Students from China visit Hopetown Darlington
On Friday (11th July) Hopetown welcomed a group of ninety school students from China coming to explore the story of the world’s first commercial railway in the Stockton and Darlington Railway’s 200th year. The students, from schools in the cities of Baoding and Qinhuangdao in Hebei Province, Northern China had a special reason to visit - their province is home to China’s own first commercial railway, inspired by the success of the Stockton and Darlington. Proof, if needed, that Darlington is where the world changed.
The visit was part of a school exchange organised by the Hebei International School Partnership which had seen students spend time in schools in the North East before leaving Darlington to visit York, Coventry, Oxford and London.
The group was joined by Councillor Chris McEwan, Deputy Leader of Darlington Borough Council, Mike Crawshaw, the Head of Culture and Heritage, and Niall Hammond, Chairman of the Friends of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Two schools involved in the Partnership programme, Wensleydale School (Leyburn) and Teesdale School (Barnard Castle) were also represented for the morning visit where students enjoyed the Experiment! 4D immersive experience, the numerous photo opportunities around the site, and the ‘STEAM to the Future’ exhibition that had only opened that very morning. The ice cream offerings on site were also much appreciated with the weather proving unseasonably hot by local standards but average for Hebei!