Old Orphanage
Sunderland
In 2002 a Year 12 group at Felstead Special School in Sunderland devised a project to study a derelict 1861 orphanage. The building had catered for mariners’ children and after closure in 1939 was used by the Home Guard and more recently as a community centre. The students made drawings and photographs of the building, focussing on its design. They recorded their feelings about the building’s atmosphere. Using their local studies library the students researched its social history. Letters were written to local newspapers asking for information from readers connected with the building. A number of former residents contacted the school and some were interviewed by the students. The end result saw the students create textile hangings that were suspended inside the boarded-up windows, which portrayed aspects of the site’s past. The project also drew attention to the building to help secure its future. UK
|
|
