PARTS of Bude have been transported back in time as one resident took a novel approach to exploring the town’s history.
Bethany Lauder, who lives in Week St Mary, has been reframing parts of Bude in an effort to teach her children about the town’s past.
Bethany and her partner home school their children, and as part of their education have been trying to expand their knowledge of the place they live and areas they have visited.
Speaking to the Post, Bethany explained: “As we home school, my children get to choose what they would like to learn about for their topics. This year we have started trying to explore more of Cornwall and the children were interested in the history of the places we’ve visited. We have visited Tintagel, Rocky Valley, Bude Castle and many more places.
“We thought we would expand on our knowledge, by learning more about the history of Bude itself.”
As part of their history lessons, Bethany has been providing a window into the Bude of years gone by. Taking old pictures of the town and lining them up with today’s modern landscape.
The images provide a glimpse into the past but also provide an insight into how parts of the town have changed.
She continued: “We did a Google search and found many old pictures of Bude.”
After finding spots they recognised, Bethany and her children had the difficult task of capturing the past and present spots at the perfect perspective – not as easy as it might sound.
“Then came the challenge of exploring Bude and trying to match up the old photographs with the current times,” she said. “It was cool to see that some things had not changed yet others had. For example, Tommys Pit was untouched, but Crooklets had been developed and gained a skatepark and a carpark.”
Providing a unique insight into the local area, Bethany said that the project was met with a very positive reaction by her children.
“The children loved exploring and learning more about the history as we walked around. They also got the opportunity last year to meet with Deb Rosser at the Seapool in Bude, who taught them, and lots of other home schooled children, about the history of the Seapool. It’s amazing to see how open the community are to help home schoolers learn more about their environment. Other examples of these are the 2 Minute Beach Clean and Bude Refill shop who have also previously offered home educating workshops and sessions.”
While her children were impressed, after posting her work on social media, the local community has also marvelled at Bethany’s work.
One resident said: “Well done. Those kids will grow up perhaps to be guardians of this place and the more they know, understand, and appreciate about their home the better guardians they could be of what makes it what it is for everyone who knows.”
While another added: “Brilliant idea, and so good to see then and now comparisons. Not an awful lot has changed too drastically either!”
