15 August 2007

Monster Trip for Children

Twenty eight children from Peterlee and County Durham, came face to face with a life-sized dragon when they visited Newcastle’s Centre for Life as part of Acumen Development Trust’s community outreach programme.

The children, along with their parents, some of whom are lone or unemployed, are amongst the 200 people from the Durham area who have already benefited from the bus trips provided by Acumen, a community development trust who promote social and economic regeneration through community engagement, learning, enterprise and employment.

On the trip, parents were able to find out about the support, activities and short courses available through Acumen as well as visiting the Centre’s summer blockbuster, Myths and Monsters.

Jan Embleton of Acumen Development Trust, said: “The community outreach programme is about engaging people into learning and employment with support along the way including confidence building.

“As part of the programme, we have arranged a number of trips to great Northern attractions and a visit to the Centre for Life is certainly a fantastic interactive way to learn with hands-on fun!”

Myths and Monsters was created by the Natural History Museum, London and has travelled across Europe and the UK, attracting high numbers of visitors and excellent reviews.

The full-size robotic creatures move their heads, thump the ground, roar, hiss and snarl at visitors.