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Brooke Weston CTCNews and Reviews |
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Year 7 Residential (1998-9) |
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On 5th October 1998, around 185 Year 7 students and 14 staff set off from
college en route for Fairthorne Manor in Southampton for the annual Year 7
residential. Each tutor group travelled with another tutor group and their
tutors on a coach
Despite the late arrival of the coaches on the Monday morning (thanks Rogers!) and the roadworks along the way, everyone arrived safely although as we pulled through the gates of Fairthorne Manor, the skies did open and it did rain a little (!!!???!!!) Once organised into their rooms, the activities began in earnest. Each tutor group was split up into two activity groups, each undertaking a different activity - abseiling, climbing, raft building, canoeing, orienteering, initiative test, death slide (or ariel runway as we prefer to call it!), the Burmah bridge, obstacle course, sports hall activities with Miss Stringer and Miss West and, of course, the famous "free" I think my two activity groups faired well on most tests. One minor injury on the obstacle course and some fairly wet clothes on the raft building but apart from that, they were excellent. I managed to escape from the raft building as I didn't want to interrupt Mr White's enjoyment of jumping into the lake! I now know what it is to have big feet too - I simply could not manage the climbing at all... Canoeing was probably my favourite activity although, somehow, I managed to stay dry!! Hard luck the others!! We also camped out for one night. A fairly uneventful night really, apart from Kane's nose bleed and the bitter cold as I crept into my sleeping bag at around 12:30. What a gruelling night listening to a certain, unnamed, member of staff snoring for what seemed like an eternity! The morning provided some light relief with some 80 students hunting around for the hoover, duster and mop and bucket to clean their tents and one group even looking for a pot of green paint to paint the grass where their tent had been! (Are people really this gullible?) Even though the food was dire (cooked by Bluto of Popeye fame) and the disco finished at 21:30 (yes, that's right - what a late night that was - NOT) we all had a great time. But best of all was the fact that I escaped from doing the Burmah bridge when Mr Tiktin got stuck - yes that's right folks, he got stuck and had to be cut down by the instructors! Well, Miss Stringer, it's your turn next year!!! Check out the photos in our photoalbum, although I was unable to get a picture of Mr Tiktin dangling over the river on the Burmah bridge... Look out France - here we come next year! |
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