City children get a taste of the great outdoors
Jul 23 2010 By Victoria Farncombe
Inner city children are being given a taste of life in the country, writes Victoria Farncombe
A rural charity is inviting children from an inner-city Birmingham school to “walk on water” in a bid to see what life is like in the countryside.
The activity where youngsters run across water inside huge transparent balls is just one of 900 attractions on offer at the world’s largest countryside exhibition in Warwickshire this weekend.
The youngsters, from Heathfield Primary School in Handsworth, will be attending the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) Game Fair at Ragley Hall, near Alcester.
Keen to break down barriers between country folk and urbanites, the CLA’s Charitable Trust is paying for 35 pupils from the school to attend the fair and find out what the country can offer them.
Director Peter Geldart says: “Education about the countryside, which is the other half of our country, is often missing from the national curriculum.
“We feel that just as children born in the country need to know about towns and cities, children that are born and live in urban areas need the opportunity to see what the other half is like and to find out how they can enjoy it.
“We want to remove some of the apprehension some city people have about the countryside. There is often a misunderstanding of how the countryside works and how farming works and the contribution it makes to our lives and I think it’s very important for children to make that connection.”
As well as taking part in the water dodgems and other attractions such as monster trucks and bungee trampolining, the children can enjoy more traditional countryside activities like hunting, fishing and horse riding.
With such a range of events on offer, the CLA hopes to dispel the myth that the countryside can only be enjoyed by wealthy people.
The CLA’S West Midlands director Caroline Bedell says: “It’s a celebration of country activities. It’s a real opportunity for people to come out of Birmingham and find out what goes on in the country. It’s not just what you hear on The Archers.”
