Dunoon’s American Years Revisited volunteer group is delighted to announce that they have been awarded a grant of £10,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) to support their ‘Recording our Holy Loch Heritage’ project.
The aim of the American Years Revisited group is to preserve the history and heritage of Dunoon and the wider area, in relation to the American presence from 1961 to 1992 and its impact on the community and the people involved. The group was formally constituted in 2018 and has developed with support from SURF’s Dunoon Area Alliance. The American Years initiative resulted from the Think Dunoon Charrette in 2017, which identified a strong local interest in exploring the options to establish an archive, and potential visitor attraction, commemorating the area’s ‘American Years’ heritage.
The ‘Recording our Holy Loch Heritage’ project will involve older volunteers working alongside younger people to uncover and record the wealth of information from Dunoon and across the Atlantic and to preserve and present this in ways that engage with local people, visitors and people online around the world. The project will mark the 30th anniversary of the US base arriving in the area with a touring exhibition of pop up banners and talks in schools and community venues.
The purpose of the project is to find new and interesting ways to share what is learned with the widest range of people, especially younger generations who may have less awareness of the impact of the ‘American Years’.
The next step for the group will be to recruit a freelance Heritage Project Co-ordinator, who will support them to plan and deliver the tasks set out in their NLHF application. This post will be advertised in October 2019 through a range of networks, including Dunoon Area Alliance and the Holy Loch Heritage – American Years Revisited Facebook page.
