Foxton Primary School visits Foxton Locks

Horses, boating families and boats - children split into 3 groups for their tour around Foxton Locks.

What a fantastic day! We were blessed with a sunny day, chilly but the sun shone for us.

Foxton Primary School is so close to the canal that they put on their sensible shoes and walked along the towpath to meet the WOW volunteers at Foxton Locks. Arriving at the bottom lock, they were greeted by the volunteers and began the visit with a water safety activity. After finding out that the class had amazing loud voices and were very capable of shouting ‘Stay Away From the Edge and be SAFE’ we were ready to start our guided walk.

The year two class split into 3 groups, each led by a volunteer and teacher/assistant. The groups were named to enhance the learning objective of canals were originally built for boats to carry cargo around the country. These boats were initially pulled by horses and often led by children living aboard the boats. The groups were named Horses, Boating Families, and Boats and the children walked around the locks in the order of horses led by a child, pulling a boat.

Using the Foxton Locks WOW trail, the group learnt all about Foxton’s history, the cargoes carried by boat on the Grand Union Canal from Leicester to London, the people who lived and worked on the canals and of course the horses!

Why not download the Foxton Locks Trail and Fact File to find out more about Foxton Locks;

Foxton Locks Trail http://www.wow4water.net/media/images/2792.pdf

Foxton Locks Fact File http://www.wow4water.net/media/images/2752.pdf

 Or print out our activity sheet ‘Boat Horse Billy’ to learn more about the horses, mules and even donkeys used to pull the boats  http://www.wow4water.net/media/images/2758.pdf

If you wish to book a visit to Foxton Locks please contact us and we may be able to support your visit with an activity. Email us wow@britishwaterways.co.uk