HERIAN News

Heritage in Wales has been given a welcome boost this month with the launch of an innovative course designed to help local people tell visitors about the fascinating history of their communities.

The intensive one-day course entitled 'Welcome to Our Heritage' will be run at local venues across south Wales to equip people with the skills to share their area's past with tourists and day-trippers.

South Wales in particular is bristling with the physical relics and gripping stories of Wales' industrial golden age and the course will assist people who have regular contact with visitors such as paid and voluntary workers at heritage related community projects, staff at hotels, pubs and restaurants, as well as ordinary people who are simply interested in the legacy of the industrial era, tell the story of their localities.

HERIAN, the public and voluntary sector partnership set up to promote this distinctive past has worked closely with Welcome Host Wales to develop the course, which will now be made available through a number of partner colleges across Wales.

Initially focusing in on the heritage of industrial south Wales, the courses will provide people with the tools to become skilled and knowledgeable heritage ambassadors for the area.

HERIAN hopes to also encourage communities to take ownership of their own story and tell it in unique and interesting ways to not only increase the profile of their own project but also positively impact on the economy.

The course will develop customer service skills and focus on exploring and interpreting local heritage and will be tailored for delegate's own heritage sector, providing a highly participative and practical route for individuals and groups looking to create a visitor experience with a difference.

Ruth Taylor Davies, HERIAN's Interpretive Advisor “Wales' tourism industry has had a fantastic year to date, which I'm sure will be further boosted by generating an army of 'heritage ambassadors' to bring alive and enrich the stories of south Wales rich industrial legacy for visitors to the region.

“This is the first time Wales has had a dedicated Welcome Host accredited course for the heritage sector and we are pleased to be able to work with education providers to provide an easy access course that can only add to the overall tourism offering in Wales.”

Celia Bond, Communities First Training and Capacity Building Officer for Torfaen Voluntary Alliance took part in the pilot Welcome to Our Heritage course at Tondu Ironworks earlier this year and said: “I was very pleased to be able to attend the free pilot session. We are currently working on several environmental projects which encompass historical but hitherto unutilised sites. We see the Welcome Host training as an added value for this.

“We have a group of local people who will be able to show guests around their area and give a real local flavour. History is always much more interesting when you get a genuine local perspective on it.”

Christine Evans, Coordinator of Visit Wales's Welcome Host scheme at Llandrillo College, said: “Short courses like these act as great introductions for people, especially those who may run smaller sites of heritage interest or are volunteers on community projects but want to learn how to interpret their story whilst providing first class service. It provides an opportunity to get to grips with creating the ultimate tourist experience along with hints and tips on how to present their stories in a unique way.”

The green light has also been given to develop an Institute of Tourist Guiding accredited Green Badge course specifically to support industrial south Wales's heritage sectors.

This year Welcome Host celebrates 15 years of helping to raise the standards of service in Wales. To date, there are around 75,000 people and thousands of business who hold the Welcome Host accreditation.

For more information on Welcome to Our Heritage courses in your area, or the Green Badge Scheme, contact Christine Evans at Welcome Host Wales, Coleg Llandrillo on 01745 536312, email whost@llandrillo.ac.uk , or log onto welcome-host-wales.co.uk.