As the city opens its doors for the annual Heritage Open Days festival, organisers Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART) are offering heritage enthusiasts the chance to become official supporters of the registered charity, to help HEART continue its work in promoting heritage, improving access, and organising great heritage events and projects for many years to come. 

Established in 2004, HEART is a private, charitable trust set up to act as an umbrella organisation for all of the heritage on offer in Norwich, and to champion and coordinate heritage across the East Anglian area. The charity strategically plan, regenerate, manage and promote Norwich and Norfolk’s heritage and act as a best practice model internationally for developing heritage as a social and economic regeneration vehicle.

Supporters of Norwich HEART will not only be supporting the city’s heritage, by enabling HEART to continue delivering historically, culturally and economically significant projects to the local community and East Anglia as a whole, but they will also receive benefits such as 20% off products at Colman’s Mustard Shop & Museum (including HEART’s award winning publications) and exclusive invitations to at least 2 annual events arranged by HEART, such as talks on Norwich’s rich heritage and tours of buildings not normally open to the public.

HEART supporters will receive a ‘Welcome Pack’ filled with things to delight any heritage enthusiast including: the award-winning Norwich 12 guidebook, DVD on the historic Norwich Guildhall, money-off vouchers to use in Norwich’s heritage attractions and their official Norwich HEART supporter card.

HEART is responsible for developing a wide range of highly successful projects such as the Norwich 12, the UK’s finest collection of individually outstanding heritage buildings from the last 1,000 years; SHAPING 24, which saw the cultural and historical ‘twinning’ of Norwich with the city of Ghent, Belgium and garnered £4 million for the local economy; coordinating the annual Heritage Open Days events in Norwich and Norfolk; the highly popular Digital Heritage Project, which seeks to make regional archive films accessible and relevant to a wide and intergenerational audience; and also delivering the very successful Dragon Festival, as well as many award-winning publications, such as the recent ‘Strangers – A History of Norwich’s Incomers’. In 2009, HEART also became responsible for the management of popular Norwich attraction Colman’s Mustard Shop & Museum.

Michael Loveday, Chief Executive of HEART, said: “HEART’s success within a remarkably short period has been due in great measure to the support we’ve received from local people either through hundreds of people volunteering or tens of thousands attending events like Heritage Open Days. We felt now was the time to make that relationship closer and to help the people that help us by giving them something back like privileged access to heritage sites that you normally don’t get to see or discounts on our merchandise and pre-release purchase opportunities, like HEART’s book on the Norwich industries book, due out in the autumn. Just as thousands of people have signed up to support one of the most successful provincial theatres in the UK we hope that those who are passionate about local heritage will help us to continue to do inspiring things to promote it and make it more accessible.”

For people who would like to become a part of Norwich HEART’s Supporter Scheme or would like to find out further information about the scheme, please visit www.heritagecity.org, see HEART at The Guildhall or pop into Colman’s Mustard Shop & Museum to fill out a form. Payment can be made either by cash, cheque, standing order or bank transfer, debit or credit card, or online via the Colman’s Mustard Shop website www.mustardshopnorwich.co.uk. For more information about Heritage Open Days visit www.heritagecity.org/hods.

 

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