Writing the History of Grangetown

Periscopes for the Past is an exciting project looking at the history of Grangetown through five events: Grange Farm, the flooding, Baroness Windsor and the industrial revolution, the Great Wars and the Race Riots.

These events have inspired artworks that are showcased through historical scenes (dioramas) mounted into five periscopes for you to view in Grange Pavilion’s wildflower garden.

In order to celebrate the project and contribute to the exhibition, the author Sophie Buchaillard ran a series of writing workshops where she shared her experience of writing from historical events and worked with participants on one of the five themes to bring history to life.

The aim was to create residents’ narratives, poems and short stories inspired by Grangetown’s history which will  be included in an exhibition at Grange Pavilion.

In addition, Sophie created a webinar session for Grangtown Primary School and the response from the children was fantastic!  Here is a selection of their work and a video roundup:

In Grange Gardens there is a big bandstand and a playground which is quite big.

There is a lot of grass to play football, cricket, baseball and basketball. You are allowed to play other games as well like tag or hide and seek. There are some trees. There is also a café where you can have some coffee and a snack or you can just go there and relax. There used to be a pavilion ,but now I think it’s a flower garden. There isn’t any equipment for the grass place you just have to bring your own. There are a lot of benches for nearly everyone to sit down. In the Victorian times, there was a bandstand and some trees and benches.

My favorite place in Grangetown is Mall park because it is colorful, and has a lot of greenery. There are slides, baby swings ,and there are swings for big kids.At Mall park there are benches for anyone to sit on, and there is a  rock climbing wall at the park so you could play. At the park there is a roundabout. The park has a football pitch where you can play football or you can play football on the grass. At  Mall park there is a big slide. You can also walk around the park. Mall park is beautiful ,and it is near my house. It is in Grangetown ,and I think it is a nice park to go to. At the park sometimes there are no people ,and there are no swings because some of the people do not take care of the swings.

 My favorite place is school.

School is my favourite place because school is a fun place where I can work and play and do the Exact things everyday. 😀

I go to school everyday (incept sunday and saturday ): ) 9 o’clock and end 3 o’clock (6 hours (: ) and i go to school to work 😀 but The main reason we attend school is to gain the skills and education needed to live autonomously and successfully. School also teaches us social skills we will need in our future lives and careers.  Public education teaches us how to collaborate effectively with others.

I like school because it no1 it gives me something to do no2 it helps me learn no3 it gives me skills no4 theres playtime and i saved the best for last no5 THERES LUNCHTIME

questions: What was it like in the victorian era? How mean were the teachers?

Huge and massive, stunning and beautiful. The garden dripping with rain. The wind moves through the air, creating a breeze. Children playing in the play area, running around having fun. The swings sway in the garden. People sitting on the benches calmly enjoying their time at the garden. The sun shines out onto the grass and quickly dries it up. The statue , surround by outstanding, vibrant, red poppies in memory of those who died in war. The large,calming pavillion that you can stand on and calm yourself in the garden.

The Terri’s houses all lined up. Different colours,  and different roofs. The park , smelling divine.

The slide,  big and small. The football pitch , crowded with boys young and old. Parents sleeping on benches  , kids playing in the kids area. The swing , most famous of them all. When one is taken , the kids all want to go on it. The Pavilion , which was renewed. Food , drinks and a small garden , to sit , and take that lovely scent. A bit further from the park , The Taff.  Always flooding. Mall park , same as Grange Gardens. But with swans swarming around you.  Waiting to have bread. Seagulls stealing bread. As their daily routine. Then , going home. Fainting on your bed. After a tiring day , going to the corner shops. Sleeping , in your comfortable bed. When you visit the park , everybody is there. Little kids , to sleepy adults. You meet your friends,  and play tag. After playing lots , you go to the shops to get some drinks.

My favourite place in grangetown is grange-gardens.

Grange-gardens is a park with a nice basket ball pitch and  swings and slides and other playground equipment.

Most of the parents go sit on the benches and talk with their friends whilst the children play on the swings and the slides and play with their toys that they brought with them.

There are many trees in grange-gardens including grass as many parks have, There is one tree inside the park in front of one of the playground equipment and the rest is outside the park.

There is an angel statue with names on it and with poppies on it and it’s close to another exit.

Some people go to grange-gardens to do exercise and to do some running. Most of the people take walks instead of running.

I think in 1874 grange-gardens would look way more different than now.

