Title
Mrs
First Name
Stephanie
Surname
Hines
Job Title
Archivist
Organisation Name
Flintshire Record Office
Organisation Address
Town
Postcode
The Old Rectory
Hawarden
CH5 3NR
Contact Number
Email
Twitter account @
01244 532364
stephanie_hines@flintshire.gov.uk
Organisation Profile/Overview (100 words maximum)
Flintshire Record Office is a local authority archive service which was
established in 1951. It seeks to preserve the county’s unique archival heritage
by collecting, listing, storing and making available to the public historic records
of all kinds. Flintshire Record Office’s priority is to ensure the proper
management of Flintshire's heritage for current and future generations. Its
overarching aim is to provide an archive service for Flintshire based on
current national standards, guidelines and best practice, providing
professional advice to owners and custodians of archive material and
raising awareness of the Record Office both within and beyond the county
boundary.
Category 1 – Demonstrating Marketing Excellence
Archives
Project title
Flintshire Remembers 1914 -1918
Context
At the beginning of 2013 Flintshire Record Office began to plan the massive
task of commemorating the First World War which will continue to occupy us
for five years as centenaries of various battles and milestones in the war
come up. Having assessed our holdings of World War 1 documents and
discovering a shortfall in the number of items within our existing collection we
decided to enhance the collection by making an early start by appealing to the
people of Flintshire for photographs, letters, diaries etc. relating to Flintshire
people and places during the period 1914 -1918. Wishing to appeal to a wider
more diverse audience Flintshire Record Office staff attended the North Wales
Armed Forces Day at Coleg Cambria at Connah’s Quay to chat to locals
about the type of records required and to distribute appeal flyers to a new
audience. Items from that day and further appeals throughout 2014 have
produced a crop of items either on deposit or on temporary loan with the
option to scan.
The appeal has been a great success and many exciting items from this time
have been brought to us. It was the intention from the outset to collect these
previously unseen items and then make them accessible to a wider audience
by highlighting this new collection in exhibitions, open days and publications.
It was decided to commemorate the outbreak of the First World War on the
nearest Saturday by holding a First World War Open Day on 2nd August 2014
to include exhibitions, a talk by Flintshire War memorial and a trace your First
World War Ancestor Workshop to commemorate the beginning of the First
World War.
A very successful 2014 Commemorative WWI Calendar produced by
Flintshire Record Office using the items collected and documents from
existing collections sold well and continued to sell throughout January and into
February 2014 with 50p from the sale of each copy going to the Royal British
Legion. It was decided the Royal British Legion would be invited to be
presented with a cheque for £84 by Flintshire County Council leader Cllr
Aaron Shotton at the Open Day.
The challenge has been to put on extra events without the need for any
additional in-house funding or additional staffing. Flintshire Record Office has
been fortunate in this respect to have received funding via a grant from the
Wales wide Audience Development Team. We designed posters in-house and
had these converted into flyers having 1000 printed along with two pop up
banners advertising the appeal. One of these has been on display in our foyer
and the other is used off site whenever possible.
Aims and Objectives
The Flintshire Remembers 1914 -1918 project for 2014 involved two main
events following the appeal for documents; a First World War Open Day and a
week long Explore Your Archive activity.
Firstly, we decided to make a continued general appeal for First World War
documents to be deposited in Flintshire Record Office. The appeal first began
in June 2013 and is to continue throughout the 2014 to 2018 period. Although,
we will of course continue to accept donations/deposits of this nature in the
future.
Flintshire Record Office planned to use the newly deposited items in a First
World War Open Day to commemorate the outbreak of the War, to raise
awareness of the collection and to highlight the importance of archive services
in providing access to the records. We wanted to document what life was like
for people who lived through the conflict, both at home and serving overseas,
so that they are never forgotten by future generations.
The items were to be used for exhibitions, a talk and First World War ancestor
workshop and open day on 2nd August 2014. We hoped to achieve an overall
attendance of 50 to 60 people with a maximum of eight spaces available on
the workshop.
The participants would be given the opportunity to receive training from an
Archivist. It was necessary to limit the number of participants to eight due to
the space required for sharing the four searchroom computers and the group
and individual instruction essential to complete such an involved assignment.
