Tackling vandals and putting respect back into the riverside

[carlt]

Can't quote Journeyperson but:

 

Aye we all aspired to, one day, just maybe, winning the pools and moving to Moss Side.

Edited July 28, 2010 by carlt

[deletedaccount]

Certainly not on Planet Mayall.

 

Personally I'd have given up all those lovely subsidised coach trips to Mablethorpe, second hand charity school uniforms, state subsidised housing in a shithole of a council estate and free school dinners, for a bit of what the kids were getting, in the leafy suburbs, across town.

 

We didn't know we were born!

 

this

 

Next up: middle class white blokes have it really hard, you know.

[magpie patrick]

Right, I'm backat my desk after lunch, lovely bowl of soup down at the salvation army, now, where were we...

 

Oh that's right, non-discrimination from charities

[journeyperson]

this

 

Next up: middle class white blokes have it really hard, you know.

 

Crikey, yes!! Have you experienced the immense pressure to join the family business? Nanny was the only one who understood. Where's my comfort blanket? Sob...

[twbm]

Can't quote Journeyperson but:

 

Aye we all aspired to, one day, just maybe, winning the pools and moving to Moss Side.

 

I think you'll find that's 'Greenheys' now. Or was that thin layer of bullshit only applied to the police stataion?

[mayalld]

Certainly not on Planet Mayall.

 

Personally I'd have given up all those lovely subsidised coach trips to Mablethorpe, second hand charity school uniforms, state subsidised housing in a shithole of a council estate and free school dinners, for a bit of what the kids were getting, in the leafy suburbs, across town.

 

We didn't know we were born!

 

I'm sure you would have, but would it have made you a better person?

[carlt]

I'm sure you would have, but would it have made you a better person?

Can't have hurt.

[Nine of Hearts]

Next up: middle class white blokes have it really hard, you know.

 

I don't. But perhaps this isn't the correct forum for discussing my personal problems...

[carlt]

I don't. But perhaps this isn't the correct forum for discussing my personal problems...

We occasionally get new 'members' offering products that can help you.

[Nine of Hearts]

We occasionally get new 'members' offering products that can help you.

 

Perhaps I could say, "Ee, i had it hard when I was a lad. But now, thanks to substance abuse, it's gone all floppy. Can I come on your boat with the kids?".

 

Or is that a bad idea?

[Naughty Cal]

Perhaps I could say, "Ee, i had it hard when I was a lad. But now, thanks to substance abuse, it's gone all floppy. Can I come on your boat with the kids?".

 

Or is that a bad idea?

 

Might not go down too well

[CV32]

or it could be that society has failed both the kids and their parents, hence their shit behavior and shit parenting skills.

 

But yeah, beat your kids. That'll learn em.

 

I do not have children, if i did i would not be afraid of teaching them manners and giving them a clip round the ear if required. I would also not expect society to bring them up, i would do it as my responsibility as a parent.

[carlt]

I do not have children, if i did i would not be afraid of teaching them manners and giving them a clip round the ear if required. I would also not expect society to bring them up, i would do it as my responsibility as a parent.

I don't expect society to bring up my kids but I manage it myself without beating them.

 

If you gave an adult a 'clip round the ear' they would be within their rights to call the police.

 

It seems strange that it is regarded as ok to assault our more vulnerable members of society.

[magpie patrick]

I do not have children, if i did i would not be afraid of teaching them manners and giving them a clip round the ear if required. I would also not expect society to bring them up, i would do it as my responsibility as a parent.

 

We are trying for Children, we will not be calling on the state to bring them up except for the provision of education (and even then we will assist).

 

Sadly some kids are not born into such a nurturing household, and it isn't that child's fault. A child has no choice who their parents are, and very little say about their education and circumstances for the next sixteen years. By the time they are old enough to make decisions for themselves, the damage is well and truly done.

[deletedaccount]

We are trying for Children, we will not be calling on the state to bring them up except for the provision of education (and even then we will assist).

 

Sadly some kids are not born into such a nurturing household, and it isn't that child's fault. A child has no choice who their parents are, and very little say about their education and circumstances for the next sixteen years. By the time they are old enough to make decisions for themselves, the damage is well and truly done.

 

this

 

plus, it's perfectly possible (shock horror) to bring up well behaved kids without beating them round the head when they don't do what you want them to do. In fact I'd say it's counter productive.

[Josher]

Learning aboard the floating classroom here for full report and pictures.

 

"In a quiet spot on the Grand Union Canal, just behind where Southall Tesco stands today, there once bobbed a floating classroom. It served the children who worked on the canals with their families in the 1930s, allowing them to go to school just one day a week. Eighty years on, an environmental charity has brought that tradition back to life, offering local pupils an educational journey along the same canal.

 

"The children who come on the boat don't really understand what the canal is, they either think it is a river or they think it is a sewer, because everybody throws their rubbish in," says Michael Moritz, the education manager on the West London Floating Classroom. "It's quite a shock for them when they come on the boat and find out it's over 200 years old."

 

The project, run by environmental charity Groundwork Thames Valley, serves some quite deprived parts of Hillingdon, Hayes and Ealing. And most of the children who come on the barge the Elsdale II - named after the original floating classroom of the 1930s - have never been on a boat before, explains Michael. This is certainly true of the group of 10 and 11-year-olds from Featherstone Primary and Nursery School who come on board for a special end of term day out.

 

Anila Das, the parent support adviser at the Southall school, who organised the trip, says: "The parents of these children don't take them out to places very much, so this is a real treat. "For them to find out about Southall and their local area, they really need to be out there."

 

The boat picks the children and the school staff up from a mutually convenient spot on the canal. And as they set off on their journey, Michael explains the importance of the canal network to trade in Victorian times. "The Grand Union Canal was the Victorian equivalent of the M1 motorway," he says. And through a series of games and quizzes, the children learn about what it was like to live and work on the canal. They also get glimpses of wildlife fluttering and paddling by.

 

Former secondary school teacher Michael says: "As a teacher in a school there's a need to be formal and strict. "But when you are going to see children for only a couple of hours you need to build a relationship with them super-quick - you have to do that by making it fun." And the pupils seem to appreciate the informal interactive style on board the Elsdale II.

 

Eleven-year-old Idil is one of those who has never been on a boat before. She is particularly interested in the original floating classroom and the lives of the children who used it. She says: "I think they wanted to go to school but they didn't have a choice. Makes you see how lucky you are." And there is an interesting parallel here, because some of the children Mrs Das chose to come on the trip were picked because of their poor attendance records. "We've been trying to engage their parents and get them more involved. It's certainly worked today because they have all turned up for the trip," she says. "The thing is - being on the boat is a different learning experience. "You could do this in class but they would not get so much out of it. "What they get out of today, they will remember and take with them," she adds.

[jimmy vander]

What sort of "anti-social behaviour and vandalism" has been going on then?

Some kids phoned 999 to alert the police that a car was fully submerged in the Maud Foster Drain with its lights on (it was night time), when the police arrived, after an officer going into the water to investigate, they found the car was in the drain with no-one inside, they said that this was the result of a stolen car being pushed into the drain, then the police being rung for nuisance value. This has happened before apparently.