29 October 2009

Halloween meets history at Heeley City Farm

Budding historians will be whisked back in time in a Roundhouse Halloween Celebration Day at Heeley City Farm, thanks to an ongoing partnership with the University of Sheffield.

The event, which will take place from 11am until 3pm on Saturday 31 October 2009, will give visitors the chance to get stuck into a range of activities, including bronze casting with University academics and students, woodturning on a pole lathe, prehistoric pottery or even spinning wool from the farm´s own Iron Age Soay sheep.

The day will feature appearances from some surprise time-travelling guests and an opportunity to try some Iron Age recipes and traditional autumn food and drink, including apple and pear pressing. Visitors should also bring along a scary home-made turnip or pumpkin lantern to be in with a chance of winning a prize in a Halloween lantern competition.

In addition to battling it out in the competition, guests at the farm will be able to explore an Iron Age roundhouse. This is a very early form of housing in Britain, for which building work began last October as part of a Heritage Lottery funded project, "Digging Our Roots," which works with young people at Heeley City Farm to explore farming heritage from the past to present day. The project is being run in partnership with the University of Sheffield's Department of Archaeology, whose academics and students have offered advice throughout and conducted workshops at the farm.

Children will also be able to learn about some of the ideas which surround Halloween and explore whether or not people celebrated Halloween in the Iron Age.

The Roundhouse Halloween Celebration Day forms part of the National Family Learning Festival - an annual awareness campaign to get families together in a fun, informal learning environment. On the day, Liz Bowman, the farm´s new learning champion, will be offering advice and information on local family learning opportunities.

Sally Rodgers, a graduate of the University of Sheffield who is the "Digging Our Roots" Project Officer at Heeley City Farm, said: "Halloween has Iron Age origins in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which roughly means summer´s end. Iron Age people would have lived in a roundhouse and celebrated this festival."

Dr Roger Doonan, a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield, said: "For many today, Halloween is a bit of spooky fun and at Heeley City Farm this weekend we are planning to have fun acting out ancient lifeways.

"When you start to realise that these acts were done by people long dead, it can get a bit spooky and it certainly makes you think about your own mortality and how our world has been shaped by our forebears."


The event is free of charge and there is no need to book. Visitors should bring fruit along for the pear pressing.

Notes for Editors: Heeley City Farm is a community charity based on a working farm and visitor centre one mile from Sheffield City Centre. Staff and volunteers from Heeley City Farm work with local communities around Sheffield to promote sustainability, regeneration, environmental education and health and well being. Horticulture trainees, staff and volunteers also manage organic vegetable gardens at Meersbrook Park, Wortley Walled Gardens and Firth Park allotments. The farm was founded by local people in 1981 and has been growing organically ever since.

For more information, contact Sally Rodgers, Digging Our Roots Project Officer, Heeley City Farm, Richards Road, Sheffield, S2 3DT. Tel:0114 303 9981 ext 4. Mobile: 07932867750 (24 hours) or visit the link below.

National Family Learning Festival (FLF), the biggest annual celebration of family learning, will take place between Saturday 17 October 2009 to Sunday 31 October 2009. It aims to draw attention to the importance of family learning and skills. Each year, thousands of organisations take part in FLF and stage fun learning activities to help families brush-up on their existing skills, enjoy something different and discover together. FLF is organised by the Campaign for Learning (CfL). For more information, visit the link below.

For further information please contact: Shemina Davis, Media Relations Officer, on 0114 2225339 or email shemina.davis@sheffield.ac.uk

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