His five years of railway building was exciting and extraordinarily busy, but in 1866 everything crashed spectacularly……..
His plan for the cost of the Machynleth to Barmouth Railway was very, very low, because he hadn’t realised that at Aberdovey the railway would need so many tunnels.  But the workers have to buy goods and services, and the people that provide those goods and services demand money, and on February 5th 1866 so many people wanted money he was forced to declare himself bankrupt.
We meet Thomas again, he looks deep in thought…. 
 “I still yearn for greater things, I have organised two demonstrations of gunpowder blasting at Llanymynech quarries, I invited local dignitaries and important people to watch the explosion.  The first experiment took place on 17th September 1867, with one and a half tons of gunpowder.  An immense mass of rock was brought down, weighing about eight or nine thousand tons, and about half that amount was loosened.  But this wasn’t enough for me …….I wanted an even bigger experiment, using electricity to set off the explosive, and six and a half tons of blasting powder.
 
We meet an eye witness of the explosion on the 11th March 1868 and described the result -

“A few minutes after three o’clock, Mr Savin gave the final signal for the explosion, which, it is almost needless to say, was instantaneous.  The effect was terrific.  The huge rock was burst from base to summit with tremendous force, and poured down, with a fearful roar, on to the floor of the quarry, the dull thunder of the explosion causing a tremor to pass through the rock.  Some of the debris fell at an immense distance, a portion of the tramway bridge was destroyed on the Oswestry road, beneath the rocks, and a large quantity of powder was carried over a mile distant.  The noise of the explosion was distinctly heard at Welshpool, ten miles away.”
 
We see someone who looks upset, unhappy, angry…..
 
“ I knew that explosion four years ago would be a bad idea…….I know it was a smaller explosion, but it had deadly results.  A piece of rock landed before me as a walked along the west side of the quarry. Us locals call it Cooper’s rock…….. The dangers that the quarrymen had to face were…were…..just awful. That man was greedy, he just wanted to be bigger and better and didn’t care about us, the local people and the men who worked those quarries” 
​

Thomas Savin went to court for the explosion, in our story, he was found guilty.

Here are just some of the wonderful biographies we have written about Thomas Savin.

Today, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Mark from Oswestry museum. We talked about how the railways were designed and we even planned our own railways using one hundred year old draughtsman's forms, which were used to draw the maps of the railway lines. 

Once our railways were designed, we then had to build them! Don't forget to check the track is secure, and listen out for the bell sound as you hit it in place! 

Mark brought in some magazines about trains from the 1970's for us to look at.

To enhance our historical local study of Thomas Savin, we visited the Cambrian Railway museum in Oswestry. We looked at various artefacts and information about the station and Cambrian railways, followed by a short train ride to the next station, where we enjoyed our picnic in the sunshine!

This afternoon we continued to learn all the different things you can do on Scratch. We tried to make a simple game where the sprite jumped over an object. Great problem solving!

A letter from Booka book shop has asked us to produce a biography of local historical figure Thomas Savin.
What will we need to know? How will we find out more about Thomas Savin? 
“This is one of the most important man in the history of Oswestry….. Let’s hear his story”
​We wrote in our journals as Thomas told us about his early life. 
The children went into role as Thomas Savin meeting David Davies. They thought about the questions they would ask. We then created the meeting that took place between them. After the meeting, we planned the railways across Wales from Oswestry.

A newspaper article had been found which said "hats were thrown into the air and healths were drunk to the victory for local enterprise.  Oswestry parish church bells rang for two days. Mr Savin met with a fantastic reception at Oswestry.  He was carried shoulder high through the streets of the town, accompanied by a surging crowd of cheering admirers. They called him the Railway King!" Although, some people were not happy about this new railway, they said "It's going to be noisy, smelly and too busy for our little town!"

To celebrate the coronation of King Charles III, we found out about the coronation ceremony and traditions. We also looked at invitations throughout history, and then wrote our own. To end our day of celebrations, we took part in our own coronation with the whole school, followed by a tea party in class!

This term we have been learning how to use the Scratch program online. We have found we need to be very specific and follow instructions carefully. The children have managed to choose a sprite, change the backdrop and make the sprite move and glide. 

We thought some of the designs on Oscar's painted egg looked like designs we'd seen in nature. The star was like the top part of the poppy head. Daffodils pupils went off to explore the site to find other designs and patterns in nature. We talked about how nature inspires artists.

We have been channelling our inner 'Charles Darwin' brains and thinking about seeds and bulbs. We have so many ideas to think through. We have set up a Fair Test to see what conditions a sunflower seed needs to grow into a healthy plant. We looked at dried poppy heads and gently shook the tiny seeds from them. Some pupils are going to try and grow poppies at home. We planted iris bulbs in the tractor tyres - to add a splash of colour around the cabin in the summer.