We celebrated success at this year’s Regional Heritage Awards, picking up two prizes on the night in recognition of their work with the local community. We won the Partnership Working Award for the ‘Canalside Visions: Beijing to Beeston and back again’ exhibition and came Highly Commended in the Reaching New Audiences Award for their ‘Wellbeing through the Waterways’ project. The Heritage Centre also made the final shortlist for the Heritage Site of the Year Award but narrowly missed out to the National Justice Museum.

‘Canalside Visions: Beijing to Beeston and back again’ was a partnership project between Canalside Heritage Centre, Nottingham Trent University and the Communications University of China. Two groups of Chinese students, one group working in Nottingham and the other in Beijing, curated a photography exhibition held at the Heritage Centre for two weeks in May 2019. The exhibition looked at the cultural landscapes of the Grand Canal in Beijing and the Beeston and Nottingham Canal with a focus on the people, wildlife and activities which surround them.

Wellbeing through the Waterways has been a partnership between Canalside Heritage Centre and Nottinghamshire County Council’s Co-production team. The aim has been to use the Heritage Centre and surrounding waterways to promote improved wellbeing amongst vulnerable and isolated groups in the community. Activities have included a restorative soundscape walk with full-time carers, the adoption of areas of the garden by a military veterans group and a fortnightly friends social group for people who have experienced a change in their lives.

It was a great feeling to have our work recognised by our peers in the heritage sector and would like to say a massive thank you to all the organisations and groups who helped and took part in the successful projects.