3000 Year old artefacts have been returned…

In March we completed another rewarding co-creation project with our long-term partners, the Galfrid school in North Cambridge.

For the fifth year in a row, we worked with the year 5 pupils (aged 9 & 10),  around the themes of place and the history of the area where they live – running workshops in storytelling and visual art. With local artist Hilary Cox Condron. We were grateful to Wisbech & Fenland Museum for lending us some (very!) ancient artefacts to inspire the children and their stories of Roman and Viking Cambridge. 

We received excellent feedback from the children, who have told us how much they enjoyed taking part. It was a fantastic experience handling the real-life artefacts from the museum and writing their own stories. As well as making Viking assemblages of how they will be remembered, filming animations and even performing in the show. 

We were able to include the children’s animation work in the performance for the first time – projecting their film within the Yurt, rigging a big sail to the side and roof. In this clip, it is delightful to see the children’s heads bopping up and down at the bottom of the screen, so excited to see their work presented as a finished product in front of an audience. 

The animated film was created with Oscar nominated animator, Lizzy Hobbs, who worked with children from across Abbey Ward. It was also the first time we collaborated with Abbey People who invited young people from their youth club to take part in a half-term workshop. We are looking to take this project to more schools, and further out into Cambridgeshire & Fenland next year, and hope to build on these partnerships in the future.

With thanks to:

City Council Community Grants for funding this project

Cambridge Archaeological Unit for the loan of their prehistoric axes from Must Farm – it’s great to be working in partnership with real archaeologists