2024 Round Up and Where You Will Find Me in 2025

2024 was… well… busy! Here’s a taste of some of the projects I was working on last year and what is coming up in 2025…

I started the year wrapping up a couple of projects from 2023. It’s always bittersweet to send that final invoice, completing a project and moving on from an organisation that I could have been working with for a few years, but that is the nature of consultancy and I actually love being able to get stuck into new projects (and you can’t do that without finishing up other contracts). I’d been working with Bailiffgate Museum & Gallery’s Out of Town Museum project since 2017, having worked with them to develop the project, secure funding and then to support their project evaluation. In February, I completed the final evaluation report for an incredible project which has recorded and celebrated stories of everyday lives in rural Coquetdale. Much of the final exhibition is now on permanent display at Bailiffgate (well worth a visit) and local stories and voices can be accessed online at the OOT Museum website.

I continued supporting the Red Squirrel Recovery Network partnership to develop their project for the conservation of an iconic native species in the north of England and southern Scotland. As well as developing project activities, I supported organisations involved to overcome partnership challenges and establish a robust project for submission to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. New partners came on board and the final documents were submitted in November. Now we wait with crossed fingers for the committee decision next month.

I have been working with The Heritage Centre at Bellingham again, supporting trustees to develop a new fundraising plan and develop a coherent case for support to running costs and new activities. This is an ongoing piece of work which will continue into 2025, working with volunteer trustees to help them make the most of grant funding opportunities available locally.

In spring I caught up with the Space for Shorebirds team to review the evaluation framework which I have been supporting for a couple of years. Beach user surveys are now well established and in the summer I trained a new team of volunteers who interviewed beach users to learn more about beach behaviour and understanding of the needs of shorebirds. This project is developing some consistent data and, in the coming years, we will be looking at what we can learn from this.

I have enjoyed working with a couple of historic church projects, supporting the church community to explore how they can celebrate and preserve their fascinating heritage. All these churches have a story to share with their local congregation, the wider community and visitors.

I completed a new contract working with Groundwork NE & Cumbria to review their Wansbeck Restoration for Climate Change project. I produced an evaluative report which pulled together the achievements and learning of the project, and made recommendations for next steps.

I also supported Northumberland County Council to write a new ten-year Rights of Way Improvement Plan for Northumberland. The first draft of this was completed in July and then followed a period of public consultation. I will be pulling all feedback together to produce a final draft early in the new year.

Looking forwards to 2025, I will be completing the Rights of Way Improvement Plan for Northumberland County Council as above and continuing to support Space for Shorebirds. I am supporting Natural England to develop a new evaluation framework for the Tees Estuary Nature Recovery Partnership and I have agreed a new evaluation contract working with Urban Green Newcastle again. So life will be as varied as ever which is why I love working like this – I can’t wait to see what else 2025 brings!