On Thursday 25th July we went to our first meeting of the Stockport Conservation & Heritage Forum held in Staircase House. The forum meets quarterly and comprises of representatives from over 40 voluntary & community groups with an interest in local heritage and conservation issues.
The first half of the meeting was a presentation by Norman Redhead from the Archaeology Service which has recently relocated from the University of Manchester to the University of Salford. His talk was punctuated by a demonstration of the Greater Manchester Historic Environment Record which is a Geographical Information System & database detailing the Greater Manchester area. You can view more information about the GMAU here.
The demonstration of the database was really fascinating; it gives a view of how the environment has changed, and a map layering option means that you can view an area, and see what used to be there. This meant that Mr Readhead could show us how the ratio of urban & residential areas increased slowly, with a dramatic increase from 1967 to the present day, showing the graduation of how a small cluster of residential areas became as it is today with over 50% of the area urbanised.
We were also given a talk about the buildings which are at risk in Stockport, this correlated nicely with the Tour of Historic Buildings of Manchester which we attended with the other HLF trainees. The main issue is a lack of funding, and the buildings ranged from Wycliffe Congregational Chapel on which restoration work has begun, to St George’s Vicarage which has an uncertain future, as do Cheadle Royal Nurses Home and Wybersley Hall.
We then had a speech from a lady representing the Stockport Building Preservation Trust who spoke about Woodbank Memorial Park and Woodbank Hall – highlighting the issues that they have been unable to sell the hall due to access issues, therefore they have set up the preservation trust to apply for funding and begin this project.
There was also a short mention about the HLF trainees, introducing us to the group and asking if anyone has any potential projects which could give us some direct experience as a part of our traineeships, so hopefully some interesting opportunities will arise.
The meeting was a good opportunity to meet people who work within heritage across Stockport and Manchester, and to gain an awareness of issues with heritage and conservation which are ongoing in the area.
Natasha's Heritage 