34 · St Helen’s Magazine 15/16
Year 4 Trip to Aldbury I’m always happy and excited to go on school trips because we always learn in an alternative way to the classroom. This time, we visited a place called Aldbury in Hertfordshire because we were learning about settlements in Geography. At first, I didn’t really know much about Aldbury - I only knew that it was a small village close to Northwood but far enough away for me never to have heard of it! However, this trip filled me with lots of information about Aldbury and historic small villages in general. The day started and I was extremely excited about learning something new! Firstly, we ate our snacks in the Town Hall which looked somewhat old-fashioned. Then we explored the houses starting from the centre of the town,
which is the oldest part. As we were standing there, in the middle, we saw the pillory (it was real and from around the 1500s) which was falling to pieces. A pillory is a wooden punishment instrument where criminals were forced to put their arms, head and legs inside slots – and they would be pelted with rotten food! Next to the pillory there was a murky pond with a fountain which officially signified the centre of the town.
space. One of the pubs was called The Greyhound Inn. I feel that life in Aldbury is very different from our lives and was very difficult in the past. If you wanted to travel on the bus you would have to wait a very long time and you had to be on time as the bus only came about 5 times a day!!! There are some positives about Aldbury such as the beautiful landscapes and the green environment which is different from life in Northwood.
Later in the morning we discussed how people lived in comparison to those in Northwood. People who lived in Aldbury normally got their daily food and household goods from the post office. There were also other different shops such as blacksmiths which we don’t have today. Old pubs were also used as hotels because of the shortage of
I had an interesting, enjoyable and informative trip with all of Year 4 learning lots of facts and I hope future years will enjoy the trip too. Raissa Hirji