The Reawakening of St Mary Magdalene: supporting Newark’s communities

The Reawakening of St Mary Magdalene: supporting Newark’s communities
Client: PCC of St Mary Magdalene with St Leonard
Dates: 2020-2024
Budget: £2,774,897
Project: The Reawakening of St Mary Magdalene: supporting Newark’s communities
St Mary Magdalene is a Grade I listed church in Newark, Nottinghamshire, where social mobility among young people is one of the lowest in the country. The town has received a £25 million Town’s Fund grant, a High Street Heritage Action Zone grant, and the local Council was developing a project at Newark Castle. This was therefore an exciting time to build on this momentum.
We worked with the PCC from 2020 to develop an Expression of Interest and submit their Development Phase application to The National Lottery Heritage Fund. This coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic so consultation was challenging. Despite this the PCC was awarded one of the first grants after the pandemic. We then won the commissions for Activity and Business Planning through competitive tendering, continuing to support the PCC throughout the Development Phase.
We reviewed key strategies around place shaping, visitor economy, town investment, and community as part of this work to ensure the project reflected the wider context and complemented the other initiatives in the town. Using the latest census and schools’ data, we identified schools with the highest proportions of children on free school meals in the parish to ensure they have the opportunity to benefit from the project. We had included a commission for a storyteller who ran pilots with various groups, including girls from the traveller community, socially isolated women, adults with learning disabilities, and Ukrainian families. As a result, we refined our audiences and plans, focusing on learning and skills development among young people.
We also organised visits to schools, Lincoln College, and pilots with the University of Nottingham to test whether their Heritage Experience Module and Consultancy Project opportunities aligned with the PCC’s ambitions. A public consultation event over two days included talks, an exhibition, storytelling sessions, drawing activities for children, and traditional feedback methods. The family programme involves co-curation of a storytelling carpet, while the community programme will train people in storytelling and deliver workshops with charities supporting vulnerable people. The schools’ programme will work in-depth with two schools, with a legacy of workshops and resources for all schools. Hard-hat tours, talks by professionals, films, and heritage walks will cater to special interest groups and knowledgeable locals. Training will ensure staff and volunteers are equipped to work with vulnerable community members. This is one of the Activity Plans we are most proud of – this was reaffirmed by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. A copy can be found here https://stmnewark.org/activity-plan/
We also worked with the PCC to develop an operational business plan to support the delivery of the project.