EXCITED pupils at a Swindon primary school eagerly started a project that will bring the town's past to life.

Pensioners who worked on projects including Swindon's Easiform housing will share their memories of the town in education workshops with 90 Year 4 pupils from Goddard Park Primary School.

Michael Knight, 83, said: “I was based in the office on Whitbourne Avenue, arriving out of the army in 1962. I was out on site measuring houses all over Swindon.

“They built around 17,000 houses in Swindon, not just in Walcot but in Penhill, Park North and Park South too.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what questions the pupils ask and speaking to them about my time there. It’s nice to know that some of them live in the houses I worked on.”

The school was picked because the 4,000th and 5,000th Easiform houses were both within walking distance and the school has worked with Historic England in the past.

The workshops are part of a nationwide engagement programme about newly-unearthed photographs from the John Laing construction company that date as far back as 1948.

Swindon is one of four main sites picked to be part of the project.

Project lead Ciaran Davis said: “The archive digitising work is very technical so these workshops really bring the project to life.

“The questions from the youngsters have been great, a mixture of interesting and funny.

“They get a lot out of meeting the workers, especially engineer Helen Russell, who is inspiring young girls to join what is quite a male-dominated industry.”

Helen said: “It’s great to work with schools on this project. It’s good to have role models for young girls to show that it’s possible for them to get into this job.”

The John Laing Collection: Breaking New Ground project will launch in November and last for 21 months, organised by Historic England with support from the John Laing Charitable Trust.

Alex Finkenrath from the trust said: “It’s nice to have these archives at our fingertips and be able to use them for education. It’s brilliant to have intergenerational interaction and see the youngsters learning about their locality.”