Article – The News Guardian 9th May 2019
The North Shields Heritology Project is using new and emerging technologies such as Virtual Reality, Immersive Sound and Augmented Reality and is the first of its kind in the town.
Officials hope it will inspire a new audience to engage in the many tales of tragedy, triumph, heroism and upheaval local people lived through.
Dave Young, group secretary, said: “The stories are the heart of the project, and there are hundreds of them out there. Most of which you’ll not find in the history books because they were passed down from one generation to the next.
“Our aim is to bring this human history to life through Music, Poetry and dramatic re-enactments of real life situations.”
The group will be showcasing the work as part of Local History Day at North Shields Library on Saturday, from 10am to 3.30pm.
Last week, they launched the project with the help of organisations, musicians, writers and theatre group Blowin’ a Hooley.
John Grundy, television broadcaster and author, gave a keynote talk at the event on why Heritage is important.
John said: “Everywhere you turn in North Shields there are stories from the past, it’s an extraordinary place and you can’t help but be excited by it.
“It’s a place where things happen and you can’t come to Shields without feeling a real sense of place.”
The Heritology Project has received a grant of £1,000 from the R W Mann Trust to purchase marketing materials so that they can raise awareness of the Project’s activities, as well as £1,000 from the John Laing Charitable Trust and £5,000 from an anonymous Philanthropic resident of North Shields.
