Community projects to 'unlock untold stories' with arts funding

The voices of the people that shaped towns in the East of England are to be celebrated with grant funding.

Projects in Stowmarket, Stevenage, Great Yarmouth and Ipswich, will share £65,000 from Historic England.

The towns are among 57 nationally to receive money, which will be used to tell "untold stories" and celebrate working class heritage.

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said the projects "can help bring communities together".

The four projects were chosen from more than 500 applicants for the body's Everyday Heritage Grants: Celebrating Working Class Histories project.

In Suffolk, the Footprints Theatre Company will lead a project called Stowmarket's Stories, aiming to uncover the lives of people working and living in and around rural East Anglia.

It will receive £25,000 and consist of workshops, storytelling, drama performances and a heritage trail - as well as a summer school for young people.

A project called the Work Furnace will also celebrate Ipswich's industrial heritage.

Eastern Angles Theatre Company will receive £20,000 to produce an audio heritage trail, an exhibition and a community street procession with banners, props and puppets.

In Norfolk, £10,000 will go towards three projects in Great Yarmouth.

The Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust and Reprezent Project will produce a photographic series recording working-class migration in the resort.

There will also be poetry workshops and a large-scale street mural.

In Hertfordshire, Stevenage Museum will use funding of £10,000 to run Talking Shop: Stories from Stevenage Town Centre.

It will celebrate the everyday lives of working class people who have contributed to shaping the town centre's heritage.

The museum will work with volunteers to produce exhibitions, workshops and drama performances.

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