KIDDERMINSTER’S carpet museum has “come alive” after hosting its first school visit.

On Tuesday, year 5 pupils from Holy Trinity International School were given a tour of the museum and took part in several activities, learning about the carpet industry.

After opening the Museum of Carpet last month, bosses said one of its primary aims was to have an educational aspect and host school field trips.

Jo Powell, Holy Trinity creative arts co-ordinator, said she would be encouraging the rest of her school to visit the Stour Vale Mill, Green Street-based museum.

“We were absolutely stunned by the quality of the exhibitions,”

she said. “It is a really valuable resource in our local community and we need to educate all the children about the history of the carpet trade.

“We had been learning about the industrial revolution and when we heard the museum was opening we thought we have to go there. We could have stayed there all day because there was so much to do and see. It was really educational.”

The youngsters were able to see the museum’s Wilton-Jacquard and Spool Axminster looms in action and heard a talk from museum historian Melvyn Thompson.

Other highlights included designing carpet patterns on one of the museum’s touch-screen computers.

Museum manager Paula Kovacs said: “It made the museum come alive. There was energy in here, which is very exciting. This is a very important aspect of the museum.

“We want more schools to visit and we have an open session for primary school teachers to come along to next Wednesday and give us feedback because it is really important we are able to give schools what they need.”

Meanwhile, the museum has announced the winners of it young designer competition held during half-term.

The under-eights winner was Olivia Davies, 6, of Kidderminster and the eight to 16 category was won by eight-year-old Victoria Herbert, from Southampton.