Please could you hold the following date in your diary:
 
Thursday November 12th, 10-12
Celebrating More Than Oliver Twist
 
Final details for this online celebration are still to be confirmed but we would love to offer our wonderful volunteers the chance to share some of their favourite stories and experiences of research.
 
We would like to feature up to 3 volunteers from each regional group to speak for 5 minutes each as part of the celebration. Did you find an amazing story? Were you blown away by an unexpected life? Did you find a personal link to your research? If you would like to share your experiences as part of the party do us know. 
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We are also looking at ways you can share your research in a longer time slot and in more detail in the future - do let us know if you have any ideas about how we can do this despite the on-going uncertainty of the ongoing pandemic.
 
We’ll be back in touch with further details about the celebration closer to the time. In the meantime if you have any questions do let me know.
 
With thanks
 
Megan

I have just submitted the final report for Arts Council England for our pilot project More Than Oliver Twist and it feels like the end of an era. Thank you to all of you for your help and support during what has been a very strange time. Without your involvement and contribution we would not have been able to meet and exceed all our original objectives and outcomes:
 
• training at a national conference for a diverse workforce to engage with welfare collections and pauper histories
- Mentor Training Day, July 2019
- Networking Event, September 2019
- Skills Sessions, July 2019 onwards
 
• new leadership for the network through the creation of 6 Regional Mentors to lead local skills sessions and oversee the development of a temporary pauper histories exhibition:
- Mentor Training Day, July 2019
- Skills Sessions, July 2019 onwards
- Exhibition Planning Event, October 2019
- Exhibition Consultation Day, January 2020
 
• a physical and online pauper histories exhibition linking historical and contemporary welfare stories:
- approved change to digital only following the coronavirus pandemic
- exhibits live on Google Arts and Culture from 20th October 2020
 
• a Workhouse Network website – hosting welfare resource toolkits, best practice case studies and the digital pauper histories exhibition:
- The Workhouse Network (hosting welfare resource toolkits, best practice case studies)
https://www.workhousenetwork.org/
- The Workhouse Network eHive database (free publication of 277 fully referenced academic pauper inmate biographies from 6 workhouse sites)
https://ehive.com/communities/1167/more-than-oliver-twist
- The Workhouse Network Google Arts and Culture site (7 exhibits introducing the network and providing six digital exhibits created by artists Mel Rye and Morgan Tipping in collaboration with volunteers and staff at 6 workhouse sites)
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-workhouse-network
 
• full evaluation including the development of a 5 year forward plan to create a sustainable, diverse organisation bringing together museum professionals, academics, historians, archivists and librarians
- Interim Evaluation Report completed, February 2020
- Final Evaluation Report completed, September 2020
- Forward Plan compiled, September 2020
 
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic resulted in 3 Workhouse Network Steering Committee members being sick and/or furloughed. This, combined with the national lockdown, led to Arts Council England approval for an extension of the project to October 2020 and slight changes to timetable, deliverables and budget.
 
We are waiting for funders approval for us to re-profile a slight underspend to enable us to:
 
More Than Oliver Twist Celebration for all volunteers and staff, November 2020 (online event).
Evaluation and report on completed More Than Oliver Twist digital exhibits, December 2020.
 
More details on these, and other plans, in the next few days when I will be emailing to provide you with an outline of what happens next and how we are hoping to develop the Network. I’ll send separate emails about the new Steering Committee, learning opportunities, what to do with the digital exhibits once we have them published, the future of our websites and what you want to do in the future and how we can continue to work and grow together.
 
More Than Oliver Twist has seen us do so much in such a short time. It hasn’t always been easy, and it hasn’t always gone as smoothly as it could have done - but this has resulted in an enormous amount of learning and I am confident that we will go on to do bigger and better things. Thank you once again to all of you for your time, commitment, patience and enthusiasm - we simply couldn’t have done it without you!
 
Megan, Chair of the Steering Group