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SalaryWe have an exciting opportunity to lead a new, fully funded project aimed at enthusing, training and supporting volunteers to uncover the stories of people and communities memorialised within churchyards. Shadowing a massive digital mapping initiative, you will train people to add information, to use the mapping system for investigation and to take research further using other sources including those held by local archives. Reaching new people and groups is key to the success of this project as is working with schools.
Caring for God's Acre (CfGA) is the Conservation Charity (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) for burial grounds of all types and denominations from small, rural churchyards to large, urban cemeteries. CfGA encourages everyone, from all faiths and none, to explore and enjoy these special places. We have a friendly staff of eight, all part-time, and depend on working in partnership to extend our reach. We work with a range of individuals, groups and organisations including churches, cemetery managers, community groups, social historians, heritage enthusiasts and naturalists. More information can be found on our website.
Our Digital Ancestors is a new four-year project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England, the Church of England (CofE) and Atlantic Geomatics International (AG Intl). The main focus of the project is community engagement and volunteer training in monument recording plus learning to investigate social history.
AG Int are currently mapping all CofE burial grounds through an initiative called the National Burial Grounds Survey (NBGS). This will continue for 7 to 8 years, covering every square inch of all CofE churchyards in England. Visible monuments will be photographed, names and dates logged, whilst parish registers of births, marriages and deaths will be scanned site by site. As the project progresses the extent of all the churchyards and features within them, as well as valuable historic records, will be digitised and made publicly available.
The NBGS is a map-based database with analytical functions and the data gathered can be added to, including monument inscription, description and condition assessment. There is great potential to use the AG Intl system for research and to take family and social history investigations further using other publicly available sources such as Local Authority archives. It is also an invaluable tool for site managers.
Our Digital Ancestors will provide the community link which will bring the NBGS project alive by training volunteers, interest groups and young people across England, to contribute to and use this unique digital resource.
Our Digital Ancestors staff, along with other CfGA staff will receive training and on-going support from AG Intl on the use of the NBGS system allowing them to train others to use it. Organising this community training will involve outreach to existing local history groups as well as generating new enthusiasts. Staff are expected to build links and work closely with local archive staff and volunteers.
CfGA are keen to reach new audiences through this project including people or communities with personal connections to those memorialised. This could be descendants of those who have moved to take up employment or escape strife or poverty, those with a specific localised occupation such as fishing or mining or those interested in the history of their community such as travellers or people from a specific religious or ethnic group.
The NBGS fits well with secondary school learning be it the physics and geography of the mapping process, the history uncovered through inscription and description recording or the use of a database for analysis. Our Digital Ancestors staff will work directly with schools and produce online resources for wider dissemination.
Churchyards also contain a range of species and habitats, and CfGA encourages people to observe and record wildlife within all burial grounds, creating biological records from sightings. Our Digital Ancestors staff will encourage wildlife spotting and recording, connecting people to CfGA colleagues and systems already in place to support this. CfGA run an annual event – Love Your Burial Ground Week with a citizen science initiative, Churches Count on Nature, forming part of it. Our Digital Ancestors staff will support colleagues in delivering this initiative and increasing its reach.
We are looking for someone who will:
Engage with a wide range of people and communities throughout England, organising and running training sessions for volunteers and school children. The training will focus on the social history and built heritage of churchyards in the main with secondary focus on the biodiversity found within them. You will lead on delivering this project with support from a Project Trainee as well as additional support from CfGA colleagues. The project is currently funded for four years with options for extending if funding can be secured in the future.
Travel throughout England, often shadowing the AG Intl mapping team, and spending a few days at a time away from home delivering blocks of consecutive training days. We encourage remote/home working in between this time away, although there may be need to visit our office (Craven Arms, Shropshire) from time to time and there is office accommodation available should you prefer. It is anticipated that you will be delivering these blocks of training approximately ten times per year. Travel and accommodation expenses will be paid, and the Project Trainee will work alongside you in delivering this.
Key responsibilities:
- Encourage and enthuse a wide range of people to get involved with Our Digital Ancestors through varied communication (with support from the CfGA comms manager), running face-to-face and remote engagement activities and by working with existing and new partners to increase the reach of the project.
- Develop and implement a programme and system of high-quality training opportunities for volunteers and community groups enabling them to use and contribute to the NBGS system, including further social history investigation and research. This will take place diocese by diocese, starting with building connections, organising widespread publicity plus a launch then leading into the training sessions.
- Liaise with partners, including burial ground managers, to ensure that an effective programme of community and volunteer training is developed and delivered and that this is inclusive and accessible to all.
- Line manage and supervise the Our Digital Ancestors Trainee, helping them develop professionally, gaining valuable experience as well as contributing to the success of the project.
- Organise and deliver training for secondary schools, either working with the AG Intl surveying team or post surveying, using the map and database as a learning tool.
- Develop and commission the production of a range of appropriate training resources and training plans for individual, community and school use.
- Organise a project conference in the final year of the project, supported by CfGA colleagues and project partners.
- Manage the project delivery and budget, working closely with CfGA colleagues, to record spend, cashflow, grant claims and progress and reports against milestones and approved purposes.
If you’d like to find out more:
For a full job description and person specification visit https://www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk/we-are-hiring/
For an informal discussion or for more information, please contact mick@cfga.org.uk
To apply, please send a copy of your CV and a covering letter, explaining why you think this role is for you, to info@cfga.org.uk by midnight Sunday 12th May 2024. Please put Our Digital Ancestors as the email subject.
Interviews will be held on Tuesday 21st May at Craven Arms, Shropshire.
