Information Board: 125 years of the Breamish Hall

A main aim of the Breamish Hall Heritage Project (BHHP) was to disseminate the findings in an accessible way. The Summary Plan (October 2021) set the initial goal of creating interpretation boards to be displayed either temporarily via an exhibition or permanently in the Breamish Hall. Discussions between Graham Williamson and May Wilson (Project participants) concluded that a single large information board displayed permanently in the Breamish Hall would be the best option. Consequently, Graham Williamson designed and created a large (150cm x 90cm) information board:

The board shows a timeline of the main events in the history of the Breamish Hall from 1897-2022: 125 years of history! The top row shows five large photographs: four of village hall buildings and the fifth being an artistic impression of what the hall might look like one hundred years from now (Dec 2022). We wanted visitors to not only consider the past and where we’ve come from but also where we might end up. The panel titled ‘Towards the future’ is designed to help visitors question what the future might hold for a village hall in Powburn, and for themselves.

The bottom row of images represent selected happenings in the village hall’s history, e.g. Hedgeley Women’s Institute inauguration in 1930; gaining charitable status in 1965; gaining Hallmark quality standards awards 2015-2019. This is by no means a full account, of course. Further details can be found on the Contents + Timeline index.

Assisting people with low vision

The board was designed using colours that ensure text elements have sufficient colour contrast against the background. This is important because “Some people with low vision experience low contrast, meaning that there aren’t very many bright or dark areas. Everything tends to appear about the same brightness, which makes it hard to distinguish outlines, borders, edges, and details. Text that is too close in luminance (brightness) to the background can be hard to read” (Deque University).

Download a copy

Notes

Deque Uiversity (undated) ‘Text elements must have sufficient color contrast against the background’ [WWW] https://dequeuniversity.com/rules/axe/3.5/color-contrast?application=msftAI Accessed: 14 December 2022.

Can you help?

Can you tell us more about the history of the Breamish Hall in Powburn? Spotted any errors, any missing information? Or do you know anything that we don’t? Do you have any related photos or documents? If you have information to share, please use the contact form. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.