BIRKENHEAD PRIORY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME
Wirral Museums Service has successfully secured Heritage Lottery Funding to support a programme of projects intended to engage audiences that do not traditionally use visit Birkenhead Priory.
Birkenhead Priory includes the oldest standing building on Merseyside, dating from about 1150. The entire site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument Birkenhead ’s first parish church.
There are exhibitions related to the history of the site and its surroundings and to the history of the Priory. From the top of the Tower there are panoramic views of Liverpool and the River Mersey. The Refectory can be hired for functions and events, though facilities are limited.
The Priory Parish regularly uses the Chapter House as a place of worship and the Scriptorium is dedicated to HMS Conway as a chapel. Within St. Mary’s Tower is a memorial to the lives lost when the Royal Navy submarine Thetis, built at Lairds, sank during sea trials in 1939.
Recently the Council invested £730,000 in the site and the following work was undertaken:
o refurbishment of St. Mary’s Tower,
o resolving the drainage issues in the Cloister,
The HLF grant will also enable us to undertake remedial work to the mediaeval ruins on the site and to improve interpretation.
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THE OPPORTUNITY
Wirral Museums Service has successfully secured Heritage
Lottery Funding to support a programme of projects intended to engage audiences
that do not traditionally use the site.
The programmes will run between April and September in 2014
and 2015. It is expected that the two
programmes will have two different sets of participants.
The programmes are:
- Calligraphy project aimed at older men from the Parish and neighbouring houses,
- Stitching project aimed at older women from the Parish and neighbouring houses,
- Model boat making project aimed at young fathers and their children from the local children’s centre,
- Puppet making project aimed at young fathers and their children from the local children’s centre,
- Story making project aimed at young mothers and their children from the local children’s centre.
These projects are externally funded and will be delivered
by freelancers. Giving the diminishing
financial resources of the Museums Service the prospect of these projects
continuing after the external funded has finished is unlikely. Therefore we want to provide a progression
route for these groups so that they can continue to be active at the Priory.
THE ROLE
To develop a volunteer programme that is self-managing and
self-sustaining at the Priory. Volunteers could develop a Physic Garden
THE BUDGET
There is a budget of £6,000 available to deliver the
volunteer programme. This budget will
include all fees, materials and travel costs.
HOW TO APPLY
Provide
- a CV detailing your experience,
- a covering letter, no more than two sides of A4, explaining why you are interested in working on this project and how you would approach it.
Submit your application to Jo McGuire
- by email - jomcguire@wirral.gov.uk putting VOLUNTEERING in the subject box
- or
post - Williamson Art Gallery & Museum,
Submission date: 12 noon on 2 July 2014
Interview date: 7 July 2014
