October 19, 2015, by Sunita Tailor

D.H. Lawrence Heritage Centre Placement Diaries: Week One

In a series of three diary entries, second year undergraduate student, Amy Wilcockson describes her placement with the D.H. Lawrence Heritage Centre.

I was lucky enough to start a placement at one of Nottinghamshire’s premier tourist attractions – especially for those of us interested in or studying the Arts! D.H. Lawrence Heritage is based in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire about twenty minutes from University Park Campus, and is comprised of two sites, a Heritage Centre and Birthplace Museum, both of which explore and make accessible, not just the life of one of Nottingham’s most famous authors, but also the coalmining heritage and social history of the area. The Heritage Centre also houses vibrant exhibition spaces, including the Rainbow Gallery, a bistro and caters for meetings, weddings and much more!

My role at D.H. Lawrence Heritage is as the Festival of Culture Assistant, assisting with the promotion and marketing of this year’s D.H. Lawrence Festival of Culture, which runs for a month from Saturday 22^nd August until late September, and features a variety of activities and events including reading and discussion groups and heritage open days, all culminating in a day of Birthday Celebrations for Lawrence on Friday 11^th September.

A typical day begins at 9am when I arrive at the Heritage Centre and get briefed by the Heritage Manager, Claire, on my tasks for the day. I then check my emails, before getting stuck into the day’s work, which is incredibly varied. So far I’ve been scheduling Tweets and Facebook posts to promote the Festival and the various events D.H. Lawrence Heritage are running, including a #NoRightToExist Twitter campaign which focuses on the new Festival exhibition exploring banned booksI’ve also been writing press releases and planning two promotional days which will take place in Eastwood Town Centre, where myself and a group of volunteers will be dressing up in period costume and handing out Festival of Culture programmes to passers-by. Next week I shall be assisting the Museums and Collections Officers with the installation of the Festival exhibition – ‘No Right To Exist? The Rainbow and Other Books That Shocked’, which I’m really looking forward to!

I cannot wait for the Festival of Culture itself to begin and to assist with D.H. Lawrence Heritage and Broxtowe Arts and Events further – the reading groups and official opening are going to be highlights, I think! With a wide variety of events, there will be something to appeal to everyone –For more information check out D.H. Lawrence Heritage’s website, Facebook page or Twitter @DHLHeritage and use the hashtag #FestivalOfCulture.

Part two and part three will be posted this week.

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