The Pomegranate Youth Theatre has received £25,700.00 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for an exciting project, Written in Stone in Chesterfield. Led by Carole Copeland, Director of the Youth Theatre, Sheila Young from Dexter Productions and volunteers from the local community, the project focuses on the heritage and history of local memorials and their relevance to young people today.
Working with local explorer scout groups they hope to create a positive difference by raising awareness among young people of the meanings, importance and feelings behind local memorials and commemoration ceremonies. The project will explore why this was particularly relevant for those left at home who were living in a pre-television and social media world and in a time the dead were not repatriated.
The Written in Stone project hopes to lead to the creation of an original anthem to be performed by those young people involved.
It is hoped that the project will enable local young people to re-engage, discover new relevance about commemoration and provide new opportunities to learn about their own heritage, with reference to conflict in the past and present by asking questions about their local war memorials and their history.
“We are thrilled to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and are confident the project will support young people to record the process, share their research and write the original anthem. The process will be recorded on a bespoke website for a wider audience to use in future commemoration events.”
The Pomegranate Youth Theatre
The Pomegranate Youth Theatre offers weekly drama workshops that are available to all regardless of their ethnic or social background at a low cost. The Pomegranate Youth Theatre was formed in 2002 from an external drama group consisting of 10 to 15 members. It has grown to an existing group of up to 100 young people ages 8-25, drawn from all around the Chesterfield and outlying area. The fun workshops provide a service to teach all aspects of stagecraft with professional facilitators which promote teamwork, social skills, emotional intelligence, creativity and confidence. The young people involved choose and explore issues relevant to themselves and the area in which they live as well as subjects and events from other aspects of life through research, improvisation, devising, scripting and performing.
About the Heritage Lottery Fund
Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported almost 35,500 projects with more than £65.3bn across the UK. www.hlf.org.uk.
For further information, images and interviews, please contact: Carole Copeland or Sheila Young on pomytheatre@gmail.com