CHAMP Ltd, or the Community, Heritage, Arts and Media Project, is a registered Charity which was established in 1998 to engage local communities in their heritage through the mediums of art and media.
Champ Ltd has worked on a wide range of exciting and very successful projects throughout the years. These have included working with diverse partners at local, regional and national level.
CHAMP: A History
Originally a small organisation run from an office in Baysgarth House when the Council ran the building, CHAMP has grown in size over the past 10 years. The Trust took on the Museum with the help of enthusiastic volunteers and has since leased 3 other buildings, with the primary aim of funding the Museum and preserving the heritage of Barton-upon-Humber for the local community. Throughout its history CHAMP has relied entirely upon the good will of unpaid volunteers and on grant-funded museum worker posts.
CHAMP now runs four buildings: Baysgarth House Museum, the Assembly Rooms, the Hub and 51 Fleetgate. These buildings are used by a range of community groups and, in the case of the Assembly Rooms in particular, for private hire.
The Future of CHAMP
The Trust is now responsible for the management and development of a diverse collection of community buildings and projects in Barton upon Humber and its role and expertise continues to grow.
The story is not over yet, however, and the organisation is looking to consolidate its position and further its aims through ongoing conservation work at 51 Fleetgate and Baysgarth House Museum, through extending its outreach programme to local schools and communities, increasing its engagement with visiting families and pursuing further local projects such as the preservation of local landmarks.
The Organisation is based primarily at Baysgarth House Museum where it runs a range of temporary exhibitions covering art, media and social history displays in addition to the permanent displays looking at the areas social and industrial past.
In addition to this the organisation welcomes school visits to its sites, with an aim to boost these education facilities in the near future and to provide a range of trails for casual visitors to use around the museum.
CHAMP also runs several other buildings. We aim to further the conservation of 51 Fleetgate, a significant feature of Barton's historic townscape, as well as increasing the use of the hub for activities by local children's services and community groups. We are constantly upgrading facilities at the Queen's Street Assembly Rooms to provide a better community events hall to become a hub of local community.
