Learning from what we've done with this project, we have learned some valuable lessons. One of the key lessons is that heritage is not only there to be preserved, but also can be a vessel for change - a positive change, a positive legacy, a positive impact on peoples lives, both locally and beyond.
From a historical perspective, Josh also learned in his research that there was actually a series of industrial tramways in Barnsley/South Yorkshire - at least 4, all of which tell the story of the industry that surrounded them, Also, the oral history provided us with new research that can be used in historical enquiries, but also was greatly appreciated by those we interviewed, their family members, and those who watched the interviews. Frankly, we are at risk of losing a lot of stories to age and death, and thus oral history research is of paramount importance.
Plus, we found that the public and community engagement events were extremely popular, and that the walks were not only well attended, but probably the best received, as they had a mental as well as physical wellbeing improvement with them.
Therefore, moving forward, we'd like to utilise this new research and our lessons learned to build upon this project and take it further and beyond this area. We want to step away from filmmaking but build upon the community development aspect. We therefore want to focus on the heritage walks, oral history, and skills/employment development (particularly focusing on creative skills). There are numerous projects we want to move onto, all of which are focused on using heritage to bring people together and better the lives of the people in the communities, as well as bringing these unheard voices and new research to the forefront. Some of these include Healthy Heritage Walks and The Tramways of Barnsley.