This is Heathrow calling ….

In my opinion, one of the most difficult and dangerous athletic activities to teach in school is Pole Vaulting.

After a couple of years of disuse, it was decided that the large landing pit out on the school field would have to go and be converted into an additional long jump area.

It was decided that the foam chip landing area had to be disposed of!

There was a lot of it!!!  The industrial dustbins on site were going to be of no use at all for the amount we had to dispose of.

Thoughts about ‘burying it all or sinking it’ into a gravel pit adjacent to school field was not feasible due to the fact that foam floats, and in any case it was ecologically wrong.

Next best idea was burn the foam!

Early next morning, before any students had arrived at school and armed with a large can of petrol, I carefully proceeded to set the foam alight.  The result was spectacular!                 

Such was the thick acrid smoke, which plumed high into the sky, that the school received a telephone call from the authorities at nearby Heathrow Airport)       asking us to extinguish the conflagration at once for fear that it might present a visibility hazard for aircraft. Easier said than done.  It burnt for 24 hours and required the fire brigade’s attendance – to say nothing of the warnings on the radio of thick dense smoke over the Heathrow area being a hazard to planes.