Bolton School Boys’ Division pupils from Years 7 to 13 took part in a museum takeover day entitled The Leverhulme Festival at Port Sunlight on the Wirral, the model workers’ village created by the School’s founder, Lord Leverhulme.
Activities took place across the site and included drama and music in the Lever Art Gallery, exhibitions and communal art in Bridge Cottage (once the home of Lord Leverhulme) and pupil-led tours, geocaching and treasure hunts out of the Port Sunlight Museum.
It was a day of family fun, enjoyed by pupils, parents, governors including George Apsion who is the great-grandson of Lord Leverhulme, and the general public. With the stunning artwork of the Lady Lever Art Gallery as a backdrop, boys acted out, under the directorship of RoughHouse Theatre, the final performance of My Room My Bolton, a ‘love song to Bolton’ inspired by the Mass Observation project of the 1930s (you can watch a short clip here).
Elsewhere on the site, artwork by the Young Artists’ Collective was displayed at Bridge Cottage and students were on hand to talk about their work whilst undertaking communal drawing. Musical accompaniment for the afternoon was provided by the boys’ Junior String Quartet, Senior String Quartet, the Guitar Quartet (watch a short clip here), the Brass Group and a number of piano soloists.
The evening concluded with an awards ceremony, presided over by Governor George Apsion, which saw Matthew Hope win The Lady Lever Arts Award for innovative and creative extra-curricular work, Sam Warburton win The Port Sunlight Trust Award for dedication to creative work in the community and Jack Swires win The Lord Leverhulme Award for leadership in extra-curricular work.