主播大秀

Year 8 pupils from St Hilda鈥檚 Secondary school have been 'meeting' the key characters of the day as they recreate the stories and events of Liverpool in the late 1700鈥檚 for special radio bulletins.

Two hundred years ago the slave trade was finally made illegal when William Wilberforce鈥檚 law was passed by in Parliament.

The girls from St Hilda鈥檚 used original letters and speeches to recreate events like the first sermon by converted slave captain John Newton, who went on to pen 鈥淎mazing Grace鈥�.

主播大秀 Radio Merseyside鈥檚 Roger Phillips donned frock coat and wig to get into character as abolitionist Liverpool MP William Roscoe.

A fun way to learn about history

The girls worked in and around the 主播大秀 studios in Hanover Street to 'cover' stories like the close shave when abolitionist Thomas Clarkeson was almost pushed to his death at the Pier Head by an angry mob.

They grilled slave trader James Penny about his dubious source of income in the 'African Trade'. They became worried phone in callers fearing for their jobs as rope makers and innkeepers if the slave vessels stopped shipping out.

鈥淲e鈥檙e always looking for opportunities for the students and this is a classic example of reaching out, working with a local organisation like the 主播大秀 and helping the students to learn by allowing them to take risks.

"It wasn鈥檛 natural for some of them to record their voices, especially the quiet ones, but they all did it. And they鈥檒l be able to use these skills when they create multimedia content for the school鈥檚 own website."

Ken says, "The girls found it a fun way to learn and they thought it really helped them to remember about the history because they were learning it in a different way.

"They also loved finding out how a radio station works, and using the microphones to record vox pops.鈥�

And 主播大秀 staff Roger Phillips, Andy Ball, Eric Wise, Wayne Clarke and Graham Whyte enjoyed trying their hand at being Liverpool gentlemen of the 18th Century.