Fen School A, Walk 1

This walk, with 10 of the children from Years 5-6 (ages 9-11) and a teacher, took us to the Recreation Ground, back through the village and out to the River Great Ouse.

Our request outside the school that the children tell us what they know about the village and how it's changed immediately prompts a series of remarks about the buildings along Main Street and how they've changed. In particular, they have learned through their school’s relationship with the village’s (Church of England) church about changes during its history. As we pass the church, a girl explains to me, “That church is really old – older than Victorian, older than Tudor – it used to be more colourful, the Tudors smashed it up, then the Victorians put coloured glass in”. Several of the children point out the old pub and old post office, both now converted to private housing. Outside the old post office, one girl says “my mum used to get sweets there”; however, although there is an awareness of history through family, there is nevertheless some confusion about chronology and the relative ages of buildings in the village – pointing out the post box (a Queen Elizabeth II-era postbox) she adds that it's “the oldest thing in the village”.

Next, we reach the playpark at the top of Cowslip Drive, an important place for the children, all of whom have played here and several of whom play here every day after school. We are told that the playground has been here for a while, but there are new playthings, put in “about 2012”; indicating that the playground itself is older than they are, another girl tells us “I know quite a bit about it because my mum used to live here and she tells me about a few things that were here and that she played on, like the swing”.

We reach the Recreation Ground; the children abbreviate Recreation Ground, (although notably, when planning out routes in the classroom, they uniformly spelled the abbreviation as ‘Wreck’ rather than ‘Rec’). “We call it the wreck cos its really big and lots of people come here”; many of the children are familiar with the preschool located here, either having been there or having siblings who went there. They tell us that the new building here dates from 2010.

One of the boys says he takes his dog for walks here: “my dog stands on the red thing over there – its a roller”; we go over to inspect the area by the roller - “there's always a lot of rubbish”, and we find a football. Although the site is an important place of play for the children who live in the village, there are some concerns about safety here, and these have been communicated to the children by parents. “My mum told me a man always used to sit on a bench over there with his dog and he was a drug dealer. His dog attacked a smaller dog. That's why she doesn't like me going here.” One of the boys also remarks “this is where it all got flooded”, though can't recall exactly when, except that the flooding took place in the last few years.

We stand in silence for a minute with eyes closed, and then ask the children what they sensed. The children heard birds, cars, and the sound of a chainsaw which they identified as the tree surgeon; they felt leaves (underfoot) and the air against their cheeks. We ask them what they smell, but they don’t suggest any particular smells. One girl volunteers that it’s “just fresh really”.

We go down the footpath from the Wreck back to Main Street, along behind what we are told are “some rich people's gardens”; in the small patch of woods on this path, but it’s only after some prompting (from the teacher with us) that one of the girls does comment “I do play here sometimes”.

Along Main Street again, we pass by a building identified as a former pub, the Three Horseshoes. One girl tells us that she learned from her parents that there “used to be ponds” in this location. We turn into Holt Fen; the same girl continues that “this is where a snake died, where the concrete changes colour. It literally crawled there and died.” We're passing the Chapel and I ask her whether she's ever been there; she tells me that she attends Girls Brigade, which used to take place in the chapel before it was relocated. Girls Brigade is now hosted in the church. She goes there each year as part of the “Bethlehem to Nazareth walk” between the church and the chapel. Breaking off from talking about the church, she points out that one of the gardens along the road has wellies for plantpots.

At the village green: “It's muddy, and it reminds me of when we got stuck – I got stuck then I lifted my foot and one of my wellies got left in there, then Poppy [their dog] got stuck, then my mum came and she got stuck.” One boy points out his old goal posts on the village green, which he leaves out there permanently so that he and other children can play football.

Another girl comments on the sun: “it's so different in December, it's so low”. She tells me that she comes past the railway regularly and that there used to be a man who opened and closed the barrier, though now it’s self-operated. “I come here to walk my dog; sometimes I just come here to look for stuff.” She remarks that it's a shame she can't find any fossils on the walk today. We ask what kind of fossils. “Cow fossils? Body fossils?” As we're going past a ditch, we ask her what it's for: “it's there so someone can get pushed in.”

We reach the River and climb up onto the bank. Notably, some of the children call the bank of the river “the hill”, although when asked they know it’s a manmade bank. Here by the river, we do the sensory exercise again: the children say they heard crickets and different species of birds, and a banging that they identified as that of a bird scarer. They feel the sun and the fresh air.

We also take the opportunity here to ask what the term “fen” means to them. For one child it’s very specific: “the road I live on” (which has fen in the name). Others point to its natural characteristics; “wild” and “flat”, and that it’s been around for a long time. There seems to be limited awareness of the history of the changing landscape and of drainage. During this conversation one girl points along the river and calls out “There’s the cathedral” [Ely Cathedral].

It is now time to turn to head back to the school, but at least one of the boys is eager to stay walking and “go along the muddy bank”. He stands wistfully at the fence poking his wellies through.