Local primary school children have filled a time capsule with objects that symbolise what they love about Manchester, to give Mancunians of the future a flavour of what life in the city is like today.
The Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Naeem Ul-Hassan, and Executive Member for Children's Services, Councillor Afzal Khan, helped the children to fill the time capsule at the Central Library on Thursday 5 July.
The capsule will be buried beneath Library Walk and re-opened in 80 years time (2092). This marks the fact that Manchester's Central Library, currently undergoing refurbishment, will reopen in 2014 - 80 years after it first opened its doors to the public.
It contains 11 items chosen by Manchester children, plus a programme from the Queen's Jubilee visit to Manchester (signed by Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh) and a souvenir handkerchief from the original opening of Central Library in 1934.
The children were presented with prizes at a ceremony in what will become the ground floor exhibition space of the refurbished library. The prizes - a £50 voucher for each child and £100 worth of books for each school - were donated by Laing O'Rourke, NG Bailey Engineering and Ansa Elevators, who are all working in partnership with Manchester City Council on the Town Hall Transformation scheme, which has been ongoing since July 2011.
The 11 winners were selected from around 800 entries, after primary school children from across Manchester were asked to send in ideas for objects that symbolised what they love about the city. An exhibition of the entries will be held in the Central Library when it reopens.
Items chosen to go into the time capsule include Manchester City and Manchester United football shirts, a photograph of the post box which survived the bombing of the city centre in 1996 and a mosaic of the Manchester Bee.
Flora Wood, a Year 6 pupil from Didsbury C of E Primary School, entered a memory stick containing her diary entry from the day, wrapped in a copy of the day's Manchester Evening News. Flora said: "The newspaper will show people in the future what it was like in Manchester in 2012 and the diary entry will tell them what we did every day."
Olympic athletes Fran Leighton and Vicky Bowen (Team GB, women's water polo) and Olympic Torch bearer Claire Dixon spoke to the children before the capsule ceremony and added London 2012-themed items to the time capsule.
Councillor Jeff Smith, Executive Member for Finance, said: "I'd like to congratulate all the children who entered the competition for their excellent and creative ideas. They made it so hard for the judges to select ten winners that in the end, they had to choose 11!
"By the time this capsule is opened in 2092, Manchester will be a very different place, but we are sure that the work we are doing now to transform the Central Library and Town Hall Extension will have benefited many future generations of Mancunians."
Before the ceremony, the children were taken on a special tour of the Town Hall Transformation project. As well as transforming the Central Library into a brighter and more exciting place, with more space available to customers and visitors than ever before, the project will create a new 'one stop' Public Service Hub in the Town Hall Extension, improving the way in which Manchester City Council delivers services to customers.
The winners of the time capsule competition
Chapel Street Primary School, LevenshulmeWilliam Johnston, Year 6 - A picture of the Olympic Torch going through Manchester
Yousaf Mohammad, Year 6 - A Royal Exchange Theatre ticket, plus brochures and posters
Aliyaa Lee, Year 6 - A mosaic of 'the Queen Bee' - the Manchester Bee wearing a crown - representing Manchester in the Diamond Jubilee year
Cheetham Community Academy
Misbah Ayaz, Year 6 - Picture of the post box on Corporation Street that survived the Manchester IRA bombing
Chorlton C of E Primary School
Stanley Cave, Year 5 - Manchester United and Manchester City shirts, representing the city's passion for football
Didsbury C of E Primary School
Flora Wood, Year 5 - A memory stick containing a diary entry from the day, wrapped in a copy of the day's MEN newspaper
St Cuthbert's RC Primary School, Withington
Tyler Standring, Year 6 - A photo of the Town Hall Father Christmas, who comes to Manchester with the Christmas Markets.
St Margaret's C of E Primary School, Whalley Range
Shazma Hussain, Year 4 - A recording of a song she has written about why she loves Manchester
Luke Chanerley, year 4 - Graphene, which was developed in Manchester - the inventors sent in a copy of their Nobel Prize award and signed photos of their Nobel Prize ceremony.
St Mary's C of E Primary School, Moss Side
Phoebe Zarour, Year 3 - A photograph of the inside of the library
St Peter's Catholic Primary School, Newall Green
Alicia Nyanhongo, Year 2 - A photograph of Withington Hospital, 'because it helps my mummy'