History and Heritage Projects

For us history and heritage is not just a thing of the past. Working with schools, communities, villages and history societies we have enjoyed encouraging pride in local heritage, especially if it has been neglected or forgotten over the years. We are passionate about providing work which is of high quality making a lasting impression among those taking part. It is for these reasons that much of our work has been supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Our subjects range from the diaries of Samuel Pepys and the history of Cambridge University to the heroic role of the British merchant navy in World War II, the forgotten contribution to the British war effort of the Polish army and moving stories of local soldiers in the First World War.

Our heritage project model is simple: build a community of local researchers (of all ages) and create something memorable – a play, a musical, a beautiful book or captivating exhibition. Have a wander down Keystage’s own heritage. We would love to know what you think of our work.

The Merchant Navy – Unsung Heroes

A oral history project, collecting and preserving the stories of living Merchant seamen veterans who served in Word War II. Most were in their mid to late 80s, some in their 90s so we felt very honoured to have this chance to capture these stories first hand.

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Giants Beneath our Feet

The Ascension Burial Ground is one of Cambridge’s best-kept secrets but it is the final resting place of engineers, biologists, classicists, historians, poets, philosophers and more. Students of Chesterton Community College were inspired to find out about some of the most famous ‘boffins in coffins’.
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Our Baca

A commissioned play based on the life of General Stanislaw Maczek.

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Arbury 56-56

A project to celebrate the history of Arbury Primary School using school and County archives to build a mini-museum in the school.

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Invisible Army

A project based on the mass deportation in 1940 of up to two million Poles to Siberia and how General Władysław Anders formed an independent Polish army and led them thousands of miles to join the British to fight with the allies.

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Coming Home

What happened after World War II? When the boys came home, how had their lives, and in fact the whole world, changed? Students met with veterans and developed a moving play based on their homecoming stories.

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I Regret to Inform You

A play set in the First World War telling the story from the point of view of Cambridgeshire soldiers and their families at home.

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Signs of the Times

The village of Stapleford has been in existence for more than 5000 years. After much research the project culminated in an exhibition, village pageant and community play.

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Pepys Into the Past

Samuel Pepys made a unique contribution to our national history. Students of Brampton Primary School learnt about his link with their village and saw the famous diary.

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0-800 in 60 Minutes

In 2009 Cambridge University celebrated its 800th anniversary. We worked with nine schools (90 children) to write and perform a play at The ADC Theatre.

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Citizen of the World

Thomas Paine is a famous son of Thetford and, as part of the town’s commemoration of the 200th anniversary of his death, we wrote and produced a community play based on the epic story of his remarkable life.

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Exhibition boards at the Stapleford Granary

True Sons of Stapleford

A village project based on the archive document of the celebration dinner held to welcome the men who came back from World War I.

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