Agenda and minutes

To receive the Minutes of the proceedings of the previous meeting of the Heritage Consultation Group held on 30 August 2016.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Heritage Consultation Group held on 30 August 2016 were approved as a correct record.

Local History Societies to report on developments in their area.

Tameside Local History Forum

Christine Clough advised that the Forum were considering taking on the administration of Blue Plaques, which would be deliberated at their next meeting scheduled for 28 February 2017.  Other historical and civic societies around the country had responsibility for the issuing of blue plaques.  A discussion ensued around Blue Plaques and the future use of the Tameside Coat of Arms on the plaques.  Marie Holland agreed to raise with colleagues and report back to Christine Clough prior to the February meeting.

She was pleased to announce that the Forum continued to thrive and many individuals were pursuing their own projects such as writing books.  She stressed the importance of the Forum not only from a historical point of view but it acted as a social event for many of its members.

Collaborative work with the Local Studies and Archives department on the “History on Your Doorstep” project was continuing, links had been forged with Greater Manchester Archaeology Federation, who were planning a series of walks and talks in April 2017, and planning had already commenced for the annual Heritage Open Days with a meeting scheduled for 9 February 2017.  Discussion ensued around a possible day at the Arcades at the end of July 2017, which would be an opportunity to promote the Heritage Open Days, which Marie Holland offered to pursue.

Audenshaw

Julie Fisher advised that the Audenshaw Local History Society were currently researching the past inhabitants of Ryecroft Hall and were in the midst of producing a “Past and Present” magazine.  She notified the group that the Hall had recently featured on ITV in an episode of Coronation Street.

She explained that the John Ousey memorial stone would be installed in the porch at Ryecroft Hall in February.  It was a marble stone that had been rescued from Red Hall church, which was now beneath the waters of the reservoirs in Audenshaw.  John Ousey was an elder of the original Old Red Hall Chapel who was born in 1799 and died in 1873.  He was a registrar for Audenshaw, Littlemoss Droylsden, and lived at Jasmine Cottage, which had since been demolished.  His remains (together with other family members) were removed from the grounds in the Old Hall Chapel then re-interned in the grounds of the new Red Hall Chapel on Audenshaw road in July 1877.  The grave is still there today in the small cemetery of the new building of Trinity Church.

Denton

Jill Cronin was pleased to announce that membership of Denton Local History Society continued to grow and things were going well.  Two successful exhibitions had been held in October 2016, one of which, “The Way We Were”, was a week-long event at St. Lawrence’s Church.  The Church had been filled with displays and objects and had been visited daily by primary schools with approximately 550 visitors overall.  Due to the overwhelming success, a similar week was planned for October 2017 around a hatting theme.

The Group to receive an update on the following:-

(a)        Arts and Engagement;

(b)        Local Studies and Archives; and

(c)        Museums and Galleries.

(a)        Arts and Engagement

Marie Holland, Arts and Engagement Manager, advised the Group about the following two events:-

·         Whit Friday Brass Band Contest 9 June 2017

·         Armed Forces Day, Victoria Park, Denton 24 June 2017

(b)       Local Studies and Archives

Larysa Bolton, Local Studies and Archives Manager, informed the Group that a bid had been made to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project to be undertaken by Veterans to commemorate the end of the First World War.  Suitable artefacts would be chosen and an advertisement created, which would be displayed at six locations across Tameside.

To commemorate the 100^th anniversary in June 2017 of the munitions factory explosion on Oxford Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, an activity was planned for an artist to work with children from St Peter’s C of E Primary School on an installation.  It was confirmed that the installation would be on display for approximately six months.

A £10,000 Heritage Lottery Fund bid would be submitted in March 2017 to fund the digitisation of glass plate negatives to document the social history of Tameside.  Staff were currently working on a hatting project in Denton and plans were being drawn up for the bronze map of Denton.

Larysa informed the Group that she would be leaving Tameside Council in March 2017 to take up an Archive position in Manchester.  The Chair congratulated her on the appointment and thanked her for her hard work and dedication over the years.

(c)        Museums and Galleries

Marie Holland, Arts and Engagement Manager, notified the Group that Rachel Cornes, Museums Manager, had returned to work.

She advised that the Museum Service continued to submit articles to Manchester Weekly for inclusion in their newspaper; 34 articles were scheduled to be submitted throughout 2017, which would highlight various objects, events and activities across Cultural Services.  It was anticipated to dedicate a display case to host the object so it could be seen by visitors.

In celebration of Lancashire Life's 70^th Anniversary museums, galleries and heritage venues across the county had been asked to submit one object from their collections to help tell the story of the Lancashire Palatine.  The Tameside towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden and Mossley fall, in part, inside the traditional Lancashire County Palatine boundaries.  Of the submissions, 70 would be selected to feature in a magazine and visitor trail; the selected objects would be on display from September – November 2017.  Seven objects had been selected from the collections with a survey currently available (https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/tamesideheritageobjects)for members of the public to choose the final piece for submission.

The Group were advised of the following upcoming exhibitions:-

·         Football Exhibition (GOAL!),  Portland Basin Museum,  4 March 2017 to end of July 2017

·         Nature Exhibition, Astley Cheetham Art Gallery,  18 March 2017 to 15 July 2017

·         ‘Calm During the Storm’  Exhibition,  Central Art Gallery,  22 April 2017 to 1 July 2017

·         ‘Open Art 2017’ Exhibition, Central Art Gallery, 8 July 2017 to 9 September 2017

·         Teddy Bears Exhibition,  Portland Basin  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Greenspace Development Manager to provide an update on work in progress.

As the Greenspace Development Manager was not in attendance at the meeting, a written update on operation and greenspace activities was circulated to those present, as follows.

The Operations and Greenspace Team had a busy pre-Christmas period planting trees as part of the Council’s pledges for 2016.  Over 5000 trees had been planted, which would have a significant impact on the Borough.  The trees had been planted on sites in urban areas that had previously been managed as amenity grassland sites.  Planting trees and reducing the amount of grass cutting was a much more sustainable way to manage the land.  The trees planted were all native species such as oak, alder, hawthorn, hazel and birch that would improve biodiversity across the Borough.  There was more tree planting planned for the forthcoming year and the Conservation Programme was available to view online at http://www.tameside.gov.uk/countryside/volunteering

The team had been working with the Friends’ of Gorse Hall to deliver a SITA funded project.  This project had improved access to the site through improvements to paths, carrying out hedge laying and control of invasive species.

Over the next few months site maintenance work would be carried out including woodland management, hedge laying and clean up days to get sites prepared for the spring time.  Traditional skills such as hedge laying and dry stone walling were an important part of countryside management undertaken by volunteers who worked in a variety of adverse weather conditions on sites and taught newer volunteers these vital skills.

A vast amount of support was provided from the local community to look after the borough’s greenspaces, whether it was an individual who picked up litter in their local park when they walked their dog, a volunteer leading walks to show others the countryside or the Friends’ Groups who worked hard to look after their local park.  In 2016 the registered Greenspace Volunteers gave nearly 18,000 hours of their time.  Relationships had been developed with local businesses such as Brother and British Gas who provided over 700 hours of corporate volunteer support.