Outwood Academy City Students Take Part In LoudsPEAKer Project

Students from a Sheffield secondary academy have walked Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak District, as part of a creative arts projects.

The students, all from Outwood Academy City, took to the moorland as part of the LoudsPEAKer creative arts project, which is curated and directed by artists Trish Evans and Nick Humphreys of INSTAR.

As part of the project, the 21 students learned about how 90 years ago, children their age, would fight for access to the moorland around Sheffield and Manchester.

Speaking with the Sheffield Star, Outwood Academy City student Bree Moffatt said:

“The trespassers wanted that countryside but couldn’t have it. I think they had to be really resilient to do what they did so we could have it now. We need to appreciate it more after they’ve gone through all that work for us.”

The students joined National Trust rangers on the Kinder plateau to learn about their methods to restore vegetation and how greener moors can boost wildlife. 

The purpose of the field trip was to help create a deeper connection for young people with the natural world and following their trip the students came up with designs inspired by their experiences on the moorland. 

These designs have been printed onto clothing and caps, which the students then modelled on the Dark Peak moors for a photoshoot with Sheffield photographer Timm Cleasby.

The culmination of the LoudsPEAKer project, a photography exhibition at Bloc Projects Gallery, is ongoing until 23 November. The project was also part of the wider National Trust People’s Landscapes programme, which also includes former Outwood/City School pupil and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker.

Also speaking with the Sheffield Star Simon Shackleton, Head of Art at Outwood City Academy, said:

“It was really nice to introduce them (students) to the Peak District and all the links our own city has with it, like the mass trespass. 

“Stood in that landscape it began to hit home. The students were saying they couldn’t have actually got there in the past. We wanted to get across that sense of pride, that it was young people from where you live who’ve influenced access to this landscape through the mass trespass movement.”

The mass trespass of Kinder Scout was undertaken on 24 April, 1932 to highlight the fact that walkers in England and Wales were denied access to areas of open country. Although exact numbers are argued, the Manchester Guardian at the time estimated that 400 people took part in the protest which helped pave the way for the National Parks legislation in 1949.