Dacorum Heritage Trust shortlisted for national award for its lockdown activities

Dacorum Heritage Trust has been shortlisted for the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Award From Home.

Kids in Museums has run a prestigious annual award for the past 15 years, recognising the most family friendly heritage sites in the UK.

This year, the charity asked families and museums to vote for what they thought was the best online activity for families during lockdown.

A panel of museum experts whittled down over 400 nominations to a shortlist of 26 museums.

Dacorum Heritage Trust was recognised for its inter-generational Stockpiling Stories project.

Local children have signed up to be historic researchers discovering recent history by writing to older volunteers and asking them questions about their lives and how the local area has

changed during their lifetime.

As well providing a valuable educational activity to the young participants this project has helped to entertain older residents during lockdown.

It will also help Dacorum Heritage Trust build their collection as all the stories the children have gathered will be added to the museum collection for future generations.

Jenni Blackford, the collections manager at Dacorum Heritage Trust, said: "We are thrilled to be shortlisted for this prestigious award.

"We are very proud of the work the children have produced since this project started and we know the older volunteers have really enjoyed reminiscing about their lives in Dacorum.

"Sharing stories, photos and art work has made a real difference to our participants during lockdown."

Dacorum Heritage Trust is vying against four other museums in the Going the Extra Mile category.

Over the summer holidays, family judges will try out all the activities and their feedback will decide a winner and highly commended award for each category.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.

The Dacorum Heritage Trust (DHT) is an accredited local history museum without walls with a collection of over 120,000 artefacts.

It is also a facilitating organisation for local history societies within the geographical boundaries of Dacorum, housing and caring for their own collections at the museum store.

With the aim of enabling and inspiring the local community to access their heritage, DHT works closely with a range of different community groups to deliver high quality projects relating to the collections.

For more information on the Dacorum Heritage Trust, visit: www.dacorumheritage.org.uk.

The Family Friendly Museum Award From Home has been made possible by funding from Arts Council England.

Kids in Museums is a charity dedicated to making museums open and welcoming to all children, young people and families.

They support and champion family friendly organisations through wide-ranging initiatives, including the Family Friendly Museum Award and Takeover Day.

For more information visit: www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk,