Putting Heritage at the Heart of the Community

The concept of a community cultural tourism programme has been at the heart of all that has been done. For over a decade a small group of amateur historians have researched local Orange, military, industrial and civic history and developed a collection of artefacts connected with the heritage. This labour of love led to tours and presentations, talks and other events. The idea was born to put together a project that would tie all these elements together and open the hall to new audiences to tell its story.

The project will achieve this by opening up public access to local heritage by providing a range of interpretive experiences, by offering a new learning, volunteering and activities programme for people of all ages, and by making resources available for events and community heritage activities. We will do this through sound research and interpretive work. By working with leading professionals to tell our local story in a way that is true and authentic but accessible to all. 

PHT will offer a more neutral professional presentation of the past, which will bridge the gap between the Orange community and even those communities which are at present actively opposed to that heritage and culture. By grasping this nettle we can use heritage to everyones advantage. The tourism offering will be the most innovative approach to this, moving beyond purely conflict resolution or community relations work into a more commercial and professional approach to dealing with the past. 

By providing support, training and funding to local community and voluntary sector organisations we hope that heritage will be placed at the heart of all the community does. We believe it will also put heritage into the hearts of ordinate people bringing them to love it as we do.

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Learn to Love Heritage

Putting Heritage at the Heart of Community Work

At the heart of our ARCH Programme is the concept that communities should discover and then develop and finally disseminate their local heritage. It should be about YOUR story and what is important to you. As a project we hope to help you tell that story and look it to others making a more complete narrative.

To brings groups which have an interest in heritage together and encourage other Community and Voluntary groups to think about how heritage could play a part in what they do we have set ups the CATCH Initiative. It stands for: Community Activities, Tours and Cultural Heritage.

It is an initiative which will  create a Community Heritage Forum, to give structure support and a voice for community heritage. Then it will provide training and support to help groups develop heritage work and better engage with the issues. Finally a Facilitation Fund will develop and mentor community heritage work and draw it together into a holistic programme with the theme of: A Town Goes To War – Portadown’s Experience of the First World War. This unique community led legacy project will build on existing interest and archives, activities and amateur historians’ work.

Learn to Love Heritage

CATCH Funding for Community Heritage

The CATCH community heritage network provides support and training to enable community action to promote heritage.  The network will help a range of community and voluntary organisations to recognise the heritage around them and realise its potential.

Training and resources will help groups explore local heritage around the theme of ‘Portadown – A Town Goes to War’.  To help organisations a fund will be available, which will provide seeding and support funding to local community heritage projects.

The CATCH fund which will be open to all organisations who take part in the network and avail of the free training will directly fund local projects, events, activities and solutions. It is aimed at local community and voluntary groups which may not have identified heritage as a priority. The fund will kick start local community heritage projects and assist CATCH Network members to run projects which will support the wider ARCH Programme

Apply to the CATCH Fund
Learn to Love Heritage

Young Ambassadors Programme

We are pleased to launch the Portadown Young Ambassador Programme. This programme aims to provide training, qualifications and skills to young people in the local area aged 13-18. The programme will be packed with new opportunities in a relaxed setting that will equip young people to have a voice in their local community and become Ambassadors for the area.

At the heart of the Young Ambassador Programme is the principle that your views, and those of other young people are heard, valued and influence decision making; and that they are engaged in driving change in the local area. The objective is to create young leaders in Heritage and Culture through knowledge and give participants access to a range of opportunities which reflect their interest and abilities. A Young Ambassador has a key role in promoting the history and heritage of Portadown and motivate and inspire other young people to get involved in their community. A Portadown Young Ambassador will be involved with the work of Portadown Heritage Tours. This will provide experience and opportunities in the community and provide new skills and knowledge to take into the future for education and employment. It is also an opportunity to become part of a team and make friends.