Heritage Link Worker pilot project goes live

Norfolk-based charity the Restoration Trust has been awarded a grant of £70,000 by Historic England to run a 2-year social prescribing and heritage pilot project in Great Yarmouth and Waveney. The project aims to demonstrate heritage’s potential to contribute to meeting the wellbeing needs of local people through social prescribing, via appointment of a Heritage Link Worker.

Emily Cannell, a graduate of Norwich University of the Arts who is passionate about the opportunities for heritage and creativity to improve mental health and wellbeing, will take up this new role on 28th March 2022. Emily will collaborate with partners Access Community Trust, D.I.A.L. Great Yarmouth and local Primary Care Networks and social prescribing link workers to connect local people who are referred to social prescribing services with heritage activities and organisations in the area, including within the Heritage Action Zones in Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

Building on the Restoration Trust’s archaeology and mental health project ‘Burgh Castle Almanac’, based at the Roman fort on the banks of Breydon Water, the Heritage Link Worker Project will address the barriers that prevent people on low income and with poor health from enjoying local heritage.

Evidence published by Historic England and others shows that heritage improves mental health and wellbeing and strengthens people’s sense of belonging. Social prescribing proves to be a powerful tool to help deliver individual and community wellbeing and address health inequalities, including through heritage interventions. The NHS’s target is that 900,000 people in England will be benefitting from a social prescription by 2024, and the Heritage Link Worker pilot supports the Restoration Trust and Historic England’s vision of using heritage as a vital contribution to achieving this ambition.

To find out more about this project and to connect with the Heritage Link Worker, please contact Darren France, Project Manager, by emailing darren@restorationtrust.org.uk