Recently, over 330 children from Jesson’s CE Primary School visited Top Church for an ‘Experience Dudley’ week. The school’s entire Key Stage 2 visited the church over 4 days to learn about faith and the role of the church community throughout the town’s history.
The ‘Experience Dudley’ week was devised by Children and Youth Minister, Clare Soar, and featured six activity stations around the church, covering a range of stories from the past.
In small groups the children visited each station, learning about the Black Country flag, the role of Baptism, the church during World War 2, and the efforts made by the church to bring clean water to the town during cholera outbreaks in the 1830s.
‘Experience Dudley’ highlighted the value of community and of working together, and at several activity stations children were able to create individual pieces of art that Clare will combine into displays at their school. At one station children were invited to imagine Dudley High Street in the future, and work in teams of 3-4 to design the shops and buildings they would like to see.
Despite its prominent place at the top of Dudley High Street, the vast majority of the children had never visited Top Church before. They were excited to see the high ceilings and painted glass, as well as to ask lots of questions of the staff and volunteers who were hosting the activities.
After this successful pilot, the Top Church team plan to develop ‘Experience Dudley’ and offer it to other local schools as part of their National Lottery Heritage Fund Activity Plan over the next 18 months.
