Burying history at new Thame housing site

THAME school children created their own piece of history at a Bloor Homes’ new housing development in Oxford Road, Thame.

Following an assembly at Lord Williams’s School by the lead archaeologists who uncovered remains of prehistoric monuments and settlements on the site off Oxford Road, pupils were invited to get involved in creating a time capsule for burial at the Thame Meadows development.

Overseen by the school’s Team Leader for Key Stage Three History, Carly Harris, six pupils from across years eight, nine and 10 came together to work on the project, giving them the opportunity to add their own layer of history to an already archaeologically significant location.

Vanessa Macnee, Regional Sales Director for Bloor South Midlands, said: “Time capsules are a great way for school-children to leave a lasting legacy from their time as students and provide future generations with the exciting prospect of unveiling the items left behind.

“We wanted the pupils to choose objects which encapsulate the character of them and their local area, and we’ve been really impressed by the choices they made.

“They came up with some really good ideas which will surely be both interesting and informative to future generations.”

Pupils at Lord Williams’s School were challenged to find items that represented themselves, their local area and the world they are growing up in, allowing future generations to witness and re-live them once the capsule is unearthed.

Included within the capsule was a smart phone with popular apps and photographs of the students, a school uniform, a film about the history of Thame and the places which they enjoy visiting and artwork, depicting species which may not still be living when the capsule is dug up.

David Wybron, Headteacher at Lord Williams’s School, said: “This project really allowed our pupils to reflect on their lives and the place they live to find out what matters to them and what makes the area special, with some great results.”

Carly Harris added: “They all worked incredibly hard and were all very enthusiastic about burying the time capsule, and the prospect of someone else uncovering it at some point in the future. It is a fantastic way of preserving what it is like for a young person growing up in Thame in the 21st Century.”

Lord Williams’s School is less than a ten minute walk from Bloor Homes’ Thame Meadows development, where the time capsule was buried.