Today, the Weather will be Sunny!
28th February 2006
BBC Points West and BBC Local Radio Weather presenter Richard Angwin paid an educational visit to the youngsters of Lyneham. Richard returned to Lyneham, his grass routes in weather forecasting, to explain to the Lyneham Village Independent Pre School children what the weather was all about. Even many adults are puzzled by the 'whys and whens' of our climate and his enthusiastic explanation on why we have weather was taken with young attentive ears.

Lyneham Village Pre-School organiser, Emmy Butcher introduced the popular television forecaster to the many children and believe it or not, many recognised who this gentleman was. "He's on the telly, the weatherman" one youngster eagerly stated.

On January 11th 1954, George Cowling of the Met Office became the first person to present a weather forecast on British television. 50 years on and the BBC Weather Centre continues to make weather broadcasting history. Richard Angwin had previously worked on the RAF base here at Lyneham many years ago and has never had to brief meteorology or weather descriptions to such a young audience.

During Richard Angwin's sociable chat, he opened up a question and answer session to see the children's interpretation of the weather. A bright young boy, was soon in full swing, chatting to the Points West presenter, telling him what ice was all about and how his parents skid on it in their car. Explaining that his dad drove very fast and spins.

A surprised Richard was concerned as other children joined in with their icy driving experiences. It's amazing what kids will say when Mum's, Dad's, Carer's and Guardian's are not around [just an insight]! Many of the children asked when it would snow and in good forecasters fashion, no promises, but there is a good chance of snow on Thursday, "..if the children are good" Richard explained. They certainly were well behaved, fingers crossed for a snowman building day, carrots to the ready! Today was a day for all season's, on the eve of spring, we had bright sunshine, snow and dropping temperatures.

As part of this latest educational topic 'weather and seasons', organiser Emmy Butcher decided to supplement her weather theme this term with a visit from a former Lyneham employee. She recalls that her attention was drawn to Richard, from the Lyneham people's profile in our website, which has memories and his early weather days at Wiltshire's only airbase. Emmy said " I remember reading the article about Richard and thought it would be so nice if he could pay us a visit. No sooner had I contacted him through the BBC, hoping, I got a confirmation straight away. I did not expect it to be that easy, Richard was so accommodating".

Lyneham Village Independent Pre-School, established in Lyneham in 1979, and are a thriving outfit that pride themselves on the quality of care and education they provide. The warm and friendly nature displayed by all the staff is so encouraging and certainly will build those foundations for the childrens future education. The variety of educational subjects covered with external influences and personalities is a true sign that the children can learn with enjoyment and interactivity.

Speaking to Richard afterwards he said " I was a bit uncertain about talking to such a young audience. I have talked to large groups aged between 7 and 97, but three and four year olds were a very different audience. But I needn't have worried, they were surprisingly attentive, albeit thanks to a little encouragement from the staff."

"I am still a little concerned about these youngsters. It seemed that almost every child had been in a car which had skidded on ice and disappeared down some sort of hole. Remind me to avoid Lyneham whenever it is icy." Richard we can assure you, we do not get many 'skating rinks' at Lyneham and you will always get a warm front and never exceed saturation point with visits to our village. Thanks again.