YOUNGSTERS are using a different kind of memory stick to preserve recollections of their school days.

Rather than using a small computer storage device they are harking back to an older tradition.

A project at Durham Cathedral is inviting Year Six pupils at local primary schools, who are moving up to secondary school after the holidays, to make Native American journey sticks and flags as part of their leaving celebrations.

Pam Stewart, who leads the sessions, said: “The idea comes from the Native Americans who collected things on their journeys and tied them to a stick.

“The stick was used as a memory aide to re-tell their journey later to other tribe members.”

Some of the sessions have been held on Durham Cathedral’s riverbanks following the annual Year Six leaving ceremonies and some are being run as outreach workshops at schools in the area.

Ms Stewart said: “We thought it would be a great way for the pupils to attach memories of their time in school to objects that they tie to their very own journey sticks. “

She added: “We hope that by making the sticks they can look back on some very special years in their lives and remember them.”