Unwritten’s Maddy Houghton Appointed to The Common Room Youth Board

As part of the comprehensive redevelopment of what is formerly known to most as the Mining Institute in Newcastle upon Tyne, The Common Room was established as a charity in 2017 to lead the restoration of Neville Hall in Newcastle city centre. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which awarded the charity a grant of £4.1 million, through education and engagement, and its unique heritage, The Common Room will support the region’s future economic growth and provide a broad range of unique public spaces for events, lectures, weddings and more.

The purpose of the Youth Board for under 30s is to influence the content and delivery of The Common Room’s core programme and activity in the region. Members of the Youth Board help to inspire young people through their own experience in STEM sectors, and serve to advocate for the organisation in the business community.

Within her role on the Youth Board, Maddy will contribute her marketing and education expertise to help shape the content of the core programme of activity, including education and apprentices, oral history, STEM engagement and heritage.

Maddy said, “It’s incredibly exciting to be joining The Common Room Youth Board to assist in championing our North East and its role in shaping the world we live in today.

“I have been lucky enough to get to know The Common Room’s distinctive past, culture and ambitious team through my previous work at Unwritten. I look forward to working alongside them once more to help inspire the next generation of innovators through celebrating our region’s stories.”

Emily Tench, Programme and Engagement Manager said, “The Common Room will be a place not only for the North East engineering sector to come together but also for the next generation of innovators and engineers to be inspired.

“That’s why the members of our Youth Board have such an important role, working alongside the team to make sure that young people’s perspectives are fully represented in everything we do. The Common Room is thrilled to appoint Maddy and is looking forward to working with her, alongside our other Youth Board Members moving forwards.’

In 2018, Unwritten were appointed by The Mining Institute to deliver the SEAM Exhibition as part of the Great Exhibition of the North, where Maddy worked closely with The Common Room team to manage this project.

Ahead of the reopening in 2021, The Common Room is now seeking to raise £1.2m in match funding, to support the capital project and to ensure the sustainability of the building. It’s inviting businesses and individuals to get in touch, to discuss exclusive partnership and giving opportunities to ensure the future of the project.

This financial support will secure space for budding engineers to learn and collaborate, space for communities to explore and discover the region’s heritage, a space to be proud of and overall a space for #CommonGood. Upon reopening, Neville Hall will also offer Weddings and Events facilities and spaces for business meetings.