Time travelling children meet borehole engineers drilling into Scarborough’s past

Children from a Scarborough primary school recently stepped out of the classroom to join Yorkshire Water at one of its borehole sites, to learn about Scarborough’s past and the utility’s plans for the future of the town's wastewater network. 

Since August, Yorkshire Water, alongside contract partner MMB, have been drilling deep beneath the streets of the seaside resort to learn more about underground conditions. The information gathered will aid decisions on the best way to make improvements in a £150m transformation of Scarborough’s wastewater network. 

Core samples have been extracted from as deep as 80m underground at a number of boreholes across Scarborough – one just yards from the playground at Gladstone Road Primary.  

With the children so close, Yorkshire Water arranged a visit to allow over 80 Year 4 pupils to take a look at the samples – some of which suggest Scarborough could have once been surrounded by ancient forests or even been on the seabed.  

A boulder found at the site by the engineers is thought to have come all the way from Scotland, perhaps transported to Yorkshire by an ancient glacier. 

Pupils were also given the opportunity to see examples of fossilised animals that might have existed in their town in the dinosaur era.  

Alix Brown, assistant head at Gladstone Road Primary, said: “The children had an amazing time and were fascinated by the opportunity to handle real fossils and rock samples from beneath our local area.  

“They learnt so much about how Scarborough has changed over millions of years, and it was wonderful to see their excitement as they discovered more about the world beneath their feet. 

“It was a fantastic opportunity to bring their learning to life, and we are incredibly grateful to Yorkshire Water and their team for making the visit possible.” 

Steven Parsley, a coastal education advisor at Yorkshire Water, added: “Importantly, the visit gave us an opportunity to talk to the children about what we’re doing in the town, and why we’re likely to be here for a while. We’re hopeful that we’ll have the opportunity to engage with more schools throughout our upcoming programme of works, giving children hands-on lessons about water, wastewater, and geology.” 

Yorkshire Water is continuing to investigate and plan Scarborough’s wastewater and surface water project. Whilst the boreholes are helping to inform planned infrastructure changes, Yorkshire Water is also looking at sustainable drainage solutions and nature-based solutions to help improve capacity in the network, with the added benefit of reducing the likelihood of localised flooding.   

To stay up to date with the project, customers can visit www.yorkshirewater.com/investing-in-yorkshire/investing-in-scarborough.     

The work in Scarborough forms part of Yorkshire Water’s £8.3bn investment programme by 2030, set to improve customer service, reduce its impact on the environment, and upgrade infrastructure across the region.