Broads School A, Walk 2

Class 3: To the park, taking in Ferry Road en route

From the main road (Lower Street) we head down Ferry Road to look at the river. Many of the children remark that they come along the Ferry Road to buy chips, although the fish and chip shop is seasonal. There is a play area at the pub here that several of them like to come to; one boy says they come here to play each Friday.

We pass a boatyard on the way and one girl points at what looks like a mould for a boat and remarks: ‘look at that boat! It is not even painted. I think it is mud or mould,’ I ask ‘What is it doing there? What do they do at this boatyard?’ A boy responds: ‘That is where people hire them, and there is if you walk up here … um near the river um … there there are some lakes and stuff.’

The river is very important to the children for sailing, which is a major pastime in the community. "We love to go on boats"; "usually I just capsize!" Some children also talk about it as important for fishing: "I like to go fishing for pike and perch"; "I like pole fishing". One boy says: ‘I just sit there think about boats and when the Missisippi comes past I just wave at the people on it.’ He explains that the Mississippi ‘…is like a massive boat. It is like a cruiser.’ Another interjects: ‘and is has like an engine like paddle thing.’ This paddle steamer that they are referring to is a popular visitor attraction that is used for events such as wedding celebrations and so on. It brings a large number of visitors to the village.

The Teaching Assistant (TA) asks: ‘what did they used to do on the Broads that they don't do now?’ One boy responds: ‘oh yeah, people swam in the Broads.’ The TA continues: ‘What else did they do? my granddad talks about what they used to do on the Broads that they don't do now because of the changing climate.

When it iced over, they used to ice skate on it. Yeah,they used to ice skate on the Broads. Expressions of surprise from all sides!

She goes on: ‘And they used to take cars out on it!’ This really does surprise the kids (and us!). She goes on to tell us that her grandfather has a photograph of his car on the Broads that he is fond of showing people.

There is a drainage mill by the ferry. Some of the children have a good awareness of the role of drainage mills, and one girl explains to me how a drainage mill is different to a “farmers’ mill”. However not all children are aware of its role as the following exchange illustrates: I ask the girl and boy that I am walking with: ‘Do you see the windmill down there, have you been in there?’ She responds: ‘no, um not yet.’ I continue: ‘What do you think it is used for?’ Neither child knows and I continue to probe and they mention grain storage so we talk briefly about the role of drainage in the landscape. For these two children this information comes as a surprise. I ask the children how things might change 100 years in the future. One remarks that there might be "more secure fences" [around the marina]; another suggests: ‘a couple of months ago the wind was really strong and no-one could go on it, so if no-one could go on it it will be filled in.’

Back on Lower Street, we walk past the liable to flooding sign, and I ask about this. Some of the children have memories of flooding here last March – "The cars have to wade through". Another says: ‘That is really bad there, the whole road got flooded and all the cars were way deep. Another boy interjects: ‘And at Ludham wide gates, it got really flooded.’ This recent flooding event has clearly been quite significant for them, leaving memories that they recount enthusiastically.

We walk along the shady pathway which the children call “the dark alleyway” and towards the park. As we walk one boy recalls that this is a place he loved to play: ‘When I was little I used to go skid down here, I used to go wheeyyy through the mud! I used to go skid down here when I was little. I used to go running down there. This is where Tom lives. Tom's house is down here, Tom's house is a mansion.’

As we continue wandering along they tell us about whose house is whose and it is clear that they have a good idea of the layout of the village based on the places where their friends live.

On reaching the park, we ask about them playing here; there's a lot of hesitation before they answer, and all they say is that the equipment is new and that they like to play football here. They mention rugby tackles and table tennis: ‘I play table tennis, I am the champion of tennis.’

On leaving the park we go down the stairs leading from the park to the Lower Street. It seems that very few of the children have actually used these stairs; ‘Are we going down the Steep Steps?’ one asks. Others comment on how steep they are. One girl says "I don't like going down here", but then a boy says that he tried to take his bike down there. This is met by surprise and disbelief by another: "You should only do that if you have the best bike in the world".

The steps lead straight onto the road at the bottom. There is no footpath. This makes it quite a dangerous procedure and it is likely that this is why the children do not use them very often. We have to marshal them across the road very carefully. This is in fact a feature of life for these children in this village, the lack of footpaths does severely restrict their independent movement around the village and this is commented on by both children and adults on the walks with us.

There is some talk of riding and scooting around the village. Much of this is does in the summer time and one girl comments: ‘Yeah, I TRIED TO go up the stairs once, it was fun. It is with my mom and my brother, sometimes my friends but mostly with my family, my brother is younger.’

We head along the road and back towards the school, past the new houses at Petersfield which we're told were built "2 years ago". What was there before? "just trees". The Teaching Assistant knows that that the Petersfield Hotel was previously on this site, and that's what gives it its name, and they're interested to note that the children weren’t aware of this.