Website to delve into nature reserve’s 300-year history
2:00pm Monday 1st June 2009 in News
HUNT: Schoolboy Lee Hemmings, of Breightmet, on the hunt for wildlife in Seven Acres
A STATE-of-the-art website is being created to tell the 300-year history of Seven Acres nature reserve.
Staff at the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and pupils from Withins School have been awarded £25,000 from the Heritage Lottery Foundation to investigate the site — and help boost its popularity.
It is now a popular recreational spot, as well as a haven for wildlife, including roe deer, kingfishers and foxes.
But the site has previously been farmland, an area for coal mining and even a space for charcoal burning.
The schoolchildren will share what they discover on an interactive website, with the help of design company Portfolio.
Video footage and 3D models of the nature reserve, which lies between Breightmet and Tonge, will feature on the site. The youngsters will also make an audio trail for people visiting the reserve.
James Hall, senior project officer with Lancashire Wildlife Trust, said: “This is a really exciting project that will offer young people the opportunity to gain some fantastic skills.
“The information that they find will help all members of the local community understand more about how people have lived and worked in their local environment in the past.
“As the information will be accessible online, people who may have moved away from Bolton, either within the UK or overseas, will have the opportunity to reconnect with their old community.”
