ST. ANDREW’S PARK’S PROUD HSITORY COMMEMORATED BY LOCAL COMMUNITY WITH TIME CAPSULE BURIAL AT HISTORIC BUNKER

School children, teachers, community representatives and the RAF came together today with VINCI St. Modwen, the development partners at St. Andrew’s Park, to seal their memories of 2015 and the RAF Uxbridge’s rich history in a time capsule that was buried on site to one day be shared with a future generation.

The group represented a range of the wider community in Uxbridge as they commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and celebrated a new community that is being built on site.

The time capsule burial was organised by VINCI St. Modwen which is redeveloping the former RAF Uxbridge, building 1,300 new homes, an extension of the town centre including offices and retail, as well as a 45-acre public park, theatre and museum.
Pupils from the John Locke Academy showed how much they appreciated their new school within St. Andrew’s Park by enclosing a photograph of themselves jumping for joy.

Some of the pupils at St. Bernadette’s School drew pictures of the celebrations held at their school on VE Day. One pupil made a model spitfire, another made the news into a colourful bunting, while three pupils proved they really were children of the “noughties” by submitting their entries on disks and memory stick.

Many of the school children had written letters to “people of the future”, describing the major news events of the year such as the Conservatives winning the general election, Chelsea winning the Premier League and the birth of Princess Charlotte, some even detailing their favourite pastimes such as playing football and computer games.

Meanwhile St. Abbotsfield School donated a school tie, school badge and the Year 11 yearbook complete with photographs and good luck messages.

St Andrew’s Church of England Primary School put together a book called “Life in 2015”. They were keen to let the future residents of St. Andrew’s Park know that they owned up to date technology items such as tablets, apple ipod touches and Samsung Galaxy phones.

Nandita Joshi and Sivitha Sivakumar, both 13 , from Swakleys School, wrote an account of their daily lives which will no doubt prove fascinating reading in the future.
And the volunteers of RAF donated a slate coaster from the officers’ mess at RAF Uxbridge as well as a plotting block from the Operations Room table.

The Battle of Britain Bunker, which lies in Boris Johnson’s constituency, has made headlines recently as George Osborne promised more than £1 million towards a new visitors centre.

St. Modwen has also been playing its part, renovating the briefing room in the Battle of Britain bunker, which was badly damaged after flooding last year.

Tim Seddon, St. Modwen’s Regional Director for London and the South East said: “This has been a fantastic way of bringing together elements of the past, present and future on site. The heritage of RAF Uxbridge is tremendously important and we wanted to involve local people in recognising that and in our exciting plans for the future of St. Andrew’s Park.”