The Miles Archive is an extensive collection of postcards and other ephemera spanning the past two centuries. This is ideal to be used to illustrate in detail the history of Bournemouth, a subject to which there is considerable attention paid this year as the town celebrates the bicentenary of its foundation in 1810 and people of all ages and communities are uniting to commemorate the birthday of their town.  A significant portion of this archive focuses on local schools and children.

Aided by these resources Paul, a recently retired primary Humanities’ Co-ordinator, has given talks to schools and other local interest groups focusing solely on the town’s history and is offering your school a wide variety of activities connected with Bournemouth and, in particular, your local catchment area. Paul passionately believes that, if the town’s citizens understand the past history of their settlement, they are more likely to value and respect its “present” and show greater care and interest in the future development of the urban area.

Some examples of the activities offered are:

• Powerpoint presentations briefly telling the story of Bournemouth aimed at differing age groups and focusing on your locality.
• Illustrated, guided walks around the town centre and/or the school’s locality, studying its development through the ages, encouraging pupils to evaluate their environment and consider its future. Paul was also Educational Visit Co-ordinator and is extremely experienced at leading such groups and completing and following risk assessments.
• Classroom ‘workshop’ sessions, following up on the above and also examining facsimiles of first-hand evidence, enabling teachers to more efficiently cover NC History study units such as Unit 3: What were seaside holidays like in the past? Unit 9: What was it like for children in the Second World War? Unit 12: How did our locality change in Victorian times? and Unit 13: How has life in Britain changed since 1948?
• Planning sessions with teaching staff to ensure these activities are delivered to their requirements and to complement your school’s existing history curriculum.

If you are interested in any of these, or similar learning activities, then please contact Paul on paulhmiles@googlemail.com or 07939 910 738 for a discussion of how The Miles Archive can benefit your children and enhance your curriculum.