Winchester Heritage Open Days:
n ick y got tli e b
Everything goes,
the more intriguing
the better.
O
rganised tours, creative shows ranging
from the traditional to the bizarre,
nosey-parker visits to places that are
usually hidden or private, and a huge number
of family-fun events from chocolate-making to
painting. Everything goes, the more intriguing
the better. Welcome to the Heritage Open Days
initiative, England’s largest heritage festival!
We Brits do this stuff well. Initially conceived
by the Council of Europe and the European
Commission in 1991, the first English Heritage
Open Days took place in 1994. Now, 26 years
later, the festival will host over 5,500 events
over the course of ten days between Friday 11th
and Sunday 20th September 2020. It’s a major
undertaking, and all of it organised by volunteers
— over 46,000 of them nationally.
The College is the lead supporter of
Winchester’s Heritage Open Days, run by the
unstoppable powerhouse that is Nicky Gottlieb.
Slight and articulate, Nicky has the ability — as
I found out over lunch — to make you want to
18 The Wykeham Journal 2019
Viewing the collections within the Treasury
volunteer your services without her even asking.
It’s a skill that is much needed, given the huge
amount of work required to pull something like
this off each year.
‘I first learnt about this in 2015 when I
attended a Heritage Open Day event at the
Friends Meeting House. And I thought it was
fantastic, and wondered why it was not better
known,’ says Nicky.
Nicky studied History of Fine and Decorative
Arts, before deciding that she wanted something
more commercial and dynamic. An estate agent
friend asked if she wanted to do a Saturday job
and she agreed. ‘I loved it. It was basically, to my
mind, being nosey for a living, looking around
peoples’ houses!’
When she moved to Winchester with her
young family, she immediately got involved in
various local ‘things’, including charity fairs and
other events. These initiatives take a lot of work,
and require organised, determined, persistent
and patient people who can connect effectively