A SALTAIRE archives scheme has appealed to residents to help raise the remaining £6,500 needed to help trigger Heritage Lottery funding.

The Adopt-a-Box scheme, which features artefacts from the village’s history, is looking to support the Saltaire Stories project in its work to help promote the village’s heritage.

The Saltaire Stories project will cost a total of £139,000 between 2017 and 2019, with a grant, so far agreed in principle, from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) providing £123,000. The village group will pay the remaining £16,000 in local funding by January 31.

The Adopt-a-Box project is the main source of The Saltaire World Heritage Education Association section of funding.

The association has permission to bid for an HLF delivery phase of the Saltaire Stories project for 2017-19, but the £16,000 of local funding is needed to trigger approval of the HLF grant.

A total of £9,500 of the £16,000 has been raised so far by donations and applications to other grant-awarding groups and local businesses.

Each specially created archive box features items including private papers of the Salt and Roberts families to personal collections donated over time by people who lived in the village or who worked in Salts Mill or both.

Adopters will receive an ‘adoption certificate’ and have their name entered in a special ledger to be retained in the archive.

A minimum contribution of £100 for each box is needed to help the association reach its overall £16,000 target towards the project’s funding.

The archive is owned by Shipley College, in trust for the community, and has a dedicated room in the college’s learning and resource centre.

A group of volunteers have been working to establish a conservation and management plan for the historical documents, images, press cuttings and artefacts held there.

Maggie Smith, trustee of the project, has called on people to sign up for one of its archive boxes to help it reach its funding total.

She said: “We would like streets in Saltaire to take on one of the boxes, it does not have to be individuals.

“We will be looking to speak to groups about helping with the funding for the project too, as well as the Adopt-A-Box scheme.

“A lot of people who may have moved away from Saltaire still have fond memories of it and may wish to take a box.

“Saltaire is very much a community. We are very grateful for the support from Saltaire businesses who attended the scheme launch and are now appealing to other businesses and local residents, or people who have an historical, family or other association with Saltaire.

“We have catalogued 3,000 items for the project and have 3,000 more to go and more than 100 boxes.”

To adopt a box, e-mail saltaire stories@gmail.com or call Mrs Smith on 07917 357763.

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