Museum Development North has developed this programme informed by research Ste carried out on their behalf in 2023-24, about the experience of and preparedness for emergencies that threaten damage to collections and buildings. It involves a range of support for museums across the region, including bespoke advice, grants, workshops and training, supported by the Heritage Fund. MDN commissioned Ste to evaluate the programme, involving a range of data and some primary research. He has developed the evaluation framework and is currently working on the interim report.

In 2023 Home-Start St. Helens celebrated their 35th anniversary. They commissioned us to produce an attractive showcase document, celebrating their history and the town they serve. The result featured a bespoke local history timeline and original work by St. Helens artist Drunk Wolf, and was presented to guests at a celebration event in April that year.

We worked with the Torus Corporate team to review their suite of policies and procedures, and the procedure for developing them. We provided a new framework and a user-friendly guide to to developing them in future.

The Good Business Festival was staged in the Liverpool City Region from 22-24 March 2022, following supporting events over the previous 18 months. It brought together business leaders and experts to explore how ethical business can be a force for good, in more than 50 sessions across eight venues. We were commissioned by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to manage the contract with its delivery partners, Culture Liverpool and Hemingway Design, and to deliver an evaluation project. The event was delivered successfully and within budget despite the many challenges posed by the pandemic.

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Video of lots of the content is available here.

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram is committed to raising the profile of workplace mental health, as a social and economic issue. We were commissioned to work with business and health partners to gather open access sources of mental health support and to promote them to businesses and individual workers through a communications campaign. This culminated in a special online event held in November 2021, with almost 100 attendees and thousands of subsequent views. 

Ashton is a thriving golf club with 800 Members. Its Board is keen to base its decisions for the future on solid evidence. We conducted thorough surveys of the Membership in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2025, examining every aspect of the club's activities. They each attracted hundreds of participants, and generated a wealth of insight. We provided a report to the Board, including detailed analysis and clear recommendations, with Ste presenting some of them in person.

The Sankey Canal Partnership is made of Halton, St. Helens and Warrington Councils, the Canal & River Trust and the Sankey Canal Restoration Society. It aims to develop the historic canal corridor as a visitor and leisure destination, and is developing a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund to part-fund the work. We conducted research and consultation to inform the bid, involving the following elements: an online survey and promotional campaign that attracted more than 400 participants; interviews with stakeholders about; desk research about other relevant heritage landscape projects; and a site visit to the Greenfield Valley in North Wales. We provided a report giving the results of the consultation work and conclusions from the other research, with clear recommendations about the shape and scope of the bid, and priorities for audience development. 

The project is restoring and managing habitats across five local authority areas to encourage species survival and biodiversity, supported by a citizen science programme and wider community engagement. It is supported by the Species Survival Fund, administered through the Heritage Fund and subject to its evaluation requirements The Trust commissioned us to evaluation the project, including preparing an evaluation framework, then interim and final reports. This has involved qualitative and quantitative elements, including reviewing UK Hab assessments and work logs, site visits, photography, surveying and interviews (with staff, stakeholders and volunteers), and working closely with The Conservation Volunteers, who are key project partners. We are currently working on the final report.

Rock Hall is a GII listed building in Moses Gate Country Park, Farnworth, near Bolton. It has been out of use and deteriorating since 2014. Banana Enterprise Network and Bolton Council secured Development Phase funding form the Heritage Fund to prepare detailed plans for its restoration and to use as a focal point for the community and the park. They commissioned Ste as independent evaluator to the project, working with the team to ensure that their decisions are based on good evidence, and to prepare the evaluation plan for the Delivery Phase. The Development Phase is approaching completion, having passed its review with the Heritage Fund. 

Groundwork Greater Manchester, in partnership with City of Trees and Mersey Rivers Trust, secured £1.3m from the Green Recovery Challenge Fund to improve woodlands and green open spaces across the area, helping local people engage with the natural environment. They commissioned us to evaluate the project, over 16 months. We developed an evaluation plan setting out a methodology involving desk research, interviews, workshops and site visits, in planned phases, providing the client with formative lessons and progress reports, along with the final report setting out a summative evaluation of the whole project. 

Powered by Hip Hop is the new brand for award winning community hip hop group UC Crew, based in St. Helens.  We developed a new business plan to guide their expansion from a primarily local to a regional organisation, over the period 2021-25, using the momentum provided by Breaking being a Demonstration Sport at the 2024 Paris Olympics. This setting SMART goals informed by analysis of the operating environment, likely resources, strengths and areas for development. The result was provided in an attractive designed format, to help showcase their plan to potential funders and supporters.

LCR Cares was Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram's  charitable emergency Covid response fund, that raised and distributed more than £2m to essential community causes from April-December 2020. We were retained to provide project management and communications support, working with the Community Foundation for Merseyside and Lancashire, and Combined Authority staff.

November 2018 marked 100 years since the Armistice that ended the fighting in the First World War.  Ste was commissioned to act as a Battlefield Guide on a four day trip to Ypres / Ieper in Belgium.  This involved researching and delivering a series of talks about events there, and acting as specialist guide and historian to a coach party of 40 the people.

The Ellesmere Yard Forging Ahead project intends to restore a historic canal maintenance yard on the Llangollen Canal, near Ellesmere in Shropshire, retaining its use as an operational yard and providing community and commercial facilities. The Canal & River Trust secured support for this from the Heritage Fund, and commissioned us to provide evaluation services for the Development Phase. We developed an evaluation framework for that phase and produced a thorough report against it, informed by visits, public engagement at events in Ellesmere, interviews, reviewing documents and working closely with the Trust and other consultants. The project is due to complete the Development Phase review process in early 2026. 

Museum Development North West, North East and Yorkshire & the Humber, commissioned Ste to carry out this project, in preparation for them coming together as Museum Development North. It involved surveys and interviews with museums across the three regions to find out about their experience of and preparations for emergencies that posed a risk to their collections and buildings. This was supported with interviews with representatives of museums and related organisations in the West Midlands, the East Midlands, Scotland and Wales. The results included practical recommendations that informed planning for the MD North support programme, funded by Arts Council England.

The Walton Hall Conservatory Range project involved the restoration of historic buildings and the development of socially conscious end uses, through a partnership between Warrington Borough Council, Myerscough College and the Walton Lea Partnership, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The evaluation project involved delivering research, analysis and reports to an established methodology, consistent with evaluation guidance. The methodology included desk research, interviews and surveys, with both qualitative and quantitative aspects. The evaluation was completed successfully in late 2022.

We worked with the Torus Corporate team to review their family of strategies and operational plans, to help them enhance their capacity to deliver their new Corporate Plan. We provided an updated strategy framework and a user-friendly guide to producing updated strategies.

St Helens Council is keen to help its communities to celebrate their heritage, and to boost the visitor economy,  The land that makes up the modern Borough developed from villages and townships into an industrial powerhouse, thanks to the abundance of coal and men and women with the ingenuity to exploit it.  A number of internationally important 'firsts' took place there, including: the creation of the Sankey Canal (England's first industrial canal) from the 1750s; the Rainhill Locomotive Trials in 1829, before the opening of the world’s first inter-city railway line in 1830; and the invention of the 'float glass' technique by Sir Alistair Pilkington in 1959.
 

The Council commissioned us to develop a new heritage strategy and delivery plan, based on thorough research and public consultation.  The project was completed in June 2019.  

November 2018 marked 100 years since the Armistice that ended the fighting in the First World War.  Ste was commissioned to act as a Battlefield Guide on a four day trip to Ypres / Ieper in Belgium.  This involved researching and delivering a series of talks about events there, and acting as specialist guide and historian to a coach party of 40 the people.