Chain Bridge Forge, in Spalding has received recognition of its contribution to the local community through the award of the Supporting the Community Award, in the South Holland Business Awards.
The Award was made to the organisation which ‘demonstrates a strong enterprise coupled with a clear commitment to the wider community’.
The Friends of Chain Bridge Forge is a not-for-profit organisation established in 2011. At Chain Bridge Forge we have revived the blacksmith’s craft within its original setting, and created a living forge. Both on site and online, we demonstrate the blacksmithing skills and techniques that would have been used by the Chain Bridge Forge Blacksmiths, and others like them the world over.
The Forge offers a unique experience to the local community in Spalding and South Holland. Through its historic setting on the riverside, the Forge offers a range of activities covering Spalding’s heritage through a variety of means, including:
- regular demonstrations of blacksmithing skills with the chance to have-a-go both for children and adults
- a living Museum accredited by the Arts Council
- the telling of local social history through displays at the Forge and social media through the Chain Bridge Forge South Holldand Life website and the sister Facebook page as well talks to and visits by local groups
- oral history project to capture Spalding’s past
- volunteer and work experience opportunities for local people
- arts programme such as involvement in Transported production Burntwater
- an education dimension with schools
- Heritage Craft Virtual Simulation project and 3D printing hub through project collaboration with the University of Lincolnshire
Chain Bridge Forge is entirely dependent on volunteer effort with local people telling the story of the local community to today’s community. This work has been recognised through several heritage awards but an award which marks the support to the community would recognise the community dimension of this unique project.
The Award was presented to representatives of the Friends of the Forge at a formal dinner event in November.
Chairman of the Friends of the Forge, Geoff Taylor, said: ‘ The Award is great recognition of the value that the Forge adds to the the local community through its work in capturing the past and bringing it to life for today’s community. It is also a tribute to the work of the volunteer team at the Forge’.
Find out more
More details of Chain Bridge Forge, and South Holland Life, may be found at the Chain Bridge Forge South Holland Life website.
