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Below are the responses to the view of us by our New Zealand friends!!

"What we're really like!"

GET THE STORY STRAIGHT!!!!!!!!

Firstly sorry for insulting you by calling you Australians. We were a little insulted by you calling us rich and posh , you make us sound like snobs!! Wigan is a quite a little town,with no skyscrapers at all the tallest buildings are blocks of flats. Most of Wiganers have gardens apart from those who live in the town centre. To RENEE we do have lots of gangs if you’re not in a gang you’re known as a BILLIE NO MATES. We hate our uniform but we can’t change it even if we protest.If we had a choice we would not wear it at all!!Our school is pretty strict . Some of the rules are really strict. Not many people have minis but our teacher has one!! It gets really cold in the winter and it even snows sometimes.Once the snow was so thick we got sent home from school. We think the summers are hot for us but maybe not for you (we still have bad days in summer). The nearest castles are miles and miles away.Our town is known to have a really common accent(awreet which means alright/hello). By the way some of us don’t know what croquet is never mind play it. WRITE SOON!!!

Let's Get The Story Straight.

We have heard a lot of different opinions from you about Wigan.So we have decided to tell you what you have got wrong.

To start off we are not posh. If anything we are ordinary. We are often called because of our accent by the very stuck up people of Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire. But we don't mind

We all have back gardens except people who live in the town centre. We also have very LARGE HOUSES.

There are no skyscrapers in Wigan. The nearest thing to these are the flats in Scholes.

Anyway, Wigan is only a medium sized town but in and around the borough there is lots of scenery such as Haigh Hall which has a golf course,

Before we go we didn't mean to offend you by calling you Australians and by writing this letter.

seya soon

HELLO,

THIS MESSAGE COMES FROM GEMMA AND STEPHANIE

WE WOULD JUST LIKE TO POINT OUT A FEW DETAILS ABOUT WIGAN.

WIGAN IS A TOWN NOT A CITY. THERE ARE NO SKY SCRAPERS IN WIGAN JUST QUITE LARGE BUILDINGS.YOU MAY THINK WE ARE POSH BUT HONESTLY WE ARE NOT POSH COMPARED TO PEOPLE IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF ENGLAND

WE HAVE DIFFERENT ACCENTS FOR THE DIFFERENT PART OF THE COUNTRY.TRUE MANY OF THE NEW HOUSING ESTATES ARE VERY SQUASHED TOGETHER BUT MANY OF THE PLACES WERE WE LIVE ARE NOT SQUASHED UP.

THE UNIFORM IS NOT WHAT WE NORMALLY WEAR . IF WE HAD A SAY IN IT WE WOULD WEAR OUR NORMAL CLOTHES.TEENAGERS OVER HERE TEND TO WEAR SPORTS GEAR . WHAT TYPE OF CLOTHES DO YOU LIKE TO WEAR?

WE DO DRINK QUITE A LOT OF TEA BUT WE ALSO DRINK OTHER THINGS AS WELL.

JUST BECAUSE WIGAN IS A RUGBY RELATED TOWN NOT EVERY PERSON LIKES IT ,FOR EXAMPLE GEMMA HERE PREFERS FOOTBALL . SHE SUPPORTS MANCHESTER . UTD ,EVER HEARD OF THEM?

MINIS ARE QUITE POPULAR IN ENGLAND AND HERES SOME INFORMATION FOR DAVID MR .COULSON HAS A GREEN MINI.

WE HAVE A FAMOUS RIVER HERE IN WIGAN ITS CALLED THE DOUGLAS. WE ALSO HAVE THE LEEDS AND LIVERPOOL CANAL WHICH IS GREAT IF YOU LIKE BARGE HOLIDAYS.THE NEAREST BEACH TO US IS BLACKPOOL BUT I WOULD STRONGLY ADVISE YOU NOT TO GO SWIMMING THERE. IF WE WANT TO GO SWIMMING WE GO TO THE LOCAL SWIMMING BATHS.THE NEAREST COUNTRYSIDE TO US IS CUMBRIA AT THE LAKE DISTRICT.

I HOPE WE HAVE GIVEN YOU A MORE CLEARER VIEW OF WIGAN AND US SPEAK TO YA SOON

GEMMA AND STEPHANIE.

What we're really like.

Wigan is quite a small town without skyscrapers(!!), although it IS full of people. We only have SMALL skyscrapers in our really large cities such as London, Birmingham and Liverpool. You are right about the pollution, as Wigan is full of Rubbish first thing Sunday Morning, and sometimes stays like that 'till late. Buildings aren't that close together, and Wigan is spread over quite a large area, and we DO have Gardens!!! There is quite a lot of Countryside, especially around Yorkshire, where it is very hilly, and full of Sheep! Our houses are NOT COTTAGES, but in Yorkshire some of them are. We have tower flats, bungalow’s, terraced, semi-detached, and Detached houses, and all of them, except Flats, haved gardens.

