A few sessions into the Jewellery Quarter Cemeteries Project after-school club hosted at the Jewellery Quarter Academy.

A fabulous group of youngsters learning about the history and archaeology of the area such as the old fire station where they have retained the old doors (big enough for the horse-drawn fire engine to come out of), and the buildings around the area that were built with basements for people to work in as well as the ornate brickwork patterns that defined and era of opulence and wealth beside the deprivation.

We have also been taking tours of the Key Hill and Warstone Lane cemeteries and just recently thanks to Josie Wall, Rashma and Zak and hearing about the people they have researched.  We have also started recording commemorative stones to the people that went before and helped shape Birmingham and the Jewellery Quarter.

We start each session with a classroom session where we have talked about living in Birmingham, moving to Birmingham, colonialism, context and comemoration of the dead.  Some tough subject to anyone older than, say, 20 but for these youngsters we get an incredible perspective as it was their parents, grandparents and great grandparents that knew more and lived through the moving to Birmingham, the racism and colonialism.

One of the classroom sessions was on using dipping pens – nibs on the end of sticks.  What a mess and how we all found it hard to write using ink on paper.  We had some lovely examples from Explore The Past of WWi letters that were written by the troops from their barracks or trenches.
One classroom session was on how to record an ‘Oral History’ on something like a phone – and ask their siblings and (older) family members questions like what was it like to move here?  What are you first memories?
We are also encouraging them to ask if they could take photographs of their family members and things like objects and pictures they grew up with.