Great Ayton Community Archaeology Project (2005)

Great Ayton Community Archaeology Project www.historic-cleveland.co.uk

It seems that every organisation now needs a website, especially a small local history group because it enables people elsewhere to make contact with it. There are also many who lived in Ayton previously who might be interested in our work & be able to contribute to our researches.

Our local history group, the Gt Ayton Community Archaeology Project (CAP), has been running for 4 years, & all this time we wished for a website but were not sure what to do about it. At last we have been able to assemble sufficient funds to pay for a professionally designed website. The first step was when Dan O’Sullivan obtained an Awards for All grant for the transcription of the Diaries of Ralph Jackson, an 18th century gentleman who, remarkably, kept a detailed diary for over 40 years. The grant included money for setting up a website.

Then Barry Lewis (better known as Bazz), a founder member of the Gt Ayton Community Archaeology Project, sadly died last year. Bazz had thrown himself into the group’s activities with enthusiasm and energy, but was concerned as to what would happen after the funding runs out in 2007, so when his family very generously donated to the group the money collected in his memory, it seemed fitting to use it to encourage local history research in the longer term.

The concept of setting up a website to cover all aspects of Historic Cleveland soon evolved. By combining the Ralph Jackson funding with the Bazz Memorial Collection, it would be possible to set up a basic site. However, if the website was to fulfil its promise, it would need a bespoke design & comprehensive internal search facility. The last step was a successful appli-cation for a 2nd Awards for All grant to cover this extra design work. We have now commiss-ioned mixd, a small website design business in Northallerton, to build our Historic Cleveland website. It will be launched featuring the Ralph Jackson Diaries & the Gt Ayton CAP. It will also be able to provide space for any local history group that wishes to be involved, & feature specialist topics, where different groups can post information & research reports. It will not only develop a common understanding & collaborative working between the groups, but will allow people living outside the region to become involved. Known as www.historic-cleveland.co.uk the website should be on-line before the end of the year. Keep an eye open for it!

We continue to discover more & more fascinating things about our local history. Interested in joining us? Do come along to any of our meetings, held every Wednesday at 9.30 am in the Friends’ Meeting House on High Green. Ring for further details: Dan O’Sullivan 723 358 David Taylor 722 748 or myself, Ian Pearce 722 964