Young Roots
Stockton Council's Youth Service team enable young people to have a voice, an influence and a place in their community. The Youth Service Team worked in partnership with Preston Hall Museum on this project, which was also funded by Stockton Council.
The project was developed by a group of young people with different abilities including those who had been identified by the Youth Service team as disengaged. The group of young people developed the ideas for the project, submitted the grant bid, researched the history and reinterpreted it, attending meetings every other Saturday.
As well as visiting local museums, the young people visited the Heugh Gun Battery, the only First World War battlefield in England, and Otterburn, a military training camp that still has First World War trenches.
Inspired by the artefacts and documents held by Preston Hall Museum and Durham Light Infantry Museum, the young people created an exhibition in Preston Hall Museum. They led the organisation of the exhibition, commissioning and working with an artist and making a reconstruction of a First World War trench. They also developed a graphic novel/comic book, a film and art work, helping other young people to engage with the Centenary.