Sutton Manor Primary's Own Dream Heritage Project

12  July 2009      Categories:    Sutton Manor Woodland   |  Sutton's History
During the last three years, attention at Sutton Manor has been firmly focused on the creation and controversies of Jaume Plensa's Dream, which looks more stunning every time I see it. Unfortunately the 20 metre high, £2 million statue has somewhat dwarfed the sterling efforts of the schoolchildren and staff at the nearby Sutton Manor Primary, who’ve been busy commemorating Sutton Manor Colliery in their own way.

If you’ve walked through the beautiful woodland at Sutton Manor over the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed the addition of three new seats that aesthetically capture the essence of the former colliery's heritage. Designed by the Forest Road schoolchildren, they display a great mix of art, social history and poetry plus functionality too, as a place of repose for weary walkers like me!

bench in Sutton Manor which commemorates Sutton Manor Colliery
One of three benches in Sutton Manor woodland that commemorate Sutton Manor Colliery

It has been often been suggested that the Dream statue does not reflect the mining history of the site. Actually it does - not every representation has to be literal, of course. However it's a fair point that there should be more at Sutton Manor to remind folk more overtly of the old colliery site’s illustrious past. The NCB gates and hidden-away remnants of the former mine shafts plus the smart new signage at the base of Dream are fine but somewhat insufficient memorials to the colliery that dominated life in the district throughout the twentieth century. So the appearance of these three superb structures, courtesy of the Sutton Manor Primary kids and the Shining Lights Heritage Group, are a very welcome addition to the site's landscape but only tell part of the story of their commemorative efforts.

It all dates back to 2006 when the primary school successfully applied for a £34,000 Heritage Lottery Grant to produce a project about the former colliery. They immediately involved a small group of ex-miners and borrowed a wide variety of artefacts which were exhibited at the school in June 2007. Two DVDs were produced that featured ex-Manor miners being interviewed by the schoolchildren about their lives in the pit, as well as 'home videos' that two men had made whilst working at the colliery.

close up of bench in Sutton Manor which commemorates Sutton Manor Colliery
Benches designed by Sutton Manor Primary school kids who worked with Bernadette Hughes

Teacher Les Dunning tells me that Sutton Manor Primary have also produced a book on the colliery and various pieces of art work, including the aforementioned seats:

Pasted Graphic 1 There is one bench in the school playground and three others on the site which have all been designed by the children. Over the next two months a poetry trail will be placed on the site with posts that display lines of poetry that have been written by the children.  Pasted Graphic 3
This project has had a number of benefits. As well as, no doubt, having immense ongoing educational value for the schoolchildren who use the DVDs and book in school, it has also led to the creation of the Shining Lights Heritage Group. Hopefully, it may even lead to a reduction in graffiti and vandalism in the area. In the past benches at Sutton Manor have been set alight by youths and it's sad to report that minor damage has already been done to one of the new seats.

However, I doubt that any the children who've worked on the project will damage the benches or the yet-to-be-installed art trail in the future. I suspect that involvement in the project will have instilled in them a greater respect for the site and for its heritage. Now why didn't we do this sort of thing when I was at school, instead of studying books of irrelevant battles in France from hundreds of years ago that were impossible to engage with?

bench in Sutton Manor Primary which commemorates Sutton Manor Colliery
A fourth bench sits in Sutton Manor Primary School's playground (contributed by Les Dunning)

I'm really looking forward to seeing the poetry trail on the Sutton Manor site, which does sound like another great idea. The book and DVDs, incidentally, are available from Sutton Manor Primary School subject to a donation to school funds. Make it a big 'un!    SRW

Sutton Manor Primary contact details: Tel. 01744 678700   suttonmanor@sthelens.gov.uk