A time capsule containing schoolchildren's drawings and writing was buried in Shenley last week and it could give people in hundreds of years time an insight into life in 2002.

A total 25 contributions, from five schools, were selected to go into the capsule, buried outside the Old Chapel, in Porters Park Drive, during a ceremony last week.

Around 100 schoolchildren, parents and teachers attended the event, organised by the Shenley Park Trust's park director John Ely.

Councillor Rodney Saunders, a Shenley Park trustee and borough councillor, handed the capsule to the Deputy Mayor of Hertsmere Councillor Robert Calcutt to place in a 4ft-deep hole, which schoolchildren helped to fill with earth.

At the ceremony, certificates, and colour photocopies of their work, were handed to the children who had created the items for the capsule.

The children, whose work focused on the themes of the Golden Jubilee, the 25th anniversary of Hertsmere Borough Council and the 75th anniversary of the first full-length feature film made in Borehamwood, were from Shenley Primary School, Manor Lodge School and Clore Shalom School, in Shenley, and The 2 Jays in Ridge and St Giles' Church of England School in South Mimms.

Councillor Saunders, who originally came up with the idea to plant the time capsule, said of the event: "Shenley is a village, and so are Ridge and South Mimms, and it made everybody feel they were participating in something together it had a village feel about it.

"I was really delighted everyone entered into the spirit of it."

In May the borough council buried time capsules, containing items chosen to represent the present day, outside Allum Lane Community Centre, in Elstree, and in Phillimore Recreation Ground, in Radlett.

July 3, 2002 14:30