Clifton Park Museum's innovative project was designed to tap into the massive interest in local and family history within the borough of Rotherham.

By appointing a community curator, Clifton Park Museum encouraged local people to learn the skills to produce their own exhibitions and oral history archives.

Following the training, a number of exciting community exhibitions grew out of the project. For example, Harthill Village Hall was hired for a weekend in April 2002 for an exhibition by the Harthill Memories Society. So

successful did this exhibition prove that it was accompanied by a school drama workshop and later led to another community photographic exhibition. The village now plans to create its own digitised community archive.

Guy Kilminster, Libraries, Museums and Arts Manager with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, who run Clifton Park Museum, says: 'We are delighted to have been shortlisted when up against such strong opposition. The project has been a great success, engaging local people with their heritage and helping them through training to identify, record and celebrate that heritage. We are really pleased that this has been recognised by the judges as being both innovative and inspiring for the people involved.'

Comments from local people involved in the project include:

'This is a new way forward for museums, teaching people to preserve and conserve their own heritage, understand it and display it for all.'

'As the project has raised the profile of local history, more people have become involved in wanting to know about their heritage.'

'The project has brought an awareness of the past to present and future generations.'

'The project has been invaluable - especially through the involvement of diverse groups of people and making the museum and its services more accessible.'

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