidden Heritage (Online) Volunteer?

In partnership with the Zetland Park Regeneration project, Great Place invites you to participate in an 6-8 week project (start date 6th July 2020) exploring and interpreting some of Grangemouth’s most treasured heritage gems. The project will focus around three historical topics: the Grangemouth Docks, the Charlotte Dundas steam boat and the War Memorial in Zetland Park.

Volunteer-generated content (written articles, image galleries, oral histories, etc.) will be incorporated into the Our Stories website as well as informing potential future Great Place projects.

Research will also be used by the Zetland Park Regeneration Project: the Charlotte Dundas content will potentially be used as part of the interpretation at the play park; and the War Memorial content will potentially be used in the oral history bench to be located at the war memorial.

The Great Place project is a district-wide 2-year programme of activities celebrating the places, people, traditions, and industry of the Falkirk area with thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

What’s in it for you?

• Meet interesting people
• Learn about local history
• Improve communication skills & develop interviewing techniques
• Contribute to the creation of a shared public digital information resource about our local heritage   

What’s involved?

Each week we’d like volunteers to carry out at least one hour (or more, if they wish) of independent research on their chosen research topic. We’ll then schedule weekly group meetings on Zoom (1.5 hours max.) to touch base, share progress, ideas, ask questions, and plan for the following week.

06/07/2020 2-3:30pm  Week 1:    Introduction to project, project goals, resources, Our Stories website.  

Prompt: If you’d like to prepare anything ahead of our first meeting (this is optional) then please think of a memory or anecdote relating to Zetland Park or Grangemouth 

13/07/2020 – 03/08/2020  2-3:30pm   Weeks 2-5:  Discuss research topics, progress, and methods (text/audio/visual/video)

Prompt Week 2: pick a topic e.g.

• Daily working life of Grangemouth dockyard workers; working conditions; recreation
• Charlotte Dundas: The woman she was named after; construction / first sailing
• War Memorial, Zetland Park: Controversy
• Early 20^th Century focus: Grangemouth during WW1, interwar and WW2
• Images of local industry and area over time
• Oral history: do you know and want to interview anyone who, e.g., worked on the Docks?
• Wider, (inter)national context and impact of industry/innovation/transport in

10/08/2020  2-3:30pm      Week 6:     Wrapping up, evaluation, content delivery, discussion of future projects (e.g. with physical archive collections at Grangemouth Heritage Society and/or Falkirk Archives

Skills, Attitude, and Experience Required

• Volunteers do not need any prior experience in research and interpretation, just an interest in exploring and sharing stories of our social and industrial heritage. Help will be at hand from our friendly facilitator, Kirsty, as well as colleagues from Great Place and Zetland Park Regeneration Project.
• You should have the ability and willingness to work with all ages of participants

Location

Remote working (from home), meetings held on Zoom (internet connection required).

Time Commitment

Minimum 2.5 hours per week for 6 weeks, with the option to extend for 2 further weeks.

Contact

Harriet Ward, Activity Lead Officer, 07483357439, harriet.ward@falkirkcommunitytrust.org

Expenses

Travel expenses within the Falkirk area will be reimbursed. 

How To Apply

Please complete the online application form here. If you require a hard copy, please contact the Volunteer Coordinator at FCTvolunteering@falkirkcommunitytrust.org or phone 01324 503 614.