Shared Spaces Film 1



Shared Spaces is a Blade Education project run in partnership with the Westborough School and Southend Borough Council Bereavement Services.

The project is based around unlocking and saving the history of the 8945 people buried at the North Road Burial Ground in Westcliff-on-Sea, Southend.

The Shared Spaces Project will bring together the older and young generations of Southend residents in order to save the oral heritage of this unique town.

They will help compile an online archive of photographs, audio recordings, artwork and official information about the people – including many war dead - who were laid to rest.
A Heritage Trail is to be set up in a Southend cemetery telling the hidden stories of those buried there since it was opened in 1879.

Pupils from the Westborough School aged nine and 10 will also produce Heritage and Nature Trail boards interpreting the history of some of the people together with the biodiversity of the site.

“The Shared Spaces project aims to preserve the stories of some of the 8,945 people buried in the cemetery, with the help of both the younger and older generations of Southend residents,” said Beth Hooper, Creative Director of Blade Education, a social enterprise.

“By turning the cemetery into a respectful classroom we will be able to help the participants understand a little better each other’s place in the history of Southend.”

The project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Ernest Cook Trust and the Essex Heritage Trust.

 Anybody wishing to volunteer should contact:

sharedspaces@blade-education.org.uk or call us on 020 8133 0061

For further information please read the Shared Space press release.