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Knowing our story and taking pride in our place in the world is critical to our sense of self and mental wellbeing
‘Culture is noticing and admiring difference’
Three performers sit, out of context, laughing on a park bench, wearing brightly coloured sequined jackets, tutus and with glamourous white wigs, a passer by is taken aback by their colourful and unexpected appearance. Words and Image ©Laura Ashworth
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We have a rich and diverse history, built by rapid industrialisation and immigration we needed to make international trade.
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'I think that the heritage is really complex, very deep and engrained in the culture of the place and is one of the, if not the greatest, asset in setting out Bradford's road to a uniqueness and distinctiveness as a place'
Heritage is also much more than buildings, objects and artefacts. It’s our landscape and our parks – places that defy barriers of age, class and ethnicity. And it’s the stories we all tell that help shape our past, present and future.
Bradford Community Broadcasting lets local people play a role in their District by giving them a voice in the media.
Bradford Museums and Galleries has saved the Belle Vue Studio archive of 17,000 glass negatives of luminous portrait photographs, documenting 20th-century immigration to Bradford from around the world.
The Bradford Stories Festival’s Living Library presents real people as ‘books’, allowing young people to meet inspiring role models, from Ambreen Sadiq, one of the first female Asian Muslim boxers, to Dr Geetha Upadhyaya, the founder of Kala Sangam.
Peel Park Primary School and Nursery won one of only eight Historic England Champion Heritage School Awards for its commitment and excellence in teaching pupils about their local heritage.
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But for a lot of Bradfordians, the story of the District isn’t told loudly enough, especially where those stories are inconvenient or uncomfortable. For others, the dominant story isn’t their story at all, it’s someone else’s; a Victorian story, a white, male, heteronormative story. This is a story that ignores many of the people and achievements that have made Bradford remarkable.
While other cities make much of their radical credentials, Bradford underplays its role in social reform. Its history ranges from the 19-week strike in the Manningham Mills, which ended in 1891, to the conference at Bradford Labour Institute on Peckover Street in 1893 when Keir Hardie was elected first chairman of a new Independent Labour Party. It includes Margaret McMillan’s campaign for free school meals in the 1890s, the University of Bradford’s creation of the UKs first department of Peace Studies in 1973 and the Bradford 12’s resistance to the far right in the 1980s.
The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council's 2020 review of statues and monuments, a response to the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter, revealed more of this picture. It showed the District as a stronghold of non-conformist philanthropists, many of whom were abolitionists.
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The review of statues and monuments concluded: 'This is a story we want to tell more fully… to bring some of these stories to life and help promote Bradford as a pioneering and inclusive city on the world stage.'
↓ What we'll do
The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council and The Leap will launch a new partnership with National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2021. This will develop a heritage action plan for the District and pilot new ways of distributing heritage funding direct to grassroots and hyperlocal projects and organisations.
The Heritage Action Plan will build on the importance and potential of all types of heritage whether tangible – things like buildings, objects, landscapes – or intangible – our stories, sense of community and the contemporary heritage work that is shedding a light on important aspects of our modern lives.
In particular we aim to look at the role of heritage and sense of place in mental wellbeing and recovery. It will connect work already under way such as the Review of Statues and Monuments, the new vision for the District’s Libraries review, the emerging plans for Bradford’s Museums and Galleries. It will also connect to independent projects from the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and Saltaire Collection to Windrush Generations and South Asian Heritage Month. It will embrace partners including the Canal & River Trust and both of the District’s UNESCO designations.