PEOPLE in Tenbury are to get a chance to learn skills in film making and help with a special project to preserve local history.

The opportunity to learn new skills relevant to the digital age has arisen thanks to Heritage Lottery Funding and there is a session at Tenbury High School tomorrow.

“We will be involving young people from Tenbury High on followed by a community open access session for anyone to have a go at creating and editing film for the Hidden Tenbury project,” said Caroline Palethorpe, who is leading the project and secured the funding.

“I secured funds from Heritage Lottery to develop ‘Hidden Tenbury,’ an innovative creative project on behalf of Tenbury Wells Museum & History.

“It is intended to bring these stories to life by creating 10 digital stories, researched and created by the local community. These will become the basis of a digital tour of the market town, of interest to local people and to attract a more diverse visitor audience.

“We will produce a website called Hidden Tenbury which will take people on a tour of the town, feature the 10 digital stories and provide a link to a downloadable webapp.

“When people visit the town they will come across plaques which can be scanned using the webapp and one of the 10 stories will come to life in a digital format such as video, audio or stills.

“By using a webapp we will avoid the issues surrounding bespoke apps used on Android and iPhones such as Apple approval, regular app updating and related fees.”

An integral element of the project is to recruit volunteers of all ages to support the work of the contracted Digital Technicians, C&T. http://www.candt.org/ who have vast experience in working in education and community settings.

Training will be provided so that local people will feel confident to film, record and take photos that will be used as resources throughout the project. The training is being offered in two areas; digital technology and heritage.

Moving through the project training will be offered ‘on the job’ in areas that include supporting filming days, leading a heritage interview, editing and making films and archiving.

The first session will be open to a group of young people from the Tenbury High School Ormiston Academy on tomorrow between 9am and 3pm followed by a community session between 4pm and 6pm for anyone who would like to increase their film making/editorial skills.