As part of the Living History part of the Way of the Wharves, we are running exciting workshops and educational experiences for Years 3 & 4 under our “Weird Wharves” banner. These fun sessions are about the cultural importance and historical relevance of Bideford’s estuary. In-school community activities are happening this summer term and they are:

TUESDAY JUNE 12TH and TUESDAY JUNE 26TH (All Day) Sculpting the Wharves – Taz Pollard Clay and Ceramic Creations – well-known and successful local ceramic artist Taz Pollard to run two days of engaging workshops, where children will make their own period pot, cup or wharf wildlife sculpture. These will be fired in a kiln and then brought into school on the second day for children to paint and keep.

TUESDAY JUNE 12TH and MONDAY JUNE 18TH (All Day) Wharf Storytelling – Steve Manning Children love stories and Steve will perform a fun mixture of four defining wharf stories – and people related to them – chosen by the WOTW volunteers. The stories to be told are “The Cows and the Crane”, “The Prisoner of Torridge House”, “The Strange Wharf”, and “The Hotel with its Own Cells”.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 27TH (All Day) Critter Detectives – Sciencedipity Children will learn about the tiny critters and bacteria that live in the estuary and how they impact the wildlife. There will be experiments, critter detective work, microscope-looking and drawing of what they see to learn about the estuary’s micro-biology.

THURSDAY JUNE 28th (All Day) Slime Kilns – Sciencedipity Science-based, interactive workshop run by Sciencedipity, demonstrating the chemical reactions involved with creating quicklime in days gone by. Children will be shown how different chemicals react and they can do their own experiments. They will draw lime kilns, learn about their use and make further chemical reactions to create seaweed slime.

TUESDAY JULY 3RD Salt Cod Cooking – Brilliant Fish Learning about how fishermen cooked and preserved Salt Cod via storytelling performance and cooking demonstrations for the children to join in with and taste salt Cod.

TUESDAY JULY 10TH (All Day) – Introduction to the SS Freshspring A day of ship-related activities, looking at artefacts and learning about the ship’s history.

WEDNESDAY JULY 11TH (All Day) SS Freshspring Tour & Rope-making Workshops – For the children to visit the newly-restored SS Freshspring on the quayside and enjoy the experience of “living history”. At the same time, they will learn old rope-making skills.