The Gloucester History Trust is looking to add two new trustees to their board of trustees for this exciting charity, which has an annual turnover of c£350,000 from running the Gloucester History Festival in September, its Spring Weekend in April and the King’s Talks programme.

These have become landmark festivals in both city and county since inception in 2011, and been recognised locally and nationally as premier league history events, mostly in the unique setting of Blackfriars.

The trustees seek candidates with a love of history and heritage, great histories, and a desire to build pride in Gloucester through hosting great and interesting speakers, and help take the Festival and related events to the next level – as our digital Winter Warmer programme goes live to international as well as domestic customers.

Applicants with experience in law and/or governance, of statutory reports to the Charities Commission, ensuring diversity and inclusion policies are up to date: with experience of festivals and events and or of relevant technology will be especially welcomed as will younger candidates.

Candidates with physical disabilities or transport challenges should be reassured that most of our meetings are digital and can be done from home.

Appointments are voluntary and unpaid, with monthly meetings, for which many employers should be able to provide time, and an opportunity to be more involved during Festival activity. Trustees also have the chance to meet our speakers and play a part in developing further our charitable aims, which include greater involvement of students and pupils.

Do spread the word and encourage enthusiastic, can do friends interested in this great charitable good cause to apply to: admin@gloucesterhistoryfestival.co.uk by 30th January 2025.

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/

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.

Gloucester History Festival are delighted to announce a new Festival this Spring in addition to the much loved autumn events, with a view of deepening relationships with history enthusiasts by offering a year round programme.

This decision is following the success of the 2020 festival that reached nearly 11,000 people at home around the world during the two week festival, and a further 9,500 viewers experiencing the festival by watching the recorded talks on demand.

Akin to the 2020 Festival, the spring festival will be presented online – allowing people from around the world to come together virtually and engage with stories and insights of the past. The festival will include special speakers in a selection of talks and City Voices events, offering a taste of history ahead of the main event in September.

This smaller festival will take place in April, with the programme and dates to be announced.

We are thrilled to announce our 11th annual festival, taking place from 4th-19th September 2021.

This news follows the success of our 2020 festival that reached nearly 11,000 people at home around the globe, within the two official weeks of the festival, and a further 9,500 viewers who enjoyed the Festival’s on-demand content beyond the festival dates. 

‘After the success of last year’s festival, I am excited for what Gloucester History Festival has up its sleeve for 2021.

I am thrilled to announce the theme for 2021’s festival is Frontiers and Pioneers, which not only will share world-changing-moments in history, but also feels so relevant to the history we’re living through today. Engaging with history is a constant reminder, that the stories of the past help us to gain perspective and remind us to have hope through challenging times.

Whether we’re welcoming visitors to the history-rich Gloucester venues this autumn or virtually online, we can’t wait to share a programme that will inspire and provide something for everyone.’

– Janina Ramirez, Festival President 

Whether crossing new boundaries in the world of science and space, erecting barriers that will echo uneasily through history, manning the barricades and holding the line, or breaking boundaries to unite, work together or gain freedom, 2021’s anniversaries mark frontiers and pioneers of all kinds. As we find ourselves in a memorable yet challenging time in history, these stories also inspire us to look at the changes, hope and advancements through difficult times and the pioneers and breakthroughs which have prevailed.

With events cancelled and postponed across the world in 2020, Gloucester History Festival was one of the first across the country to develop a fully digital festival experience, reaching more people than ever before. This September, we hopes to offer both online and in-person events and will follow guidance on this nearer the time. The Festival is committed to continuing an online programme as well as real-life events where possible, aware of the positive impact that online events have in reaching people near and far. A virtual visitor from Canada said:

‘I am immensely thrilled to be able to attend the festival this year from Canada. The programming was impeccable. I am blown away by the programming!’

 

The 2020 festival was praised by many for the quality of the talks on offer. 

‘I enjoyed viewing the events online, there was a great deal of interesting material in the lectures and the discussions were friendly, stimulating and often thought provoking.’

The full programme and speakers will be announced later in the year.

The 2020 festival included household names such as Janina Ramirez, Mary Beard, Neil Gaiman and David Olusoga. 

We are delighted to announce that we have been nominated to receive a £25,000 life line as part of the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage.

This emergency funding will enable us to:

• Recoup against financial loss from this year’s festival, which, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, forwent all live events
• Future proof against the on-going climate by finding new ways to develop the Festival with online content

This is a great time for Gloucester as three other heritage organisations, as well as us, received financial support from the same fund, totalling almost £300,000.

We wanted so very much to be able to offer live events this year, but at the eleventh hour that the decision was made to digitalise all events. Although this opened many doors of opportunity, and we engaged with more people online than ever before, the financial situation has been an on-going concern, as it has with many arts, cultural and heritage organisations nation wide.

With social distancing conditions remaining in place, we plan to use a proportion of the funding to futureproof ourselves against ongoing restrictions by learning from this pilot year of digital activity, using that learning to guide future festival plans.

The support that our audiences and subscribers have given us through individual donations has been so gratefully received, and we thank each and every person who has contributed in this way. However, we are still in the position where we rely very heavily on this support fund, if the future of the festival were not to be in jeopardy, and this much needed funding gives us the lifeline that we need to journey into 2021 slightly more confidently.

This vital funding is from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage and the Heritage Stimulus Fund – funded by Government and administered at arms length by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Both funds are part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund which is designed to secure the future of Britain’s museums, galleries, theatres, independent cinemas, heritage sites and music venues with emergency grants and loans.