IT was a voyage of discovery for children from four primary schools let loose on Erith Marshes.

The children from Parkway, Northwood and St Augustine’s primary schools in Thamesmead and Belvedere, and Belvedere Junior School, were taking part in a treasure hunt on the marshes, organised by the Belvedere Green Links programme.

They set off from the Thames Innovation Centre in Veridion Park Way off Yarnton Way, Thamesmead, and made their way through the adjacent marshes and into Southmere Park and its lake.

Along the way, the children were asked to complete questions or anagrams to win tokens, with the winner receiving an ecology book.

The aim of the trip was to find a fun way of teaching local children about the grazing marshes and its ecology and rich history.

They heard how, before Thamesmead was built, the marshes were once home to Romany gipsies.

At one time it was estimated the winter population of gipsies on the marshes was as high as 1,600 people.

Children also learned about the catastrophic floods of 1953, which ended the gipsies’ occupation of the marshes, and which flooded the low-lying land along the Thames.

But the favourite activity of the day was making paper boats and sailing them on Southmere lake.

Bexley councillor Gareth Bacon, cabinet member for the environment saaid: “We are very lucky in Bexley borough we have such a wealth of natural beauty and heritage to enjoy and learn from.”

The Belvedere Green Links programme is part of a large scale regeneration programme in Belvedere.

Its community engagement programme is funded by the London Development Agency.

Information on the Belvedere Green Links programme is available from its website at belvederegreenlinks.org.uk