www.havering.gov.uk
Summer 2015
In this
issue...
Walking through history
An interview with
Sir Tony Robinson
Road safety tips
Charity walks
The Taking Steps editorial team from Elm Park,
RJ Mitchell and Nelmes primary schools.
From back to front (left to right).
Nike Esho, Sila Ugurlu, Callum Reardon,
Poppy Smith, Maddie Flower
Daniel Joseph, Sharon Chen, Isobel Cattle,
Dunmola Tijani, Daniel Oyebanjo
Chelsea O’Brien, Jessie Finlayson,
Aisha Cabdurahman, Jack Moughton
Elm Park School
Chelsea O’Brien (Aged 10)
My hobby is dancing and I like football and cycling.
Francis Donkor (10)
I like football, but I also like to play a lot of computer
games which is why I’m so lazy sometimes.
Daniel Joseph (10)
My hobby is running and I love cake. When I am older
I would love to be a professional athlete.
Sharon Chen (11)
I love art. When I am older I want to be an artist.
Jessie Finlayson (10)
I really love art and play for Elm Park football team.
I want to be a doctor.
Isobel Cattle (11)
I love dancing, football, cycling and art. I also enjoy
writing and taking my dog for a walk.
RJ Mitchell School
Regan Taylor (10)
My hobbies are football, cycling and tennis. My
favourite school subject is maths.
Jack Moughton (10)
My hobbies are football and cycling.
Aisha Cabdurahman (10)
My favourite subjects are, Art, Maths, PE, French and
swimming.
Daniel Oyebanjo (11)
I’m a Junior Travel Ambassador and I like to ride bikes.
Dunmola Tijani (10)
I like to ride bikes and my favourite subjects are art,
science and maths.
Nelmes School
Sila Ugurlu (11)
I like working with others on projects and am interested
in road safety.
Callum Reardon (10)
I wanted to help others in the school to learn to be safe
on the road.
Maddie Flower (10)
I like doing the research and am learning lots.
Poppy Smith (11)
I enjoyed finding out about the history of bikes and
trying to write a magazine article about it.
Nike Esho (10)
I have lots of good ideas I want to share with others and
I like working as part of a group.
2
CONTENTS
Find out more about walking at
www.walkingbritain.co.uk walks all over Britain
Page 2
Page 3 Meet the editorial team
10 quick tips to keep children safe on
the road
Page 4
Charity walks
Page 5
Pedometers / health benefits of
walking / facts about walking
Page 6 - 8 Interview with Sir Tony Robinson
Ingrebourne Valley Visitor Centre at
Page 9 Hornchurch Country Park / Geocaching
Page 10
Wing walking/crossword / words to find
Back cover – Poetry competition / famous songs
about walking / famous quotes
about walking
Produced by Havering Council
Design & Print by the London Borough of Havering - D4242 June 2015
Taking Steps
10 quick tips to stay safe on the road
1
Always look both ways before crossing. Never run into the road without looking and always
pay attention
2
If possible, avoid taking roads that don’t have pavements, or crossing busy streets that don’t have
pedestrian crossings
3
Walk in the opposite direction of traffic so you’re facing the cars. This way you’re more aware of
the cars coming towards you
4
Walk when crossing the road - don’t run
5
Wear bright, reflective clothing during dawn, dusk or any low-light situations
6 Always follow traffic signals and signs
7
Try to make eye contact with drivers when crossing the road. Just because you can see them, doesn’t
always mean they can see you
8
Always be aware of your surroundings – don’t use your mobile phone or headphones when
crossing roads
9
Cross the street in a well-lit area at night
10 Stand clear of buses, hedges, parked cars, or other obstacles before crossing so drivers can see you
June 2015
Find out more about walking at
walkingworld.com routes to explore
3
Charity Walks
Poppy Smith
Nelmes Primary School
There are lots of different charity walks and
runs in and around London that you can get
involved in. They provide a good way of keeping
fit and supporting great charities at the same
time. Below are three of the most popular and
well-known ones that take place each year.
The Colour Run
The Virgin London Marathon is a celebratory sporting
festival that attracts professional athletes, enthusiastic
joggers and costume-wearing charity fundraisers alike.
