Southport business and building owners are being encouraged to open their doors to the public for a behind the scenes look at the town’s hidden heritage gems.
Plans are well underway for the Southport Townscape Heritage Project to show off the town’s wonderfully varied buildings as part of the national Heritage Open Days festival in September.
To help make the festival a success, Sefton’s heritage officers are issuing a call to all business and building owners in the town who would like to get involved, especially owners of interesting buildings or businesses with a long heritage.
Volunteers are also being sought to take on research roles, as well as acting as guides and tour leaders. Training will be given and volunteers can learn more about Southport as well as share their own knowledge.
Heritage Open Days is a national festival exploring buildings and heritage through a mixture of places to visit in person and digital history to explore online.
It takes place from 10-19 September this year and the Southport Townscape Heritage Project aims to put the resort on the festival map with a range of events celebrating the town’s historic buildings and history.
Cllr Daren Viedman, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Building Control, said: “Southport has an amazing history that took it from sand dunes to elegant seaside resort in just a few decades.
“Lord Street and its beautiful verandahs are a well-known feature and if you look up you can see just about every style of architecture above them.
“Heritage Open Days is a chance for building owners to show off the beautiful historic details inside and celebrate the history of their businesses.
“There are loads of different ways to take part from guided tours to films to exhibitions – the only rules are that the main event must be free, and it must be specially put on for Heritage Open Days.
“Small and quirky is as popular with visitors as large and impressive, so get in touch with the Townscape Heritage Team to find out more.”
Anyone who has an interesting building or a piece of Southport’s heritage to share can find out more on the national Heritage Open Days website or get in touch with the Townscape Heritage team via sue.latimer@sefton.gov.uk
Anyone who loves peeking into interesting buildings and discovering the town’s heritage should put 10-19 September in their diary and look out for more details on all the events in late August.
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