Each of the primary schools had a series of creative workshops including photography, printmaking, drama and songwriting, and visits to explore and record their feelings about Anglia Square. They also had oral history workshops with BBC Voices and subsequently interviewed local community members.
The children wrote song lyrics, poems and thoughts about the area which were compiled by Charlie Caine and formed into a song. Once the lyrics were complete the children worked in groups around the piano with Charlie, to collaboratively compose the music. Each song had an individual theme and particular focus that made it specific to the feelings of the children who worked together to write it.
In addition to all the other creative workshops at George White Junior School, the Year 3 children created a book of poetry looking fondly at what they thought about Anglia Square as they walked around capturing it in wonderful photographs. The Square of Life is the personal response, that was created by taking lines from their poems, including possibly my favourite line of all, ‘Anglia Square is grey and drump’.
By Duncan Joseph
