The Banbury Heritage Project was a co-produced partnership project with Historic England, Age UK Oxfordshire, a group of older people from Banbury and Supersum evaluators. The 18-month pilot project aimed to explore and overcome some of barriers to engagement with heritage for older people living with sight loss and mobility challenges.
Barriers to engaging with heritage
Many of the project participants faced challenges such as age-related frailty, social isolation and some had sight loss. Additional barriers to engaging with heritage included issues around physical accessibility and digital exclusion.
What did the groups create?
Over the course of the project participants took part in group sessions on themes selected by the group, the content of which ranged from presentations and discussions around topics of local interest to visiting local heritage sites.
During the course of the project the group created a tactile mosaic which is destined for display at the Mill Arts Centre in Banbury, an audio book version of chapters from the book Memories of Banbury by local author the late Marjory Lester (project participant Helen Middleton is Marjory Lesters daughter) and postcards generated using AI technology representing the participants favourite aspect of the project and including an audio version of each story accessible via a QR code on the postcard.
Audio versions of the book Memories of Banbury by Marjory Lester on the Age of Creativity You Tube Channel Chapter One here and Chapter Two.
How the project was funded
The project was generously funded by Historic England and co-produced by the project participants and Age UK Oxfordshire with support from local heritage and age sector partners.
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