Sense of Roots Project --

We will soon have a new website called RAGLANPEDIA. This site will host Raglan District History Trails and Local Stories about life in our district. Through this project we will share the history of Raglan District Villages through maps, QR plaques and stories of local people, places and activities. The purpose of this project is to raise awareness of the history of Raglan District and to celebrate the strong sense of community in the District.

We anticipate four audiences:

• Raglan Primary School Children,
  
• Tourists to Raglan Village,
  
• Family History Researchers and
  
• Raglan District Residents

In Raglan Village, the funds will be used to replace our village map boards at Beaufort Square, Crown Square and Raglan Castle with updated maps that incorporate a QR history trail of historic buildings and activities. QR plaques will be installed on buildings of historic interest around the village. These QR plaques will be linked to Raglanpedia to provide a village history trail. St Cadoc's Churchyard will also have a Churchyard map and QR history trail to encourage visitors to learn about Raglan History through the stories of people buried in the graveyard. Although a the map will highlight a selection of gravestones, all of the graves in the churchyard will have their own QR code linking the grave to the personal stories of the people buried inthe Graveyard. This project builds on work already undertaken in the village including the Raglan Primary School History Detectives project on learning about the people in St Cadoc's Graveyard and ongoing village living history projects.

In Llandenny Village, the funds will be used to develop a village map to highlight historical sites.

In Raglan District - we are developing a set of Display Panels to highlight stories of historical significance to our community. In addition, we are planning outings to explore local historical sites and capturing stories about life in Raglan District, Celebrations and memories of WWII.

This project was inspired by Monmouthpedia - the first wikipedia town in the world. Monmouthpedia uses QRpedia codes, a type of bar code a smartphone can read through its camera (using one of the many free QR readers available) that takes you to a Wikipedia article in your language. QR codes are extremely useful, as physical signs have no way of displaying the same amount of information and in a potentially huge number of languages. Articles have coordinates (geotags) to allow a virtual tour of the town using Wikipedia's mobile apps (or the Wikipedia layer on Google Streetview) and are available in augmented reality software including Layar."

The project is led by Raglan and District Local History Group and is supported by Raglan Community Council, Raglan VC Primary School, Usk and District Rotary Club, St Cadoc's Church, Raglan Baptist Church, Raglan Twinning Association, Cath Johns (CMC2), Nick Ramsay Ramsay (Raglan AM) and David Davies (Raglan MP)

Articles:

• Raglanpedia is on its way, Monmouthshire Beacon, November 12, 2012
  
• Raglanpedia Launched, Monmouthshire Beacon, December 12, 2012