Hereford Cathedral Close Project
Update Winter 2009 / 10
****************************************************************** APPEAL FOR VOLUNTEERS: ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS ON CATHEDRAL CLOSE
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There is an opportunity for local amateur archaeologists and historians to get involved with this project, where archaeology dates from mediaeval times to the 19th century.
Volunteer for half a day a week or more with us. Enjoy the opportunity to mix with like minded people in a friendly environment. Wash and process the finds. The work will be carried out at the address below.
For more information or to discuss what will be involved, please contact:
Benedikte Ward (Ms)
Archaeological Investigations Ltd
Unit 1, Premier Business Park,
Westfields Trading Estate
Faraday Road, Hereford HR4 9NZ
01432 364 901
Photo credit: Mark Robertson
The Close in Living Memory Oral History Project
Having got this important project off to an excellent start back in November, a successful and very enjoyable follow-up get-together has just been held in College Hall at the cathedral.
Participants came to share their reminiscences of the close, several bringing photographs, postcards, newspaper articles and other memorabilia along with their memories.
A gentleman who had a milk-delivery round on the close as a young teenager in the late 1930s chatted to a lady who, as a little girl, had her hair cut in the hairdresser’s that had once been in the houses at the western end of the close.
A group of former telephone exchange staff re-banded to swap recollections of working life in what is now the Cathedral School’s Zimmerman Building, while a former schoolboy recalled times at St John’s Elementary School in what is now Pizza Express.
Several cathedral volunteers, on hand to help the event go smoothly, found that it was not only their contributions of time and goodwill that were much appreciated, but their memories and memorabilia as well.
Local media company, Catcher Media, which is running the project on behalf of the Cathedral, interviewed several guests at the event on film, and articles, letters and photos were scanned onto computer, all to contribute to the making of two educational DVDs about the close for use in schools and in the community.
Meanwhile, members of Herefordshire’s reminiscence organisation, Herefordshire Lore, working with the Cathedral and Catcher Media on this project, enjoyed chatting to the guests over coffee and cake, and writing down the flow of memories.
Anyone with memories of the Close, or who has family members or friends who have memories of the Close, is invited to get in touch, either with the Close Connections office on 01432 374255 or with Julia Goldsmith at Catcher Media, which is running this project on behalf of the cathedral, on 01432 277424.
Photographs: Mark Robertson
******************************************************************** APPEAL FOR VOLUNTEERS: VISUAL ART EXHIBITION ********************************************************************
A big exhibition of the artwork created during the visual arts workshops for GCSE Art students last November is being organised by a panel of volunteers headed by Chapter member, Sandy Elliott, and will be held in the cathedral at the end of April into May.
The exhibition will be launched with an invitation to all the students to return to the cathedral, with their teachers and their families, after which the exhibition will be open to the public. We will be very pleased to have volunteer help during the launch and, of course, during the run of the exhibition!
To find out more about volunteering or simply to get in touch with the Close Connections please call us on (01432) 374255 or email us on close.connections@herefordcathedral.org.
We will soon start seeing some of the images from these workshops enhancing both information panels around the close and printed materials to do with the Close Project.
Photo credit: Mark Robertson