by Freddie Thompson Aged 9 

Based on a true event 

Day 173 (1891) 

Working at the magnificent Abbey Pumping Station, I am finishing off testing the machinery. It is all amazing, really amazing modern and extraordinary.  

The beam engines are huge, bigger than anything I’ve seen.  

I cannot wait to finish and see the beautiful machinery working! All around me there are big, shiny, metal machines and there are beautiful patterns on the walls, made out of red and white tiles. I can also see the detailed gold and black paint work on the heavy stands. I can hear the other men working as well, they sound as excited as I am! Suddenly, I realise my candle is about to wear out and it is getting dark outside. The boss said “Time to go lads!” So, I hastily finished what I was doing and went back home to my wife and children. 

Day 174 (1891) 

I am quickly walking back to work at the new Abbey Pumping Station feeling excited to finish the machinery! Leicester has had lots of disease and death because of sewage being put in the River Soar. As we are in the Industrial Revolution, the beam engines have been built by Gimsons and work by using high pressure steam. These are exciting, modern times! 

The sewage from the houses will flow through pipes to Abbey Pumping Station, then the machines pump it up the hill to Beaumont Leys sewage works, where it will be used as fertiliser to grow potatoes.   

As I quickly climb back up my ladder, I can see the amazing machinery. I was so distracted by its beauty I slipped off my ladder! CRASH! BANG! WOLOP!!! I had fallen through three levels!  

When I hit the floor, I was not quite sure which floor I had landed on. I was so confused. It was cold, wet, dark, there were rats. It felt like most of my bones had shattered into millions of pieces! My body felt like it was on fire.  

The men rushed to me, they were panicking and thought I was dead.  Moments later I was rushed to the infirmary in a wooden cart pulled along with a horse. When I arrived at the infirmary, the doctor had some sad news. He said that I had broken my back, my legs, my foot and my ribs had punctured my lungs. I was dying.  

I wish I had died when I hit the floor.