Nope that’s not a new, hitherto undiscovered, tome from Kenneth Grahame. In many ways it applies to Teessiders, people who live in the Tees Valley. Much of the industry and business that exists here today is in some part linked to the fact that we have a really big river running through the centre of the area. Even the success of the Steel Industry, originally booming because of the proximity of materials, has extended its life due to the ability to import and export so effectively. Looking ahead we can see huge possibilities for the large wind farm projects not fr from our coast as well as the development of biochemicals and bulk products that are likely to increase in exports. So the resources that will be released soon for primary schools by the River Tees Rediscovered project have focussed their attention on people whose work directly relates to the river. The resource will feature a number of companies to both extend children’s cultural capital in terms of understanding the possible opportunities for them in the future, as well as knowledge about the place of our local industry in world trade. Over the past few weeks I have worked with Jalna Construction, Casper Shipping, Graypen Group and Tees Valley Wildlife Trust. The aim is to open a little window into the everyday work of people in these companies.
The resource should be available in the next week or so as a map with embedded videos and the full set of resources should be available by the beginning of December. Further work has already started with the wider local business sector to create resources for classroom and assembly use. Watch this space!