20 things your grandkids may never be able to see; FROM SNOW TO THE LOCAL SHOP AND MILKMEN..

Byline: By STEWART WHITTINGHAM

OUR kids are set to be taught "Britishness" in schools - but the chances are their newly acquired knowledge will soon be out of date.

That's because technology, our hectic lifestyles and various natural phenomena are reshaping our land and consigning countless icons to the scrapheap at an ever-increasing rate.

So here we look at 20 things that our grandchildren may never see by the year 2050...

1 SNOW - British winters are getting warmer and wetter, due to global warming. Climate experts predict that temperatures could rise by a minimum of 2.5C by 2050.

This may mean that we'll see no snow in the future - and our grandkids won't be able to build real snowmen or enjoy snowball fights.

2 LOLLIPOP LADIES - School closures and parents driving their kids to the gates mean fewer youngsters now walk to school. Future kids may never again be greeted by the cheery smile of the lady in scary fluorescent clothes.

3 WATER VOLE - The cute, cuddly creatures made famous by Ratty in Wind In The Willows are Britain's most rapidly disappearing mammal. The population has declined by 88 per cent in just seven years.

Their marshy habitat is being lost to drainage and pollution, while its natural enemy, the mink, are running amok.

4 PETROL-DRIVEN CARS - Pollution fears and the lack of oil will mean cars having to be powered by something other than petrol.

Our space-age vehicles may run on electric, nuclear, solar power or even top up with vegetable oil.

5 DESKTOP COMPUTERS - Laptops are now all the rage and mobile technology could see the end of computer tied down by too many wires. They will continue to get lighter, smaller and faster, with broadband everywhere.

6 PAPER MONEY - Checkout staff already think you're from an alien world if you try to pay by cheque.

But by 2050, we might have electric chips or barcodes instead of cash and use swipe cards to pay for drinks.

7 COD 'N' CHIPS - More than a classic dish, it's an institution. Brits eat a third of the worldwide cod catch but it's dying out to such an extent that the World Wildlife Fund labelled cod a "threatened species".

8 MILKMEN - Competition from supermarkets and garages has drastically cut the numbers of milkmen delivering to the doorstep.

Ten years ago, 2.5billion litres of milk was delivered to our doorsteps but now just 13 per cent of the milk we drink is brought to us by the milkman.

9 SMOKING IN PUBLIC - Bans are already in place in Scotland and Ireland, with England and Wales set to follow.

Smokers now hug pub pavements and buildings but as the nanny state gets more heavy-handed, it could become an arrestable offence to smoke anywhere in public in the future.

10 MORECAMBE BAY - Britain's second largest bay is under threat from rising seas. Its salt marsh covers more than 100 square miles of sand but with the sea rising by 30cm a year, this could be under serious threat by 2050.

11 NIGHT SKY - Light pollution from street lights, neon signs and floodlights are turning the sky at night into a murky haze. Further pollution has reduced the 3,000 stars visible on a moonless night to a few dozen.

12 CORNER SHOPS - The all-conquering supermarkets are squeezing out the classic British corner shop - 7,337 have closed in four years.

A parliamentary group has warned that newsagents could die out by 2015.

13 POST BOXES - The famous red boxes are already being sealed. As digital and computer technology takes off, "snail mail" will just be a note in history.

14 SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS - School closures and dwindling teacher numbers point the way to the future. By 2050, kids could be taught by a virtual teacher in front of a computer screen.

15 HOLIDAYS IN THE MED - With warmer summers already, there's little need to fly off for sunshine and sangria. British temperatures could rise by between 2.5C and 10C, turning the country into a sizzling summer destination.

16 BUMBLE BEES - Intensive farming is killing them off, with nine out of 25 species already gone. The bees can't survive in small nature reserves and their habitat of wild flowers and hedgerows is dying out.

17 RURAL RAILWAYS - Privatisation has led to cost-cutting and small rural stations being phased out. Many are unstaffed as people drift away from the countryside and the car becomes king.

18 COAL MINES - There are just eight working mines in Britain - down from 1,500 before the 1984 miners' strike. Those that are still operational look doomed, too.

19 PHONE BOXES - Mobiles may mean the end of the line for phone boxes. There are far fewer than a decade ago and they could become museum pieces in 40 years' time.

20 REAL PUBS - Designer pubs, bars and gastro joints means snugs and dart boards will be hard to find as real ale and fires give way to trendy lager and smoke-free zones.

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CAPTION(S):

THAW POINT: Kids will miss out' SOUR: Milkman' SEALED: Post box' FOLDING: Paper money' LOST: Bee' VIRTUALLY GONE: Classroom teacher' EMBATTERED: Great cod and chips