Inspired by our current text, Oliver Twist, we have been researching the jobs undertaken by Victorian children. When we discovered that mudlarking (the art of looking for historical objects left by the tides on the mud of river banks) was one such profession, we asked Lara Maiklem, who is an Upton parent, to come in and share her wealth of knowledge with the children. We listened avidly to her tales of objects she had discovered lying on the mud during her twenty years of enjoying this hobby. The children got to see and hold some of her treasures, which included pottery, clay pipes, bone and tiles. Needless to say, they were fascinated, so a huge thank you goes out to Lara Maiklem from Upton's Year 4!