There have been many famous winners of the London
Marathon including Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, who won
the woman’s race three times; David Weir and Tanni
Grey-Thompson who have each won their wheel-chair
races several times and this year’s winner was Eliud
Kipchoge from Kenya. The 26 mile 385 yards race is run
near the River Thames, and the 2015 race was held on
22 April this year. The first London Marathon was first
held on 29 March 1981 and today’s race now raises £50
million annually.
Race for Life
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The Color Run™ event is a one of a kind experience
that is less about speed and more about enjoying a
colour-crazy day with friends and family. The ‘Colour
Runners’ are of all different speeds, ages, shapes, and
sizes. Everyone is dressed in white at the start and as
they walk round they have different coloured powders
thrown at them so by the end of the race they are multicoloured. It is a really fun, unusual and messy way to
raise money for the NSPCC.
The London Marathon
Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life is a series of womenonly events raising money for research into all 200 types
of cancer. The Race for Life helps fund the next big
discovery in the fight against cancer. Every pound raised
in sponsorship helps more people survive and will bring
forward the day when all cancers are cured.
There are almost 300 Race for Life events across the UK
being held in 2015. All the runners wear pink and many
women have pictures or signs pinned to their backs,
or special t-shirts on, stating who they are running
or walking for and why. There are often flowers and
balloons and bright wigs and dogs in pink tutus all raising
money to beat cancer.
4
Find out more about walking at
walkit.com the urban walking planner
Taking Steps
Pedometers
Callum Reardon
Nelmes Primary School
A pedometer is an instrument used for estimating
the number of steps taken when a person walks.
There are different types of pedometers that have
different functions. Some pedometers have different
modes that can also count calories and distance
travelled. People who are trying to exercise more or
want to lose weight can use them to count how many
steps they are doing.
Everyone really got hooked on the
challenge and even the office staff,
headteacher and deputy headteacher recorded their
scores for the week. Everyone became much more
active at lunchtimes! Everyone enjoyed it and wants
to do it again.
At Nelmes Primary School the Travel Ambassadors
organised a ‘Pedometer Challenge’ as part of our
‘Feeling Good Week’. The challenge was launched in
an assembly and two pedometers were given to each
class along with a record sheet.
Health benefits of walking
Someone from each class had to wear the
pedometers during the day at school. Most classes
got every child to wear the pedometer for some part
of the week. The scores were recorded each day and
the final number of steps completed were totalled at
the end of the week.
June 2015
•Increases cardiovascular
and pulmonary (heart
and lung) fitness
•Reduces risk of heart
disease and strokes
•Reduces high blood
pressure, high
cholesterol, joint
muscular pain or
stiffness and diabetes
•Strengthens bones and
improves balance
•Increases muscle
strength and endurance
•Reduces body fat
•Reduces the risk of both
breast and colon cancer .
Sharon Chen
Elm Park Primary School
Facts about walking
•The longest walk was
completed by Jean
Beliveau. He walked
46,000 miles around
64 countries. It took
him 11 years
•Race walking has
been an official
Olympic sport for over
90 years
•A typical pair of tennis
shoes will last 500
miles of walking
•On average a person
Find out more about walking at
walking.org information on all things walking
would need to walk
seven hours to burn
off a coke, fries, and a
‘big mac’
•In 1970 66% of
children walked to
school , now only
13% walk
•Experts suggest
people walk 6,000
steps a day to improve
health and 10,000
steps to lose weight.
Nike Esho
Maddie Flower
Nelmes Primary School
5
An interview with Sir Tony Robinson
Elm Park Primary school and RJ Mitchell
Primary school interviewed Sir Tony
Robinson, the star of Channel 4’s
‘Walking Through History’. He is also
well known for his part as Baldrick in
Blackadder and as a host on Time Team.
What was your
favourite part of
Walking Through
History?
Having Pub lunches!
Seriously, there are lots
of surprises. You see a
mountain from a long way
off and it looks pretty
easy to climb, it just sort
of looks like a big triangle.
But as you get closer you
realise it is much more
complex. There are dips
in it and valleys and little
woods and features that
you didn’t even notice
before.
