On Friday 7th May 2021 pupils from Crown Primary School buried a time capsule at the former site of Inverness Royal Academy. We worked with the P7s over several months to share some of the building’s history and send messages 100 years into the future!

The time capsule contains a selection of objects chosen by the pupils as well as photographs and letters written to the future finders of the capsule with instructions to open it in 2121.  Crown Primary P7’s time capsule contains; a rainbow flag, a beano, a face mask, an old iPhone, a school jumper, Pokémon cards, coins, a £5 note and details of their favourite books, films and computer games.

Dawn Kane from Bancon Construction said: “The time capsule will be safely buried within the structure of the building and while we don’t know when it will be discovered, it’s now a special part of the project and the history of the building and Inverness.  Community engagement plays an important part of our company’s corporate social responsibility and we would like to thank Crown Primary School for their involvement, we hope the project has been a valuable learning experience for them.”

Pupils have learnt about the former Inverness Royal Academy’s past through a series of online meetings with Wasps’ Heritage Activity Officer, and have seen the other finds from the site, including school milk bottles and Latin homework, as well as had the opportunity to speak to a past pupils online who attended the school in the 1950s.

Alannah Dougherty (P7, Crown Primary School) said: ‘I really enjoyed hearing about what life used to be like and how its changed. I really enjoyed meeting the lady on Google Meet who used to go to Crown years ago – she was really surprised about what Crown looks like now on the inside! I think it’s a good idea to put photos in the time capsule because people will be able to compare and see how things have changed in the future. This means they will know the history of Crown which is really important!

‘It’s a good thing for the time capsule to happen – people will want to know and see what’s changed. In 100 years time I would like life to be Covid free, a greater sense of social justice and equality, life to be full of fun, for people to create new things like inventions and for people to have good imaginations to keep improving life in the future!’

Left to right: Erin Mullen, Alex McKean, Tehreen Ali (photos: Paul Campbell, 2021)

Programme supported by  The National Lottery Heritage Fund