A group of College students are helping light up an iconic UK visitor attraction thanks to the creation of a lantern project.
The learners are all studying on welding and fabrication courses at Suffolk New College and have been tasked with creating some stylish Anglo Saxon lamps to help illuminate a winter trail at Sutton Hoo.
Visitors who come along to the National Trust site near Woodbridge will be able to see the new magical pathway from the end of the November 2022.
As a thank you to the College, Sutton Hoo recently invited students and staff from the college to look around the 200-acre location to get inspiration for their work.
Josh Ward is a senior visitor experience officer at Sutton Hoo. Josh said: “We started developing a trail a few years ago and thought that we would try and engage with the local community to help us. So we approached Suffolk New College who saw this as an opportunity to create a work experience project for welding and fabrication students.
“I’ve already seen some of the student designs and they look fantastic. The way that students have picked up on the Anglo Saxon craftsmanship and been inspired by something that was made 1500 years ago is quite special and the relationship (with Suffolk New College) has been going brilliantly. They are really good people to work with and we can’t wait for the public to see the trail later in the year.”
Simon Mullan is a welding lecturer from the college. Simon said: “The visit really helped our students get a feel for the Anglo Saxon theme and we’ve got around 30 lamps that have been made already. It’s great to be working with Sutton Hoo and the National Trust and fantastic that thousands of visitors will be able to see their handiwork.”
Jordan Kennard, 29 from Felixstowe is one of the students who worked on this said: “I’m a bartender (outside of my college course) and quite heavy handed so it’s nice to work with metal as it doesn’t break very easily.”
In terms of the project, he added: “I love stuff like this. I’ve put my initials on the lamps I’ve created.