The Funding
The project was funded by EEMLAC and Suffolk County Council (Libraries & Heritage).
The funding allowed us to buy equipment for the project such as laptops, scanners, printers and digital cameras.
The Project
The website was created to celebrate traveller culture within Suffolk, mainly through the Kessingland site.
The project was managed through the Lowestoft Library Learning Centre, to engage and work with the Suffolk Traveller community primarily at Kessingland, but in the future to extend the project to Ipswich and Mildenhall sites through the local libraries at these locations..
Our objectives were to:
Develop the Travellers' skills and confidence in using ICT to enable them to create their website to record and share their culture, heritage and experiences.
Generate and promote an online community for Travellers of all ages to strengthen identity and enable self expression.
To facilitate access to Traveller communities, encouraging greater understanding amongst non-Travellers of their culture.
Outcomes of the project:
The project has increased the Travellers interest in educating the Non-Traveller community about their lifestyle and culture, as the fact that we received funding for such a project helped them to realise that they are a valued sector of the community.
The has helped to increase the Traveller's interest in ICT and learning how to use different ICT programmes and resources for their own personal use and education. They have created leaflets for their business; practised for their driving theory test; used CD-ROMs to improve the young childrens' basic skills to prepare them for school.
The project has been very successful in helping improve the basic literacy and creativity of the younger children, through the creation of captioned photographic picture books, and creating artwork.
Through the project we have learnt more about individual Travellers and their culture. We are often invited around to their trailers for cups of tea and chats, or to see their new pets or purchases, hence it has helped us to further develop the relationship we have with the Travellers. They now feel confident enough to visit us at the library and use its service.
Part of the Traveller culture is the bargaining system, and we have learnt how to bargain with the older Travellers to undertake projects. For example when we helped them to create leaflets for their businesses in return they answered questions about their traveller culture which we incorporated into the website.
Contact Details:
For further details on the project please contact Jo Hanford the project manager:
( 01502 4053656
: jo.hanford@libher.suffolkcc.gov.uk
+ Learning Centre, Lowestoft Library, Clapham Road South, Lowestoft, NR32 1DR
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