When I gaze out of my study window, I look down the slope of my garden into a hollow in which stand two oak trees. Beyond the hollow lies farmland, and further still on the crest of a low hill a fringe of woodland prevents me from looking out on to the river Severn.

One of these oak trees stands square and green all summer. The other has been struck by lightning, disease or old age. Its twisted branches make a mad and fascinating pattern as they thrust into the sky. One crippled branch leans on another for support, half torn from the split trunk.

If I go through my garden gate and climb the wooded hill, I can see a large and well-planned housing estate. Blocks of modern flats edged with well kept lawns break the monotony of rows of two-storey houses and maisonettes. Beyond the estate lie the docks of Avonmouth and Portishead. The jibs of giant cranes poke sharp fingers into the sky in a dozen different directions.

Neither the crippled oak tree nor the docks can be called beautiful, not in the way most of us use the word. Yet I have always found such things more attractive to write about, more stimulating of ideas. So too have many of the children I have taught.

Here are a number of sentences that I have extracted from a dozen or more compositions written by children of your age on the theme of Canals and Factories.

The Chimneys

1. (a) Tall, dull chimneys reach up for the sky.

2. (b) In the distance, the grey smoke of the factories snakes its way from the chimneys into the dull, cloudy sky.

3. (c) In the distance, streamers of smoke rise from the tall factory chimneys and drift away to the east.

4. (d) Dull smoke pours from the chimneys and litters the sky.

The Streets

1. (a) Suddenly the whole place becomes alive with men scurrying to and from work like ants about a dead fly.

2. (b) The streets are hung about with evil shadows.

3. (c) The small dirty cottages cower back from the towering factories.

The Canals

1. (a) Barges like rusty sardine-tins lie moored outside the warehouses.

2. (b) Shabby grey boats drift like logs on a stream.

3. (c) The blue-black waters lap noisily against the harbour walls.

4. (d) Tugs suddenly wake from a deep sleep.