Lifting the Lids
Our successful £8,500 project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Lifting the Lids project has enabled the Friends of Anfield to continue to promote Liverpool’s heritage, by establishing a 13 board wheelchair-friendly heritage trail.
The project was a collaboration with Positive Futures, a local charity concerned with the welfare of young people and local companies.
The volunteers from Positive Futures gained new skills on the project journey. Working across generations, the volunteers had the pleasure of learning about those at rest in the cemetery from Bob Halliday (BEM), the co-founder of the Friends of Anfield, whose expertise and knowledge was highly valued by the young people.
Further to this, the volunteers honed their research skills by visiting Liverpool Central Library, where they were shown research resources and how to use them. The archivist from the library was so impressed with the volunteers commitment, she gave them her direct line for future reference.
The volunteers also learnt about how to design and present the text and imagery, to make the display boards successful and catch the eye of our our visitors. For this they visited a local graphic design company, Nonconform, There, the youngsters became design commissioners. Andrew (Director of Nonconform) said, ‘It’s such an important part of the process. They learnt
more about the industry than sitting in front of a computer. We worked under the groups’ direction; they collated the files, edited the text and images, approved the designs and made alterations with the designer.’ The realisation that the font size was too small led to a need to reduce the amount of text to be displayed on each board. The youngsters dealt well with this situation, and acted as a team when re-engaging and re-editing the text: reinforcing their ability to recall their stories, which they later used when giving tours to the public.
In total 13 ‘Lifting the Lids’ boards were created, 13 life stories are been illustrated in the cemetery for all to enjoy.
The youngsters organised an exhibition before the trail was officially homed in the cemetery. The Lifting the Lids Exhibition was publicised in and around the local community and was held at our HQ, St Columbus Church, Anfield. Friends’ trustees, councillors, community visitors, a teacher from St Francis de Sales and members of the Chinese community, were shown the Lifting the Lids designs. The event saw Kate Kendel (HE) deliver a presentation about what it means to work in the heritage sector.
Some of the comments are given below.
‘It is interesting to be involved with your project, as Chinese has history over 150 years in Liverpool. It is part of our history too.’ Simon Wong, Chinese Business Assistant, Chinese Wellbeing
‘Anfield Cemetery is a marvellous gateway to knowledge of the history of Liverpool and Liverpudlians. It deserves to be restored.’ Ray Foy
Very successful event – informative and well attended – good advice and information from Kate Kendall for future projects – She explained the work of Historic England well.’ Walter Fong
‘Vert enlightening about a very worthwhile venture’. Dave Dando
‘Anfield Cemetery, deep in history, covers Anfield, Liverpool City and the rest of the world’ Anon
The Lifting the Lids project was a huge success for all those involved and now we invite you to learn about some of the amazing stories Anfield Cemetery has to offer by visiting our heritage trail. The red dots on the map below show the positions of the display boards.
We hope you enjoy your visit.
