Episode 1 Who Are We?

My name is Martha. I'm ten and I live near the Ironbridge, Shropshire.

Ironbridge is a small village of 2,500 people.

It's in the Midlands, near Birmingham.

And this is the Iron Bridge!

It was designed by Thomas Telford and built by Abraham Darby in 1779.

Ironbridge is famous because it's here where they found out

how to melt iron cheaply, using coal from the local coal mines.

Living in Ironbridge is fun, because in summer the ice creams are nice!

If I was to describe myself in three words,

it would be crazy, energetic and friendly.

This is me doing judo - these are some action shots,

and that's me with my medal. My mum and her friend always say

it's not about the dog in the fight, it's about the fight in the dog.

I love doing dance and drama. I like performing.

I like being on stage because I like when people think how good you are.

You have to be quiet!

This is me in a play.

I don't like this picture cos it makes me look like my dad,

cos I've got no hair. Not good. This is my dad.

This is my mum.

And that is my monkey.

No, he's my brother.

Every weekend, I go to the Victorian museum at Blists Hill and dress up

as a Victorian child.

Ironbridge Chronicle, Ironbridge Chronicle!

Come and get your Ironbridge Chronicle here!

THEY SHOUT HEADLINES

Only in the Chronicle. Read all about it!

When we go to the Victorian museum, we're street kids for the day.

We walk around the street for the visitors to see us.

It makes the museum look more authentic.

'In the brick-making, we have a lady to help show us what to do,

'but we normally do it mostly ourselves.'

It's something the older Victorians might do as a job.

This is my finished brick.

I'm very proud of it!

I can't do this. This is really hard.

-So would you rather go to school than work, then?

-Yeah, probably.

Cos of all the pressure of having to make 1,000 bricks.

I would rather go to work!

I like being a Victorian because it's something different.

It's not something that you'd normally get to try.

BELL RINGS

One of the worst things about being a Victorian

was going to school. It makes me think how lucky I am.

I do not know who gave you permission to be seated.

All stand quietly.

We will now sing All Things Bright And Beautiful.

# All things bright and beautiful

# The Lord God made them all. #

I am a working-class child.

ALL: I am a working-class child.

This is where God has placed me in the social order.

Victorian children wouldn't have as much attitude as we do now.

'They're quite quiet and polite.'

Not so clean, but wouldn't really be their fault.

I will use my right hand for writing and drawing.

I will use my right hand for writing and drawing.

Stand up if you use your left hand.

Repeat after me.

I am a misfit in this society.

I am a misfit in this society.

Speak up!

I am a misfit in this society.

I have one week to become right-handed.

I have one week to become right-handed.

Or else...

Be seated!

'This is my school and these are my friends.'

ALL: Let's play...concentration...

'I think I prefer my school to the Victorian school.'

They let me be myself.

This is Miss Carson. She's a lot different from the Victorian teacher

because she's not as strict and she doesn't cane us

and she doesn't shout at me for using my left hand.

We're going to talk about life in Victorian times

and the similarities and differences between life then and life today.

In Victorian times

you were more likely to die earlier than you would now.

Families were quite big.

-ALL:

-Children had to be seen and not heard.

There was a big difference between rich and poor families.

They wouldn't really mix.

When I get older I will live in Ironbridge for a while,

but it depends on what I want to be.

We're going to start the discussion on the word "identity".

What makes you you?

Your personality - if you're kind, or good, or lively and loud.

Hobbies and that.

What your hobbies are, what you're interested in.

You might say that part of my identity is that I like music

and play the piano, or I'm a good sportsperson, I play football.

-Your name. Where you live.

-Where you live is a big part of your identity.

What your family is like. What you believe in.

Your appearance, your hair colour, your eye colour

-and how you look.

-Good girl. Whether you've got brown or blue eyes.

I'm proud of my picture. It's probably the best I've drawn.

I think it looks like me when I'm a teenager or maybe in my 20s.

Not at all like I am here, now.

But you can't be perfect, can you?

My name is Gabriel. I'm nine years old. I live in Chislehurst, Kent.

20,000 people live in Chislehurst, which is a suburb near London.

My friends are Harry and Kian and we like playing sports.

Our favourite ones are football and basketball.

I support Manchester United.

I support Chelsea.

I support half Charlton and half Chelsea.

I like being in the choir because I like singing.

I will be going to the O2 Arena to see loads of famous people sing.

I will also be singing with them.

# O little town of Bethlehem How still we see thee lie... #

I like music. I am writing a song at the moment. It is very tricky.

This is my little sister Erna and behind me is my big sister Monica.

If I had to describe Gabriel

I would describe him as annoying but sweet sometimes.

Gabriel is very nice because he lets me in his bed every day.

Erna's sweet and Monica is very weird!

They both make me laugh a lot.

THEY SING IN POLISH

'I am half Polish because my mum's Polish

'and half English because my dad's English.'

THEY SING IN POLISH

'I have Polish lessons every week with my two sisters

'at the Polish Community Centre.'

HE SPEAKS POLISH

I feel proud of myself when I speak Polish

to the Polish kids in the school

and most of all when the bully in the class says rude things to me

I say rude things back in Polish.

'My grandpa is really good at basketball

'and he used to be a referee at his school.'

THEY SPEAK POLISH

'He and my grandma both come from Poland.'

