Kettering Civic Society Improvements to Kettering High Street
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Kettering Cultural Consortium apply to Historic England to fund community activities that will breathe new life into the town centre.

The application was submitted at the beginning of December 2020. You can view the document here

Kettering Civic Society proposed two projects which were revisited from previous Heritage Lottery Fund applications that were made to gain funds for the Mosaic. The first is a community art project with Carole Miles who will be delivering it via Zoom in the event that Covid restrictions continue this year. The end result will be three enamel panels made from designs that will be submitted by the public following themes in connection with Wicksteed Park. The final design for the panels will be put together by Carole and will be displayed at Wicksteed Park, the station and in the town centre in conjunction with celebrations during Wicksteed Park’s centenary year.

The second project is a documentary film which will be produced by UKFilm School who produced the film ‘The Day the Americans Came’ and ‘SATRA 1919’ which can both be seen on YouTube. Local people will feature in the film and we will be working with Picture the Difference amongst other community groups. This project is in parallel with the Kettering Mosaic being restored and re-sited in Meadow Road. The film will be in three parts; the restoration of the mosaic which will be filmed in Oliver Budd’s studio in Kent, the story behind the abstract images in the mosaic and the re-siting and unveiling of the Mosaic. Ian Addis will be helping with the research and script writing. The film will be shown in the Odeon, it will be available on YouTube and DVD’s will be produced for public showing.

Kettering’s High Street Heritage Action Zone secures funding from Historic England

HSHAZ is a Historic England initiative intended to breathe new life into town centres by revitalising old buildings and helping to regenerate a vibrant place for locals, businesses and visitors. Historic England has confirmed the secure funding of £1,480,000 for the Kettering High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ), with the four-year project beginning late this summer that will restore our historical town centre.

The funding of £1,480,000 supports an anticipated total of £4,354,000, including a contribution to commit £2.4 million from Kettering Borough Council towards the cultural-led regeneration plans.

The first milestone of the project will see public realm and street scene improvements in the southern end of the High Street. Kettering Civic Society acts as the local Historic and Cultural representative and we sit on the board together with Cllr Dearing, Cllr Edwards and Cllr Adams, Kettering Town Centre Partnership who are the business community representatives.

As part of the consortium the Society is working with the Council and Historic England to ‘breathe new life into high streets that are rich in heritage and full of promise - unlocking their potential and making them more attractive to residents, businesses, tourists and investors’. The High Streets Heritage Action Zones scheme aims to help with the recovery of local high streets from regenerating historic building as well as engaging our community through art and cultural projects. Already we have taken part in Zoom meetings following research and we provided 17 mood boards showing photographs and illustrations of how the High Street has looked in the past. We have the Rotary Club of Kettering Huxloe’s book A Pictorial History of Kettering and Tony Smith’s wonderful books containing photographs of old Kettering as well as the Society’s own Kettering Revisited to thank for producing these valuable records. These will assist the consultants, Influence, with design and community projects.

Two design options have been presented for public consultation which is open until the middle of January 2021.
Please do take a look and take part. https://thisiskettering.com/hshaz-survey