Connecting with Communities project launches in Norfolk

• Get Involved: Parliamentary Outreach
• Parliamentary Archives

As part of the 'People and Parliament: Connecting with Communities' project looking at how different regions have engaged with Westminster, participants are invited to become history detectives and discover how people in the past have engaged with Parliament to meet the needs of their local area.

As part of this course participants will:

• Find out how to research names and families in Norwich
• Find out more about the names on the 1821 Land Tax Act
• Discover hidden gems in the Norfolk Record Office and at the Parliamentary Archives
• Learn how to handle original documents and decipher old handwriting
• Contribute to the new ‘Living Heritage’ section of the Houses Of Parliament website.

All sessions will be delivered by staff from Parliament or the Norfolk Record Office. The course will run on the following dates:

• Thursday 23 July 2009
• Tuesday 28 July 2009
• Thursday 30 July 2009
• Friday 31 July 2009

Participants who complete the course will be invited for a tour of Parliament and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Parliamentary Archives. There will also be an opportunity to view the 1821 Land Tax Act which will be on display in Westminster Hall. The Land Tax Act, which is held by the Parliamentary Archives, is the longest original Act of Parliament on a continuous vellum roll - unrolled it would stretch to over 382 yards.

This project is the first of five which the Parliamentary Archives and Parliamentary Outreach are undertaking in partnership with regional record offices and archives. It is available for free on a first-come, first-served basis and is open to anyone over the age of 16.

To book places on the course, please contact the Norfolk Record Office on 01603 222599 or e-mail norfrec@norfolk.gov.uk