MID Cheshire's salty past is to be preserved and brought to life thanks to a £47,100 grant from the Lottery Heritage Fund.
The money is needed to fund the Underwych, the latest in Northwich's impressive array of community re-search and writing projects which will culminate in a performance in the town next year.
With the help and active participation of local people the project aims to explore the historical and contemporary impact of mining and brine pumping subsidence on the Mid Cheshire.
Supporters include Development of the Arts in Northwich, Action Weaver Valley, the Lion Salt Works, Vale Royal Borough Council and Vale Royal Writers' Group.
Memories of local people who have worked in the salt mining and brine pumping industry as well as those who had direct experience of subsidence in the Northwich area will be collected for the production by volunteers and then turned into play scripts and songs through a series of writing and musical workshops held in local schools and community arts groups.
In July 2007, a play based on the memories will be performed in venues across Northwich. A booklet containing the recorded memories will be produced as will a DVD of school workshops and performances.
This approach to both preserving and engaging local interest in our industrial and environment heritage has a proven track record in Vale Royal.
The Local Heritage Initiative funded The Marbury Mysteries in 2002 and the hugely successful Heritage Lottery-funded Salt Tellers in 2004, a programme that involved over 2,000
people either as participants or the audience and brought local history to life in seven Vale Royal schools.
Andrew Fielding, director of the Lion Salt Works Trust, believes the project 'will benefit schools as it will develop an understanding as to how oral history is recorded'.
The project will be managed and directed by Robert Meadows, the lead artist and writer for both The Mar-bury Mysteries and Salt Tellers.
He said: 'I am tremendously excited at the prospect of working on a project that will open up so many possibilities to develop understanding of local heritage and support community arts in Vale Royal.'
The latest look back at Mid Cheshire's salty past has also received the blessing of Weaver Vale MP Mike Hall. He said: 'This is a very exciting project that will make an important contribution to under-standing the part that salt and salt mining have played in forming the history of Northwich.
'I look forward with interest to the development of the Underwych heritage project.'
Contact point Anyone who would like to make a contribution is asked to contact Development of the Arts in Northwich on 01606 41597.
