Students from schools across the North West have taken part in interactive workshops delivered by the Nerve Centre to examine the centenaries of 1916.

‘Journey Together’, a project being developed by the Churches Trust, is helping to unite young people from across Derry~Londonderry and Donegal in an exploration of the centenaries being commemorated in 2016.

2016 marks the 100-year anniversaries of the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme - events that continue to have significance across Ireland today. 

In the first of a series of workshops and events supported by Good Relations Department in Derry City and Strabane District Council, students from 13 schools worked with the Nerve Centre’s Creative Centenaries team to explore recruitment campaigns and news reporting from the time to better understand the impact of the events on society.

Students learned to use new digital technologies including green screen to create their own educational comics and audio recording to script and develop news broadcasts in the aftermath of both the Easter Rising and Battle of the Somme. 

The Nerve Centre’s Creative Centenaries project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, is delivering a large-scale project throughout 2016 to include an exhibition, events and outreach programme helping to shed new light on the anniversaries.

To date, Creative Centenaries has produced a suite of educational resources around the Decade of Centenaries, including detailed timelines on its website, 2.5D animations, educational graphic novels and a suite of interactive iBooks.

Throughout the project students will continue to work with the Nerve Centre and use creative approaches to delve into the past. The schools will also travel to the Somme Heritage Centre and on a residential trip to Dublin to see some of the sights and first hand objects relating to 1916.

For more information on Creative Centenaries outreach and education programmes for your school or area, email: info@creativecentenaries.org