Heritage Open Days 2009 launched by Baroness Andrews and Griff Rhys Jones

Heritage Open Days, 10 - 13 September 2009

www.heritageopendays.org.uk

Today (Tuesday 1 September) a street in Brighton where local residents have discovered 100 years of household secrets will host the launch of Heritage Open Days 2009, Britain’s biggest and most diverse celebration of architecture, history and culture.

Princes Road Synagogue Over 4,000 places across the country are opening their doors for free as part of Heritage Open Days which takes place between 10th and 13th September 2009.

Heritage Open Days offers something for everyone - from a rare opportunity to step inside privately owned eco-homes that are using the latest green technology, the chance to explore Stockport’s fascinating labyrinth of tunnels built for shelter during the air raids of World War II, to a glimpse inside the legendary Morecambe Winter Gardens, closed since 1977 and a rare chance to view the papers of Sir Winston Churchill and Baroness Thatcher at the Churchill Archives and College Library in Cambridge.

My House My Street initiative in Brighton

Brighton’s My House My Street initiative, the focus for this year’s launch, has seen home owners from the vibrant North Laine area researching the history of their street, as well as the people and families who lived there over a 100 year period. Many of the residents who took part in the project will be opening their homes for Heritage Open Days and dramatic large scale posters will be displayed on each house containing details of the properties past occupants, their ages and occupations as well as history of the street.

Rescued by English Heritage

This year for the first time, Heritage Open Days is being run by English Heritage who stepped in to rescue it when the previous organisers, the Civic Trust went into administration earlier this year. Around one million people are expected to visit thousands of properties of every style, period and function that will be opening their doors for free – and with 90 per cent of the population living within 30 minutes of a Heritage Open Days event; more and more people are celebrating their local areas.

Last year, Heritage Open Days drew on the support of an army of 41,000 volunteers who opened up their buildings, gave tours and talks and organised activities and events. This huge body of local people, from all walks of life, makes Heritage Open Days England’s largest voluntary cultural event. Jointly Heritage Open Days volunteers contributed 205,000 working hours which equated to a monetary value of £1,174, 650.

Explore somewhere mysterious

Cob Bale Round House, Norfolk Baroness Andrews, OBE, Chair of English Heritage, said: “Heritage Open Days are thrilling.  They are an opportunity to explore places which, however familiar, are normally closed and therefore mysterious. They provide a chance not only to discover secret history, but to meet the people who live or work there, and are passionate about their subject.  And, of course, because there are so many of these places, and they are so very different – everything from Morecambe’s spectacular Winter Gardens to innovative eco-homes in Oxfordshire they demonstrate that the great wealth of our culture and history is all around us  - on every street and under our feet – and that we can explore for ourselves. That is what makes them so popular with adults and children alike.”

Barbara Follett, Minister for Culture, said: “Heritage Open Days give everyone the chance, without paying any admission fees at all, to get a glimpse of life behind the scenes of their well-known local institutions. This is a very interesting and enjoyable activity and this year we expect more than a million people to take advantage of this marvellous opportunity to get to know parts of Britain’s rich and varied heritage better."

Griff Rhys Jones, Former President of the Civic Trust and Heritage Open Days Champion, said: “The whole idea appeals to our innate urge to get inside and poke about. It’s what architecture is for, to experience and to explore interior space. I can't wait for this year's event.”

2009 launch in Brighton

Nick Tyson, Brighton & Hove Open Door Co-ordinator said: “We are delighted that Brighton & Hove Open Door’s development over the last 10 years has resulted in the city's selection as the launch venue for this year's Heritage Open Days. We have assembled the largest number of Heritage Open Days events for 2009 with over 150 events, to celebrate the city’s central role. Preparing for our My House My Street events involved dozens of volunteers working for hundreds of days and making a wonderful commitment to revealing local history. To share their findings with the largest possible audience and to encourage others to undertake similar events we are developing www.MyHouseMyStreet.org.uk, a website that will officially launch at the end of September.”

English Heritage's outreach support

English Heritage Outreach Managers annually support Heritage Open Days by developing community projects around the country, expanding the scheme into new areas and encouraging people to open up properties and run activities that reflect the cultural diversity of their community. Highlights for this year include: exploring the diverse faith communities  of Normanton in Derby, many of which will be opening their doors and displaying exhibitions about their culture and places of worship; raising the profile of Wolverhampton and its regeneration plans through HODs, those taking part: include a former boot factory, an Elizabethan farmhouse and a walking tour through Wolverhampton’s historic motor manufacturing heartland; and a creative art project at Fort Brockenhurst in Gosport where adults with learning disabilities have been working to explore the Fort creatively and then make a film documenting their experiences.  

