A ST Davids teenager has been enjoying work experience with a difference this summer.

Working alongside her mother Margaret, 16 year-old Katherine Brooks has been helping care for some of the historic documents in Pembrokeshire County Council’s Archives and Local Studies centre.

She has been making protective covers for the wax seals found on some of the county’s oldest documents.

In addition Katherine also wrote a brief condition and description for each of the seals to add to the catalogue of information on the collection.

“I found the time with the staff at the archive enjoyable and it gave me the chance to become more familiar with archive work and the documents,” said Katherine.

“Working with documents that date back hundreds of years from our county was a really unique experience.”

The collection that Katherine was working on was part of the Haverfordwest Borough Records. This part of the collection had parchments written with iron gall ink and the seals attached to the earliest document she worked with dated back to 1379.

Katherine, who just finished her studies at Ysgol Dewi Sant, will be leaving Pembrokeshire after the summer holidays to study for her International Baccalaureate at Atlantic College in Llantwit Major. Fittingly, one of her subjects will be history.