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| Carlton Bank |
Carlton Bank where a young life met a tragic end. Today there will be adults who face the experience of being culpable for taking a group of young children on a forest walk. I do not envy them, feel sad for the parents who have lost their young daughter and we all will wait to see what the outcome will be.
You can see from the terrain, how easily it would have happened, the straight sides with hardly any vegetation cover. The persistent rain we have been having loosening the soil.
My grand daughter is a scout's leader. She has been on many a walk with the Beavers, and when on a trip supervising them, alongside other adults. She comforts them through homesickness, throwing up, the coaches always breaking down (they do) but on the whole keeping the children safe on an adventure.
I remember my daughter going on one such trip, she managed to fall out of a top bunk and cracked her jaw, So she was brought home to our local hospital. It is scary.
One moment our children are there, the next going on a school trip to France or somewhere under the guidance of teachers and helpers. Perhaps it was a foolish decision by the leader of the group to take children on this walk, all will be revealed in an enquiry but children need adventures in the end, even if it means getting lost on Dartmoor and as a child who roamed freely and had adventures I would ask for compassion in the judgement of the people who look after our children.
I agree about taking children for walks. There is an element of danger in everything we do and children need to learn how to avoid danger, which they won't do in their bedrooms staring at a screen. Having said that, if there was fault by the adult, then so be it. Regardless, it is sad.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that it is called Carlton Bank. The only time I hear the name Bank used is in reference to a train going up a steep (for trains) hill, and they are often called Banks.
Well reading Sarah's reply below Andrew you will see that there is an enormous effort into making sure children are safe when taken on an outing. So we must wait and see what happened in what looks like a natural but unfortunate accident.
DeleteLooked up the 'why' of the meaning of bank, in archaeology it is bank and ditch, the soil from the ditch creates the bank. But apparently in Yorkshire they use the term slightly different. I know of one such place Sutton Bank which has a long, almost vertical drop into Lake Gormire.
It is clearly a terrible unfortunate accident and one feels so much sorrow and sympathy for all concerned. But I am sure that all safety protocols were in place - they have to be. Even in my days of leading walks for Guildford Borough Council (I was already super-vetted as I worked as a theatre chaperone for children) I had to do walk the day before and submit a written report highlighting any dangers - stuff like wobbly stiles, cows in fields, crossing a road with limited visibility. My daughter was on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition in the New Forest one weekend in May and a bridge collapsed due to extreme heavy rainfall killing a woman travelling by car. The expedition was immediately suspended, the children (sixth form age) were told to shelter in their bivouac bags and eventually they were all collected by the teacher in charge driving the school minibus and taken to McDonald’s. K’s summing up: The New Forest is one gigantic bog! Sarah in Sussex
ReplyDeleteThere are accidents already happening here with teenagers drowning because of foolishly swimming in the rivers but they of course are unsupervised Sarah. Our countryside is on the whole safe as long as you know what you are doing and where you are going. Many more people are out and about which makes more work for mountain rescue people. It was just a tragic accident.
DeleteWe are always complaining about H&S going mad, but putting cork surfaces under swings etc. is not a bad thing. Some nursery schools walk around town here with the children linked together with tape, wearing hi-viz jackets. I pity the teacher who was in charge of that outing and I pity the parents too.
ReplyDeleteI expect they are nursery children Tom, known for suddenly darting off without warning. But the H&S rulings are very strict now very different to our childhood days, especially with all the cars around.
ReplyDeleteIn my teaching days the First Year Tutor and I used to take the first years on a trip to London every year. We did it although both of us were well aware of the dangers (first year Comprehensive) - the same itinerary which we knew off be heart after a couple of years -down the Thames to look round The Tower, back on the tube, a look at Buckingham Palace, a walk and a relax in the Park and then back on the train to home (Wolverhampton). The tube was akways the highlight, followed by the boat on the Thames. Everyone was eating their packed lunch as we left the station in Wolverhampton early in the morning so pocket money was always spent on any food places they spotted. We never lost anyone but believe me it was always uppermost. in our minds. We have to take risks and what tragically happened yesterday was an isolated incident. I am sure the accompanaying teachers, helpers and maybe even a parent or two are totally devastated by the incident. My sympathy goes out to all involved and especially the family of the little girl who sadly lost her life.
ReplyDeleteAs always Pat you are right. One of the problems though in this media vocal community we live in is the need to prove wrong, to find blame. It was an isolated incident caused by bad weather but for all those people involved it will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteI supervised several outdoor trips for schoolchildren - some of them residential but if I were still teaching there's no way I would supervise similar trips today. Too much risk. Too much responsibility. If something goes wrong you are showered with blame but if all goes well the thanks are very minimal.
ReplyDeleteThe responsibility is great now, not only for teachers but social workers and probation officers as well. There is a need to blame someone unfortunately. But children still need to go to museums and art galleries. Also to be introduced to the natural world.
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