Patch to Plate

Patch to Plate was a yearlong Heritage Lottery Funded project which aimsed to trace the history of the Merridale and Bantock areas of the City exploring its development from open land and farms to houses and the local community’s relationship with food and its production.

The project was led by young people who researched local community heritage of food production, farming and allotment keeping in the now heavily built up area of suburban Wolverhampton. The project was focused on the agricultural heritage of the areas – Merridale & Pennfields. The research was disseminated in a variety of creative outputs including three site-specific theatrical performances in April, July and September 2015 at Bantock House Gardens as well as the screening of a filmed documentary about the history of Jeffcock Road Allotments in December 2015.

The project was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) which aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK. Reyahn King, Head of HLF West Midlands said, “Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we’ve provided over £3m to more than 128 Young Roots projects in the West Midlands. We’re delighted to include Central Youth Theatre in that, which has set out to creatively explore a significant chapter of Wolverhampton’s history and its enduring legacy in modern life.”

Each production was accompanied by an exhibition that comprised of research that had been carried out by older members of the community and a young research team.

The first of the three shows, The Spring Offensive, took place on Saturday 11^th and Sunday 12^th April and was a big success. We managed to seat 140 people over the two days and had fantastic feedback through the online review system Tick It. The play was set in 1916 during the First World War and explored a confrontation between a South Staffordshire regiment, who were seeking well-positioned land to practice their drills and a group of green-fingered local ladies who used the land to grow vegetables as part of the nation’s war effort.

The second production in the series was Summers of Old, which took place on Saturday 25^th and July at 2pm at Bantock Park. (Unfortunately the second performance of this show was rained off on Sunday 26^th and rescheduled for Saturday 19^th September, 3pm)

The play explores a group of characters in the Bantock area during World War II. When Sarah Thomas starts work at Bantock House she befriends the cantankerous gardener Alfred. With the outbreak of the Second World War the grounds are turned into allotments and the local residents throw themselves into the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. Sarah and Alfred despair of ever getting anything done with constant interruptions and bickering amongst the other allotment holders, as well the undying mystery of the vegetable thief.

The third performance was staged on Saturday 19^th and Sunday 20^th September at 2pm. The play is called Harvesting Trouble and is set in the first years of Mrs Thatcher’s government. A uniquely co-operative group of allotment holders are offered serious money by a wealthy property developer in exchange for their plots of land. Controversy threatens to split the harmonious community – until an unlikely group of friends decide to make a stand. A comedy fable, loosely based on real events of the time, in tribute to the immortal spirit if the Jeffcock Road allotmenteers. 

Wolverhampton’s industrial heritage is often explored and celebrated, but the transformation of how it turned from a small rural market town into a large town of factories and workers’ houses during the industrial revolution is rarely given the awareness it deserves. Historical changes and recent modern food production methods have created a real disconnect in the lives of young people in terms of where their food comes from and how it is produced. Through focusing on the history of a local area and the allotment movement, we want to change this.

Schools Outreach – Patch to Plate

Between March and July we have been travelling across Wolverhampton, delivering bespoke workshops at various schools as part of our ongoing Patch to Plate project. The workshops aim to develop children’s knowledge and understanding of the local areas history, with a particular focus on the Merridale area.

Our first stop was Merridale Primary School where we worked with Year 3, delivering a drama workshop centred on pollination, a subject chosen specifically by the school as part of their curriculum. We introduced Jack and Cookie (two fictional characters played by our members of staff) who had just bought their very own plot at Jeffcock Road Allotment, but didn’t know the first thing about growing things. So we encouraged the group to learn as much as they could about pollination in order to help Jack and Cookie with their allotment. The children also learnt a number of drama skills and techniques such as freeze-frames, improvisation and news reports.

We also organised a trip to Jeffcock Road Allotment and when they got there, they were very happy to find that Jack and Cookie were there too! We looked around the allotments and Year 3 advised Jack and Cookie on what they should grow, as well as learning about different types of fruits and vegetables that grow in springtime. Their learning was consolidated by a final round up workshop that summarised the work we had covered on allotments, growing fruit and vegetables, pollination and environmental issues such as pollinator decline.

We then prepared a series of drama workshops based on local history, which we delivered in three different schools: Springdale Primary, Warstones Primary and Penn Hall.

The first of these workshops focused on the changes that Wolverhampton had undergone over the past 100 years, and in particular since the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. We started by asking their group what they already knew about the first world war, the local area and their opinions on how Wolverhampton had changed over the years. We did this by asking them either to take a step forward or stay where they were depending on whether or not they agreed with each statement that we called out.

We then used our imagination to bring Mr Salford, the first owner of Merridale farm; and Sir David Lloyd George, who was running for Prime Minister during WW1, from 1914 to the present day. Two of our staff members dressed up to play these two well-respected men. Once Mr Salford and Sir Lloyd George had recovered from the shock of having just gone forward 100 years in time, the group had the chance to ask them questions about what Wolverhampton was like in 1914. They then created freeze frames to show the problem of food shortage during the war, followed by freeze frames of possible solutions for the problem, i.e. growing fruit and vegetables on an allotment to help with the war effort.

In the second workshop, we explored how women took over men’s jobs in the factories during WW1, and the consequences for women once the men had returned from the war. We used physical theatre techniques such as voice and body movements to create a working machine, which represented a working factory during the war. Once the factory had been established by the girls, the boys got into role as returning soldiers and we facilitated a group improvisation whereby the boys and girls had to decide how to handle the situation. We then introduced the Spanish Flu and used soundscapes to demonstrate how quickly the disease spread.

The final workshop was about different fruits that are grown around the world. We tested the group on their geography skills by placing an imaginary map of the world across the floor and getting them to stand where they thought certain countries were. We then explored the conditions that are needed in order for certain fruits to grow, and which countries were the most suitable for each fruit, and the group devised and performed news reports outlining all the things that they had learned.

We had lots of positive feedback from both the pupils and the teachers such as:

– Merridale Primary

“Thanks so much for all your help. It was wonderful for the children and they really liked seeing how you brought this topic to life. I particularly liked the trip to the allotment because you made it so much more engaging for them- especially when everything was in the process of beginning to grow. They have grown some wonderful tomato and lettuce plants and have all really enjoyed the topic.”

– Warstones Primary

“Our student have learnt what Wolverhampton was like 100 years ago, how different attitudes were to women back then and how illnesses like flu and measles could be fatal. The children learnt that the local area was mainly farmland and that people were poor and sometimes starving.”

“The children really enjoyed it – they talked about what they had done to the other children in school. It will be useful when we do freeze-framing again as they understand how to do this now.”

Outcomes met:

• We worked with 4 schools in Wolverhampton – 3 primary and 1 secondary schools – Springdale Primary, Merridale Primary, Warstones Primary and Penn Hall School.
• We delivered 20 sessions – 5 sessions per school
• We engaged with approximately 240 children