AN educational charity working with communities has been awarded more than £9000 in Heritage Lottery funding to reignite Weymouth’s past.

Digital:works - an arts and educational charity helping to produce arts and media projects - has received a Sharing Heritage grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The group’s project, ‘If Walls Could Talk’ based in the Park district estate in Weymouth, has been given £9,900 to record and celebrate people’s memories of previous uses of commercial buildings in the area.

Project leader and local resident, Amy Hopwood, said: “I’ve always been curious about the past of the buildings on the estate - like butcher shop tiles outside what is now a house or old fading shop hoardings above what are now flats.

“We can now start collecting people’s memories of what happened in these buildings and the stories of everyday life in the 1950s and 1960s.”

This project aims to bring local people together at events to map out the old uses of local buildings, to discover images, describe the old interiors and collect people’s stories about the properties.

The project will culminate in a map, a digital e-booklet, a website and a series of guided tours around the estate.

Nerys Watts, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund South West, said: “Sharing Heritage is a wonderful opportunity for communities to delve into their local heritage; now the ‘If Walls Could Talk’ project can embark on a real journey of discovery.”

To find out more or get involved visit www.digital-works.co.uk, email amy_hopwood@yahoo.co.uk, or call 07590 827887.