School life: A unique community project about Fixby Hall

This is part of a unique community project based around Fixby Hall in Huddersfield.

Led by Trina Skjoldan Neilson, a creative producer and outreach consultant, and funded by Fixby Hall’s owner, Thornhill Estates, the project has been looking at the history and future of Fixby Hall, facilitated through a series of research and model making workshops.

The intention was to engage the local community in fun model making workshops whilst learning about the history of Fixby Hall. As well as hearing people’s views on how they envision the Hall in the future, the models created will be on display within the Hall. This a very hands-on approach to learning about history and heritage whilst collecting community feedback.

Sixth Form Art & Design students, Jack and Eleanor, tell us about their experience:

“To start the project, all the students involved went on a visit to Fixby Hall where we learnt about the buildings and their history. We also had the fantastic opportunity of taking part in a golfing lesson led by a professional golfer. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the visit.

In January, we used cardboard to begin to construct the shell of the three buildings within the grounds of the Hall, including Fixby Hall itself, The Stables and The Orangery. This required a lot of communication, as we had to ensure that everyone was in agreement with the dimensions of the models and to make sure the three models were in proportion.

Currently, younger RHS students are using Papier Mâché to strengthen the models and prepare them for the Lindley Primary students who will paint the models and add the finer details.

Alongside the model building, the students also presented their ideas of how the grounds of Fixby Hall could possibly be used by the community in the future. These ideas ranged from an Art Gallery to a Tree Top adventure.

Overall, the project has been hard work but very exciting and rewarding. It has also encouraged some students to consider studying an Art or Design based subject such as Architecture or Interior Design at University.