Free events planned for Heritage Open Days this September

Article date: 23 August 2024

From walks and talks to family fun days - there's something for everyone to enjoy, with this year's theme being 'Routes - Networks - Connections' to celebrate how people and ideas have moved around and come together throughout history.

Taking place between 6-15 September, activities include captivating heritage walks with Friends of St Helens Cemetery, Rainhill Civic Society and St Helens Rotary who will take visitors on guided tours, taking in some of the borough's most historic sites and buildings; break dancing demonstrations; and getting up close and personal with No:7 Bottle Shop - Cannington Shaw - once the largest glass bottle manufacturing site in the world.

Elsewhere, a 1940's 'Make Do and Mend' event at Smithy Heritage Centre in Eccleston, where you can plant your own vegetables to take home, is sure to prove popular - as will Sankey Canal Restoration Society's Newton Common Lock Keeper's Cottage: A History' event which will include a free book on recent excavation works to England's first industrial canal.

Meanwhile, a number of churches with a combined age of almost 500 years will open their doors for tours, with The World of Glass Museum hosting a family fun day which will see free access to activities that are usually paid for, including a sneak peek into its hot glass studio and tours from expert guides.

Nearly half of the events on offer have been funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the 'Creative Underground' project, coordinated by St Helens Archive Service, part of St Helens Borough Council.

As an accredited archive service containing more than two million records of local and national significance, St Helens Archive Service will also be getting in on the action, holding 'Read All About It' sessions at Eccleston and Newton-le-Willows libraries where visitors can discover how to use the microfilm collection to read historic local newspapers from more than a hundred years ago.

Councillor Kate Groucutt, St Helens Borough Council's Cabinet Member for Business, Leisure and Culture, said: "Our borough has often punched above its weight on the world stage and has a fascinating and varied history to show for it.

"We're really pleased to have funded events through our Creative Underground initiative relating to the heritage of areas like Rainhill as the birthplace of passenger railways, and a free book and talk on the Newton Lock Keeper's Cottage, which sat on the banks of the Sankey Canal, Britain's first industrial canal. Our borough has a lot to be proud about, so please come down and show your support and maybe find out something you didn't know."

For more information, including a full list of events, visit: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/whats-on/printable-area-lists/st-helens.html