Abbey Primary School, Mansfield, and Forest Town Heritage Group are looking for people who remember anything about the old Sherwood Hall to help with their heritage and gardening project.

Abbey Primary School, Mansfield, and Forest Town Heritage Group are looking for people who remember anything about the old Sherwood Hall to help with their heritage and gardening project.

The school, which moved earlier this year, received £59,100 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for its Looking Forwards, By Looking Back project, which focuses on the history of the hall, a former large house in the area, and heritage gardening.

The school wants to celebrate its new location (see page 10) by investigating the old hall, which was part of the current site until its demolition around 1967. A heritage garden will be designed, created and used by children and volunteers.

An Afternoon Tea and Memories event will be held at the school on 22nd November, from 2pm to 4pm, to which people are invited to share memories, photographs or documents they have about Sherwood Hall.

There will be a display about the hall from the research done so far, as well as displays and information from other groups such as Mansfield Museum, Forest Town Heritage Group, U3A groups and the Friends of Thynghowe (a local Viking history group).

Teacher and project leader Danielle McIntyre said: “We have made a good start with our heritage project, but would love more people to tell us what they remember about Sherwood Hall. This information will help us take pride in the heritage of our new school and create a garden that reflects the garden that used to exist on the site.”

Volunteers are already helping with the project and some have visited Clumber Park and Nottinghamshire Archives. However, the school is looking for more people to help, particularly those with ideas about designing the garden or helping with planting it up in the spring.

A celebration event is planned for September next year and a community gardener will support the school to develop gardening skills with pupils and residents.

For more information call the school on 01623 481117 or Corinna Brown on 07974 249449.
t the school