Yesterday I had an important meeting with James Moir, the Director of the UK Association of Preservation Trusts to see whether they'd be interested in supporting the All Saints Langport, Youth Project.
Peter had told me that James was already enthusiastic about the idea of the project because the UK APT wanted to diversify and expand into working with young people and heritage, so this seemed like the perfect project at the perfect time for him.
This, coupled with the fact that it was a one-on-one meeting, meant that I wasn't nearly so nervous about this meeting (as I was for the first one) - I knew who I was meeting, why I was meeting them, what I needed to get across, and what the aims of the meeting were for us.
James Moir seemed to be impressed - he said that the UK APT would be willing to support the project with guidance and information, and possibly contribute to a mix-funding deal, either at the HLF Young Roots application or further into the development of the project.
One of James' suggestions was particularly interesting for me - the idea of mutually beneficial Go-and-Sees to Building Preservation Trusts that were part of the UK APT. This would mean that our young people have the opportunity of learning the how-to's and the how-not-to's from strongly established BPTs, and they could learn something about our new model for heritage and regeneration (with an integrated social media presence from the start of the project, for example).
The lesson to take away from this meeting are that I'm much better at selling the project and my involvement in it when I'm comfortable in the meeting. As a result of this, we've come away with a well-established and very enthusiastic heritage partner who're very happy to support the project!
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