Students Celebrate Workers from Halton’s History with The Bleach Packers Project

Creative and Performing Arts students from Cronton Sixth Form helped to re-imagine iconic workers from Halton’s past by taking part in ‘The Bleach Packers’ project, using holographic video and augmented reality images to bring the workers to life.

The bleach packers were hard working heroes of the Widnes and Runcorn chemical industry who created vital alkali for the UK and beyond.

In collaboration with lead artist Lou Chapelle and local creatives, the exciting project featured performances by Cronton Dance students, costumes by Fashion students, audio from Music students, and promotion/AR from Business students.

The large-scale public projection display was part of the Celebrating Halton’s Heritage project and was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of Halton’s Borough of Culture 2021 celebrations. It was displayed throughout Halton in January 2022.

Sharon Graham, Head of Creative and Performing Arts at Cronton and also the choreographer for the project’s performances, said, “This was a really fantastic project for our students as not only did they learn something about the history of the area that they study in but they also had the opportunity to work with professional artists and with different creative approaches, such as creating dance for the camera as opposed to live performance. The students all worked on the project outside of college hours and I am extremely proud of their dedication and commitment.”