Celebrate Colchester’s Heritage

Your chance to join in Jumbo Summer
How well do you know Colchester’s industrial heritage? Over the next few months everyone can discover, celebrate and share the incredible history of our impressive Jumbo water tower thanks to Jumbo Summer.
The Jumbo Summer programme of Heritage Learning Events is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Colchester Borough Council, RIBA and local history experts including Colchester Recalled. It has been organised with help from Signals Media.
Activity: | Date/Time: | Where: | What’s happening: |
Meet The Experts | 11th May 4.00 – 5.30 | Firstsite Studio 2 | Local history heroes Patrick Denny and Andrew Philips will reveal how Jumbo helped to save our town from deadly disease. |
Build it design workshop | 11th May 12.00 – 4.00 | Firstsite Studio 1 | Try your hand at building a water tower. |
Up close with Jumbo | Hollytrees Museum | See why Jumbo has a special place in our heritage at our displays in Colchester Hollytrees Museumn and the town library. | |
Watch our animated film | Signals Media | Discover how Victorian superheroes helped to save our town. | |
Hands on with history | Signals Media | Design a poster to celebrate Jumbo, or learn about its heritage with our fun activities sheets. | |
Eye witness to history | 1st April – 21st July | Hear the facinating story of Jumbo from the people who saw it built, thanks to the Colchester oral history project. | |
Unlocking our heritage | 13th May – 22nd July | Roman Circus Visitor Centre | Apply to join this once-in-a-lifetime series of free workshops and unlock the secrets of the past to reveal our town’s amazing heritage. You don’t need to have studied history before, but places are strictly limited and this event is therefore by invitation only. If you would like to be considered, call 079733852598 before noon on 9th May 2019. |
Design event | Saturday 8th June | Colchester 6th Form College | By invitation to this RIBA event, participants will be asked to apply their architectural or engineering knowledge to help us learn more about Jumbo. |
Celebrate heritage | Sunday 21st July 2.30 – 4.00 | Firstsite | Come to our “end-of-term” party, see what everyone has been up to at our brilliant heritage events. |
Find out how you can join in the events by completing the form below: