Big Wheel has over ten years of experience delivering community and heritage projects and we continue to develop and expand this work. We are actively involved with our local communities of Islington, Camden and the City of London, having worked in partnership with 3 Corners youth centre, the Sunday School from the Holy Redeemer and St Mark’s church in Clerkenwell and local schools, as well as delivering national programmes in partnership with the London Metropolitan Archive and the British Postal Museum and Archive (now the Postal Museum). We have delivered projects on the themes of Clerkenwell Mystery Plays, World War 1, the 1908 & 1948 Olympics, King John and Magna Carta, The Three Musketeers and many more. All have been fascinating to research, rewarding to lead, and great fun to present.
We also design and deliver bespoke projects; please contact us if you have an idea that you’d like to talk to us about.
Read on for just a few examples of the community and heritage projects we’re recently been involved with!
Sir John and Eliza Soane
Celebrating the life and achievements of one of Britain’s most influential architects
The Soanes were also present to welcome members of the public to the grand reopening of Pitzhanger Manor, guiding visitors through the newly conserved rooms of the house and telling stories of life for the Soanes in 19th Century Ealing.
We have been working with the newly refurbished Pizhanger Manor House and Gallery, where Sir John Soane and his family lived between 1800 and 1804. The Soanes have been on hand to facilitate a Fun Palaces event, leading interactive art, craft, science and tech projects for families visiting the manor.
The First World War
Commemorating the First World War
Originally designed to commemorate the centenary of the First World War, this set of workshops focuses on its legacy and provide a variety of audiences with a moving but entertaining exploration of the war: the horror and the tragedy, but also the social changes: working women, rationing, censorship, attitudes to class and the power of the press. Click here for more on our WW1 workshops.
The Postal Museum
Developing outreach work and in house projects
In 2013 we began working with the British Postal Museum and Archive to develop outreach projects in schools and community spaces, bringing interesting characters and stories from the Post Office’s history to life.
Topics included the planning and building of the Mail Rail, code breaking in WW2, the invention of the Penny Post and Sir Rowland Hill and much more.
Between 2017 and 2019 we lead these workshops for the museum’s learning space and provided ‘on gallery’ characters to bring the fascinating history of the postal service to life for its many visitors.
This evolved into creating workshops and events to be held in the new Postal Museum that opened in 2017.
Curriculum links: STEM, history, computing.
William Shakespeare: 1564 – 1616
Commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death
In 2016, we visited a raft of different schools and participated in public presentations around Shakespeare, mainly trying to answer the question: why is he so famous? In our assembly show, the Bard himself reconstructs a visit to his Globe theatre in 1600’s London, showing how Elizabethan theatres provided a new form of popular entertainment. Shakespeare challenges the audience to create new dramas in new venues, and new media.
Curriculum links: history, literacy, STEM (Shakespeare looks at the geometry of different theatre venues from Ancient Greece to the present day) and business (Shakespeare was a brilliant businessman!).
Click here for more information about our Shakespeare workshops.
Elizabeth & Samuel Pepys and the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London is singled out in the History National Curriculum as an example of ‘events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally’. Why is it so significant socially and politically? Join the long suffering Elizabeth Pepys, or sometimes her diarist husband Samuel (and occasionally both) as they recount the events events of 2nd to 5th September 1666. The audience helps analyse the immediate and root causes of the conflagration, and how engineers, architects and politicians worked to make such an event less likely in future.
Curriculum links: history, literacy (especially diaries), STEM.
George Orwell and the Russian Revolution of 1917
To celebrate the centenary of the Russian revolution in 1917, we meet the author of perhaps the most famous literary account of the Soviet experiment: Animal Farm. The audience becomes the farm, suffering first under cruel Farmer Jones, and then experiencing the triumphs, the disasters and finally the betrayals of the Pig-led revolution. Audiences look at the archival material documenting actual events of 1917 and its aftermath, and are challenged to examine the relevance of Orwell’s satire to more recent events.
Curriculum links: history, literacy, politics.
King John and Magna Carta
Developed principally for a local school to help fulfil curriculum objectives around rights and responsibilities, this has evolved into a community project, with King John attending school fairs and even acting as DJ…
Curriculum links: history, literacy, R.E.