What are the London Blue Plaques?
The London Blue Plaques is something that English Heritage is currently custodian of – it changed hands three times after its creation in 1866, before it became the responsibility of English Heritage in 1986. Its significance in commemorating social history in such a recognisable and accessible way has spread across the world, and a new national scheme has now been started under the responsibility of Historic England.
Across the many boroughs of the capital, the scheme has well over 1000 plaques, and I am so thrilled to be able to say that over the next few years, people I helped champion from the public submissions will begin studding the buildings they lived and worked in.
What does the Young Producer Panellist do?
For one year, I joined the Blue Plaque Panel as the Young Producer Panellist, I attended four meetings, each one requiring a few hours of reading to prepare.
About a week before each session, I received all the information about the upcoming meeting, and the advisory briefings we needed to make informed decisions about the public’s plaque submissions. I tended to make notes and take my laptop with me so I could stay focused during the meeting, and have the key points I had about each case on hand.
Each time, about 15 or so of us would sit down in the meeting room at English Heritage’s London office, and with tea, coffee and snacks, settle in for a two hour session, beginning with a recap of any news about the Blue Plaques since our last meeting, and any absences.
Our able captain, the panel’s chair Professor William Whyte, expertly steered us through conversation and debate, making sure everyone who had an opinion to raise was heard, and that our time was spent efficiently, and reminding us often, as we can only put up 12 plaques a year, we must be rather ruthless, only letting through a handful of potential plaques from the twenty or so we had to review. After new submissions had been approved or rejected, we turned our attention to the advisory reports for plaques that had made it through prior. This meant thinking about the text on the mock up for the actual ceramic disc, and how accessible it may be from the street.
Before my first meeting, I was really quite nervous. the panel has such an incredible spread of members from all sorts of professions, and is littered with OBEs! In particular, I was nervous to meet Professor Whyte (I had used one of his published texts in my dissertation a week before my first meeting was scheduled!), Dr Gus Casely-Hayford (The Director of the new V&A East, and the guest of honour at my BA Graduation!) and Andrew Graham-Dixon (One of my foundational ‘art history’ moments was watching his documentary on Russian art with my dad!!).
Since meeting them all, and having my voice given equal value alongside the people I would give anything to be when I ‘grow up’, I gained so much more confidence – my thoughts and feelings are going to be immortalised along with theirs on the streets of my favourite city.
I wasn’t expecting it to be such an asset, but my ‘expertise’ as a young person on the panel came in handy on more than one occasion each meeting. Reminding the other panellists that the history they may find very recent, may in fact predate my birth was a funny moment, but ultimately gave them an alternative perspective, the same way that the differing professions of the other attendees are useful for us as to balance our opinions as a group.
So, how was it?
I can’t really sum up just how incredible being part of the Blue Plaques panel was for me.
As an aspiring art historian, it means I now have a rather glittering gem to add to my experience, and my ability to be engaging and communicative in a professional environment has developed so much. I have now got so many fantastic contacts, and had the opportunity to make even more at the unveilings I attended across the 12 months, meeting cool celebrities (some your dad or your nan would love hehe), and members of the public through the awesome community engagement the scheme brings.
I got to work with the staff at EH and the amazing folks at VoicesProject to bring young people from the city into the process of research and learning we do for a new plaque being unveiled (which you can read more about here), and got to represent the panel and English Heritage in schools. I am never going to forget what an incredible chapter of my life I spent on the panel, and will use it as a constant reminder of why my voice is valuable and powerful, and soon enough, that will be quite literally set in stone, for tourists and residents of London to learn from.
