Doncaster 1914-18 is a first world war community project run by Heritage Doncaster, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund with a grant of just under £1m. The project has encouraged more participation in Doncaster’s heritage through outreach, volunteering, the co-curation of exhibitions and crowdsourcing from the community.
Doncaster 1914-18’s Welcome to Doncaster project worked with refugees and asylum seekers living in Doncaster today to explore the welcome that Belgian refugees received a century ago.
As political events unravelled through 2016 and 2017, project staff felt strongly that exploring how Doncaster had welcomed refugees in the past had the potential to bring together a transitory refugee community with a largely white British community who had voted overwhelmingly for Brexit. In the spirit of words by Jo Cox, the Labour MP who was murdered in 2016: “We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.”
Through a series of creative, collaborative workshops, refugees and asylum seekers compared their experiences of living in Doncaster today with those of the Belgian refugees. The outcomes – a film exploring refugees experiences then and now, and a series of artworks made by participants exploring this history – were displayed in Doncaster 1914-18’s co-curated Keep the Home Fires Burning exhibition.
This exhibition also featured content produced by volunteers, local faith groups, school children and members of local heritage groups as well as stories and objects from local people crowdsourced through the Doncaster 1914-18 website.
Volunteers for the Conversation Club, a key organisation supporting refugees and asylum seekers in Doncaster, wrote text to accompany creative outcomes created by refugees as part of the project.
Project workshops were developed over five months in consultation with refugees and asylum seekers, enabling Doncaster 1914-18 to build trust and relationships with the group, identify which languages participants spoke, recruit appropriate translators and find which themes most interested participants. Each workshop began with a shared meal: an opportunity for participants, staff and volunteers to share food from their respective cultures, building trust and relationships.
The project led to lasting partnerships for Doncaster 1914-18 with local networks providing support for refugees, including collaboration for Black History Month 2017 on a further co-curated exhibition with refugees and asylum seekers from Africa, which explored Doncaster’s World Cultures collections.
We are sure that Welcome to Doncaster improved the wellbeing of participants. As one commented following the last workshop: “It makes me feel so good, and makes me feel like I am home, because of how good people are, and treat us the same.”
Jude Holland is the project manager of Doncaster 1914-18
Victoria Ryves was the community engagement and education officer for Doncaster 1914-18 and is now the programme manager for Heritage Doncaster’s History, Health and Happiness Programme
Doncaster 1914-18’s Welcome to Doncaster project worked with refugees and asylum seekers living in Doncaster today to explore the welcome that Belgian refugees received a century ago.
As political events unravelled through 2016 and 2017, project staff felt strongly that exploring how Doncaster had welcomed refugees in the past had the potential to bring together a transitory refugee community with a largely white British community who had voted overwhelmingly for Brexit. In the spirit of words by Jo Cox, the Labour MP who was murdered in 2016: “We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.”
Through a series of creative, collaborative workshops, refugees and asylum seekers compared their experiences of living in Doncaster today with those of the Belgian refugees. The outcomes – a film exploring refugees experiences then and now, and a series of artworks made by participants exploring this history – were displayed in Doncaster 1914-18’s co-curated Keep the Home Fires Burning exhibition.
This exhibition also featured content produced by volunteers, local faith groups, school children and members of local heritage groups as well as stories and objects from local people crowdsourced through the Doncaster 1914-18 website.
Volunteers for the Conversation Club, a key organisation supporting refugees and asylum seekers in Doncaster, wrote text to accompany creative outcomes created by refugees as part of the project.
Project workshops were developed over five months in consultation with refugees and asylum seekers, enabling Doncaster 1914-18 to build trust and relationships with the group, identify which languages participants spoke, recruit appropriate translators and find which themes most interested participants. Each workshop began with a shared meal: an opportunity for participants, staff and volunteers to share food from their respective cultures, building trust and relationships.
The project led to lasting partnerships for Doncaster 1914-18 with local networks providing support for refugees, including collaboration for Black History Month 2017 on a further co-curated exhibition with refugees and asylum seekers from Africa, which explored Doncaster’s World Cultures collections.
We are sure that Welcome to Doncaster improved the wellbeing of participants. As one commented following the last workshop: “It makes me feel so good, and makes me feel like I am home, because of how good people are, and treat us the same.”
Jude Holland is the project manager of Doncaster 1914-18
Victoria Ryves was the community engagement and education officer for Doncaster 1914-18 and is now the programme manager for Heritage Doncaster’s History, Health and Happiness Programme
