BARONS Quay is counting down to its fifth birthday with a time capsule campaign that will encourage local people to reflect on the town’s past, present and future.

For the next eight months the shopping centre will be collecting artefacts to go inside a new time capsule, which will be buried in November to mark the fifth anniversary of the centre opening.

Throughout the project, Barons Quay will be reaching out to local residents, schools, businesses and community groups to participate and provide content for the historical piece.

Organisers are hoping that the capsule will remain buried for 30 years, providing some interesting information for people in 2051.

Barons Quay officially opened on the November 28 2016 with 1,400 jobs being created for local people as part of the regeneration project.

Since then a further 14 units have opened including H&M, River Island and Sports Direct, the Centre attracted over 18 million visits between 2016-2020 and continues to have ambitious plans for the future.

Centre Manager at Barons Quay, Lina Higuita said: "We hope that over the next few months we will gather some interesting items for the time capsule that will reflect on the strange and difficult times we have been living in as well as looking ahead to what the future will hold, so that we have some thought provoking content for people to find in 30 years’ time.

"We will be launching several activities that will engage local people and provide us with digital and hard copy content that will go inside the capsule.

"We welcome and encourage contributions from people of ages and backgrounds to ensure that we cover a range of topics and experiences, with all items being displayed ahead of the burial - I can’t wait to see what we discover."

Cabinet Member for Inclusive Growth, Economy & Regeneration, Cllr Richard Beacham said: "This is a great opportunity for our communities to get involved, particularly at a time when people have been confined to their homes due to the pandemic.

"We want the capsule to hold interesting and intriguing items that will provide a historic reference to what is going on now and that will be fascinating to those opening it up in 30 years’ time.

"In the past five years, the council has worked hard to attract new tenants to Barons Quay and will continue to do so going forward.

"We hope to be able to share more exciting news with residents, soon."