Our T.V channels range from 4 in normal houses, to about 30-40 in houses with Cable or Sky, although very soon we will have a new channel called CHANNEL 5. The T.V programs range from old repeats of 60’s shows, to the brilliant X-Files, The Simpsons, Milleneum, J.A.G., Sabrina the Teenage Witch and beyond.......

Our School uniform isn’t our choice, as there are several rules we have to follow, such as we have to wear ties. Just because we wear uniform DOES NOT MEAN THAT WE DO NOT WEAR ANY DECENT CLOTHES, AND DO NOT HAVE A DECENT SENSE OF FASION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS OUR REPLY FROM RICHARD AND THOM

WIGAN HAS NOT GOT A CATHEDRAL AND SO IT CANNOT BE A CITY. WIGAN IS A TOWN AND ALSO A BOROUGH WHICH IS LIKE AN AREA. WE DO NOT KNOW OF ANY SKYSCRAPERS IN OUR TOWN BUT WE WILL LET YOU KNOW IF WE SEE ONE. WE HAVE A MINI FOREST IN OUR SCHOOL GROUNDS AND WE HAVE 2 CATS LIVING UNDER TWO OF OUR CLASSROOMS P1 AND P2. IT GETS VERY COLD IN WINTER AND IT DEPENDS ON HOW GOD FEELS IN THE SUMMER WETHER IT IS HOT OR NOT. OUR TOWN IS ALL ABOUT PIES, FOOTBALL AND RUGBY. RECENTLY OUR HOME FOOTBALL TEAM HAS JUST CANED (BATTERED OR HAMMERED) A CLOSE RIVAL IN THE LEAGUE - SCARBOROUGH 7-1. OF WHICH OUR LEADING SCORER DIDN'T SCORE ONE. WE ONLY HAVE 1 MORE TV CHANNEL THAN YOU BUT WE ARE EXPECTING ANOTHER ONE SOON CALLED VIRGIN 5 TV. WE HAVE VERY FAMOUS PEOPLE LIVING CLOSE BY. FOR INSTANCE, ERIC CANTONA WHO IS A FAMOUS EUROPEAN FOOTBALLER.

IF YOU LIVE IN THE TOWN CENTRE YOU DON'T HAVE A GARDEN YOU HAVE LITTLE YARD. BUT THE FURTHER AWAY YOU GO FROM THE TOWN CENTRE THE BIGGER YOUR GARDEN GETS. WE HAVE TWO SOURCES OF WATER IN OUR TOWN THE RIVER DOUGLAS AND THE LEEDS LIVERPOOL CANAL. THE DOUGLAS NICKNAMED THE DOUGGIE WILL NEVER BE A CLEAN RIVER AND NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN KNOWN TO SWIM IN IT IT'S ROMAN MEANING IS BLACK RIVER. ALONG THE LEEDS LIVERPOOL CANAL WE HAVE A HISTORICAL CENTRE CALLED WIGAN PIER. OUR SCHOOL UNIFORM IS COMPULSERY BUT WE DON'T MIND IT AN AWFUL LOT BECAUSE YOU GET USED TO IT AFTER A TIME. OUR SCHOOL HAS 1600 PUPILS AND 106 TEACHERS SO I THINK THAT IT IS JUST A BIT BIGGER THAN YOURS.

What we are really like In Wigan we mostly do the same type of sports as you. We do netball, hockey, football and rugby. We do not go sailing as there is no water nearby. We just have normal buildings which are not cramped together and most do have lawns which have to be mowed. Wigan does not have skyscrapers. Our school is very big and has about 1600 pupils and 106 teachers. We have to wear this uniform with the tie and blazer, (we do not choose to). We just speak normally. WE ARE NOT POSH!!!! We do not wear old fashioned clothes we have very fashionable ones to wear at weekends! Not every one in Wigan is rich.

Hi, from Jayne, Harley and Charlotte. First we just want to say how cute we think Simon looks, plus Jayne thinks he's gorgeous with the added bonus that he knows a lot about rugby league- what is his second name????? To start with, Wigan has never been posh, is not posh and will never be posh. There is definitely no sky scrapers and what is croquet????? We agree with you about the uniforms, we are made to wear them because the teachers are SLAVE DRIVERS!!!!! We are not a city and we do have gardens and also a rugby stadium called Central Park where Wigan play rugby. Tell Te Mauri that she may find it difficult to swim in the beaches, she should try the sea- but not in England as you may freeze to death and they are a yucky colour!!!!! Our streets are not narrow at all and we do not live in cottages, castles or palaces. Only sir drives a mini- normal people prefer cars that you can fit inside!!!!! Three channels!!! huh we have four (five including SKY which has a hundred channels) and we are only just managing. We don't live near any famous people unless you think sir is famous but we do live near some rugby players. We don't dress in old clothes, except sir!!!!! Wigan has cool shops and cinemas which we do go to nearly every weekend. Jayne loves chocolate, does Simon?????

