April Round-Up: Growing Local History, One Community at a Time
April has been a month of steady growth for Local History Hub. We’ve continued building teacher-led networks, welcomed early partners, and laid important foundations for inclusive and community-rooted local history education.
Early Progress in Cardiff
In Cardiff, our first Welsh hub is beginning to take shape. Led by Liz Berry at Bryn Celyn Primary School, the work is still in its early stages. We’ve begun inviting schools to register interest and are exploring potential partnerships with heritage organisations across the city.
We’re also recruiting a Community Lead for Cardiff. This voluntary role is ideal for someone with local heritage knowledge who wants to help connect schools and sites, and support the development of a city-wide network for place-based education.
This hub is just getting started, but it reflects our wider approach — slow, strategic growth shaped by the people who know their communities best.
Blackburn with Darwen Hub Officially Launched
Meanwhile, we’ve launched Local History Hub: Blackburn with Darwen. This new hub is being led by Laura Butterworth of Roe Lee Park Primary School, in partnership with Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery.
The Blackburn hub reflects the core values of Local History Hub: teacher-led, collaborative, and community-focused. Local schools and heritage organisations have already expressed interest, and we’re now looking for a local Community Lead to support further growth.
Advisory Roles Supporting Our Work in Wales
To guide our expanding work across Wales, we’ve introduced two new voluntary roles:
A National Heritage Advisor for Wales, offering strategic input as we plan long-term development across the country.
A Regional Heritage Advisor for South Wales, who will focus on supporting local connections and identifying opportunities for new hubs.
These roles are designed to ensure our work remains informed by local experience, while aligning with the needs and priorities of communities and schools across Wales.
Strengthening Meaningful Partnerships
This month, we’ve also continued to strengthen relationships with national partners:
Our collaboration with the Association of Jewish Refugees is helping to promote the UK Holocaust Memorial Map and ensure that remembrance is a key part of our approach to local history education.
Our partnership with the Migration Museum is supporting schools to explore stories of movement, identity and belonging.
In Cardiff, we’ve had early discussions with Civic Voice, exploring how we might work together around place-based learning and civic engagement. These conversations are still developing, but reflect a shared interest in strengthening ties between education and local heritage.
A People-Led Movement
Local History Hub is built around people — teachers, community leaders, heritage professionals — who believe in the power of local stories to inspire young people and build stronger communities.
This April, we’ve seen what steady, collaborative progress can look like. Whether through launching new hubs, inviting new advisors, or taking early steps toward partnership, we remain committed to growing in ways that are thoughtful, inclusive and grounded.
If you’d like to be part of this work — as a school, partner, or volunteer — we’d love to hear from you:
enquiries@localhistoryhub.org.uk
Together, we can bring local history to life for every learner.
