Taunton

The first week of Taunton’s empty shop project, ‘Our Place, Your Place: Taunton’, has been a great success with on average 130 people coming each day to see the exhibitions, talk about old times and learn about Taunton’s future. The first person through the door on Monday 8 Feb was Gerald Morse, great grandson of the renowned one armed postman, Jimmy Morse, who made deliveries in Taunton and Lyng for 32 years and whose picture features in the exhibition.

The aim of ‘Our Place, Your Place: Taunton’ is to bring residents together to learn about the town’s past, present and future – local people can learn about Taunton’s history as well as finding out about future regeneration plans. The project is located at 7/8 High Street, next to Past Times in what was previously Peter Briggs shoe shop.

Members of the public can visit the shop and get involved with activities until 20th March. A launch of the project for press and partners takes place this Friday, 12 Feb at 11am when the six week programme of activities and events will be showcased and the commitment of local volunteers and organisations celebrated. The plans for the town’s regeneration have also attracted a lot of attention and BBC will broadcast from the shop for a History of the World on 25 February.

Events Calendar

  • Week 1: Monday 8 - Saturday 13 February
    Share your memories of Taunton.
  • Week 2: Monday 15 - Saturday 20 February
    Half-term family activities.
  • Week 3: Monday 22 - Saturday 27 February
    Learn more about Taunton's history and heritage. A week long series of events are being planned for Heritage Week, talks are scheduled every day from 1-2pm and the BBC's A History of the World campaign will be broadcasting from the shop on Thursday 25 February.
  • Week 4: Monday 1 - Saturday 6 March
    Explore green and environmentally friendly issues that affect Taunton.
  • Week 5: Monday 8 - Saturday 13 March
    Taunton is changing, what are you thoughts. Talks, town walks and feedback session for members of the public.
  • Week 6: Monday 15 - Saturday 20 March
    Launch of the 2012 Quest Challenge. Explore a new hobby or learn a new skill – in the two years leading up to the 2012 Olympics.

‘Our Place, Your Place: Taunton’ is one of just two ground-breaking pilot schemes in the UK (the other is in Blackburn). They are focused on bringing new vitality to town centres by developing learning venues in empty shops and getting local people engaged with regeneration through fun and creative learning. A full programme of activities is planned for the project’s six week duration, including lively talks, colourful exhibitions and fun events. The findings from the Taunton pilot will be used to influence similar programmes across the country in the future.

‘Our Place, Your Place: Taunton’ is part of the Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA) Council Our Places project funded by the Transformation Fund.

The two main partners involved in ‘Our Place, Your Place: Taunton’, Project Taunton, the team responsible for the regeneration of the town centre and Somerset County Council are supported by Taunton Deane Borough Council. Associated partners include Thrive (a celebratory arts organisation for Somerset), Somerset Waterways Development Trust, and Transition Town Taunton.

Downloads

Name: Our_Place_March.pdf
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Size: 96 kb

Name: Our_Place_February_Programme.pdf
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