We’re set to launch a new network for archaeology and heritage volunteering in Wales, thanks to funding from the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA). The WCVA has invested in Heneb through the Volunteering Wales Strategic grant scheme with funds from Welsh Government.
Heneb will receive £100,000 to enable the Trust to build a sustainable Welsh Heritage and Archaeology Volunteering Network, connecting people, places, and opportunities. The funding will help to improve access, increase visibility and establish consistency for archaeology volunteering in Wales.
Our principal aim will be to empower local communities, support sector wide volunteer mobility, and lay the foundations for a unified, innovative civic volunteering system that drives long term impact for communities across Wales.
Richard Nicholls, Chief Executive of Heneb – the Trust for Welsh Archaeology said:
“We are delighted to have been recognised through the Volunteering Wales grant scheme with this award of £100,000.
The funding will help us to create consistency for people who want to volunteer in heritage and archaeological roles in a range of different heritage settings and with different groups across Wales.
Volunteering in archaeology can have multiple benefits. Of course, Wales’s historic environment benefits but there are also multiple benefits for the people volunteering. We already have evidence of the improvements in mental and physical wellbeing experienced by people taking part in archaeological community excavations, for example.
Last summer, 17-year-old Edward volunteered at a Heneb community excavation in Flintshire and was overjoyed when he discovered a 2,000 year old horses’ bridle mount.
These are the sorts of experiences which bring inspiration to the volunteers we work with – and it’s our ambition with this new funding that we can increase volunteer opportunities but not just within our organisation – with our partners across the historic environment sector including local history societies and community archaeology groups in Wales.”
The project will begin in September with a series of workshops for people and communities to get involved.
Dr Carol Bell, Chair of Heneb said: “This funding through the Wales Council for Voluntary action builds on our recent success of funding support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Indeed, it is thanks to the National Lottery that we were able to engage bid writing support to help us apply to the WCVA in the first place.
Whilst our funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund is focussed towards Heneb’s own longer-term sustainability, this new funding from WCVA gives us the chance to embed ways of working to increase volunteer participation in archaeology across the sector in Wales, so it compliments our current funding arrangements very effectively.”
Anyone interested in taking part in volunteering is encouraged to email: [email protected]
