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NEW AUTHORS SHOWCASE
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6M P12 |
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Mr. Fuzzdike’s fun geological tour of the north east coast of Northumberland. By Heather Charnley |
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DESCRIPTION OF WORK
The book that I am presenting is an introduction to geology for children key stages 2 to 3, i.e. ages 8 to 11 approximately.
I decided to weave the facts into a storyline because geology can get very dry so quickly, and the various “walking with beasts” etc. programmes have dispelled the dryness and so this approach needs to be maintained as much as possible.
There are five chapters altogether, each one is a field trip of a section of coastline from Berwick down to Tynemouth, and I cover most of the whole coastline. I have completed two out of five of the chapters, just starting on no. 3 now, but have done field work for all areas.
I introduce imagination such as in chapter two, from Bamburgh to Dunstanburgh; a friend has a magic carpet which takes them back to the Carboniferous period. Chapter three, Newbiggin to Druridge Bay will go into the geography of the area also, plus other travels back in time via a magnifying glass type of gadget.
I include here part of the first chapter (4,600 words) from Berwick to Holy Island.
My son contributed to the inspiration for this work.
I just wish to add that one of the cultural heritage officers with Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (Northumberland), said that there aren’t many books on geology for children in the tourism and general interest area and it is a market worth considering.
Sample
“Hello everyone! My name is Mr Fuzzdike and I’d like to invite you into the story of my excursions up the north east coast. Y’know, I’m the sort of person who just likes a nice lie on the beach and relax, or go for a nice little stroll enjoying the sun and fresh air, and then go to a caff for a cup of cha. Lovely!
“However, one day I met an old pal of mine called Hamish who I hadn’t seen for years, and he said “Och awah hin, you divn’t want to be lolling aboot on the beaches, come an’ view some Lower Carboniferous Sediments”.
I said, “It sounds like the coffee dregs at Hinny’s tea bar”.
“Och ha’wey man!” he said, and so we ha’weyed up the coast.
Of course the wife wanted to come, and the young ‘uns, but we left the baby bairn with relatives. Naturally I hoped that the trip would be interesting enough or else the children would be causing mayhem. Here is the story of the trip below, and in the following pages.
It was a day in June, very early June! Both date and time! ‘Get up as early as you can to get there before the tide turns’ Hamish had said. There was a lot of grumbling and crying as we all stumbled about sleepily.
“Come on everyone, breakfast time” shouted my wife Fenella.
There was an inviting smell of hot toast and she’d thoughtfully cooked some mushrooms to put on top.
“I thought that would lure you all downstairs,” added Fenella as we all appeared.
“I don’t want anything,” said little Flossie petulantly. “You’ll eat it my girl, we are going on a long journey, it will be a long day and you’ll get hungry soon enough if you don’t,” retorted Fenella. After breakfast I put all our wellies in the boot with the bags of food, clothing and other items we would need. Everyone finally headed for the car!
“I want my toy dinosaur!” shouted little Freddy. “You’ve got plenty, look in that bag beside you,” said Fenella. “Right!” I said, “We’ll just go and pick up Hamish and get up that A1 before all the tourists get going.”
I called around to Hamish’s house, he was up and ready and was peering out of his lounge window, eagerly looking for us.
“Hop in Hamish!” I said. “Hoots to you all the noo! And wee hoots to the bairns!” said Hamish.
At this Freddy burst out laughing and then Flossie joined in.
“Got yer maps eh Hamish?” said I with humour, as an enormous rucksack crammed itself onto Hamish’s lap with several maps oozing out of the top. “Well, you never know quite what you’ll need on an adventure, so I usually bring a good variety,” said Hamish. “Is your rucksack, er, full of maps then?” said I tentatively. “Well not quite, I’ve brought about twenty three maps and only ten of them are geological. I’ve also got some books on various geological aspects that we may be covering,” said Hamish. “Oh dear,” said I, “sorry I asked.” “Don’t be like that!” he said, “you’ll enjoy it, I’ve got all sorts planned, just you wait and see.” “Good,” said I, “but I’ll look forward to the coffee breaks as well.” Hamish laughed good-naturedly.
We drove on and got onto the A1 and proceeded north.
“Where exactly are we heading for to begin with Hamish?” I asked. “We’re off to Berwick on Tweed, right on the Scottish border!” he said. “Well, we’ve a long way to go, we may stop at a café on the way Fenella. Look out for one in an hour’s time roughly,” said I.
Later on we find a suitable café, luckily not like Hinny’s, but pleasantly decorated and tasteful, the food and drink also. We then push on towards Berwick. Everyone looked at the views on the way and exclaimed when they saw Holy Island.
“Not far now!” said Hamish, “perhaps I could tell you all a little history of the Northumberland area?” “Oh yes,” said I, trying not to look too fraught at the thought. “To begin with, the whole of Northumberland is Carboniferous, with a small exception of one or two spots of Permian rock,” he said, looking around at us to see if we were still listening. “What is Carboniferous when it doesn’t look like my burnt toast then?” said I “The Carboniferous period was quite a large chunk of time and ended 290 million years ago, having lasted for 73 million years,” said Hamish emphatically.
The text in the ms is accompanied by a number of excellent pictures which unfortunately we are unable to reproduce here. The artwork is of a very high standard and will be available to publishers and others. Ed. |