A very busy week

Post date: Mar 7, 2020 8:11:46 AM

This week we went on a trip to MorwellhamQuay. We went on a mine train through George and Charlotte mine. All of us found it very interesting. The miners used long metal pipes and hammered in into the walls of the mine since they didn’t have drills. Afterwards, they would fill it with gunpowder and blow it up. Surprisingly, only one miner died in this particular mine, due to the explosions, falling rocks and flying dust. It was amazing how dark it was, once we were in the mines.

We also got to be students in a Victorian school. The teacher went from nice to mean and Alexis and Ned got caned (whipped with a thin stick). We all had to write ‘Good handwriting is essential’ on a slate board with a slate pencil. We were heavily judged, whether we had good handwriting or not. We had to write right-handed which was really hard for some people. They got really told off by Miss Towns.

Because they couldn’t go in the mines, women and girls went to work on the ragging floor. On the ragging floor, they would break rocks down into dust so that the copper would be left and all the sulpur and the iron would be gone.

We also got taken to the Assayers Sylon. The assayer melted the copper to separate it. He got £200 a year which was A LOT of money back then. The Assayers Sylon was connected to his cottage. We couldn’t go in there though. An Assayer had to be a boy. It couldn’t be a girl because they would be busy working on the ragging floor. You had to be well educated and know how to do your work well. If you didn’t, you’d be sacked.

This week we learnt about greater and lesser horseshoe bats and how the population has decreased nonetheless there are still ways to help like planting some flowers so the bugs and other animals are attracted to the pollen. Bats will be able to catch them easier for food. Another way to help is don't let your cat stay out late at night because they are one of the main predators of bats.

A fair amount of bats live in the uk. The bat we were learning specifically about was the greater horseshoe bat. The name comes from their shape of nose. Instead of using their mouth to echolocate, they use their nose. It is specially designed to do this. Because of this, their nose is shaped like a horseshoe. That’s how they got their name.

Thank you to Lavinia and Alana for this very detailed and informative blog