In the 80s I taught at the school in Findon Village.
I took a class of 27 5&6 year olds to Worthing seafront.
We travelled on the regular bus – a first for many of the children! They were very impressed by the very long ticket we got !
It was a very hot sunny day. Before we went on the pier I went into ‘ Bejams’ ( where Iceland is now) to buy ice lollies for everyone.
I left the children with 2 Teaching Assistants and several parents to wait at the entrance to the pier.
When I crossed back over the road I couldn’t see the children anywhere. I didn’t understand how I couldn’t see them as they should have been very visible in their emerald green school sweatshirts!
My feeling of panic ( and imagined newspaper headlines!) subsided when I walked behind the Pavilion and saw a long bright green carpet of sweatshirts stretching down the pier as the children (and most of the adults!) were lying face down looking at the sea through the spaces in the decking!
It reminded me of our own children doing the same thing.
When I told my husband this story he too remembered doing this as a child.
And now our grandchildren do the same thing.
Our 4yr old granddaughter’s comment (when laying flat on her tummy at low tide) that now the fish couldn’t see her looking at them because their house had moved – still makes us chuckle!
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