Underwych project unearthing what lies beneath Vale Royal - Cheshire
Underwych project unearthing what lies beneath Vale Royal
Members of the Vale Royal Writers’ Group have started investigating the impact of subsidence on Mid Cheshire’s heritage. The research will involve interviewing witnesses and experts to uncover this neglected aspect of the salt town’s past. This detective work is part of Underwych, a project supported by Vale Royal Borough Council, Cheshire County Council, Development of the Arts in Northwich (DAN), the Lion Salt Works Trust, Action Weaver Valley and the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The Vale Royal writers will unearth memories of local people who have had direct experience of subsidence or heard stories from their parents and grandparents, old photographs and extracts of records. They will also look into what is happening nowadays to remedy subsidence and improve the environment.
Ann Bates of Action Weaver Valley supports Underwych as it will also ‘enable the local community to reflect upon the ways in which the changing landscape of Vale Royal reflects its history’.
6 local schools and several community arts groups will engage with the material brought to light by the writers through a series of workshops. The outcome will be fed into a play to be performed in Northwich in July 2007.
Anyone wishing to tell their story and get involved should contact Robert Meadows on 0773 329 5435.
