National Lottery Heritage Grants £10,000 to £250,000
Across almost 50 years at sea, the SS Great Britain travelled to every inhabited continent and collected passengers from at least 51 countries. Built in Bristol in 1843, it marked a changing of the tide in global shipping. Having a large-scale iron hull with a screw propeller, the SS Great Britain became a blueprint for modern shipping and the swift transfer of goods and passengers around the world.
Our grant of £246,169 will help the SS Great Britain Trust to welcome Bristol’s communities to participate in how the vessel’s stories are shared and how decisions are made about its future.
The project will offer local people a dedicated workspace and access to the Trust’s extensive archive to undertake their own research – exploring how SS Great Britain touched the lives of crew members, passengers and onshore communities throughout its career at sea. Participants will have control over the focus of their research and decide how to share these stories with the public, with support from the curatorial staff. A Community Advisory Group will also be established, to embed local communities in decision-making on an organisation-wide basis.
The Trust’s Louisa Pharoah says: “The connection that participatory research and input in heritage work can offer to multiple groups – be they diaspora groups, or younger people in lower income communities – is an important cultural need. We believe that providing local people with the freedom to explore and to contribute to heritage through in-person research and storytelling is key to positive change.”
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