by Sarah Glover | Apr 25, 2023 | Welcome
The film ‘Secrets of Westgate Street’ premiered at the Gloucester History Festival Spring Weekend on 21st April and was made to showcase the fascinating story of this historic thoroughfare. It has been produced as part of the Cathedral Quarter HSHAZ for Gloucester City Council and Historic England by Squeaky Pedal.
The film and trailer are available to view here.
Gloucester’s High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) is known as the Cathedral Quarter HSHAZ. It is a £1.9m programme funded by Gloucester City Council and Historic England to breathe new life into Westgate Street, which as the film shows is rich in heritage and full of potential.
Developed in Roman times, Westgate grew into a bustling medieval street, and it is still the beating heart of the city of Gloucester today. But beneath the modern streets and behind the shop frontages there’s a hidden story which this new film brings to life in striking visuals, including a Lego model. The film also shares exciting new discoveries about Westgate’s historic buildings which have been uncovered as repairs were carried out.
High Streets Heritage Action Zones is a £95 million government-funded programme led by Historic England, designed to secure lasting improvements and help breathe new life into our historic high streets for the communities and businesses that use them. Historic England is working with local people and partners to unlock the rich heritage on these high streets, through repair and improvement works as well as arts and cultural programmes, making them more attractive to residents, businesses, tourists and investors.
In the press: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-65352213
For further details about Gloucester’s Cathedral Quarter High Street Heritage Action Zone visit https://www.cathedralquartergloucester.uk/
For further details about Historic England’s High Streets Heritage Action Zones visit https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/heritage-action-zones/regenerating-historic-high-streets/
by Sarah Glover | Oct 24, 2022 | Welcome
In the tiny Gloucestershire Parish Church of Coberley, halfway between Cirencester and Gloucester, lies the tomb of Sir Thomas Berkeley. Sir Thomas was one of the six Gloucestershire knights who crossed to France with King Edward III ready to fight at the Battle of Crécy in 1346. Alongside him lies his wife and a miniature tomb of a child.
Having survived the battle, Sir Thomas died in 1365 and his wife, Lady Berkeley, later went on to marry Sir William Whittington. Their son, one Richard Whittington, grew up to be the Dick Whittington of legend, the eventual Lord Mayor of London. The Gloucester History Festival will be commemorating the 600th anniversary of Dick Whittington’s death in 1423 next September.
The Battle of Crécy, in which Sir Thomas Berkeley fought, was a key battle in the early years of The 100 Years’ War. The lead up to it, starting from Edward III’s invasion of Normandy, was the focus of the 2022 Winstone Talk, with Dan Jones, which took place in Cirencester on the 29th of October 2022. Dan’s recent book, and debut foray into historic fiction, Essex Dogs, published by Head of Zeus, explores this conflict from the perspective of a group of foot soldiers from Essex – fighting for each other and to get back to the only home they know. It’s a fascinating insight into medieval life in both England and France.
by Beckie Smith | Jul 2, 2021 | Uncategorized, Welcome
Gloucester History Trust Win Pandemic Pivot Award (fewer than 20 paid FTE employees) at the Museums and Heritage Awards
City Voices, Gloucester History Festival and Gloucester Heritage Forum are delighted to announce that their shortlisted collaboration project of Gloucester Looking Up has won the Pandemic Pivot Award at the National Museums and Heritage Awards on Thursday 1 July.
The National Museums and Heritage Awards have celebrated the very best within museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions across the UK for over 10 years and the partners are incredibly proud that this wide-ranging project based on collaboration and partnership with the city’s cultural and heritage locations and organisations has been recognised.
“In a year where the Pandemic resulted in isolation and separation for so many, for this deeply collaborative project celebrating connection and city-wide appreciation for our heritage and history to win, is incredible for Gloucester, and a symbol of what partnerships can achieve even in the face of great challenge,”
says Jacqui Grange, Project Manager for Gloucester Looking Up.
The three lead partners in the project, City Voices, Gloucester History Festival and Gloucester Heritage forum worked closely with Gloucestershire Archives and were supported by film production company Squeaky Pedal and marketing consultants Flying Geese to ensure that Gloucester Looking Up project reached as many people as possible and deepened engagement with the City.
In total, Twenty five artists, 125 volunteers, and over 40 organisations collaborated within an extraordinarily tight period of time to create an astonishing range of work. The descendant of a kindertransport child was traced, and his image installed in his former hostel – the Polish tenants who now live there were so proud they took the day off work; colourful artworks were installed across the city in windows for people to encounter on their daily walks; support for Black Lives Matter was shared through We See Gloucester ( Do You See Us?) in heritage venues across the city; the stories of all the people of the city, from the cleaners to the town crier, the poet to the veteran were told through interviews, poetry and commissioned films, in novel and accessible ways, including a British Sign Language Tour, downloadable artists maps, and activities for families and children.
To deliver this, a tiny team worked round the clock, with just 2 months to pull together the content, and create a new website for Gloucester History Festival to showcase in September 2020.
