Humber Museums Partnership announces£18,890 of grants for local organisations

Posted: 15th December 2021

The Humber Museums Partnership has announced the beneficiaries of the second round of its grant programme for museums and heritage groups across the Humber region.

£18,890 has been awarded this round, and combined with the September awards, eight organisations will receive £37,190 to support new activity with the public between now and December 2022.

Projects include new exhibitions, oral history, digital content sharing, creative writing and music, and educational engagement with communities. All projects will engage new audiences with hidden stories.
Councillor Rob Waltham, leader of North Lincolnshire Council, said: “This grant is fantastic news, not only for Wilderspin National School but for the wider community in Barton-upon-Humber as well.

“The building has long been recognised as one of the most important schools in England for its links to Samuel Wilderspin and already brings the story of the education pioneer to life with wonderful exhibitions.

“This grant will enable the museum to go even further by establishing a memory cafe, bringing together young and old and connecting the community around the experiences of school life.

“This will bring huge benefits, inspiring confidence in school children, and helping to ease the isolation that people can face.”

The four recipients of this round of funding are Museum of the Wagoners Special Reserve, East Riding of Yorkshire; Stamford Bridge Heritage Society, East Riding of Yorkshire; Wilderspin National School Museum, North Lincolnshire; and Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre, North East Lincolnshire Council.

Nial Adams, museums manager at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “The Humber Museums Partnership is delighted to be supporting those diverse and inspirational museums which are so ably run by dedicated volunteers and staff throughout the Humber area.

“These museums have hidden stories to tell, stories which are of interest not just for their immediate locality but also for the wider region. These museums have great collections which in total make up a great heritage asset for the Humber area.
“It is therefore vital that their important work is supported and that is what the Humber Museums Partnership is keen to do.”

Martin Watts, curator at the Museum of the Wagoners Special Reserve, said: “The museum is delighted to be given this grant towards our exciting young people’s project.
“All the partners are really looking forward to exploring and sharing the amazing story of the horse drawn horse ambulance – it is a wonderful opportunity!”

Ian Wolseley, chair of trustees for Wilderspin National School Museum, said: “Collecting and sharing memories is what we are about at Wilderspin.

“We are thrilled to receive this grant and the endorsement of the Humber Museums Partnership in our reminiscence work.

“Going to school and growing up are things everyone experienced so we always find that people love to think back and talk about their past with others. This time we’ll be bringing generations together – helping older people who rarely manage to visit a museum to meet young children from local schools in our unique setting.

“They’ll talk and listen to each other’s stories, look at unusual items from our collection, and, most importantly, have fun being together.

“The project builds on our previous reminiscence work supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Museums Development Yorkshire. We have previously undertaken oral history work that led to the creation of our popular Reminiscence Classroom which visitors enjoy exploring.

“We piloted a Chatty Café in the Classroom as it is immediately adjacent to our award-winning coffee shop, The Old School Canteen. This allowed us to experiment with informal discussion among visitors who were unknown to one another, using one or two objects chosen to stimulate inquisitiveness and conversation.

“It was the germ of our idea to take things further and create a memory café which can be used in formal situations with care home residents and people living alone, perhaps isolated. And, of course, what better stimulus for cheery chat, apart from interesting historical objects and lovely refreshments, is the sound and company of inquisitive children.

“So, that’s what this project is all about – bringing generations together, and we’ll be using the Memory Café with public visitors and family groups also.”

Brian Birkett, chair of Stamford Bridge Heritage Society said: “The Battle of Stamford Bridge Heritage Society is delighted to receive this grant award from the Humber Museum Partnership.

“Stamford Bridge is well known for the great battle which took place in 1066 but has a less well known, and also important, Roman history.

“This grant will enable us to showcase Stamford Bridge’s rich heritage through our pop-up museum and bring it to life with our living history and hands on activities.

“The travelling exhibition will help us reach out to new audiences, both young and old. This will provide an important steppingstone towards our aim of a dedicated museum and living history centre in the village.”

For the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre, Councillor Callum Procter, portfolio holder for economic growth, housing and tourism at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “This project is an exciting opportunity to share the stories behind our fantastic art collection and offers a unique opportunity for young people to gain experience behind the scenes in a museum.

“Bringing reproductions of the paintings out of the museum and into the community is really exciting and will hopefully encourage people to visit Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre and engage with more of Grimsby rich heritage.”

Freelance project grant mentor, Sarah Oswald, said: “It’s been great to have eight successful awards from the HMP Small Grants programme.

“As project mentor it’s been particularly good to see how the museums have developed their applications, making use of the support we’ve been providing. I look forward to seeing the projects develop and be delivered.”

The grants programme is part of the Humber Museums Partnership commitment to regional independent museums and heritage organisations, supported by Arts Council England.

The Humber Museums Partnership is a collaboration between Hull City Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and North Lincolnshire Council.