- 08 March 2024
A SWOT analysis meeting being held in Mid Yell Hall, Saturday 16th March 14:30-16:30. More details about SWOT below. Anyone from North Isles, or North Mainland, with a heritage business would like to attend please contact [email protected]
The aim of the SWOT analysis is to identify the Strengths and Weaknesses of the heritage sector, along with the Opportunities and Threats it faces. It was heartening at both events to discover that people identified a lot of strengths, including the rich variety of heritage we can boast, impressive archive collections, and individuals with extensive knowledge. There is also a large amount of enthusiasm, but undoubtedly one weakness is the ageing population of volunteers. Nonetheless, it was felt that there is a great opportunity to engage younger generations, and perhaps that they were already more engaged than we might think. Use of technology is one way in which heritage might broaden its appeal. However, there is a danger that the heritage sector becomes too focussed on supporting tourism, to the detriment of local research projects. There was also concern expressed at a lack of investment in heritage, and poor maintenance of key sites.
These have provided great opportunities for heritage enthusiasts and volunteers to come together and discuss common concerns and share ideas for the future. Thank you to everyone who took part - it was not only great to hear your ideas, but also so fine to bring together folk from a range of groups and interests.