Richard Graham, Gloucester MP says,
“This award is a real boost to the exciting community based projects that bring alive the City Voices strand of our Gloucester History Festival. A great day for pride in our city, its stories, diversity and togetherness.”
As well as being well received critically by local and national audiences, this new digital content allowed the partnership to build and grow new and more diverse audiences. Over 26k people watched the films, and new social media activity generated a reach of 1.3M people – all of whom are now more aware of the special stories that Gloucester has to tell than they were before.
The Gloucester Looking Up project was funded by Historic England.
City Voices congratulates all the Museums and Heritage Awards winners!
Pandemic Pivot category shortlistees:
- Northe Front – for demonstrating how heritage sites have an important role to play during the pandemic
- Thelma Hulert Gallery – for their project the Creative Cabin – art and nature on tour
- Ourselves
- Chawton House – for their project transforming Chawton House: The Covid year
- South West Museum Development – for their Pest Partners project.
by Beckie Smith | May 13, 2021 | Welcome
City Voices, Gloucester History Festival and Gloucester Heritage Forum are delighted to announce that their collaboration project of Gloucester Looking Up has been shortlisted for the National Museum and Heritage Awards.
The National Museums and Heritage Awards have celebrated the very best within museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions across the UK for over 10 years.
‘ It’s wonderful that the collective effort of so many of Gloucester’s wonderful Heritage, community and creative organisations has been recognised. A great endorsement of what we can achieve when volunteers are valued and celebrated and culture and community work together’
The three lead partners in the project, City Voices, Gloucester History Festival and Gloucester Heritage forum were supported by film production company Squeaky Pedal and marketing consultants Flying Geese to ensure that Gloucester Looking Up project reached as many people as possible and deepened engagement with the City. Other artists part of the project include: Ellie Shipman, Elle Bry Thomas, Phil Campbell, Dominic Lofters and Ratson.
The shortlist for the Pandemic Pivot Award comprises:
- Northe Front – for demonstrating how heritage sites have an important role to play during the pandemic
- Thelma Hulert Gallery – for their project the Creative Cabin – art and nature on tour
- Ourselves
- Chawton House – for their project transforming Chawton House: The Covid year
- South West Museum Development – for their Pest Partners project.
Gloucester Looking Up created a unique opportunity for new and existing, local, national and international audiences to be inspired by the City where three strands of interconnected artworks were commissioned. This resulted in an interactive online map which lead audiences to film, photography and downloadable resources. These resources showcased local people as they shared stories about the spaces they love. A Living History programme, in which libraries, archives and heritage sites worked with the community to collect and share their experiences of lockdown was created and a series of cultural commissions, co-created with artists, venues and communities brought alive the stories of the City in new and innovative ways.
In total, Twenty five artists, 125 volunteers, and over 40 organisations collaborated within an extraordinarily tight period of time to create an astonishing range of work. The stories were fantastic – we traced the descendant of a kindertransport child, and installed his image in former hostel – the polish tenants who now live there were so proud they took the day off work; colourful artworks were installed across the city in windows for people to encounter on their daily walks; we showed our support for Black Lives Matter by sharing We See You ( Do You See Us?) in heritage venues across the city; we told the stories of all the people of the city, from the cleaners to the town crier, the poet to the veteran through interviews, poetry and commissioned films, and in novel and accessible ways, including an animated British Sign Language Tour, downloadable artists maps, and activities for families and children.
To deliver this, a tiny team worked round the clock, with just 2 months to pull together the content, and create a new website for Gloucester History Festival to showcase in September 2020.
As well as being well received critically by local and national audiences, this new digital content allowed the partnership to build and grow new and more diverse audiences. Over 26k people watched the films, and new social media activity generated a reach of 1.3M people – all of whom are now more aware of the special stories that Gloucester has to tell than they were before.
The national online awards ceremony takes place on Thursday 1 July – please wish us luck and we will let everyone know the outcome as soon as we know.
by Beckie Smith | Apr 13, 2021 | Welcome
How to access your events
We are pleased to announce that all Spring Weekend events can be accessed through your own personal Events Page on our website
You will have been sent an email which takes you through to your personal, email protected events page.
1) When prompted, type in your email address (the one you used to book your tickets)
2) You will see your events displayed here.
If you log into this page before your event has started, you will be informed that your event has not stated yet. At the event start time, please refresh your page, and the event will start for you
If you log into this page, after your event has started (or if you choose to watch your event on demand, you will see your event ready for you to watch).
If you are not able to find the email, please scroll down to our trouble shooting section
Can’t remember what you booked?
Don’t worry if you can’t remember what you booked. You will be able to see all the events connected to your email address when you access your events. The date and time of the events you have booked will appear in on your page.
Information regarding the funeral of HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
Gloucester History Festival Spring Weekend was planned, and all events were filmed, before the sad death of HRH Prince Philip. The date of his funeral coincides with the first day of the Spring Weekend. We understand that the Funeral will be televised and will take place at 3pm. No events of the Spring Weekend coincide with this time.
