Primary Six pupils at Rhu Primary School journeyed back in time to find out what life was like for Victorian children.

The class visited New Lanark Heritage Centre, which was well-worth the slightly longer travel time. New Lanark is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and proved a perfect venue to stimulate interest in this 18th Century topic.

The children were able to look around the well-preserved cotton spinning village, founded in 1785 by David Dale and revolutionised into a co-operative system of working, educating and living, by the forward-thinking Robert Owen.

Fascinated eyes darted all around as the pupils soaked up a hands-on history lesson in this the stunning location in the picturesque Clyde Valley.

They experienced the noise of a working cotton mill and heard about the dangerous jobs children of their age and younger were forced to carry out in order to earn a meagre living.
They visited the museum, showing the types of homes workers lived in and got a flavour of how times have changed by comparing it to a similar home from the 1920’s. They also visited the village shop and found out how the co-operative trading system started.

Much excitement followed as the class travelled back through time on the Annie McLeod Experience Dark Ride which used holographic images and scenes from the past to explain the life of a working Victorian child.

Finally, a trip to the schoolroom gave the children an opportunity to role-play by dressing-up, writing on slates and discovering what 18th Century education was really like.