16 December 2009 – Spanning the Centuries – Rowner’s Time Capsule

Timecapsule presented in 2008
Ashleigh Charrington (10), Samuel Symons (10), Hazel Warwick (Portsmouth Housing Association), Deputy Mayor Cllr M J Carr, Town Crier Barry Roberts, Luke McCormack (10), Mistress Yvonne Hoskins (17th Century Villager), Ben Crump (10), Peter Bennett (Hampshire County Council), Helen Bruce (Maths Manager), Dan Line (11), Sean Connor (Head teacher), Owen Holland (10), and Zyan Deane (10) In the digger: Kieran Walker (Taylor Wimpey)

A 17th Century villager, a 18th Century town crier, the Deputy Mayor of Gosport, the Rowner Renewal Partnership team and pupils from Siskin Junior School were all there to witness the historic burial of The Rowner Renewal Time Capsule on 15 December.

Last year in April 2008, pupils and staff at Siskin Junior School received a presentation from Rowner Renewal Partnership of their plans for the £145 million regeneration of the centre of Rowner. In response the school’s 12 school councillors, the Head teacher and Helen Bruce, Siskin’s Maths Manager presented the Partnership with a time capsule to celebrate the start of the regeneration scheme to be buried in 2009.

Helen Bruce, Maths Manager explains:

“The time capsule is now sealed but the children chose the items they wanted to be placed in the capsule to show future generations how we lived in 2008.

“Amongst the items placed in the capsule were:

• Sun newspaper, pencil case with stationery, Beanie Bear, socks, book mark, photographs, necklace, toy solider, plastic tiger, squeezy faces balls
• Written information has also been included on topics such as Manchester United, school uniform, electricity, friends, sports, typical school day and music.”

The lead time capsule was funded by Portsmouth Housing Association and was buried by the pupils and the Rowner Renewal Partnership at a ceremony on 15 December 2009 to celebrate the start of the building work in January 2010 It has a planned reopening date of 2059 so the children will be able to witness its opening!

Hazel Warwick, Group Development Director at Portsmouth Housing Association and spokesperson for The Rowner Renewal Partnership said:

“We are delighted that all the school were involved in the time capsule and continue to be interested in the Rowner Renewal Project. After all they will be our future residents when the project completes in 2017 and will also be there to see the time capsule when it is reopened. I wish to thank the Head teacher Sean Connor, Helen Bruce and all the pupils for their interest and support.”

Work commences on Phase One of the Rowner Renewal Project in January 2010 at the lower end of Howe Road. Residents will first see removal of the grass banks. Site hoardings will appear on site and there will be a permanent Sales Office opened in February.