A Belfast school has taken a glimpse into the past by opening a time capsule buried by children 25 years ago.
Pupils at Clarawood School in 2020 dug up the capsule created by kids from the East Belfast school in 1995.
It was in celebration of European Nature Conservation Year and the project was called Vision 20-20.
Former Deputy Secretary at the Department of the Environment, Richard H. Mackenzie CB, was in attendance for the planting of the time capsule back in 1995.
He returned to Rowallane Garden to lend a helping hand to the pupils from Clarawood School who helped the National Trust’s gardener Alan Bowman in digging it up.
Among the items in the capsule were a European Nature Conservation Year T-Shirt and posters, alongside various tourism and conservation leaflets and a real blast from the past - a cassette tape containing advertisements promoting wild weekends in June 1995 and a series of conservation interviews.
The Trust’s General Manager Josh Watts said: "We are delighted to welcome the children from Clarawood School back to Rowallane Garden a quarter of a century later to unearth the time capsule and reflect on what nature conservation meant to children 25 years ago.
"It’s wonderful to see the children so engaged with nature and their environment and we hope that their involvement in today’s discovery will remind them of the importance of looking after nature and special places like Rowallane Garden for generations to come.”
Dr Mellon added: "The Northern Ireland Environment Agency is delighted to have taken part in this ‘20-20 Vision Project’, witnessing the unearthing of a time capsule buried by Clarawood School 25 years ago to commemorate European Nature Conservation Year 1995.
"The project encouraged children in the 90’s to look back at how the environment was in 1970, see how it had changed and come up with ideas of what should be done to safeguard it over the next 25 years.
"The Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs has just undertaken a consultation on an Environment Strategy for the next 25 years.
"With the environment centre stage in many people’s minds at present, it is refreshing to witness the keen interest taken by the pupils of Clarawood School and today’s youth in current environmental matters."
