Collaborators
- Friends of Central Park
- Karen Moore History
- Old Plymouth Society
- Fotonow
Briefly describe your project
Plymouth’s Central Park has seen huge changes in its 90-year history and people have always been central to the story. A small part of the story is already available as an online community resource. The rest of it can be told once the necessary copyright permissions can be purchased. There are a large number of images and a Collectives funding grant will make it possible. In this way the whole story of Central Park and what it means to the people of Plymouth will become available as a free community resource.
Describe what you hope your Collective will achieve
We want everyone to realise what a treasure they have in Central Park and how it could have been lost because of successive developments. By documenting its history, we want Plymothians to fully appreciate the value of Central Park and what it means in all of their lives.
As a community resource, we hope to establish a place where more people are encouraged to contribute their memories or photographs such that the record can be progressively refined and updated as new information comes to light.
Much repair and restoration work remains outstanding in the park, and it will need to be informed by knowledge of what existed previously as well as by present needs and desires. We want decision makers to have all the historical background so that they will make choices which are appropriate for the park and work to increase people’s enjoyment.
As a community resource, we hope to establish a place where more people are encouraged to contribute their memories or photographs such that the record can be progressively refined and updated as new information comes to light.
Much repair and restoration work remains outstanding in the park, and it will need to be informed by knowledge of what existed previously as well as by present needs and desires. We want decision makers to have all the historical background so that they will make choices which are appropriate for the park and work to increase people’s enjoyment.
Describe how your Collective formed
The Timeline Collective comes from work in 2019 and 2020 to capture individual memories and photographs from Central Park’s past. Led by Fotonow and the Friends Group, with Council support and Lottery Heritage funding, it was very successful in setting the scene and shining a torch into areas that were previously unknown.
Following The Box’s opening in 2021, it became possible to go through the official records. It required painstaking research by Karen Moore and was part-funded by £250-a-POP. It identified a very large amount of new material from which heritage volunteers have compiled about 40 new articles. Once licensing and website issues can be addressed, these new articles and the existing ones will enable the whole of Central Park’s story to be told.
Moving into the final phase of work, The Box is keen to encourage the project and has joined the Collective having already provided useful information and generous offers of support. The Old Plymouth Society has also joined the Collective having heard about it in the Community Heritage Forum and being one of the main users of the information generated by the project.
Following The Box’s opening in 2021, it became possible to go through the official records. It required painstaking research by Karen Moore and was part-funded by £250-a-POP. It identified a very large amount of new material from which heritage volunteers have compiled about 40 new articles. Once licensing and website issues can be addressed, these new articles and the existing ones will enable the whole of Central Park’s story to be told.
Moving into the final phase of work, The Box is keen to encourage the project and has joined the Collective having already provided useful information and generous offers of support. The Old Plymouth Society has also joined the Collective having heard about it in the Community Heritage Forum and being one of the main users of the information generated by the project.
Which collaboration “shape” do you expect will best describe your project?
RELAY TEAM – Like an athletics team, a collective where one team member works on the project then passes the baton
In which areas would you expect most of your grant to be spent on?
Research / Pilot
