Why has Robert
Brown got a job as manager of
Ultra Electronics Engineering on the Towers Business Park?
The mystery ‘Why has Robert Brown got a job as manager
of Ultra Electronics Engineering on the Towers Business Park’ is set in
Rugeley, an ex-mining town in south Staffordshire, on the edge of Cannock
Chase, AONB. Birmingham is 22 miles to the south and Stafford 9 miles to
the north-west. Rugeley’s most prominent feature is its power station.
Rugeley grew quickly in the 1950’s and 60’s, designated an Expanding
Town, for West Midlands’ overspill and together with other towns in
south Staffordshire saw the in-migration of mining families from Poland,
Scotland and the North-East of England.
The mystery can be used as a stand alone exercise which
looks at factors affecting industrial location and industrial change. At
Fair Oak High School it was used following a fieldwork visit to the local
industrial estate and the site of the ex-mine, where some new factories
have recently been built. What we have done in this exercise is use the
local context. We have used a local company name and the name of the local
business park and intertwined it with the recent economic and social
history of Rugeley.
To find a useful map of Rugeley use Multimap.
By going to a scale of 1 to 50,000, you will be able to see the power
station and the land adjacent to the south-west is where the colliery use
to be and where the new factories are being built.
Download
the mystery cards here, print them off, cut them up and let the pupils
sort them into those which are relevant triggers and those which are
background information and less significant to the question. Edit the
cards and create and mystery to illustrate industrial change in your
neighbourhood! Send your contribution to kate.russell@staffordshire.gov.uk.
You will be fully acknowledged.
Please also see the aerial
photo activity based on Rugeley Power Station.
Questions or problems regarding this
web site should be directed to
kate.russell@staffordshire.gov.uk
Copyright © 2007 [QLS Staffordshire County Council]
This page last updated 17 December 2003 |