Do you prefer to walk by your
Oh that’s a good question. I enjoy bo
own is the solitude, being on your o
how slow you go, whether you’re go
those kinds of things. But walking a
If you’re with a bunch of people and
then you can all share your knowled
What is the most interesting t
Do you know Stonehenge? And you
pre-historic times, but what I never
went for miles and miles and miles –
round it you get to see lots of other
rivers, and you realise that when pe
prehistoric Disney World.
You get even closer and
you see that there are
lots of different kinds of
animals, you get closer still
and it’s so complicated you
can get lost in it; you have
to think very carefully
about which direction
you’re going in.
Are you planning any more wa
World War One was a big time for sh
where we found loads of these old p
Now we’re going to do the same th
and walking through its capital Berl
6
Find out more about walking at
ramblers.org.uk ramblers groups
Taking Steps
d
an rea
You c terview
ll in
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with n in the
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Robin et Your
.
Targ
www
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ectio
Trip s ring.gov.u
have
rself or in a group?
oth for different reasons. The great thing about walking on your
own, chilling making your own decisions about how fast you go,
oing to eat the chocolate bar in your backpack now or later, all
along with other people you can share the excitement of it all.
d they notice something about say birds or trees or whatever,
dge together, you learn more stuff.
thing that you have learnt on your walks?
u know like it’s just a bunch of wonky old massive stones from
realised was that it was part of a huge temple complex that
– like the opening title of ‘Game of Thrones’. When you walk
r little ‘henges’ and other standing stones and little fords in
eople went there in pre-historic times, it was like a massive
What is it that you
like about walking?
I like the surprises and
I like the exercise. I was
always the smallest boy in
my class at school, I was
the youngest too and I
was short sighted. I was
rubbish at running, I was
never fit, the only people
who I used to beat in a
race were those people
who had really, really bad
asthma and had forgotten
to bring their ventilin with
them.
So I never thought that
I would be any good at
walking. I thought it was
something that only really
fit people could do. Then
when I started to do it, I
enjoyed it so much it never
occurred to me that it was
exercise.
alks?
hooting 3D photos, and I made a series called World War One in 3D
pictures and put them together to tell the story of World War One.
hing about World War Two and I will be walking through Germany
lin in order to make the series.
June 2015
Find out more about walking at
walklondon.org.uk walking guide to London
It never occurred to me
that I was training up to
do something, but now
I can walk for miles and
miles like I’m Usain Bolt
and everyone assumes
I’m a good walker. But it’s
only because weedy me
started walking. And I love
the fact that I’m now fit, I
am fit as a fit person!
7
An interview with Sir Tony Robinson continued
If you could take someone, either from the past or the
present on your walk who would you take?
I think my favourite King is Alfred the Great. You know he ruled us even before William
the Conqueror, and he is really the first person we could call a proper English King. But
I don’t know how he succeeded in turning this crazy place called Britain with lots of
very, very scary invaders coming in, into a kingdom.
In one generation he turned southern Britain into a stable, safe country, he got kids
educated, he got laws going, and I’m fascinated by him. I’d love to ask him how he
managed to transform it into such a great place.
Did you train for your big walks?
Yes, I didn’t train by doing 100 metre sprints or anything like that. But I did make sure
that a couple of weeks prior to the shoot I walked a lot more than I usually did. I think
more important than training was wearing the right kit! And taking a chocolate bar. Just
for that extra bit of energy.
Why do you think walking is important?
Because it makes really unfit people like me really, really fit! Walking is a brilliant thing
and I read an article last week. It said if grown-ups walk just 20 minutes a day it can
put as much as 10 years on their life. It keeps you flexible, it keeps you alert, and it
doesn’t damage your knees like running sometimes can.
What is the furthest you have ever walked in one go?
I would probably say not majorly far probably about the distance of a marathon
(26 miles).
Did you walk to school when you were a child and how far was it?
Did you get any rewards?
I did walk to school sometimes. There were three different buses and a trolley bus
which went to my school so it was dead easy to get there. I sometimes rode my bike.
I did get a reward, my Grandad used to give me three pennies every day and my dad
didn’t like that, so Grandad always did it secretly.
What would your ‘cunning plan’ be to get children and parents to walk
to school?
To get them to walk to school my cunning plan would be to make the roads and
crossings safer.
