Middleton youngsters dig learning experience

October 2008

Children from Middleton Primary School learned all about the world of industrial minerals with a series of visits to Sibelco UK’s silica sand quarry at Leziate this week. Over two days, every class from the school was given a guided tour of the company’s site which lies just east of King’s Lynn.

The trips focused on the working quarry and also Wicken North, a former mineral extraction site now restored and home to a diverse range of flora and fauna. As well as a close-up look at some hefty quarry machinery, the children learned all about the wildlife around the site, from adders and slow worms through to barn owls and goshawks via a special wildlife treasure hunt.

Mrs Claire Bunton, Head at Middleton Primary School said: “The children and staff had a great time and are very keen to visit Sibelco again. The visit enabled the children to see a local business in action and I am sure that many now realise the importance of mineral extraction and its many uses. It was also so important for the children to see how a former quarry had been restored and turned into an area for conservation, seeing the two contrasting landscapes. The school would like to thank Sibelco for all of their hard work in making the visit so successful.”

Quarry Manager, Matthew Clements, commented: “It was quite a logistical challenge to accommodate so many children but the trips were a great success and everyone thoroughly enjoyed welcoming our visitors. The children discovered how the sand is extracted and the wide range of products it is then used to make such as glass and motor parts.”

King’s Lynn Quarry was established in the 1860s with the original works despatching glass sand to Yorkshire in return for coal deliveries to East Anglia. Today the quarry remains one of the UK’s most important sources of silica sand for the UK’s glass and foundry industries.