TJ donate rock chalk to aid children’s learning

TJ Transport has donated 30 tonnes of rock chalk to Butser Ancient Farm, for use during visits from local schools as well as to lay as flooring in some of their ancient reconstructed buildings.

The donation consisted of three 10-tonne loads of Butser Rock Chalk, which have been delivered over the past year at the farm’s request. The rock chalk comes from TJ’s Butser Quarry, which is located close to Butser Ancient Farm, a little further up the A3 towards Petersfield.

The chalk is used by school children visiting the farm; they use it for sculpting as the chalk’s properties lend itself to being worked with and sculpted effectively.

Butser Ancient Farm is a unique experimental archaeology site nestled in the South Downs National Park and is open to visitors and education groups throughout the year.

The farm features archaeological reconstructions of ancient buildings from the Stone Age, Iron Age, Roman Britain and the Anglo-Saxon period. The buildings are internationally famous and appear frequently in documentaries and feature films. They also grow crops from prehistory and keep rare breeds of animals, such as goats and sheep.

Hosting school groups at the farm is one of their main activities. They have almost 50 years of teaching experience and welcome over 35,000 school children every year.

The farm staff take pride in tailoring activities to suit the individual needs of each group that visits. They are able to target activities to cover stages of the National Curriculum from KS1 – KS4 and tie in with various subject areas including history, art, design and technology, science and maths.

TJ’s donations of chalk for sculpting and structural improvements have helped improve the buildings and provided valuable materials to facilitate fun activities for the children.

TJ General Manager Luke Haskell said:

“We endeavour to provide assistance to community groups and not-for-profits wherever we can. Butser Ancient Farm is a fascinating place and the fact that our chalk can aid the children’s learning experience is incredible.”

Maureen Page, Butser Ancient Farm Director said:

“We are very grateful to TJ for their very kind donation of local chalk and the support given to the farm. We use the chalk in a variety of ways with the education groups who come to visit Butser, and it is fantastic to be able to be able to talk to them about the local geology and show them the many uses our ancestors had for this important material.”

Find out more about TJ, the work they do in the community and the services they offer.