Bradford Trip

At 7am on a pleasant Tuesday morning in March, Year 7 and their Integrated Studies teachers set off excitedly for Bradford for a two day residential tour to enrich their studies of the Industrial Revolution. We visited the National Coal Mining Museum near Wakefield, the Bradford Industrial Museum, Haworth and the Brontë Parsonage, the Bingley Five-Rise locks on the Leeds to Liverpool Canal and the World Heritage Site and model industrial village that was Saltaire.

All the staff were impressed with the positive and purposeful attitudes of the children and their desire to discover more about themes that they had learned in class. We stayed at the Campanile Hotel on the outskirts of Bradford and were made to feel very welcome. The children reciprocated this with exemplary behaviour and manners. In the evenings the children had the chance to socialise and let their hair down whilst ice-skating and bowling. Many of the children have since said how much they had enjoyed the trip and it was well worth the long coach journey to West Yorkshire and back.

This year I asked two children in Year 7, Katya Goodwin and Max Hunter, if they would like to write up some of their recollections about the trip for the School website and Chronicle, and here they are:

‘The best part of the trip was the visit to the National Coal Mining Museum. Each group had a tour guide, who was an ex-miner, to show us around the mine and the working stations. Any items that have a battery are not allowed down the coal mine because they could potentially ignite the few remaining pockets of methane gas, so we had to hand in our contraband (phones and watches etc). Little metal tags are given to each person, they count how many they hand out and then how many they take back in. This lets them know if someone is still stuck down there. We were also given helmets with a wire holding a light.

‘To go down the mine shaft to the working areas we were packed into a cage. It was a tight squeeze and fairly uncomfortable, some people were scared, but it didn’t matter because we were so excited about seeing a real mine that was still in operation until the 1980s. When you get down there it’s surprisingly cold. I really like the darkness, you wonder what’s lurking in the shadows, and it helps you appreciate how difficult the miner’s job was. It was amazing to look at part of the coal face and realise it was formed hundreds of millions of years ago.

‘At certain points in the tour we stopped and our guide explained what happened there and who would have done the work. During the 1800s, men, women and children worked long hours in terrible and dangerous conditions in the mines. Later on officials were sent by the government to look at coal mines and decide if they were suitable places for children to work, this started off the various acts to stop child labour.

‘There were lots of wooden roof supports holding up the ceiling and sometimes it was a job to fit around them. We saw a massive drilling machine. This would make holes sufficient in width to stuff in dynamite. Surprisingly there is a technique about patterns of the holes; some patterns work better due to physics.

‘We were relieved to get up to the top in the fresh air where we got back our contraband items and started a questionnaire about the coal mine. Altogether it was a thoroughly insightful and enjoyable trip.’

Max Hunter, 7B

‘We set off on the second day to Haworth. This was the town in which the Brontës mainly lived. Even the journey there was breathtaking. We passed beautiful scenery, including a large viaduct, built to carry a canal.

‘Haworth itself was a beautiful town – old buildings, beautiful cobble streets, all precariously built on a hillside. The Brontës lived in a parsonage right at the top of the hill, which we had to climb. We first went into the church – and it was a beautiful church – stained glass windows, plaques, and the Brontë vault, in which all of the famous family are buried, is under the tiled floor. After a quick scan of the church, we went into the parsonage, spurred on by tales of a ghostly presence with thanks to Mrs Adams.

‘We first went into Patrick Brontë’s study, which was almost in the way it would have been when he was alive. The furniture was dark, and you could almost imagine him sitting in the chair by the desk, reading, and glad to be in peace.

‘We were then taken into the living room, which was the main family room. It was also the room in which Emily Brontë died, and the sofa which she died on is still in that room. A writing set lies on the table, waiting to be used.

‘The kitchen of the house was very cosy, but it was still used as a working kitchen then, not just for show. It would have probably been the warmest place in the house then, but it still didn’t counteract the cold, stone flooring. Across the corridor was the peat room, used for storing firewood, but when Charlotte married, it became her husband’s study. As we went upstairs, we noticed a very old grandfather clock standing in the corner. This was the original one that the Brontës would have passed going up and downstairs.

‘On the top floors were mainly bedrooms, and the children’s study, all of which were furnished predominantly with the original furniture. A modern extension to the parsonage houses an exhibition of all the items not displayed in the rooms, such as Branwell’s paintings and first editions of the Brontës’ books.

‘After leaving the house, we went into the graveyard of the church. It was packed with graves, all in orderly but cramped rows. There was one path, and you just had to pick your way through the stone slabs. We tried finding the grave of one of the Brontës’ maids, but the grave was either well hidden or the writing too worn, because no matter how hard we looked we couldn’t find her grave.

‘After the solemn atmosphere of the graveyard, we went for a walk up on the moors surrounding the town. It was cold, and rain was starting to fall crisply, but the views were spectacular. There were several small lakes hidden among the heather, all very scenic. The wind, although battering, made the moors seem real. There is a photo of all of us, on the highest point of those moors, with the view behind. Absolutely breathtaking.’

Katya Goodwin, 7F