TrustNews Jun 21
Winchester Heritage Open Days has a new home – HAMPSHIRE HISTORY TRUST
As many members may have seen in the Hampshire Chronicle, last summer Nicky Gottlieb and Becky Brown founded a new charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), the Hampshire History Trust, to run Winchester Heritage Open Days and a host of other community projects including a Blue Plaque Scheme, History Festival and a podcast channel.
"Becoming a CIO in our own right is a crucial and exciting first step in realising our ambitions to bring Hampshire's rich history and heritage to a wider audience."
Nicky and Becky are very grateful to the City of Winchester Trust's trustees and members for their support over the past few years, and are looking forward to continuing to collaborate together on Heritage Open Days (HODs). In fact we already have some exciting CWT commissioned events lined up including a walking tour, which will also be available online.
And events don’t just have to be organised via the CWT. if any CWT members individually or via their employers are interested in planning and/or sponsoring additional HODs events then do get in touch.
Heritage Open Days provides the general public with amazing opportunities to discover new places and to explore Hampshire’s incredible history, architecture, gardens and heritage. It also gives a real boost to the local economy by enabling businesses, charities, educational establishments and heritage organisations to showcase their venues, services and products!
In 2020 when most of our events were online there were 12,000 views of our films, podcasts and live streamed events, and in 2019 when all our events were in person we had over 22,000 visits with 62% of attendees specifically visiting Winchester because of the festival. So it is well worth getting involved!
Additionally Nicky and Becky would be delighted if CWT members would like to work with them and the other Trustees on other community projects such as their Blue Plaque Scheme and Hampshire HistBites, Hampshire's very own history podcast channel.
In the longer term the new trustees‘ vision is for a Winchester History Festival to take place in late September, immediately following on from Heritage Open Days. Members can discover more about the Trust and its plans by visiting the website www.hampshirehistorytrust.com, or by listening to Episode One of Season Three of Hampshire HistBites, first released in March of this year. It is available via our website and also Spotify, Apple Tunes and Google Podcasts.
This year's Winchester Heritage Open Days will run from 10th to 19th September www.winchesterheritageopendays.org