8
Find out more about walking at
tfl.gov.uk plan your walking trip to London
Taking Steps
A great place to walk (or cycle) in Havering
A new visitor centre will soon be
open in Hornchurch Country Park,
overlooking the marshland and reed beds
of the River Ingrebourne.
The centre is due to open in October this year and will
include an observation hall with views of the river and
marshland, activities for children, a room for education
and community use, café, toilets, shop and information
centre.
There will also be a ‘memory booth’ in the centre
where visitors can ‘download’ their memories of the
site. Hornchurch Country Park provides a great space
for people of all ages to enjoy the great outdoors. The
centre will be open seven days a week.
Essex Wildlife Trust will deliver educational
programmes at the centre starting from October. The
Trust has been awarded the Learning Outside the
Classroom Quality Badge which is a national award.
This means that sessions delivered at the centre will
be of a high standard. The sessions will cover a wide
range of topics, with learning and activities linked with
the curriculum.
Examples of the educational activities that will be
available to schools are: using senses, nature inspired
art, pond and river dipping, invertebrate studies,
orienteering, bush craft, river studies and historical
investigations using the onsite artefacts of RAF
Hornchurch, as well as Forest School.
Hornchurch Country Park is a Local Nature Reserve and
used to be Sutton’s Farm airfield, which later became
RAF Hornchurch, both airfields played a famous and
vital role in the defence of London in the First and
Second World Wars. It is rich in wildlife and has good
June 2015
opportunities for bird watching. The park has open
areas of grassland and a large lake.
There is also a play area which includes a model Spitfire
which is used as climbing equipment. The park also
features an outdoor gym and ‘trim-trail’ which extends
throughout the park.
The site of the new visitor centre is a short walk from
the car park just off Squadron’s Approach and Suttons
Lane. Hornchurch Country Park can be accessed
by cycle and walking route Sustrans Route 136
Ingrebourne Way and bus routes 256 and 252 as well
as by car. The nearest tube station is Hornchurch.
The centre is being built thanks to a partnership
agreement between Havering Council and Essex
Wildlife Trust.
For more information about Hornchurch Country Park or
the visitor centre go to www.havering.gov.uk/parks
Geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity,
in which participants use a global positioning
system. Participants navigate to a specific set
of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the
geocache (container) hidden at that location.
Currently millions of geocaches are registered
on various websites. Geocaches are currently
placed in over 100 countries around the world
and on all seven continents, including Antarctica.
Visit geocaching.com to find out more
Sharon Chen
Elm Park Primary School
Find out more about walking at
geocaching.com find out about geocaching near you
9
The WoW factor!
Sixty primary aged schools in Havering take part in
the WoW scheme. Pupils earn a brand new unique
badge each month for walking to school.
Walking to school can help improve children’s
concentration, happiness and mental and physical health.
Living Streets Walk Once a Week (WoW) scheme is
designed to make walking to school fun and achievable
for children and their parents.
After all, walking to school can save money, teach
children independence, road safety and social skills, and
is an easy way to build activity into a child’s day.
More children walking to school also means less traffic
congestion and tension around the school gates, making
it safer for everyone. Teachers report pupils being more
alert and ready to learn in the classroom after they’ve
walked to school.
10
once each week is rewarded with a collectable WoW
badge. These popular badges are designed by children
themselves in one of the country’s largest children’s
art competitions and are manufactured in the UK using
recycled yoghurt pot material.
For more information on WoW visit
www.livingstreets.org.uk/walk-with-us/walk-toschool/primary-schools/walk-once-a-week
Living Streets’ WoW scheme has has been running since
2005. Today, it encourages more than 450,000 children
to get walking across the UK, has increased walking to
participating primary schools by 26%, and can cut driving
by more than a third.
Joe Irvin, Living Streets CEO said: “Walking to school is
a brilliant way to get physical activity and fresh air into
your day. When children are bundled from front door to
car door, they miss out on the opportunity to socialise
with friends, get to know their community and burn off
some energy.
The scheme can be run during any term. Each class
records their daily journey on wallcharts and at the
end of each month every child who has walked at least
“WoW gets pupils active and can help schools and
councils tackle the problems of congestion and pollution
associated with high traffic levels during the school run.”