The intended audience was to include people:
 interested in family history
 interested in history/First World War
 who had not visited before
To link in with the national Explore Your Archive campaign we decided to run
the exhibitions and workshop again but this time to also highlight our unique
D/DM/181 County of Flint War Memorial index which by this time had been
photographed by Clwyd Family History Society and made available to view on
the computers in the searchroom. We hoped for a 10% increase in visitors.
Overall objectives
 To raise awareness of the value of archives to society
 To highlight the importance of archives
 To bring to life the rich variety of content held, preserved and made
available by archive services by concentrating on one theme (First
World War)
 To encourage a new audience
Strategy & Planning
Having encouraged new deposits from people we selected a small number of
these to focus on a particular soldier and by working with new depositors we
showcased these at the Open Day event.
To begin with, examples of types of item for deposit such as photographs,
letters, diaries etc. needed to be selected and copied for display in the
exhibition.
We advertised the Open Day and workshop on 2nd August 2014 in the press,
on our website, in Flintshire libraries, local shops, and in the Hawarden
Connection magazine and on Facebook.
Flintshire Record Office enlisted the help of the founder members of the
Flintshire War Memorials website to talk about their work and the success of
the site and how it could be used to assist in research into Flintshire men who
served during the First World War.
We also provided refreshments and activities for children making the event
family friendly.
Following the success of the day, we arranged a repeat of the workshop and
exhibition for the national Explore Your Archive campaign in November 2014.
It was hoped that holding an event during Explore Your Archive week would
encourage a new audience to attend the Record Office. This event was an
opportunity for Flintshire Record Office to promote the service and the
“Explore Your Archive” campaign to members of the public who have not
visited us before.
Holding a How to Trace Your First World War Ancestor Workshop will bring
new information to people and encourage them to explore what we have
available in relation to the First World War.
The events would hopefully encourage people with an interest in First World
War history to appreciate what Flintshire soldiers and residents experienced
100 years ago.
Apply for a grant for pop up banners to highlight our unique D/DM/181 County
of Flint War Memorial index which contains information about over 10,000
Flintshire servicemen including the man’s address, regimental number, unit,
period of service and rank upon demobilisation in July 1919. This has been
photographed by Clwyd Family History Society and has now been made
available to view on the computers in the Flintshire Record Office searchroom.
Explore your archive open all week for people to wander into the foyer to view.
Use all Explore Your Archive branding and promotional material
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The logo was used in all promotion of the events.
An Explore Your Archive pop up banner was displayed at both events.
Explore Your Archive Posters displayed in Searchroom
Explore Your Archive Badges were issued to each participant on arrival
and they were told more about the campaign
Advertised through Flintshire County Council and Archives Wales
websites
Tactics and Implementation
Having discovered a shortfall in the number of items within our existing
collection relating to the First World War we decided to enhance the collection
by making an early start by appealing to the people of Flintshire for
photographs, letters, diaries etc. relating to Flintshire people and places
during the period 1914 -1918. This would enable us to plan exhibitions, talks
and open days. We set out a timetable of events. The first task was to apply
for a grant to be able to produce flyers to be widely distributed to Flintshire
residents. This would compliment our usual free advertising through our
website, on Facebook in our newsletter The Hourglass and through press
releases and in local libraries.
Once our events were planned we advertised our Open Day and involvement
in the Explore Your Archive campaign on our web and Facebook pages, in our
Searchroom, local libraries, in local newspapers and via social media on the
Archives Wales website. We also obtained a grant to purchase a half page
advert in the Hawarden Connection magazine distributed to 5,000 homes and
businesses in the area.
The Explore Your Archive branding was to be used in all forms of advertising
and the free badges and pencils would further promote the campaign.
Realising early on that no extra budget or staffing would be available for extra
events, a grant was applied for from the Audience Development Team. Pop
up banners advertising both the First World War appeal and the D/DM/181
collection at external events have proved vital in promoting these important
collections.
Please see attached newspaper article Exploring County’s role in Great War
(The Leader, 20th August, 2014).
