Look to the Future: Celebrate our Past in Knowsley
16 March 2009, During the next two years in Knowsley children attending Primary schools and construction students in college will have the opportunity to learn about and try traditional building skills in various programmes within a project ‘Look to the Future: Celebrate our Past’.
One of the initiatives is The Young Conservation Officers Club where pupils from Sir Edmund Arrowsmith School, Prescot, and Prescot School have enrolled on the Young Apprenticeship scheme in construction.
The Young Conservation Officers Club have tried a variety of craft skills and visited some fascinating buildings currently being restored. They have visited St. Andrew’s Church in Liverpool and Victoria Baths in Manchester to see the conservation first hand and talk to the craftspeople carrying out the work. They have worked with a professional stone mason and tried lime plastering, helped National Trust rangers build defences to conserve the sand dunes at Formby and made tiles and a cob oven at Norton Priory.
“This programme has demonstrated that if we can provide interesting challenges for youngsters, it is likely that they will respond in a positive manner and often surprise us with what they achieve. Learning by doing is a great motivator, learning to work in ways developed by our ancestors in order to protect our environment for future generations was a definite hit for our young apprentices of today.” Charlie Marteau, lecturer at Knowsley Community College.
The project is supported by Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund.