Community Enterprise & Skills CIC (CES CIC) has received £43,200 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for an exciting new project, ‘This is Your Life- Bringing Generations Together’ to be delivered in Blackburn.
The project will empower local young people to work with local older people creating impacting and lasting memories that can bridge gaps between generations promoting social inclusion and breaking down cultural barriers.
Made possible by funding from the National Lottery, the group will work with local youth group SLYNCS (Supporting Links Between Youth & Networks, Communities & Specialists) to research local diverse cultural heritage of those first generations who migrated from South Asian Countries and make use of the collections held by Blackburn with Darwen Library & Information Service to support research.
Starting in September 2017, a group of energetic and innovative young people will lead the project, capturing memories from older people who migrated from the Asian sub-continent during the early 1960’s and 70’s. The accounts of these memories will then be digitised and made available via the Cotton Town website (www.cottontown.org) in order to create a lasting record which can be accessed worldwide.
The Heritage project will capture memories of people ‘Working in the Mills’ during times like the cotton industry boom and ‘food & recipes’ brought from their homelands to continue their cultural traditions.
As part of the project CES CIC will be looking for volunteers who wish to take part in leading the project these people will be ideally young people aged 11- 25. Those who fit into the criteria of being one of the first generations to migrate from South Asian countries who wish to share their experiences should also get in touch.
Commenting on the award, Amir Shafiq said
“We are thrilled to have received support and are confident the project will support young people to learn about their heritage, build stronger relationships between our young people and the older generation and leave memories for many generations to come. Without this project these memories may dwindle and be forgotten .”
About the Heritage Lottery Fund
Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. 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 almost 35,000 projects with more than £5.3bn across the UK. www.hlf.org.uk.