Results/Measurements/
We intended to collect new items and to make these available to the public.
To date we have received a total deposit of 23 new collections relating to the
First World War.
First World War Open Day on 2nd August 2014. We hoped to achieve an
overall attendance of 50 to 60 people. We estimated that by the end of the
day we had 95 people visiting the office to attend the talk, look at the
exhibition or attend the workshop or a combination of all of these. Providing
refreshments and activities for children making this a family friendly event
worked and encouraged all ages.
The Workshop had a maximum of eight spaces available. These were filled
and it was suggested that due to its success we rerun the workshop. As the
event proved so popular and to link in with the national the Explore Your
Archive campaign we decided to run the exhibitions and workshops again in
November 2014. This again was fully booked for all eight spaces.
Explore Your Archive week beginning 10th November saw an increase +36%
of visitors on the previous week and an increase of +10% on the previous
November.
More researchers have been attending Flintshire Record Office looking at
First World War history and relating to the past through use of Flintshire
archive collections especially the unique D/DM/181 available on the
computers.
The interest in the First World War will continue over the four years but with
increased interest in certain dates which can be targeted again.
Following the events the exhibition stands were loaned out to two local
churches for display. At the end of January a significant proportion of these
are still on display at a local church. In hindsight if we had been approached
sooner by local organisations we could have targeted the exhibition more to
their particular area. However, the problem we found was that they all wanted
to display it at the same time (November 2014).
Flintshire Record Office staff have recently been asked to write an article for a
local community magazine based on one of the soldiers highlighted in the
exhibition. This will again emphasize the collection and raise the awareness of
Flintshire Record Office.
Date of Project
Officially began June 2013. Main events August and November 2014,
continuing until 2018.
Summary (Approximately 150 words)
Over the last 18 months Flintshire Record Office has run an appeal for First
World War documents (diaries, letters, photographs etc.) relating to Flintshire
and Flintshire people. A series of events have taken place to highlight these
important deposits. A calendar, a First World War Open Day, exhibitions, a
talk and How to Trace Your First World War Ancestor Workshops have all
been organised to draw attention to these significant documents. In addition to
this an existing collection of a unique set of First World War Memorial index
cards for over 10,000 Flintshire men has been photographed and is now
available to view on the Flintshire Record Office Searchroom computers.
Along with new deposits this was also showcased as part of the Explore Your
Archive, Archi’ve Remembered campaign in November 2014.
ENTRY FORM FOR CATEGORY 3 – MARKETING CHAMPION
OF THE YEAR
Please tick the relevant box below Archives Marketing Champion
Name of Nominator
Job Title
Organisation Name
Organisation Address
Contact Number
Email
Twitter account @
Claire Harrington
Principal Archivist
Flintshire Record Office
The Old Rectory
Hawarden
Flintshire
CH5 3NR
01244 532414
claire_harrington@flintshire.gov.uk
Why are you nominating this person?
• Notable achievements
Bridget joined the Flintshire Record Office (FRO) team back in October 2012
as an Archive Assistant. In addition to the many and varied duties necessary
when helping to run a busy Searchroom, Bridget was assigned the task of
looking after Publication Stock. This consisted of many booklets, posters and
postcards created several years in the past. Bridget set about trying to
promote these items both within the office itself and further afield.
Following the successful appeal for Flintshire residents to deposit items
relating to the First World War, Bridget came up with the idea of producing a
commemorative calendar with some of the items deposited being used as
images for the calendar along with items which FRO already had within its
collections relating to the war. As we approached the 100th anniversary of the
outbreak of the war it was appropriate that 50p from the sale of every calendar
was donated to the British Legion. The 2014 Commemorative WWI Calendar
continued to sell throughout January and into February 2014. A cheque for
£84 was presented to the charity by Flintshire County Council leader Cllr
Aaron Shotton at FRO’s First World War Open Day on 2nd August 2014.
Bridget then decided to showcase a selection of documents by producing
blank greeting cards and bookmarks. These have proved popular with
researchers so Bridget decided to market another publication not done for
many years, that of a set of Christmas cards. Again, as well as bringing in an
income for the office, this set of four Christmas cards highlighted a collection
held at FRO - the Dennis Griffiths Collection. The 1950s programme-cover
designs proved popular with people especially those with a connection with
Buckley and interested many local people.
