Partners and Funders: North Lanarkshire Council (NLC), funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund
Dates: February 2025- October 2025
Overview:
‘Dumbreck Past, Present, and Future’ was a collaborative project delivered by Open Past for North Lanarkshire Council (NLC), funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It was an intergenerational oral history project capturing the transformation of Dumbreck Marsh from an industrial landscape to a flourishing local nature reserve. The aims were:
- To spotlight Dumbreck, showcasing its historical, ecological, and cultural importance.
- To improve community connections to the history and culture of Dumbreck.
- To cultivate a deeper connection between the people of Dumbreck and their heritage, bridging generational gaps and ensuring that the stories from Dumbreck’s older generation are passed down and immortalised.
Scale and Scop
We teamed up with an archaeologist and a local history historian to deliver six engagement sessions around Kilsyth. These sessions were strategically designed to encourage participation from a broad spectrum of the local community. For example, we visited local primary schools and delivered heritage skills workshops. We then took the young people out to Dumbreck Marsh for a historical scavenger hunt/orienteering course. The trail included an interview station where we captured the young people’s opinions and impressions. For adults, we offered conversational drop-in sessions where we invited attendees, their families and friends to reminisce and share stories, which we recorded by audio and video. These sessions employed materials from our historical research to trigger memories and encourage participation. The resulting interviews and resources were then used to create a film celebrating the heritage of Dumbreck Marsh.
Outcomes and feedback:
• New oral histories of Dumbreck – shared locally and deposited in the local archive;
• A short video presenting the important story of Dumbreck, told by local people.
• Educational heritage orienteering trail resources for local schools and groups.
• ‘…the film was warmly and positively enjoyed by everyone at our stakeholder event. Helen and I also organised a community event at the weekend, and we also got great feedback’ – Maureen Kinloch, Greenspace Partnerships Manager, North Lanarkshire Council