CHILDREN from Westbury Church of England School made their own contribution to the restoration of the village’s medieval church.

Seven pupils joined experts from carringtonLIME Heritage Skills Training where they learnt about work to restore the lower section of the bell tower.

The Grade One listed Church of St Mary, St Peter and St Paul is some 700-years-old.

The Year Six learnt about the skills needed to help conserve old buildings and the local materials used to build the tower.

They also made their own lime mixes and helped to carry out some pointing work.

Master plasterer Ben Kerslake from carringtonLIME also demonstrated “slaking” lime.

Slaking is the process of adding water to quicklime which creates a chemical reaction which turns powdered quicklime into a lime putty.

The children also buried a time capsule in the wall.

Mr Kerslake said: “It was fantastic to be able to demonstrate heritage skills and hopefully inspire the next generation of heritage crafts people.

“With such a shortage of people entering the industry, its important to showcase career options as early as possible – and I must say, they all did a fantastic job.”

Year Six pupil Noah said:“It was interesting to find out about the natural materials and how they are better for the environment than modern materials.”

A spokesman for the company said: “Thank you for the Diocese of Gloucester for allowing the children to help with the repairs, and to the staff at Westbury on Severn Church of England Primary School for bringing the children along.

To find out more about how you can learn the art of lime pointing, visit www. carringtonlime.co.uk

carringtonLIME is a community interest company based at The Stenders Business Centre in Mitcheldean.