HALL HERITAGE HEROES

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Many readers will remember the Public Hall’s Centenary in 2004. As part of the celebrations, we restored the Hall’s clock, held an exhibition of the its history, and published a book by Judy Helme, describing the varied activities that had taken place in the Hall over 100 years. The clock restoration, exhibition and book were all aided by a grant of £11100 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

 We were delighted to learn just before Christmas that we had been nominated for a Heritage Heroes Award. The awards celebrate the achievements of bodies in the South West who have received Lottery funding in securing our heritage and opening it up for everyone to enjoy and learn about. We were included in the Built Heritage category, one of five.

 In due course we received an invitation to a ceremony at Ashton Court Mansion. The day began with some welcome publicity from Radio Bristol, who visited the Hall for a live spot in their breakfast programme. Judy Helme, Jeanette Cossey, and David Thomas later went to Ashton Court, for a lunch which preceded the awards ceremony. As we waited for lunch, we looked at the small exhibition of all the nominees. There were about twenty, with four nominees in each category. At this point we realised that the quality of the competition was extremely high. We were also buttonholed by an Evening Post reporter and photographer, who were seeking out all the Bristol based groups who were represented at the Awards.

 A common feature of all the nominated projects was that they included a large element of volunteer involvement. We had learnt that we were nominated because the Heritage Lottery Fund had been impressed by the number of people who had contributed to our historical research and to the successful exhibition. All of the other projects had also clearly gained much from active support from volunteers.

 Once lunch was finished, we moved on to the presentation of the awards. The proceedings were modelled on the Oscars. A guest presenter reviewed the projects in each category, and finally opened the envelope and announced the winner. Relatively small projects from around Bristol won two of the first categories, for Bedminster Green, which won the Wildlife section, and Capturing Memories --- Building for the future, which is based in Horfield. We were therefore not too surprised when the winner in our category was announced, and was a large project from Dorset. This was for the restoration of Nothe Fort at Weymouth. I have visited this site, and I have to say that it was a very worthy winner.

 However all was not lost, as every nominee received a certificate, to mark their success in getting as far as the awards ceremony. Ours will be mounted in a prominent place in the Public Hall.

 The final business of the day was the announcement of an overall winner. This was the Horfield group, for their project to capture memories, good and bad, from residents of an estate which is being comprehensively redeveloped. This was presented to them by the Lord Mayor, who was clearly delighted to be making the presentation to a group from his own city.

 Although we were naturally disappointed not to receive an award, we had experienced a very enjoyable occasion. We were particularly pleased that the contributions to all those who had helped with project were publicly recognised.

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