Our country is nothing like you think it is .We do have gangs but we don't call them that , we call them possies .We all have gardens at the back of houses and there are no skyskrapers anywhere near us. In fact there is only one skyscraper in the whole of Britain .Wigan is not a city, it is only a town and not a very big one at that. We are definately NOT POSH!!!! All High Schools in Britain have school uniforms so really it not 'Old clothes'. We love any kind of fasionable clothes, we wear things like sports clothes and anything designer. We have no castles near because we don't live in a fairy tale. Just out of Wigan there is a place called Blackpool which has one of the biggest rollercoaster in the whole of Britian and it is FAB . You are wrong when you say that England is a tidy place , because it's one of the most untidest place and it has also been announced that Wigan is the worst . The South of England however is a lovely place and the beaches in Devon and Wales are gorgeous. We have loads of cars but they are not all small and there are hardly any minis on our wide roads. Wigan 's rugby team is one of the best around , but lately they have been playing really bad . Amy personly prefers football because our team Wigan Athletic are much better and the players are much more fitter . We do drink alot of tea but we also drink alot of coffee , lots of fizzy drinks . We only have one more T.V. channel than you and that is channel four , we think . Our channels altogher are :- BBC.1 BBC.2. I.T.V. channel 4 but we are getting a new channel soon which will be called channel 5. We are so sorry for even mentioning Australia and kangeroos.

Are there any fit rugby players in New Zealand ? Have you ever heard of` `computer dating ?' are you interested in starting this ..(ps . don't tell miss Hart) Word of the week meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . pea wet - mushy pea juice

SEE YA SOON AMY ,EMMA ,KIM,and DAVINIA.

What we are really like.

We would just like to put you right about a few things, Wigan isn't a very big city its a town. There are no skyscrapers. We play rugby, soccer (football), golf, cricket, netball, hockey. We don't play croquet (whats that ?) Kirsty goes dancing and Heidi plays netball. We don't talk posh that's only the Royal family (we don't talk to them anyway). The roads aren't narrrow they are wide enough for two cars to drive down (one on each side) and some are even wider. Our cars aren't all minis, most are loads bigger. We don't wear old fashioned clothes we are quite fashionable, we don't choose to wear a school uniform we have to (we hate ties and blazers). We don't live in old cottages we live in every day modern houses, with quite big gardens (most anyway) but we do. We have one more T.V channel than you We aren't all rich!!! Our school is very big and has 1600 pupils and 106 teachers. Speak to ya soon Heidi and Kirsty P.S. DON'T FORGET WE'RE NOT POSH.

Reply To Impressions of Britain

· Wigan does not have sky scrapers · We do not talk posh · We do not drink tea all day long · We do not live in cottages, we live in modern housing estates with modern facilities and cloths · We do not normally wear shirt, ties and blazers we just wear them for school. · Wigan is a big town not a city · We have quite a lot of hills and mountains in the Lake District not in Wigan. The Lake District is about 50 miles away to the edge of it. There are about 12 natioal parks. Which is quite a lot of countryside. · We have some farms but not as many as you!!!! · We do have Gardens with flowers in and they are quite big. In Wigan town centre some houses do not have gardens in the town centre but as you go out from the town centre the gardens get bigger so it does not save on the mowing. · Our streets in the town centre are 2-4 lanes wide and on the motorway they vary from 6-10 lanes wide over the country. · There are not so many castles and palaces in Britain now as they have had fires or have been wrecked in wars and battles past. Most of the castles and palaces are now maintained by the National Trust and English Heritage now where you can pay to visit them. Most off them are in the countryside not the town centre. · London is 280 miles away from us (roughly 360km) · Some of our school is old the oldest part was built in 1932 and the newest part of the school was built in 1992 with various buildings inbetween. · You do not see many Mini’s on the road now. Our cars range from Skoda’s, Ford’s to BMW’s and Jaguar’s.

Christopher Wooff and Richard Magee

Reply to the first impressions

From Adam and Stephen Wigan is not a city, it is a town. Sorry to disappoint you there are no skyscrapers. Don’t believe the stereo typing of English people, we don’t talk posh. We talk in our gruff northern accent . We know we’ve got a great rugby team but we don’t brag about it. Out of Wigan there is a lot of farms , but in our part of the country we do dairy cattle and sheep. We have the Pennines near us, which is a high hilly range, we get out TV and radio signals from one of these hills called winter hill. We have 5 TV channels plus the SKY. Haigh hall is a big stately home with hundred’s of acres of gardens and woods. The impressions you got of our houses are the old Victorian houses and the old factories there are very little of these left. Now we have modern hosing estates with large gardens, yes there is quite a lot of mowing involved !

To David We do not have any castles and we do not play croquet ! We were offended by the last comment. Wigan is not crowded and noisy, it’s only crowded in London and Birmingham (and that’s a long way from us in Wigan 280 miles away from Wigan.) To Te Maurie In England we have beaches, but we do not go to them , we have the Leeds Liverpool canal and the river Douglas. See ya in a bit !

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