Tale 42 - Excitement at Baitings Dam!

 Just before the Summer holidays, the journey to school with the Prince of Tales and the Sassy Princess was full of entertainment! Not only did we have Spotify and lots of tales, we also had Baitings Reservoir!

We cross the road over Baitings Reservoir every day when we travel to school.

Baitings Reservoir is 

• A large water supply reservoir operated by Yorkshire Water. 
• Near to Ripponden in the valley of the River Ryburn. 
• Supplying Wakefield (Yes Wakefield!) with water! 
• Covering a small hamlet called Baitings which was flooded over 80 years ago, but gave its name to the dam.
• Famous for being on the TV programme ‘Crimewatch’ as in 1989 a body was found weighed down with a pick axe handle, still an unsolved murder to this day! 

My history lesson did not really interest the Sassy Princess and the Prince of Tales though. What interested them during severe dry weather was the old packhorse bridge that was slowly being revealed in the reservoir.

Each day we would go over the reservoir and see the bridge slowly become more revealed. It sparked a daily conversation regarding could the water get any lower!

Well every day it did, and perhaps the only disappointment of the impending Summer holidays was that we would not get our daily view of the bridge being further revealed! On the last day of Summer we even walked over the packhorse bridge, as i thought, if we had a summer of rain, it may be an opportunity we would never get again.

Over Summer, we often chatted about the bridge. The weather had continued to be dry, and we wondered if even more of the bridge had been revealed!

Yesterday morning the Summer holiday ended. We got in the car for the first journey  of school year 22/23. 

“I’m excited to see how  low the water is now?” Remarked the Prince of Tales as we started our journey.

When we crossed the reservoir, we were amazed to see the bridge was now more or less totally revealed! However, this was not the main point of interest. There was a police corden and some officers in a van at the scene!

Another body? Another murder? 

I googled to find out. Not a murder, but the discovery of a bomb and hand grenade in the dried mud of the parched reservoir.

“If the bomb blows up the bridge we won’t be able to go to school” said the Sassy Princess (she hoped!)

“Not quite as there are other routes to your school” I commented, instantly putting an end her hopes to an extension of her already long, long holiday!

At the end of the road over the reservoir, we could see the two officers in the police van. They were  having a sandwich and sharing a laugh (probably on a break). The van was immediately above the area of the reservoir where the bomb was found.

“I could do that job,” I laughed. 

“So could I” said the Sassy Princess. “Easy money eating sandwiches and having a chat!”

The Prince of Tales shook his head in disgust at the pair of us.

“So you would want their job?” Said the Prince of Tales. “They are in a cordoned area, which is cut off from the public for our protection. They are sat above a possible bomb which could go off at any time. They are risking their lives. You seriously want that job? Money and a sandwich in your opinion worth being blown into the sky!”

I have organised one of the biggest school camps in England. I have taken children to potentially dangerous environments such as a football international at Wembley Stadium !  But here I am, a 53 year old man, being schooled by an 8 year old in Health and Safety. 

I wanted to start the ‘They would not be sat there or let us cross the reservoir if unsafe’ debate. However, the visible corden, and the evidence there was an ongoing bomb situation, would mean the Prince of Tales would shoot me down. He would be like a lawyer prosecuting a puppy next to a pile of poo. I would be a father belittling safety procedures.

I would soon be shouting “Magpie!”

I kept my mouth shut, as did the Sassy Princess!

At the end of school, I picked them both up and we drove over the reservoir again.

“The police have gone.” The Prince of Tales said.

I could not help myself. I looked up into the sky.

“Maybe the bomb went off and they have been blown into the sky” I joked.

The Prince of Tales looked into the sky to check for falling police officers and vans. 

He then rolled his eyes at me.

I do sometimes, in my conversations with the Prince, think that some magic has created a role reversal, and I am the cheeky child and he is the responsible adult! 

He certainly makes me feel like that! 

Ever felt like the child when having a parental chat with your children? Let me know!