I think the playground would have been less colorful but would have looked brand new.

I don’t think the basketball pitch would have been there.

The children would have played with their friends or swing on the swings. The mums would have talked with their friends asswell and the dads would have done the same just talking about different stuff.

I am going to be writing a setting description about Grange Gardens. Grange Gardens is near the school Grangetown Primary School.

I go to Grange Gardens when we have special events. Most of the time I go to Grange Gardens to get fresh air and to play around in the sun. I also go to Grange Gardens to ride my bike and to have picnics.

Grange Gardens is so colorful and green, because there are so many trees and green grass. In Grange Gardens there is also a football pitch and the floor is made out of astro turf. The playground is super fun and I think children would really love to go to Grange Gardens. When the skies are blue and the and the clouds are floating by Grange Gardens shines like it’s golden. 

Grangetown What is grangetown? Grangetown grangetown is a beautiful Town. Until it rains it rains a lot in Grangetown but in summer it’s quite hot But when it’s winter it gets super cold.We have lots to do at grangetown. We have parks and leisure centres and carnivals theme parks. Additionally there are lots of places of worship like  mosques,churches, synagogues and temples. Grangetown is a great place to learn as there are many schools and education centers. My personal favorite place is grange gardens because it has fun things to do like play on the climbing frame and go down a pole. Also there are fun things to do in the pavilion. It even has a football pitch and trees and a lot of grass. There are also fun fairs held too. My favorite part of grange gardens is everything it has light for the football pitch so you can play at night and when it is dark.

My favourite place is Channel View park  because there are lots of fun things you can do and you can  go on the metal swings. Excited children are screaming their  heads off swinging high in the gigantic sky. Theres a exercise place you have to do what it says on the the writing on a green circle. , and this place is in Grangetown and it’s by nursery it’s very very close. there’s real grass there’s a place that has a swing, slide, and a circle spinny thing and things you can climb up. My favorite place is by the area where the slide and other things are, and it’s  the ramp it’s by the basketball pitch you can run on. You can go to the top of it. It’s really fun. There’s a lot of trees which are massive, and some small trees that have large branches with leaves. Lot’s of benches too. And there are monkey bars too. You can see lots of dogs you can hear so many sounds, and noise. There are hills with green grass. There is a place where you can park your car.

 I can visit this place anytime and any day if i’m allowed. Sometimes I go there for a walk with my mum, and brother’s.

What I like about it is the ramp the monkey bars, and i could go for a walk, and the monkey bars

It’s very fun, and sometimes i could gon my bike’s to there park maybe.

My favorite place in Grangetown is Grange Gardens because in Grange Gardens there is a wonderful park.There are slides,swings and you can hear the enjoyment. There is a football pitch.

When Grange Gardens got built it was a place for plants, but now it is a park with a massive football pitch. In the football pitch it had muddy grass. If you played there you would get all dirty, but now there is fake grass so you could play without getting muddy and dirty. In Grange Gardens there are lovely green trees on the trees there are red apples and juicy pears.

The marl is the biggest park near us. When I go there, I like to play football, basketball and ride my scooter. When I play football it’s me and my dad and I have fun.

I play basketball on the court and i almost always get it through the hoop, and that makes me feel happy.

When i take my scooter to the park i like to whizz around and see how many laps i can do, it makes me feel fast.

I also have picnics over there in the summertime with my mum and dad, tand we play tennis and baseball, its really fun.

I take a different route to the waterfront and i see swans and ducks and sometimes i feed them.

In Grange Gardens , there are amazing trees. There are some trees planted around the outside of the park , and there are some in the middle as well with squirrels sitting in the middle of the branches eating tasty nuts,and birds laying in their nest. Green leaves waving in the harsh wind  and are attached to  the tall, giant like,  long branches.There are tall green  that just go on and on but most amazing of all  is their playground. It has slides that are really high.There is a pole that goes really low. It’s a black ground and there are benches to sit on when you’re tired. You can also bring your bikes to play with your friends.

There is an old bandstand from Victorian times that is still here today in grange gardens.You can feel the wind go through you  when you’re on the spinny thing and your spring really fast.the swings you can hear children screaming ,laughing and having fun.

Periscopes to the Past is funded by Cadw and the National Lottery Heritage Fund and has been organised by Grangetown Art Trail, www.instagram.com/artgrangetown, a community project led by residents, Charlotte Brown (historian) and Chris House (artist).