We understand that some audience members may choose to pay their respects to Prince Philip during the day. All events within the Spring Weekend are digital events which have been pre-recorded, enabling those who choose to follow the nation’s coverage of Prince Philip to do so, and catch up with their Spring Weekend events at a time convenient to them.
The only event which will be affected differently is HUM Sing It Back. This event is a live event, which will be recorded and added to your personal page on Monday 19 April.
How to access your events on demand
To access your event on demand
1) Visit your personal events page, using the link in the email sent to you.
2) Follow the instructions to log in
3) Any events which have previously taken place will be ready to watch
How to order books connected to your events
Blood and Iron by Katja Hoyer can be purchased here
Silent Village by Robert Pike can be ordered here
Dead Famous by Greg Jenner can be ordered here
The Power of Geography can be ordered here
Event access – Trouble shooting
On Tuesday 13 April, all ticket buyers were sent an email with the subject line “Everything you need for the Spring Weekend”. Please find this email and click the button to access your events
If you purchased tickets after this date, your booking receipt contained a button at the top of the email taking you to your own personal events page
If you are unable to find either email, please click here to be taken to your personal events page. Please use the email address that you used to book your tickets
by Beckie Smith | Apr 6, 2021 | Welcome
We are delighted to announce that Gloucester History Festival are among more than 2,700 recipients to benefit from the latest round of awards from the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund.
This award will support the preparations and development of an exciting autumn festival for 2021, making it possible for Gloucester History Festival to present an engaging programme of events.
“We are delighted to have the support of the Culture Recovery Fund.
This grant is the much needed support we needed to develop an inspiring festival for the autumn. A festival for our communities to come together, develop their understanding of the world, both past and present and learn about the Frontiers and Pioneers that have shaped all of our stories.”
Jacqui Grange, Festival Manager
Gloucester History Festival has received a grant of £12.5K from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help the organisation recover and develop their future offer.
More than £300 million has been awarded to thousands of cultural organisations across the country including Gloucester History Festival in the latest round of support from the Culture Recovery Fund, the Culture Secretary announced today.
Gloucester History Festival is committed to bringing history to life for everyone. We present an annual two week festival to celebrate the city’s rich history, heritage and culture. The festival celebrates local, national and international history through a highly acclaimed programme of Blackfriars Talks; the City Voices programme of workshops, performances, tours, parades, exhibitions and digital content; the Heritage Open Days and the much loved Gloucester Day, to give people the chance to learn from the past and shape their life today for the future. During 2020 the festival took place online, providing history and culture to people in their homes.
With the first Culture Recovery Fund grant, Gloucester History Festival has been able to develop an online Spring festival, which will bring history and culture to homes near and far from April 17th-18th. The festival presents a programme of talks from historians including Greg Jenner, Janina Ramirez, Tim Marshall, Robert Pike and Katja Hoyer. The festival also offers an array of special experiences, enabling people to engage with the past in different ways, from rare opportunities to see Gloucester’s historic venues virtually to singing historical songs, and an interview with Vanley Burke.
This second Culture Recovery Fund award will support the Gloucester History Festival to prepare, secure and develop an exciting programme of events for the autumn on the theme of Frontiers and Pioneers, to mark a year which sees a multitude of significant anniversaries of frontiers and pioneers of all kinds. 2021 includes anniversaries of the end of the USSR 30 years ago, the building of the Berlin Wall and Yuri Gagarin’s first manned space flight 60 years ago, the Battle of the Imjin River during the Korean War 70 years ago and, much further back, this May marks the 550th anniversary of Gloucester’s city gates closing against Margaret of Anjou as she approached Gloucester before the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.
The Culture Recovery Fund will support the development of an autumn festival full of stories of crossing boundaries, new discoveries, change and advancements of the past. A festival to re-unite local communities and empower all generations to explore history and develop their understanding of the world, both past and present.
“Our record breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they’ve ever faced.
Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors – helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead.”
Oliver Dowden, Culture Secretary
Over £800 million in grants and loans has already been awarded to support almost 3,800 cinemas, performance venues, museums, heritage sites and other cultural organisations dealing with the immediate challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.
The second round of awards made will help organisations to look ahead to the spring and summer and plan for reopening and recovery. After months of closures and cancellations to contain the virus and save lives, this funding will be a much-needed helping hand for organisations transitioning back to normal in the months ahead.
“Investing in a thriving cultural sector at the heart of communities is a vital part of helping the whole country to recover from the pandemic. These grants will help to re-open theatres, concert halls, and museums and will give artists and companies the opportunity to begin making new work.
We are grateful to the Government for this support and for recognising the paramount importance of culture to our sense of belonging and identity as individuals and as a society.”
Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England
The funding awarded is from a £400 million pot which was held back last year to ensure the Culture Recovery Fund could continue to help organisations in need as the public health picture changed. The funding has been awarded by Arts Council England, as well as Historic England and National Lottery Heritage Fund and the British Film Institute.
