Conservation Skills and Interpretation Project
Have a Go Days
Children have an incredible thirst for
knowledge and love a challenge! One of the most successful ways to
satisfy that demand is to give them the opportunity to try new and
exciting things first hand.
The ‘Have a Go’ Days workshops and visits have done exactly
that. Nearly 400 children and young people in the borough’s schools
have tried traditional building skills such as stone carving, brick
making and stained glass making.
Stones have been carved, bricks made and
beautiful stained glass windows created by our talented young
people. Skilled professionals ran the workshops and the pupils
certainly got their hands dirty while having lots of fun! It’s not
often that our young people get chance to use a chisel and mallet
or throw clay into a brick mould, even see delicate pieces of glass
being cut.
This comment from Holly who attends Holy
Family School in Cronton was typical. She said “I loved stone
carving because it was a spectacular experience”
In addition to the school workshops, the
children also visited local museums and saw first hand how an old
building is constructed and were also shown examples of
traditional skills like wood carving, iron work and half
timbering. At Norton Priory they learned how to mix cob, a mixture
of clay, sand and straw and learnt about it’s revival as a
contemporary, environmentally friendly and sustainable building
material.
Who knows, these activities may sew the seed that inspires some
of the children who participated to become the skilled craftsmen
and women of the future. They have undoubtedly developed a better
understanding of their historic environment and hopefully a greater
sense of pride and ownership of Knowsley’s built heritage.
Participating schools in this years ‘Have a Go’ Days programme
were:
· St. Mark’s
School, Halewood.
· St. John
Fisher School, Knowsley Village.
· St. Aidan’s
School, Huyton.
· Holy Family
School, Cronton.
· Higher Side,
Whiston.
· Prescot
Primary School, Prescot.
As a legacy to the project, we will be working in partnership
with Prescot Museum to develop a schools education pack that will
focus on traditional building skills. This will enable all schools
in the borough to benefit from the project and to learn about our
heritage and celebrate our local distinctiveness. The outreach
package will include:
- A teachers guide to exploring the subject while supporting the
curriculum.
- A handling box of items to encourage discussion.
- The opportunity to book museum educators to deliver a ‘living
history’ interpretation and bring the subject to life.
Picture: Children at a brick making
workshop