Where are we now?
Created by Ruth Randall and Penny Hammond July 2009
Living Here is a special community project that RAMM started about 3 years ago.
It's special because its different to everything RAMM has done before and it's also different to community projects run by other museums.
Usually the starting point for Museum projects is the Museum collections. In this one the starting point was people. The people who live and work in Exwick, St Thomas, Cowick and Alphington.
Through Living Here we wanted to get people interested in heritage by starting with their own lives, histories, experiences and interests.
The project embraces heritage in its broadest sense including history, art, natural history, landscape and built heritage.
In taking part in Living Here people have discovered how their heritage links with that of their neighbours, the place where they live and the wider world. In the process they have also made links with RAMM and its collections.
Through the Living Here project RAMM has encouraged and supported a whole community to curate its own museum. In this case it's a virtual museum - the Living Here website. This website has lots of museum characteristics. It shows exhibitions, publishes research, promotes activities and explores collections. It's a place to find learning resources and ask questions.
Living Here is also a new way of collecting for RAMM.
All the information on the website is being archived to become part of the Museum's collection.
We had some grand aspirations for Living Here.
We wanted as many people to take part as possible.
We wanted everyone to find and to follow their own interests
We wanted people to be able to work at their own pace
We wanted participants to contribute when and what they could
But first of all we had to see what people thought of the idea.
There would have been no point trying to involve people in something that didn't interest them. We spent a good deal of time talking to people and finding ways of connecting with existing community networks. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive.
From then it was just a matter of doing it.
The first thing we needed to do was to find the money to do it. We were fortunate to secure funding through the Government's Renaissance Programme and also a Your Heritage Award from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
As you may well imagine delivering a project like this was not something we could do on our own.
Our consultation work had shown us that many of the community's stake holders, like NHS Trust and schools, where keen to endorse the project. They open the doors to many of the community providers such as, community associations, places of worship, special interest, voluntary and youth groups and many more.
They were enthusiastic about the project and saw lots of ways of not just fitting in but using the project to link with other groups in the area, expanding their own working practices and bring people together.
The following have been involved in the Living Here Project that we know of
• Alphington Community Association
• Alphington Local History Society
• Age Concern
• Alphington Photographic Group
• Barley Mow Public House
• Bowhill Primary School
• Cowick Barton Inn
• Crawford Public House
• Cricklepit Media
• Community Websites Ltd
• Devon Record Office
• Exe Fest
• Exeter CVS
• Exeter Local History Society
• Exeter Phoenix Media Centre
• Exwick Air Cadets
• Exwick Community Association
• Exwick Local History Society
• Foyer Project
• Guinness Hermitage
• Helping Hands
• Ivy Project
• Longbrooke Public House
• Kings Public House
• Northcott Theatre
• Redhills Community Primary School
• Royal Oak Public House
• St Thomas Bowling Club
• St Thomas Croquet Club
• St Thomas Local History Group
• St Thomas Health Centre
• Seven Stars Public House
• South West Film and Television Archive
• The Showman Public House
• Splash Holiday Play Scheme
• St Thomas Library
• The Village Inn, Exwick
• West Exe Children's Centre
• West Exe Technology College
• West Exe Learning Centre
• Westcounty Studies Library
• Wolf and Water Arts Company
• Wren Trust
• And countless individuals
To kick start the project, raise pubic awareness and keep the projects momentum, we organized some public events in local places; visiting people where they usually go.
Working with the Northcott Community Theatre Group, our very first public events in 2007 were Pub Shows; a challenge for RAMM but a breeze for the Northcott Theatre Community Players who brought their professionalism and skills to the project. Something many of our partners did and without them the project couldn't have been so broad or so rich in its content.
For one event we got together with EEC Parks and Gardens and with the help of some of our partners we ran a spring event in Pinces Gardens, St Thomas. A great spring day; almost a good old fashioned garden party with croquet, bowls, cream teas, Veitch plant sale and our Global Gardeners touring display. Connecting people to RAMM and it's collections through the areas local history.
Once the word started to get around we were invited to Community Open Days, Festivals and Community Exhibitions; meeting people, making friends and listening. Helping people to find their places within the project!
As it progressed the project moved from being museum-led to community-led.
Out of all of this activity there emerged a handful of community champions, individuals ready with ideas of engaging with their neighbours and inspired by the Living Here project; gathering people together on a common cause. Individuals with the tenacity and vision to find all inclusive ways to reach out to their community, using a variety of media, web-based, publications and photography, running events and organising exhibitions.
These individuals have been worth their weight in gold and will help sustain and shape the project in future. RAMM would like to thank them for their help and support.
We really wanted Living Here to be fair and inclusive.
We wanted everyone to have the opportunity to join in. Because of the way living Here was set up there's always a way to join in, everyone who wanted to be part of it could be, including special interest groups, vulnerable groups, individuals, schools, etc
Sufficient time was critical. Time for relationships and trust to develop, time to gage what support was needed and what we could realistically offer.
We started with the familiar working back to the past - linking local history to RAMM's collections.
We gave advice and we took advice, linking partners, offering training and financial support.
These are the projects outcomes to date
1 storytelling house
25 events and activities
5 plays
3 community exhibitions
4 new publications
4 objects donated to RAMM
3 films
1 radio show
3 local history groups
2 local history trails
Although its hard to count the exact number of people who have taken part in Living Here, the number we have to date (July 2009) is over 9,000.
'Living Here...west of the Exe' is still very much alive and living here in the community and in RAMM.
One of the tangible legacies from the Living Here project is this website. We've set it up so it will be maintained for the next two years. What happens after that is up to the community it was created for, anyone living, working or who has an interest in the West Exe area of Exeter. The more it's used, the more content it has, the longer it will continue to be a community resource.
So please browse the website and, if you would like to, please add your own page or comment on existing pages. It's easy to add pages; follow this link to find out how.