Keeping East Lancashire in the Picture by Lancashire Archives named as winner of ARA Archive Volunteering Award 2025
Keeping East Lancashire in the Picture by Lancashire Archives named as winner of ARA Archive Volunteering Award 2025
The Archives and Records Association (ARA) is pleased to announce in Volunteers’ Week 2025 that the Keeping East Lancashire in the Picture project by Lancashire Archives has won the national ARA Archive Volunteering Award 2025.
The award will be presented at Lancashire Archives on Tuesday 3rd June by the President of the Archives and Records Association UK and Ireland. The award presentation is part of a wider celebration of Lancashire Archives’ volunteers.
The ARA Archive Volunteering Award is given each year to projects which demonstrate how archives have supported volunteers in the previous 12 months. The awards are supported by the Archives and Records Association (who also administer the awards), the UK National Archives, the National Records of Scotland, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the Welsh Government.
The judging panel (drawn from employees of the supporting organisations) said:
“This is an ambitious and impressive project with real local significance, reaching groups that are under-represented as users of archives and heritage collections. It is also a good example of archive services working with colleagues in libraries to increase access to collections and improve the standard of care.”
About Keeping East Lancashire in the Picture
The Keeping East Lancashire in the Picture (KELP) has brought together volunteers, of different ages and backgrounds, to make the historic photographs stored in four Lancashire libraries (and managed by Lancashire Archives) more accessible, inclusive and sustainable. The project was funded by: The National Lottery Heritage Fund (£192K funding) and The Friends of Lancashire Archives (£30K funding)
75 volunteers across four libraries, supported by a project archivist and project assistant, had (at the time of submitting the award nomination) given 5,489 hours of time and scanned 47,500+ images. These will be made available to people to view free via Lancashire Archives’ Red Rose Collections.
KELP has also worked closely with eight primary schools (working with 448 pupils), one secondary school (working with 30 pupils) and two South Asian heritage community groups to create new photographic content for the collections and new digital images are being added with significant collections of local photographs donated by local voluntary photographic societies, families and other community projects.
The project aims to improve access to photographic collections in East Lancashire with an additional focus on developing audiences for volunteering within South Asian heritage community, younger people and people interested in the history of their local area.
Sharing the project with the people of the area, historic photographs provided to a local newspaper during 2024, resulted in 92,902 views and over 8,300 people engaged with the exhibitions held in the four participating libraries. Over 6,900 people attended KELP events. Lancashire Archives’ collaboration with Aawaz (South Asian Heritage Women's Group) involved 337 visits from volunteers to contribute their time over 278 hours and a joint engagement project with Hyndburn District Council in the Enlighten project resulted in 5,000 attendees over the weekend event.
The project has significantly increased the number of volunteers for Lancashire Archives and introduced archive volunteering in East Lancashire. Volunteers include people of South Asian heritage, two younger volunteers have secured full-time work since finishing a volunteering role, and volunteers have enjoyed organised trips to Lancashire Archives, Queen Street Mill and had the opportunity to meet the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire.
Volunteers said:
"As a genuinely computer illiterate, I feel I have gained some skills . . . We have both felt a sense of community, meeting like-minded people. Our overall experience of KELP has been, and no doubt will continue, to be positive and enjoyable. By contributing in our small way to a greater project, we have gained a sense of renewed love of our own heritage"
“Through the journey of the project I have learnt how to digitise images and realised how important it is to preserve our history and culture for our future generations”
“I have been having conversations with my grandchildren about heritage items, they were very keen to know about the project. Lots of questions from my granddaughter and I have been telling stories about my childhood and how important these items are”
John Chambers, Chief Executive of the Archives and Records Association UK & Ireland said:
“It has been encouraging to see the depth and breadth of entries this year and some really great projects. Keeping East Lancashire in the Picture is a great winner and demonstrates how important archives are to the communities they serve.”
County Councillor Matthew Salter, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Lancashire County Council said:
“Lancashire County Council is delighted that Lancashire Archives and Local History has won the 2025 Archives and Records Association Volunteering Award. This success is testament to all the work of the volunteers on the Keeping East Lancashire in the Picture (KELP) project and the archives and library staff who work with them. Projects like KELP reflect the pride Lancashire communities take in their heritage and highlight the vital role Cultural Services play in promoting and innovating access to our historic collections.”
About the Archive Volunteering Awards 2025
Seven projects were nominated for the awards in 2025 and the project Crowdsourcing The Welsh Women’s Peace Petition, by The National Library of Wales, was Highly Commended by the judges. The judging panel commented on the quality and range of the projects put forward:
“A strong series of nominations, it has not been easy to choose between them. While the level of resources available clearly differs between the nominees, the commitment and ambition demonstrated is a credit to our sector and shows the seriousness in which archive services are tackling issues of inclusion, reaching new audiences and representing marginalised communities. This process has been an inspiration and I thank all of the nominees for sharing their experiences.”
Case studies for each of the nominated projects can be found here.
These national awards are an opportunity to thank our volunteers for all their continued support and work. Awards are given to projects which demonstrate how archives have supported volunteers through the past year and have adapted projects to suit their circumstances whether remotely or in new ways of working together.
Winners have a national platform to celebrate their volunteers’ contribution to the service and gain publicity for their archive’s role in supporting individuals and community through volunteering programmes.
Details of the awards process and previous award winners can be found here:
https://www.archives.org.uk/ara-archive-volunteering-award
The awards are administered by the Archives and Records Association and are supported by:
The Archives and Records Association UK & Ireland
The UK National Archives
National Records of Scotland
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
The Welsh Government
Find more about volunteering in the record-keeping sector here.