IS trip to Bradford

Every year, as part of their Integrated Studies, Year 7 pupils from St Bede’s Prep School travel up to Bradford for a few days to learn about and tour some of the major sites of the Industrial Revolution.

The first stop on the tour was the National Coalmining Museum. Year 7 and their teachers donned hard hats and lamps and bravely descended the rickety cage lift to a depth of 140m to pit bottom. Here the pupils were shown how the mining of coal had advanced from the time when a family would work fro 14 hours a day with little light, air and rudimentary tools to hew a meagre living from the coal face.

During the trip to Bradford the pupils were also able to visit the Bradford Industiral Museum to see a fantastic array of textile machines and steam engines. A trip to the Liverpool Canal to see the hugely impressive Bingley five rise locks was also enjoyed by all. The last stop on the trip was at Saltaire, the model industrial village (now a World Heritage Site) that was built by Sir Titius Salt to provide better conditions for his workforce.

The trip to Bradford proved to be a huge success and as well as having fun the pupils had seen many of the aspects covered in lessons during the term brought to life.