Find out more about walking at
nationaltrust.org.uk information on many great walks
Taking Steps
Wing walking
Poppy Smith
Nelmes Primary School
The earliest known instance of
a wing-walking on a powered
aircraft was an experimental
flight in England involving a
biplane built by Colonel Samuel
Franklin Cody in 1911.
The first wing walker to perform
daring stunts was-26-year old
Ormer Locklear. Legend has it that
he first climbed out onto the lower
wings in flight to fix a mechanical
issue during his pilot training in the
Army Air Service during World War I.
challenge of outdoing one another.
They admitted that the point of
their trade was to make money on
the audience’s prospect of possibly
watching someone die. Locklear died
in 1920 while performing a stunt for
a film.
eight year old British boy, became
the world’s youngest Wing
Walker after standing above the
wings of his grandfather’s plane
304.8 metres (1000 feet) above
Gloucestershire, England at
speeds of about per hour
(100 mph).
On April 21, 2009, Tiger Brewer, an
On November 8, 1918, Locklear
wowed the crowd at Barron Field,
Texas, with his daredevil wingwalking stunts. Wing walkers
would constantly take up the
Crossword
1
2
3
4
5
Down
Across
1 What helps you cross the road?
(5, 8)
2 You should always walk on this
to be safe (8)
3 What should you look out for
when crossing a road? (4)
3 This is an unsafe place to
cross a road. (6)
5 What can be dangerous for pedestrians if hidden? (9)
4 Where should you never play?
(6)
6 What should you not be using when you cross the road? (6, 5)
8 What is one of the healthiest
modes of transport? (7)
7 What should you always be
when walking at night? (7)
9 What do you need to do before
crossing the road? (4)
7
8
9
Answers can be found by visiting
the Target your Trip section on
www.havering.gov.uk
June 2015
Words to find
6
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V
W
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Z
E
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B
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N
Z
X
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J
B
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J
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C
C
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G
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U
A
W
L
O
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B
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M
I
L
G
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G
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U
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Find out more about walking at
havering.gov.uk information on walking in the Borough
D
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WALKING
BREEZE
SHOES
TRAINERS
RELAX
SPRINTING
JOGGING
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EXERCISE
PAVEMENT
BOOTS
11
Poetry Competition
Win a £50 Liberty shopping mall gift card
What do you enjoy about the walk to school? How would you describe the journey?
What do you see? We would like you to write a poem about your walk to school in no
more than 150 words.
There will be three £50 Liberty Shopping Mall Gift cards as prizes, one for the best
entry from an Infant School, a Primary / Junior School, and from a Secondary school.
Send your poem to:
Jay Amin, Smarter Travel Team, London Borough of Havering, Town Hall
Main Road, Romford RM1 3BB
or by email to [email protected] by no later than Friday 25 September 2015.
The winning entries will also be printed in the next issue of Taking Steps and on the
Target Your Trip section at www.havering.gov.uk
Famous songs
about walking
I’m Gonna Be
0 miles...)
(I would walk 50
The Proclaimers
g
e Made for Walkin
These Boots Wer
Nancy Sinatra
Walk of Life
Dire Straits
tian
Walk Like An Egyp
The Bangles
Walk this way
Aerosmith
r
Walking in a Winte
nd
rla
de
Won
Various
r
Walking in the ai
es
Aled Jon
ppiness
Walking Back to Ha
Helen Shapiro
Walk on By
Dionne Warwick
oon
Walking on the M
e
lic
Po
The
12
Famous quotes
about walking
“In every walk with na
ture one
receives far more than
he seeks”
John Muir
“The soverign invigorat
or of the body
is exercise, and of all the
exercises
walking is the best
Thomas Jefferson
“We must walk before
we run.”
George Borrow, Lavengro
“All truly great thoughts
are
conceived by walking”
Friedrich Nietzsche
“The longest journey be
gins
with a single step”
Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching
“I am a slow walker, bu
t
I never walk backward
s”
Abraham Lincoln
“People say that losing
weight is no walk in the
park. When I hear
that I think, yeah,
that’s the problem”
Chris Adams
Find out more about walking at
livingstreets.org.uk the national charity for walking
Taking Steps