"Alan White" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:21:19 -0600, David Buttery
wrote:

When I first went to school (in 1980) the *vast* majority of pupils
walked, and most of those walked unaccompanied by their parents. My
family had one car, and my dad used it to go to work, so I got a lift
only very rarely (even in 1981-2!). In larger towns, fewer families had
cars at all, and almost everyone got a bus to school.

The school I attended from 1948 to 1953 was just over a mile from home.
There was no public transport, no school bus, my parents had no car and
so I walked. When I learnt to ride a bike (I was a late developer), I
cycled. Bad weather never closed the school.


Bike, you had a bike, you were lucky, when I was a lad ...

Will.
--

"Alan White" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:21:19 -0600, David Buttery
wrote:

When I first went to school (in 1980) the *vast* majority of pupils
walked, and most of those walked unaccompanied by their parents. My
family had one car, and my dad used it to go to work, so I got a lift
only very rarely (even in 1981-2!). In larger towns, fewer families had
cars at all, and almost everyone got a bus to school.

The school I attended from 1948 to 1953 was just over a mile from home.
There was no public transport, no school bus, my parents had no car and
so I walked. When I learnt to ride a bike (I was a late developer), I
cycled. Bad weather never closed the school.

I frequently think that we're progressing backwards.


I'm not sure that it is solely the conditions that cause the schools to be
closed. I suspect that it is the compensation culture and the chance of
parents sueing if their child slips on the ice that has a lot to do with it.

I remember the winter of 1963, i had to walk to school a couple of miles
through the snow and we played football on the school playing fields.No
schools where shut then, perhaps its where there is a blame culture and
the prospect of being sued has made shutting schools the norm these
day.Also on the way home from school i did slip over and break my
arm,now that was a long wait to get patched up. But i stil went back to
school the following day.

regards

clive

"Clive" wrote in message
. ..

I remember the winter of 1963, i had to walk to school a couple of miles
through the snow and we played football on the school playing fields.No
schools where shut then, perhaps its where there is a blame culture and
the prospect of being sued has made shutting schools the norm these
day.Also on the way home from school i did slip over and break my
arm,now that was a long wait to get patched up. But i stil went back to
school the following day.

regards

clive

You played football, I bet you had boots as well, you were lucky, when I was a
lad ...

Will.
--

On Feb 10, 7:35 pm, "Will Hand" wrote:


You played football, I bet you had boots as well, you were lucky, when I was a
lad ...

Will.
--

".....when I WERE a lad", Will, for heavens sake. You're
not from t'north then?

Tudor Hughes.

I remember the winter of 1963, i had to walk to school a
couple of miles
through the snow and we played football on the school playing
fields.No
schools where shut then, perhaps its where there is a blame
culture and
the prospect of being sued has made shutting schools the norm
these
day.Also on the way home from school i did slip over and break
my
arm,now that was a long wait to get patched up. But i stil
went back to
school the following day.

I remember that winter too.There was so much snow that we
couldn't use the playing fields for whatever the current method
of torture was - probably hockey that term, but it might have
been lacrosse - and instead had to go and play in the snow!
Almost a whole term free of silly team ball games. Bliss!

Anne
Fochabers

David Buttery wrote:

I think it's worth defending some of the education authorities over the
last couple of days, since it seems to me that *some* of the complaints
are from people whose thoughts appear to come from 1977, not 2007...

When I first went to school (in 1980) the *vast* majority of pupils
walked, and most of those walked unaccompanied by their parents. My
family had one car, and my dad used it to go to work, so I got a lift
only very rarely (even in 1981-2!). In larger towns, fewer families had
cars at all, and almost everyone got a bus to school.

Many things have changed in a quarter of a century:

1) More parental choice over where to send their children
2) Many more families with multiple cars
3) The widespread closure of small schools (rural and urban)
4) Poorer public transport provision
5) Worries about the safety of children out alone

Put all those together, and you're left with a nation in which most
eight-year-olds get taken on the "school run" every single day. (Thus
making the roads even more unsafe for walking, but that's another
argument!) Many now live so far from their schools that they *couldn't*
walk there even if they wanted to.

The desirability or otherwise of this isn't really the point. What *is*
the point is that *given current lifestyle patterns* 10cm of snow is
inevitably going to cause *far* more difficulty in travelling to and from
school than it did thirty years ago, simply because it is much, much
harder to get to a snowy school under one's own steam than it was.


One of the afternoon entertainments in a local pub is watching the queues of
cars taking children home from school. Many of the kids live within a
ten-minute walk of the school. You see cars exiting a side junction onto a
dangerous bend with the occasional driver having one hand on the wheel and
the other holding a mobile to their ear - all in the need to keep the
children safe!

--
Graham P Davis
Bracknell, Berks., UK
Send e-mails to "newsman" as mails to "newsboy" are ignored.

"Graham P Davis" wrote in message
...



One of the afternoon entertainments in a local pub is watching the queues
of
cars taking children home from school. Many of the kids live within a
ten-minute walk of the school. You see cars exiting a side junction onto a
dangerous bend with the occasional driver having one hand on the wheel and
the other holding a mobile to their ear - all in the need to keep the
children safe!

I live directly opposite a primary school and if I happen to be
off work and at home the normally quiet and peaceful road is
transformed at 3.30pm into a narrow road clogged with 4x4s
and people carriers.
Why can't these kids walk?
--
Col

Bolton, Lancashire
160m asl

"Col" wrote in message

Why can't these kids walk?

Because the roads aren't safe -- too many Chelsea tractors racing around
dropping off kids! ;-)

"Simon Bennett" wrote in message
...

"Col" wrote in message

Why can't these kids walk?

Because the roads aren't safe -- too many Chelsea tractors racing around
dropping off kids! ;-)


Preeee-cisely!
Catch 22!
--
Col

Bolton, Lancashire
160m asl