Gail Lavery and her P5 pupils

Hi there , just a few words to introduce myself and my class.

Largs lies on the west coast of Scotland and is about an hours drive from Glasgow. A popular seaside resort with beautiful views over to Millport and Arran Islands it attracts many visitors.

Kelburn Primary is a totally open plan school with around 300 children. I have a P5 (i.e. 9 ys.) class of 30, and as you know our current project is "Vikings". Saturday 31st August is the start of the Largs Viking festival, a week long celebration of all things Viking! The final touches are just going on a Viking village , where you can sample some traditional Viking food, play Viking games, buy some Viking jewellery or leather work. A mock battle also takes place at the Pencil, the site of the battle of Largs and finally the festival ends with a huge fire-work display. However, the whole event kicks off with a procession through the town, and we will be there in the costumes we made recently as part of an Arts Workshop - Exciting!

PS - As part of our project we would like to contact "Viking" descendants of the Largs raid, initially to get their perspective of the battle and its subsequent effects. Also, we are aware of many instances of Viking influence on our culture - have the Scots had a similar effect on Scandinavian culture?

If any P5 class in Scandinavia (or similar stage) would be happy to write to us, we would be delighted to write back.