Wellbeing: Participation and Engagement

Volunteering

Heritage at Risk and wellbeing: assessing wellbeing outcomes from completed project work

During 2020-21 Historic England commissioned the University of Lincoln to undertake the Heritage at Risk and Wellbeing  project to explore the relationship between wellbeing and volunteering in activities dealing with assets on the Heritage at Risk Register. The Heritage at Risk and Wellbeing work has thrown new light on the ways in which heritage volunteering is associated with wellbeing and has identified achievable objectives for the future which will help people, places and our understanding and appreciation of the preserved past.

Analysis confirmed previous anecdotal evidence from Heritage at Risk staff at Historic England that wellbeing is associated with Heritage at Risk volunteering.

Coding showed this wellbeing to fall into six themes:

• purpose
• being
• capacity
• sharing
• self-nurture
• self-actualisation.

These were all underpinned by the unique HAR experiential ‘offer’ of heritage and at-risk assets.

Find out more:

Cornwall AONB Monumental Improvement

In Cornwall, our South West Heritage at Risk colleagues are supporting the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty team, who are delivering the 'Monumental Improvement' project, implementing wellbeing and social prescribing in Heritage at Risk renovation work.

This two-year project seeks to ensure that the 40 Scheduled Monuments in the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty are better identified, supported and enjoyed by a wide range of people. It is providing training for local volunteers to help care for the Monuments in the future and through an extensive activity programme, the project will also connect more people to heritage in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , provide skill development, create jobs and improve the health and wellbeing of local communities.

In June 2023, the project team started a programme of conservation repair works on two scheduled monument sites on Bodmin Moor. All the works have provision for volunteer involvement in archaeological surveys, as well as in the practical repairs.

Preparations are under way for the work on the next site at Castle Dore near Fowey which is commencing in September. So far, 150 people have been trained in conservation, vegetation management and as walk leaders and this programme will continue into 2024.

Monumental Improvement also delivered a series of talks to social prescribing groups including Memory Matters groups across Cornwall and engaged over 70 people in this way with the project and their local heritage. There are two sensory walks coming up which the team are running in conjunction with the National Trust at 'The Rumps' on 12 September (one of which has been designed to be accessible with a Tramper). This event is part of the Monument Celebration Week 2023, and it involves also many art in the landscape based activities too to get a wider range of people involved.

Find out more about Monumental Improvement in Cornwall:

Visiting

'Places of Joy': the role of heritage after lockdown

As lockdown was gradually released in Summer and Autumn 2020, people used heritage locations as places of reunion, sociality and escape, but also potentially to satisfy deeper psychological and socio-cultural needs.
A collaboration between researchers at University of Southampton, University of Cambridge and University of Surrey, and supported by Historic England and The Heritage Alliance 'Places of Joy: The Role of Heritage After Lockdown' investigates whether and why heritage appears as a joyful space at a time of national crisis, and thus to understand the specific characteristics of heritage sites that contribute to wellbeing and resilience.

The research uses this unique period following the release of the initial lockdown, when access to heritage was regained after a period of deprivation, to explore the potentials of heritage by examining:

• What motivates people to visit heritage spaces after lockdown? What needs do access to heritage spaces satisfy?
• The role of heritage in wellbeing and how heritage might be used to develop future resilience? If heritage is fulfilling needs developed during lockdown, what are the qualities of heritage spaces that may enhance wellbeing and what could be the role of heritage in wellbeing going forward, including developing resilience should there be further spikes in COVID-19?
• Whether visits to heritage locations at a time of heightened emotion are creating new forms of emotional resonance and perceptions of heritage. What impacts have these visits had on people and how does this affect their attitudes and visits to heritage sites going forward?

The research has been co-designed with the heritage sector in England and was being carried out at a series of different kinds of heritage sites, including both free and pay-to-enter. It takes a longitudinal approach, tracing responses to heritage from June–October 2020.

The research uses this unique period following the release of the initial lockdown, when access to heritage was regained after a period of deprivation, to explore the potentials of heritage by examining what motivates people to visit heritage spaces after lockdown, what is the role of heritage in wellbeing and how heritage might be used to develop future resilience.