Highlights of Heritage Open Days 2009 include:

• Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and Hippodrome, Norfolk - A tour of this entertainment landmark and scenic railway roller coaster. The ride was built at the park in 1932 and has been operational ever since. It stands and operates as the only remaining ride of its kind in the UK; and one of only eight in the world. The ride is virtually unique as a 'brakeman' is required to ride with the train to control its speed as there are no brakes on the track. 
• Ice Cream Factory, Scarborough, North Yorkshire - Tours of traditional ice cream making factory attached to a traditional ice cream parlour.
• Neptune Inn, Whitefriargate, Hull - As a place to enjoy a morning cuppa staff at Boots Chemist in Hull are in the lap of luxury! The retailer occupies one of Hull’s great 18th century landmark buildings – the former Neptune Hotel – with staff using the opulent Banqueting Hall as a rest room.  With its fabulous ceiling plasterwork, the Neptune was the finest place to stay in Hull, built to serve merchants landing at the city's first purpose built dock.
• Bradford Synagogue - enjoy a rare glimpse inside Bradford Synagogue, a magical and often overlooked Grade II listed Moorish building dating to the 1880s and the oldest reform synagogue outside London.
• High Flatts Quaker Meeting House - meet the last ‘Friend’ living in a remote Pennine Quaker village in Kirklees, said to have been founded by the jailer of George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, in the 17th century.
• Brickendonbury, Hertfordshire - used by the Special Operations Executive to train agents and resistance workers in industrial sabotage throughout the Second World War, Brickendonbury has a long and colourful history dating back to Saxon times with parts of the mansion dating back to the late 17th century.  It is believed that Agents trained at Brickendonbury were involved in vital operations such as the daring raid to destroy the Norwegian heavy water plant (part of Germany's nuclear bomb programme) and the bombing of the Renault engineering plant in France. A television documentary The Secret War showed archive film of parts of the estate being used for rehearsing such raids and a reminder of these activities was found during building work in 1973, when unexploded hand grenades and live mortar shells were discovered in the drained moat. Visitors will be able to see the various periods of the house as well as the model farm and gardens.
• The Mary Tavy Hydro Electric Power Station, Devon is home to the biggest renewable energy site belonging to South West Water. There has been a form of hydro power generated at Mary Tavy since 1932. During the last 75 years, the primitive mill wheels have gradually been replaced with the latest technology. Now Mary Tavy is a highly effective hydro electric power station, with six turbines powered by river water and a combined capacity of 2,610 kilowatts. 
• Bagthorpe Gardens in Nottingham are historic cottage gardens dating from the 1840’s. Fruit and vegetables grown on the allotments will be for sale and visitors are encouraged to bring a picnic.
• Behind the scenes tours of the Sunderland Echo newspaper including tours of the presses and a talk by the Editor.
• Brokenbury Waste Treatment Works in Devon provides biological sewage treatment and ultra violet disinfectection for the whole of Torbay – an area described as the ‘English Riviera’
• St Mary’s Church in Prestwich Manchester is famous as the setting for weddings and funerals in many episodes of Coronation Street.
• Stow Maries Aerodrome in Essex is the only existing WWI airfield with buildings left in the world. Built by the RAF towards the end of WWI it was abandoned in 1919 and has remained in ownership of the same farming family ever since. The majority of the original buildings remain but have been adapted to farming use over the years. However this has not changed the essential feel of the place. The site includes vintage and classic WWI aircraft.
• Explore the little known maze of mine workings that run underneath the Redcliffe area of Bristol’s residential streets.
• The magnificent Morecambe Winter Gardens in Lancashire were originally built as a swimming baths in the 1880s, and then developed into a People’s Palace. It housed the largest auditorium in the world and included a spectacular oriental ballroom. It is situated on the resort’s central promenade within sight of Morecambe’s other Grade II* listed building; the Midland Hotel. The Winter Gardens closed to the public in 1977, but the Friends of the Winter Gardens are working to restore it to its former glory as a multipurpose venue.
• 9 Dudley Court, Oxford is one of 25 privately owned eco-buildings across Oxfordshire that will be opening for Heritage Open Days. The two-bed 1970’s flat at Dudley Court has been eco-renovated to create a natural, healthy, low carbon home. Features include timber double glazing, low energy lighting, clay paint, a bamboo worktop, and tiles from a recycled car windscreen.
• The Willis Building in Suffolk with is sheer glass walls and kidney shape was designed by Foster Associates and was the youngest building in Britain to be listed at Grade I.
• The Breach House in Nottinghamshire is known to readers of D.H. Lawrence as “The Bottoms” in his semi auto-biographical novel Sons and Lovers. The Lawrence family moved here from Victoria Street in 1887 and lived here until 1891. Since it was an end house with extra space, they paid an extra sixpence a week rent.
• Chawton House in Hampshire, a Grade II* listed Elizabethan manor house, once owned by Jane Austen's brother, Edward, is now a unique research library of English women's writing from 1600-1830. Explore the house, gardens and grounds including the certified organic walled kitchen garden.
• Stockport Air Raid Shelters are a fascinating underground labyrinth of tunnels built especially for shelter in World War II.
• Oxford Detectives – follow in the footsteps of the city’s celebrated TV detectives Morse and Lewis and visit the scenes of their best know cases.
• Emma Bridgewater Factory Tour in Stoke on Trent - An opportunity to tour the Emma Bridgewater Pottery factory, seeing how the pottery is made from start to finish, all by hand and using traditional methods. The pottery cafe will be open for all the family to decorate their own pieces of pottery.
• Haworth Art Gallery, Lancashire is home to Europe’s largest public collection of Tiffany glass. It is a Tudor-style Edwardian house and a fine example of the Arts and Crafts movement, and includes an oak panelled entrance hall, hand crafted decoration and heraldic stained glass windows. The gallery stands in nine acres of parkland.

Heritage Open Days is part of European Heritage Days, taking place across 49 countries during September as part of a mass celebration of Europe’s cultural heritage. The Heritage Open Days online directory listing all the events taking place in England can be seen at www.heritageopendays.org.uk.