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Young people in Liverpool have started work on designing a mobile phone game based on the rich history of the Royal School for the Blind, Liverpool. In Liverpool, History of Place have worked with young people who attend St Vincent’s School in West Derby and young people from the youth club at Centre63 in Kirkby.
Participants all gathered around the 1835 Gage map of Liverpool trying to find Primark!
We started the workshops by telling stories from our own imaginations and playing real world versions of mobile phone games like snake. John, our workshop leader, passed a mini suitcase of surprise objects round and we all took turns to pick an object and contribute to a story. At one point a giant sea turtle was swimming down the River Mersey creating a massive tidal wave that our friend Sponge Bob had to help mop up!
Young people picking an object out of a suitcase to spark a story
We then started to explore some of the characters involved in the Royal School for the Blind, Liverpool. Edward Rushton, one of the founders of the Royal School for the Blind, Liverpool, was selected to be a character in level 1 of the game. We joined in story telling that included facts from our archive research and whimsical details from our imaginations.
Edward Rushton mural by Mick Jones
Take the St Vincent’s quiz
Can you identify the facts and fiction about Rushton in the six questions below ?
After exploring aspects of Rushton’s life we used the 1835 Gage map of Liverpool to identify locations that could appear in the game such as his bookshop on Paradise Street. We were all surprised to find out that there is still a bookshop at that location today!
A drawing of how the mobile phone game could look with an image of a ship in the centre to tell the story of Edward Rushton
We had so much fun exploring characters and events in the history of the Royal School for the Blind, Liverpool-thank you to all the young people who took part.
We are hosting a game making day at the Museum of Liverpool for the public to get involved in creating the game-workshops will take place at 11am, 12pm, 2pm and 3pm in the Education Room and are suitable for ages 12+. For more information please contact Kerry.Massheder-Rigby@accentuateuk.org.