The research demonstrates that heritage sites fulfil a broad range of uses and important societal functions far beyond aesthetic appreciation, learning about history, or visiting collections and exhibitions. This insight offers heritage providers opportunities to reach new audiences who might otherwise assume that visits to sites are not for them.

The research has been co-designed with the heritage sector in England and was being carried out at a series of different kinds of heritage sites, including both free and pay-to-enter. It takes a longitudinal approach, tracing responses to heritage from June–October 2020.

Find out more from our latest research article:

HerWellNHS

Heritage and Wellbeing for NHS Staff (HerWellNHS) is another project led by Prof. Joanna Sofaer at the University of Southampton in collaboration with Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth and the Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust. The feasibility study evaluated the short- and medium-term wellbeing benefits of engaging with heritage for an exemplar high-risk population, specifically 80 NHS staff experiencing low levels of wellbeing. It focused on:

• assessing and identifying the wellbeing effects of high vs low intensity unmediated (self-directed and unguided) in-person visits to heritage sites;
• understanding how much exposure to heritage is necessary to experience wellbeing effects – and whether and how benefits may be accumulated;
• how long wellbeing effects may last following a visit;
• what the nature of these wellbeing effects may be.

This 10-month project finished in October 2023 and established appropriate psychological measures (qualitative and quantitative), tested a web-based data collection interface, examined participant choices and their characteristics, and assessed participant adherence and response rates prior to development of a clinical trial. It will act as proof of concept, generating a case for the promise of unmediated heritage visits as an effective mental health intervention. In addition to data that will be used to inform development of a large-scale clinical trial, outputs will include submission of a paper to the journal Pilot and Feasibility Studies.

Community Engagement

The Museum of the Lost and Found

'The Museum of the Lost and Found' is a HE Covid-19 Recovery Fund project, led by Wessex Archaeology working in partnership with third sector organisations to reach a range of participants through an on-line heritage engagement approach.

From late June 2020 Wessex Archaeology ran a collection of eight digital engagement sessions with community groups, NHS staff, young people and individuals across England, giving them behind the scenes access to our archives in Sheffield and Salisbury.

From these sessions each group was given the task of choosing two objects from a selection of four to go into our interactive digital museum. The chosen objects were then 3D scanned and uploaded in a way which presents the viewer with an opportunity to control, rotate, enlarge and closely examine the object allowing for greater access to each one.

In addition to this, participants were set home tasks, to create a personal response which they could then share within their groups.

We also invited the public to vote on their favourite objects, two videos were loaded onto our YouTube site and the public then chose via social media which four objects from a selection of eight they wanted to go into the museum.

Find out more from our Latest Research article about the 'Lost and Found' project.

Missing Pieces Project

What is the Missing pieces project?

The Missing Pieces Project is Historic England’s invitation to the public to share their pictures and stories of the unique, significant and memorable places on the National Heritage List for England.

The National Heritage List is an index of buildings, monuments, battlefields, parks, gardens and shipwrecks. Being ‘listed’ means they are of special historical or architectural interest, and will be preserved and protected for future generations. 99% of people in England live within a mile of a listed building or place.

The stories of these places are still being written. Neighbour, passer-by or visitor, each person’s view of a place is as unique as they are – so every snapshot and story added to the Missing Pieces Project is an important piece of the picture.

The more pieces of the picture we have, the better we can work together to protect what makes these places special.

Running a programme

The Missing Pieces Project can provide easy, fun activities to do with a group. These can be low cost, get people talking about their interests and local history, and connect people with where they live – which can bring people real joy.

This toolkit is about how to create programmes or initiatives that use the Missing Pieces Project as the focus of a group activity, aiming to improve community engagement and wellbeing.

If you are a commissioner of services (social prescribing, health and wellbeing, placemaking, for example) this toolkit shows how Historic England’s Missing Pieces Project can increase wellbeing, engender local pride, play a part in social connectivity and explore personal identity.

For community groups and facilitators looking to run a Missing Pieces Project initiative, this toolkit provides a practical and evidenced guide for each stage.

Download the toolkit