That's your great-grandma, and this is your great-great grandma

and she's holding me.

Because of the war we were sent to Russia.

It was very hard. I was a little baby. I was only about three.

I had a little baby brother.

When we left Russia, we lived in a few countries

and eventually, at the end of the war, we came to England.

How did you meet?

We met at school when we were both teenagers.

We belonged to a dance group that danced in the school

and danced in the English villages.

-One of the activities that we did was Polish folk-dancing.

-Yes.

This is how we met.

I was born in Poland and that is why I feel Polish.

That is why we frequently go to Poland,

-so that we visit our homeland.

-How about you? How do you feel?

I feel half Polish and half English.

I am part of a Polish folk-dancing group.

I like dancing because I like moving

and there's quite a lot of jumping in most of the dances I do.

I really like jumping.

When I do the dancing I feel very nervous

because I'm not used to dancing in front of people.

This costume came from the mountains and when the people were walking up

they also wore the shoes because they were mountain shoes

and they were comfortable.

I wear this costume in one of my favourite dances

where you are jumping over the hats.

APPLAUSE

I like Michael Jackson and this is one of his favourite moves.

DISCO RHYTHM PLAYS

SHE SINGS IN POLISH

My little sister loves singing, but I find it very embarrassing

when she sings in front of an audience because she sings loud.

'My mum, my two sisters, and my grandma and grandad

'are all in a folk-dancing group.'

They get to do loads of really cool moves.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

'I like Polish dancing because it makes me feel Polish

'and I would like to teach the younger children.'

I'm Millie, I'm ten, and I live in East Bergholt in Suffolk.

This is Old Hall. I live here with my mum, my stepdad, my two sisters

and my brother and 40 other people.

Old Hall is a group of people and families

who have decided to live together and run a farm together.

This is my sister Jess and if I could describe her in three words,

I would say she is funny, caring and sometimes quite annoying.

We are going now to feed the calves.

We're feeding them hay that we made in the fields in the summer.

This is my mum Hazel.

The best thing about living on a farm

is probably all the animals,

because at school, if you go on a school trip to a farm,

everyone is scared. They think that everything is going to bite them,

but they're not really. They're really friendly.

This is my favourite calf and she's called Fern.

The worst thing is all the animal poo that's everywhere. It stinks!

We're in the kitchen at Old Hall -

one of many communal areas in the building.

BOTH: We'll show you round.

-This is...

-..the main corridor.

Lots of people here have flats, or units as we call them.

-This is the chapel.

-In here we do parties...

Badminton...

..and table tennis.

This is the central staircase and up there is where we live.

Race you! Three, two, one, go!

THEY LAUGH

No! That's not fair!

This is my stepdad Steve and he lived at Old Hall when he was my age.

-Hello, Millie!

-Hello, old chap!

Do you think it's nice that people and families

have come to live together in a community and run a farm?

Oh, I do. I think it's really lovely most of the time.

We have lots of things to share together,

but there are times when some people get on your nerves, of course.

But then it's big enough here to keep away from them

when that happens, so most of the time it's really good.

So there's ups and downs in living here.

There certainly are ups and downs in living here. Don't you think so?

Yeah, a bit.

This is my room that I share with my sister Jess.

I come here to read, sleep, watch TV and relax, really.

I also like it because it's our own space and nobody can come in.

It's so cold!

'At Old Hall we take turns to cook for the whole community

'with vegetables we've grown ourselves.

'Today we're cooking for about 20 people.'

It's manky!

It's really fat and heavy. It needs a haircut.

It feels different when you cook for everyone instead of just your family.

This is all the cheeses that have been made.

Mostly they stay up there about three months before they get eaten.

That's the next cheese to be eaten, the one with December on.

BELL RINGS

And then everyone goes to lunch or dinner.

THEY CHAT

Living at Old Hall has changed me a bit,

because seeing all the work that goes in to make the cheese

and get the milk from the cows and the eggs from the chickens -

some of us think it's an egg, or it's a carton of milk.

You think people have worked hard to do this.

Delicious soup. What flavour is it?

-Dad! Mimi!

-Yes.

-The soup is piccalilli.

Has it got piccalilli on?

-Piccalilli.

-Wow! Did you make it?

-Yes.

This is a bag that I have and it has something of everyone in my family.

This one is my dad

and this was taken about 12 years ago at my sister's christening.

Obviously he looks different now. A lot older.

So in the week I live with my dad in a regular house.

He has a girlfriend and sometimes they come round.

She has three daughters, plus me and Jess, plus my brother Harry.

So there's five girls and one boy.

We think that's OK, because he needs to suffer!

During the week I live with my dad in Saffron Walden.

This is where I go to school.

SHOUTING

After the big run on a Friday we play netball.

I play centre in the netball team, which is the main position.

SHOUTING

Because it's a Quaker school, every week we have a silent meeting.

Sometimes it's quite boring because you just sit there.

'Then at the end we all have to shake hands.'

School is a bit like Old Hall because everyone works together,

eats together and plays together.

The food at school is different

because here it's fish and chips and burgers.

That's really nice.

The food is quite nice here, but sometimes when it's really disgusting

you're like, "I don't want to eat that!"

I think it's good to try different ways of living

and it helps you know what you want to do in your future.

When I'm about 30 I want to be a vet

and live in a house in the town and have two children.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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