Pupils from Distington Community School took a scientific trip back in time.

The children were attending an Atomic Day held at the Beacon Museum in Whitehaven.

It is part of a two-year Heritage Lottery Funded project, entitled ‘Cumbria’s Atomic Story – a Fusion of People and Place’.

The scheme is led by Prism Arts and supported by the museum, Sellafield Ltd and National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL).

Ali McCaw, Prism Arts’ lead artist, said: “This day marks the beginning of a new exciting two-year project.

“We have started by looking at the Cumbrian scientist John Dalton.

“We then leapt through time right up to the 1950s and the arrival of the nuclear industry in West Cumbria.

“We’re very fortunate to work with two local schools, with some of the children’s parents actually working in the nuclear sector.

“It’s a very exciting project.

“It will culminate in an atomic performance and exhibition at the Beacon Museum in two years’ time.”

Throughout the day children were introduced to a whole host of scientific facts and knowledge, through workshops run by Sellafield Ltd and NNL.

Margaret Crichton, senior teaching assistant at Distington Community School, said: “The kids have been dying to get stuck in.

“It’s a very important subject in West Cumbria.

“Some of the kids who are here today may well be employed in the nuclear industry in the future.”

Pupil Derren Lynch, nine, said: “It was really fun.

“We got to make a boat out of a card and straws and we had to make sure it was protected against a tsunami.

“That was my favourite part, seeing if the boat would sink.”