Bridget previously worked at Flintshire County Council’s County Hall and had
established links with many people including the shop Manager at Clwyd
Theatr Cymru. Bridget convinced her that she should sell a selection of our
publications within the theatre shop. Negotiations took place which led to
Bridget selecting a number of items from our print collection which would be
considered suitable to sell within this shop and also available to order from our
website.
The Christmas cards also sold at the Clwyd Theatr Cymru shop and proved
popular with the cast of the 2014 pantomime. It has been suggested that next
year we include the pantomime being put on at the theatre.
• Differences made to the service
Since joining FRO Bridget has been passionate about promoting the office
both within and outside the County Council. In addition to raising much
needed income for FRO, sales of the publications have increased awareness
of the service and its collections.
Through Bridget’s efforts FRO has been promoted in the Clwyd Theatr Cymru
shop for the first time. Bridget also arranged to sell the Christmas cards on the
bridge link area of County Hall. This is an area where stalls selling various
items are allocated a lunch time slot and where Flintshire County Council staff
pass by when moving around the building at lunch time.
In 2014 Bridget has sold:
20 prints of different sizes;
156 packs of Christmas cards (624 cards);
5 packs of greetings cards.
This amounts to a sales figure of over £600.
• Examples of innovative or creative working
Bridget worked closely with Flintshire County Council’s in-house design team
in creating the new publications. She enlisted the help of one of our volunteers
who is a professional photographer and provided his services free of charge.
Bridget has a good understanding of the type of images from the collection
which will appeal to a large number of people. Her choices have proved
popular with buyers.
Any item produced for sale by FRO needs to have the corporate branding and
has to be bilingual. Bridget has founds ways of incorporating these
requirements without compromising on the look of the item.
Bridget advertises our publications on our website, on Facebook and in the
case of the Christmas cards in the press and in Flintshire County Council’s
electronic December 2014 newsletter Your Council.
• Challenges and barriers overcome
The main challenge faced was to try to find something we could sell to raise
money, with the added benefit of raising awareness of our collections, but not
cost too much. A lack of space to display items for sale within the searchroom
led to Bridget arranging other locations to sell our publications including on
our website and on facebook. A major barrier was trying to get people to sell
our publications whilst not benefiting themselves. The main lesson learnt was
to negotiate a commission and to factor in the cost.
Plenty of time was required to look into copyright and other issues plus to
have the cards ready well in advance of Christmas. The design of the
Christmas card was so popular that two additional reprints were needed.
Unfortunately, one of these didn’t arrive in time and this led to Bridget having
to reschedule twice her slot at County Hall bridge link.
• New partnerships
Working closely with the Clwyd Theatr Cymru shop has provided a new outlet
for sales and is a new venture for FRO. It means that FRO is seen by the
huge number of theatre goers who pass through the shop. Bridget worked
closely with the Design and Print team, on occasion going over to County Hall
to explain in great detail exactly what was required. It is this attention to detail
which has made the end products such a success.
• Examples of engaging colleagues in marketing
Bridget often circulates ideas to the FRO team via email prior to and for
discussion during regular team meetings, asking for suggestions for greetings
cards, bookmarks etc. She shows an enthusiasm for reproducing items from
the collections and encourages others to sell them.
Asking for such information has brought forward the suggestion that the next
set of four Christmas cards should come from the Erddig collection. There are
also plans to highlight a recent deposit of Flintshire maps by making these
available as prints to order.
Contact Details of Nominee
Name of Nominee
Bridget Thomas
Job Title
Archive Assistant
Organisation Name
Flintshire Record Office
Organisation Address
The Old Rectory
Hawarden
Flintshire
CH5 3NR
Contact number
Email
Twitter Account @
01244 532364
bridget_thomas@flintshire.gov.uk
Please see attached newspaper article Festive cards show classic
pantomimes (The Chronicle, 27th November 2014) and Your Council,
Christmas cards (December edition of Your Council, Flintshire County
Council’s on-line newsletter.)