Our Young Roots project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund has now been completed.
It has been an amazing opportunity for the museum to engage with a wide variety of Young People from South Staffordshire College, The University of Birmingham and those who have volunteered independently. We have been able to offer them numerous work experience opportunities and to learn about Erasmus Darwin and his work.
Between 2019 and 2023 (with a pause between 2020-2022 because of Covid) the project has successfully achieved:
- 3 exhibitions created by local young people and 1 exhibition to summarise the project.
- Preservation of an important archive which documents the founding of the museum.
- A digital interpretation of Darwin’s Georgian house
- Collecting Oral Histories of our volunteers
- Running training sessions on Oral History and creating Educational Workshops
- Working with 54 young people who have learnt about Erasmus Darwin, gained new skills and were able to showcase their work to our community.
- Over 60 days’ worth of volunteer time
You can find out more about the project in our exhibition which will be on until 31st March.
Our work with the Young People from South Staffordshire college will not stop here though. Our strong partnership will ensure that we can offer further opportunities for our young people to engage with their local heritage, not only through creating exhibitions but also developing the digital interpretation. So, watch this space!
We would like to thank everyone who has supported this project.
- South Staffordshire College, Lichfield Campus: the tutors, work experience department and the students.
- The University of Birmingham: the work experience department and the students
- All the volunteers from Erasmus Darwin House, those who have been with us a while and those who joined the team for the project.
- All the funders: We Love Lichfield, The Royal Society and The National Lottery Heritage Fund
- The National Lottery Players
