THE PERSHORE BIG HERITAGE QUEST

The Pershore Big Heritage Quest is the latest in a series of quests created and run by Go West volunteers known as 'The Heritage Knights'.  For a whole year (from July 2013 to July 2014) heritage detectives - children with their teachers, parents, families and friends - will be exploring the Pershore area searching for things that a time traveller from 1204 might recognise if he were to come back today.

All quests begin with the Parish Church which provides a focal point for the history of a particular parish through time.  

The Heritage Knights hope that you will be ready to welcome your heritage detectives; they will be local children who will come with their teachers from school or with their parents, family and friends perhaps during a special event such as the Festival of Churches in September or as part of an outing in the school holidays.

The aim is to construct a timeline for items of interest or “points of wonder” that are found and researched throughout the project by anyone who participates in the quest. Go West Heritage Knights endeavour to create Heritage Quests that are fun activities for children.  The Kevin Crossley-Holland,  Arthur series of books is a great enabler to how to approach the quest.  Crossley-Holland engages his readers in the story of Arthur, born in 1187 – allowing them to not just learn about historical events during Arthur’s lifetime, but also to understand the personal context  and relationships throughout  his life experiences.  The anchor question for every ‘point of wonder’ researched in the quest – is “Would Arthur have seen this?”.  Whether the answer is ‘yes’ or ‘no’ – the “point of wonder” is investigated through the creation of a “wonder card” and  placed on the timeline to enable the story of the parish through history to be developed.  The process of “wondering” and then investigating hopefully develops a healthy interest, curiosity and understanding of the heritage of the place in which we live for everyone involved.

The challenge for churches, where information from records and guide books can be used to feed the research the detectives need to create their wonder cards for the timeline, is to prepare well rounded 'moments in time' in the story of God, people and place which will then be available to feed discussion about the future as well as the past.

REGISTERED CHURCHES CAN ATTEND A FREE WORKSHOP

 Download a Registration Form now.    

Workshops for Heritage Detectives always take place in Parish Churches. Participation in The Big Pershore Quest will enable you to share with a whole generation of heritage detectives something about your church, your church building and the part it has played in the lives of local people over the centuries. 

EVERYONE CAN USE THE INFORMATION ON THIS WEB SITE

Quests for Heritage Detectives introduce local heritage and history to children, their teachers, families and friends who go on to discover the stories in the stones of historic buildings and the surrounding countryside. Churches and other listed buildings are key to this activity.  It is a fundamental aim of the organisers of The Pershore Big Heritage Quest to introduce the stories in the stones of these buildings to a whole generation of Pershore school children. 

Go West first developed its Quests for Heritage Detectives during the Stories from the Stones pilot in the Teme Valley (2005-7).  £50K of funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund enabled Go West volunteers assist congregations from six Teme Valley churches to discover and tell their stories on specially developed Listening Posts. These were professionally designed by ATS Heritage and put into open church buildings for the benefit of visitors to the area.  The volunteers used a research methodology that simplified the process of gathering, organising and presenting historical information.  This process has been further developed, packaged and placed online to enable others to reap the benefits. It is available for you today.