"Elf 'n' safety"

We had a couple of teachers visit us at work on Thursday who came in to do a Risk Assessment so they could bring a group of children in to play. We'd already sent them our own Risk Assessments but the rules stated that they had to come in and have a look around for themselves. How much it cost the school in terms of coming out to us and their time, I have no idea!

It made me think of when I was at school and I went on a trip to Wales with the rest of my class. We stayed in a Youth Hostel near the small village of Llanbedr and had a fantastic time. One day we were split into two groups to do different activities. One group went off to play on the beach while we went off to climb a mountain. We parked the mini bus a far distance from the mountain itself and as we walked along the country roads, a thick fog descended. It soon became clear that our teacher (who was the only one with us - unthinkable today!) had no compass or any essential equipment of any kind! We blundered up the mountain and he put a very tall girl called Andrea right at the back of the straggling group as she was wearing a bright orange anorak! We kept on climbing when really we should have headed back to the Youth Hostel and at one point nearly wandered over a steep black cliff. With the fog and the absence of any landmarks, it was a foolhardy excursion, but I have so many fond memories of that afternoon!

The camaraderie amongst us was brilliant and the teacher ceased to be the person in charge and became "one of us". Of course, we all got back down safely and had a great time telling the others about our experience, feeling very smug that we'd braved dangers while they'd been merely playing games on the beach! These days I don't think we'd ever have been allowed to climb the mountain without a local guide, masses of equipment and helicopters at the ready in case the worst happened. The rules of Health and Safety are taking away the fun that children can have and while I'm not advocating schools go off and ignore the risks, it seems such a shame that they don't seem to have as much fun any more, as teachers are terrified if something should go wrong.

That trip will always stay in my memory and I just wonder if my teacher is still working and what he would think of all the new rules now!