1 June 2011
Eastbourne’s Redoubt Fortress has just received a grant of almost £50,000 from the Hidden Histories stream of the Heritage Lottery Fund.
After putting forward a bid to create a community project alongside this year’s Stitch for Victory exhibition, Eastbourne’s Napoleonic venue has been successful in securing £48k in funding.
The grant will be used to appoint a project co-ordinator who will oversee the training of around 20 volunteers to assist with devising and delivering educational sessions to local primary and secondary schools, as well as running hands-on activities at the museums for families and the wider community.
Volunteers are invited to come forward and they will be trained in oral history interviewing so they can assist in preserving people’s memories about stitching during the Second World War. All of the information and material collected will be presented in a touring exhibition, which will visit community venues in and around Eastbourne to complement the main Stitch for Victory display.
Eastbourne Borough Council Cabinet Member for Tourism and Leisure Cllr Neil Stanley said “This is absolutely fantastic news and I would like to say a massive ‘well done’ to the team at the Redoubt for their success in achieving this funding. The Stitch for Victory exhibition offers something completely different for those interested in finding out about life during the Second World War and it is made even more exciting by the fact that we will be able to add to this with a touring exhibition. I can’t wait to see what this project will discover!”
This Saturday 4 June the Redoubt Fortress is inviting visitors to experience 1940s wartime spirit and to witness how the people of Britain stitched their way to victory in free living history event A Stitch in Time Saves Lives.
On the day, visitors inspired by the way prisoners of war documented their experiences with secret needles and thread or how stitching was used to steady nerves in the air raid shelters, will be able to find out about becoming a volunteer for the heritage project. The Redoubt will be able to recruit at least 12 volunteers, including 6 youth volunteers who will go on to be advocates for the Stitch for Victory project and exhibition.
For more information go to the Eastbourne Museums website or call 01323 410300.
