Our Heritage
Nestled in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Wensleydale Railway cuts through the landscape from Northallerton to Redmire. Following the restoration of Scruton Station, the Wensleydale Heritage Trust have built on their strong volunteer base and developed a vibrant education programme.
By employing a Heritage Education Officer, the Trust has been able to establish a new curriculum-linked programme of school visits and trial them with 10 local schools. Interactive activity sessions including ‘What’s the Weight?’, ‘Document Detectives’, ‘Timetable Challenge’ and ‘Match Attack’ begin with a short train journey to transport the pupils back in time to 1916 with the help of costumed facilitators.
The children were totally engrossed for the whole of their visit and can’t wait to use their vouchers with their families… What an amazing and valuable resource you have provided for children.
Local schoolteacher
25 new volunteers have helped with archival research, oral history recordings, creating period costumes and facilitate school visits. These volunteers have developed a range of skills and are helping to ensure that the education programme can continue.
A community engagement programme and interactive handling collection is helping Scruton Station to demonstrate the value of local heritage and the importance of engaging local people with the past in a variety of ways.