Teenagers test city's heritage sights

TEENAGERS are being lured away from computer consoles and TVs to explore the heritage of their historic city.

The new community project is aimed at 14 to 16-year-olds and will attempt to get teenagers to learn more about historical attractions and make their views known through a website.

The project Explore York! is a York Archaeological Trust and York Council-led initiative funded by a local authority grant.

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Teenagers will be given the chance to visit the trust's Hungate excavations, the JORVIK Viking Centre, Barley Hall, Micklegate Bar Museum and the Museum Gardens.

They will be asked to analyse the sites through the eyes of a tourist and make suggestions on how other people can enjoy them.

Weekly sessions will meet at DIG, on St Saviourgate, every Wednesday between 4pm and 6pm until the end of October where the group will record their observations on accessibility, overall enjoyment and educational value which will help for development of the attractions.

Project leader on behalf of York Archaeological Trust Andrew Jones said: "This is notoriously a difficult age range to engage with in heritage projects and so we jumped at the chance of taking a lead on the initiative.

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"Feedback from teenagers is crucial to making York's heritage sites accessible and appealing to this hard-to-reach audience. The trust has a rolling evaluation programme yet respondents are typically over 18 years old."

The project was tested at York High School with a one-off session at Applefields School at the beginning of October.

Hollie Byrnes, who attended the pilot programme and visited all the sites, said: "I thought that the atmosphere was happy and upbeat and this made me feel welcome."