Answers from the Children of Welford and Wickham Primary School, England to the Questions from the Children of Point Hope, Alaska
Dear Sheila,
Answers for you from our children. These answers came from:
Paul Jones aged 10
Bethia Orlowski aged 10
George Wilkinson aged 10
Juliet Edwards aged 11
If any of your children would like to write to either George or Paul I am sure they would
love to answer.
(PH) What kind of games do you play?
(WW) We play 'IT'. Which is a game where one person is it and they touch the other
people, who run away and when you are touched you become it. And the person who was it, is
not it then. The boys always play football, but lots of the girls play 'HORSES'. With
football you kick a black and white football, and keep score somehow. Whereas with
'HORSES' one person is the horse and the other is the owner. The horse has a skipping rope
around their waist and the owner takes hold of it and they both run.
(PH) What does your school look like?
(WW) Our school is over 100 years old. It has lots of different views. There are
mostly orange bricks, but black ones are put in to make patterns. There is a bell at the
top of the school which is rung to let us know to come in. It is very small with only 2
classrooms and a hall. It has lots of corners. With only 34 pupils we are the smallest
school in our county - Berkshire.
(PH) How do you get water in your homes? (We get water delivered in water tanks)
(WW) We get our water pumped through pipes and through taps. In the city 'London'
there is a river called the River Thames. But we can't drink that. There are reservoirs
all over the country where clean water is stored. In case you don't know what a tap is, it
is a piece of metal with a top bit that you turn to make the water come out.
(PH) How do you get your food? Do you have a Native Store?
(WW) We drive to a big supermarket on the outskirts of Newbury, a town near here,
for our food. We have 2 supermarkets near us about half an hours drive to get there. They
sell all different foods from fish to fruit from all over the world. What is a native
store?
(PH) Do you have T.V.?
(WW) Yes every home has 1 or more T.V.'s. Some houses have satellite or cable T.V.
but most people have an aerial on their roof.
(PH) Do you have cars?
(WW) Some people have 2 cars. We have jeeps as well which are big cars that weigh
tons.
(PH) What kind of animals do you have?
(WW) For pets we have gerbils, hamsters, dogs, cats rabbits and guineapigs. We have
lots of different animals in zoos. There are some wild animals like foxes, badgers, deer,
moles rats and other things that aren't dangerous.
(PH) Do you have farms?
(WW) Yes we have big and small farms all over England for crops and animals like
cows and sheep.
(PH) Were the English people the first ones to speak the English Language?
(WW) We don't know. Our teacher says our language has been influenced by lots of
different people. Did you know that the Anglo Saxons worshipped gods called Frig, Tew,
Thor and Woden? And the day names Friday, Tuesday, Thursday and Wednesday were named after
these gods.
(PH) What kinds of things do you eat? Do you hunt?
(WW) We don't hunt except that some people do it for fun. We buy all our food from
shops. For breakfast we have toast or Cornflakes. Lunch is usually sandwiches wit cheese
or ham. Dinner is best, roast chicken, potatoes, stuffing , vegetables and sticky pudding.
Our teacher is a vegetarian. Would she be able to live in your village?
(PH) What kinds of clothes do you have? Jeans? Tank Tops?
(WW) We have all sorts of clothes. We wear jumpers, shorts, skirts, jeans, dresses
and leggings.
(PH) Do you have drug problems in your town?
(WW) Occasionally, but not at our school.
(PH) Do you have beer? (Our village--in fact the whole North Slope is Dry)
(WW) We have Public houses/Inns. In Pubs they sell wine, bear, spirits and food.
Some Pubs let children in them if they serve food.
(PH) Do you have trees?
(WW) There are trees all over the country but not as many as in the olden days.
Most of the trees have been cut down so the land can be used for farming and pasture. We
have Chestnut trees from which we get Conkers. This is another game we play. We thread a
Conker on a piece of string then try to smash the other persons Conker without smashing
our own or our hands.
(PH) What is your weather like?
(WW) Our weather is quite cold at least 5 degrees and it rains most of the time.
(PH) Where do you get your shoes? Clothes? Bikes?
(WW) We get all our things from big shops and places called shopping centres that
have many shops in one place. There are about 3 bike shops in our town. There are about 5
other towns we can go to in about half an hours drive. At Christmas all the stores are
decorated with lights and Christmas trees and get very busy.
(PH) Do you have arcades?
(WW) There are games arcades in all the towns.
(PH) Do you have playgrounds?
(WW) Our school has 1 playground and a big grassy field. There are also public
playgrounds that have climbing frames and swings.
(PH) Do you have gangs?
(WW) Not around here.
(PH) Does it get dark there in the summer?
(WW) In the summer it is hotter and brighter and it stays light until 10 o'clock at
night. Lots of people have barbecues outside.
(PH) Do you have a medical clinic?
(WW) Every town has a doctors surgery. In the cities there are one or more
hospitals.
(PH) Do you have a swimming pool?
(WW) Some of us have swimming pools in our back garden but most of us go to Newbury
where we either swim outside in the summer or inside in a heated pool like you.
(PH) Do you have a McDonalds?
(WW) Yes there is one in Newbury and every other town.
(PH) Do you have homework?
(WW) We have some homework every night.
(PH) Do you have a jail? A fire station?
(WW) Yes but not in our village. There as always a fire station and police station
very close, not more than 10 miles away.
(PH) Do you have homeless people?
(WW) We have lots of homeless people but not in our village. The tend to be in the
cities.
(PH) What did you do for Halloween?
(WW) Some people dress up in scary costumes and go Trick or Treating. But most
people don't do anything in this country. In a lot of schools, especially the Christian
ones, Halloween is banned.
(PH) What do you do for Christmas?
(WW) Open our presents. Everyone has a Christmas tree either real spruce or pine
tree, plastic or metal, decorated with lights, tinsel, sweets, things and a fairy on the
top. On Christmas morning presents there are lots of presents under the tree but best of
all is waking up to a stocking or sack filled with goodies. Traditionally we eat roast
turkey, Christmas pudding and we pull crackers which have gifts and party hats inside.
(PH) Do you have tacos?
(WW) No, never heard of it. We have looked it up in a dictionary but no Tacos!
Please tell us what Tacos is.
Thanks a million,
Sonia Crisp
Welford and Wickham Primary School
Berkshire, England
Go to Point Hope's
answers.
Return
to the Welford and Wickham home page.