Heart of the City brings history to life

Sep 14 2007 by Paul Loraine, The Journal

A PROJECT to reinvent the historic centre of Newcastle is to apply for lottery funding in the coming weeks.

The Heart of the City project, led by the Dean of Newcastle, is aiming to transform people’s experience of places such as the cathedral and the Black Gate.

The £4.7m bid, due to be submitted at the end of this month to the heritage lottery fund, will only go part way to realising the extensive plans. Around £10m will be required to carry out the work.

Many of the proposals involve the introduction of an educational aspect to visiting the city centre.

The Very Reverend Christopher Dalliston said: “It’s a very exciting time. We want to carry out capital work on the Cathedral hall to create an education and welcome centre.

“At Black Gate, we are looking to open up a development education and interpretation centre.

“There will be a wide range of educational programmes and local schools will be a large element of that.

“It is about encouraging kids to know the story of their city, but it’s for adults as well.

“We want the whole community to be involved in this.”

The Dean stressed that a major part of the Heart of the City project, which is backed by the city council, Newcastle Society of Antiquaries and the Vermont Hotel, is an educational programme for children and adults.

There are plans for interactive tours of the historic sites, with the possibility of educational material in audio format.

The Dean continued: “We want to bring the whole area to life.

“We think we have a really exciting project but obviously with the Olympics going on money is hard to come by.”