SUES has been awarded a Heritage Grant from the National Lottery to celebrate our 150th Anniversary!
April 2024
I am delighted to report that SUES has recently been informed that the application the society made to the National Lottery Heritage Grant fund to support the celebration of its 150- year anniversary has been successful. As a result, we have secured funding of almost £10,000 to carry out a range of activities to inform people of how the University Extension Society movement came to Southport and Birkdale in 1874 as the University of Cambridge reached out to send lecturers into the community. We will also be able to celebrate the positive impact it has had on so many lives over the years and to promote what we are doing and providing for our learners today.
Under this initiative, we have promised to extend how we inform and enthuse local people about how this unique initiative provided an opportunity for local people to experience university level teaching that they otherwise had not been able to access either because they were women or poor and uneducated. We will start to do so by revealing the fascinating heritage from our recently uncovered archive, which will be outlined through a series of four free lectures by Peter Firth on 16th, 23, and 30th September and 7th October entitled Southport & The University Extension Movement.
An exhibition bringing to life the struggle to have access to education and learning, and, especially for those denied it, will be held this year at The Atkinson from July 27th to 24th August and will again be free to all. It will highlight individual people, and women in particular, whose work in helping others to learn was outstanding at the time and which still resonates today. This exhibition will be launched when Steven Whittle, the Atkinson’s Principal Manager, speaks at our AGM meeting on Wednesday 24th July (a revised date from that originally published).
This funding will also enable us to go into parts of the community we have not accessed before to remove any barriers to participation in SUES that may exist. As members, you will have a great part to play in this. We will also be able extend our reach through social media, drawing in people more used to being informed in such ways.
As the year rolls on, further events and a free booklet will showcase the altruistic work of local people in the past, and volunteers today, to ensure increasing numbers of people gain the benefits from learning through SUES and therefore live better lives as a result. Southport has much to be proud of with SUES, especially as it is the last remaining such society in the UK. This 150-year anniversary provides an ideal opportunity to expand our offer, include more groups represented in society and celebrate our unique and valuable heritage. I am sure that all those associated with SUES, and have an interest in later-life learning, will be as pleased as I am that our society has been recognised by this grant from the National Lottery and all of us in SUES can now look forward to an even more exciting year ahead!
Alan Potter
Chairman SUES