Ashington pupils plot future of Ford Castle

Posted by The Journal on Jul 8, 09 04:55 PM in School news

Chandeliers made from lollipops and Mad Hatter-style tea parties could breathe new life into a historic castle. The unusual ideas are just some of the weird and wonderful creations concocted by talented young designers as part of a project to revamp Berwick's Ford Castle.

Students from four Northumberland schools - Ringway First School, Guidepost Middle School, Ashington High School and Northumberland College - have been working with multimedia designers to come up with new ideas for the 14th Century castle, which is used as an outdoor centre.

The imaginative results, which also include the creation of living picture frames, were unveiled this week as part of the Shine festival.

Shine Week 2009, which runs until Friday, is designed to celebrate the many forms of talent displayed by young people, from success in the performing arts through to skills in science, technology and working in the community.

A team from each school presented their work at a Dragons' Den style finale yesterday in front of a panel of judges, including the castle's owner Lord Joicey.

The presentation was followed by a celebration and awards ceremony at Ashington High School.

For the young people, however, that's just the start of a week of excitement, as representatives from each school will be travelling to London tomorrow to take part in a design challenge at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The project has been instigated by the Design Council and delivered by Creative Partnerships with Wansbeck Enterprise Education Network.

Project leader, Philippa Raper, said: "The work these young people have created in collaboration with their design experts has been absolutely phenomenal and leaves no-one in any doubt that there is a great deal of design talent and imagination in young people.

"And it seems absolutely right that this project should come to fruition during Shine Week, which is a celebration of young people and their talent."

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2 Comments

adam said:

hi i would just like to state that i did not give consent for my picture to be on google images so can you remove it now please , thank you!

August 21, 2009 9:06 PM

The Journal said:

Hello Adam,

We don't give specific consent for Google to use images on the site.

We have removed your picture from the story but it will remain on the Google image archives for a while so you would have to contact them if you want it removed.

Thanks

Simon Honeysett

Simon.Honeysett@ncjmedia.co.uk

August 24, 2009 5:06 PM