That Was The Week That Was !

...and it's nearly over !

We've had smiles and tears, we've had joy and frowns, we've had raised voices and gentle whispers... and all that was just from Ms Robbens at dinner time tonight !

all in all, it's been a fantastic week - the kids are now packing, and the general feeling is a mixture of excitement at being home tomorrow and sadness at leaving Glasbury and although their new bruises will fade, the memories will not.

Sleep tight (for it may be you last night of peace for a while)

See ya tomorrow !

Friday Morning - The final day

Very quick note this morning - running late.

Last night we experienced our first drop of Welsh rain - it's just as wet as the English stuff

At breakfast this morning some kids asked if they could stay a few more days. Today we have a group doing canoes, another doing caves, and the other two are going to the waterfalls. It's a bit cloudy out, but hopefully will stay dry today.

A great day had by all. Mr Langtry and his group have a very cold but enjoyable day splashing through the Gorges and beautiful waterfalls. Mr Molloy and Miss Willers went Canoeing, the children did brilliantly paddling 4 miles down river to Hay on Wye. Myself (Mr Crouch) and Ms Robbens took out their groups to climb a mountain (around 6 miles) the children are absolutely shattered now, but loved it.

As posted yesterday, please understand that our day starts very early at 7am. We do not have any spare time to update blogs and/or edit videos until late into the night when the children finally go to sleep. Once a video is edited it has to be converted to the correct format and compressed. it then takes around 20 minutes per video to upload to Blogger. Please understand that the videos posted are merely snippets of the full footage to give you an idea of what the children are doing and to see them having fun. We are unable to search through hours of footage from each of the four groups to pick out individual children, but endeavor to do our best to give an overall picture of the days activities. In addition if the children are wearing waterproof clothing you may find it difficult to identify individuals.

The full version of the footage will be available from the school in July when the children leave the school for them to keep as memories of their stay here at Glasbury.

Some more videos from the last couple of days....

Thursday Morning - Shamrocks & Shenanigans

All the boys were up at sunrise this morning, playing table tennis and pool ! The girls...? Well most of them were snoring their heads off and needed calling !

Today is St Patrick's Day and to make Mr Langtry feel special we have asked the children to say "Top o'the mornin' to ya" - we suspect that after the 700th time in half and hour that Mr L is finding it a little annoying. Tough luck ! He's got another 13 hours of it !

And as a double special treat he got a very 'unique' performance of Riverdance at breakfast time.

Sun is shining, bones are aching, but still having fun.

More later

Weather too good to be true

Just back from the mountains (2 of the 4 groups anyway) and another wonderful day. We suspect that we are using up all of Wales' annual sunshine quota this week - it can't last!

The views were stunning and we think the kids got an idea of how quickly the weather can change in this part of the world - one minute we were in glorious sunshine, and literally within seconds you are in the middle of thick fog/cloud. We were constantly putting jumpers on, then off, then on - thankfully it never got really cold, and doubley thankful that it did not rain.

Don't know what time other groups are gonna be back - will try and get pix and/or vids up soon.

Wednesday Morning

Believe it or not the weather has been fantastic some of us have even caught some sun on our faces...Its 9am on Wednesday just finished breakfast and the forecast for the day is cloudy but dry again! woohoo....
Last night the children stayed in the house and had a treasure hunt around the Glasbury mansion, as ever the children were well behaved and have great fun running wild. Yesterday Mr Molloy and Miss Willers went caving we're pretty sure they bought them all back...

The Welsh air has been knocking the children out so there have been no complaints at bedtime. In bed by 10:00 and asleep by 10:01.

By the way, if anyone is wondering how this year the updates have not been posted all day long (like previous years) it is because we are off-site all day, and when we get back we are having dinner and doing other duties until very late.

Today 2 of the groups are going mountain-walking, hope the weather holds out !

Tuesday Morning

A much quiter night, last night. The staff finally clocked-off at about 10.30pm.
The food her is really nice, good portions and good choice. After dinner all the kids were taken out into the middle of nowhere in a minibus and had to try and get back to the centre (don't worry folks, the teachers were with them). Miss Willers and Mr Molloy's group were the first back. Mr Crouch says he 'pretended' to the kids that he was lost.

The weather yesterday was nice and sunny, looking a bit more overcast today, but it hasn't dampened the excitement.

Todays Activities

A few clips from todays activities...
Mr Crouch and his group went to see the Waterfalls
Mr Langtry and his group went Caving
Ms Robbens and her group went canoeing
and Miss Willers/Mr Molloys group went Gorge walking

here we go

day one
good night sleep
most of the kids up and excited

Day 1 Sunday 13th March

We arrived at 16:30 without any real drama. The coach trip was around the 4 1/2 hour mark, the children were very well behaved and sang wheels on the bus more times than we care to remember. We had the usual "are we there yet" that started shortly after joining the A406 from Charlie Browns roundabout. On arrival after a quick meeting groups were assigned. Group one were sent into the kitchen for their table preparation and serving training...and what a wonderful job they made of it. Each child was assigned a table to lay, taught which spoons were for what course and how to lay them correctly. They then served all 3 courses to their table, parents you would have been so proud! (I will post a video tomorrow).

Its now 22:30, lights out was at 22:00 and we are sat outside the dorms waiting for all to go quiet...this could take a while!

We have an early start in the morning at 07:15. After getting up and dressed each child will proceed to their designated area to carry out their task of the day, nothing too taxing just a quick tidy up of their designated area. Its then off for breakfast and the days first activity, either canoeing, waterfalls, caving or a mountain walk. We will post some videos and pictures of tomorrows activities at the end of the day.

WE ARE HERE !

We got here safe and sound - no dramas

The kids are running around very excited, except the ones who are on dinner duty.

Will have some pics and vids later.

House Rules

• The students' door is to be used for entry to and exit from the Main House except in the event of an emergency.
• Slippers or clean shoes are to be worn in the house
• Wet clothes must be put in the drying room.
• Running is not allowed in the house.
• Chewing gum is not permitted.
• Lunches and evening drinks must be consumed downstairs.
• To leave the site, permission must be gained from a member of visiting staff, reporting to them on return.
• After dark, students are only allowed to leave the house when on a supervised activity or if they have permission from their visiting staff.
• The Adventure Ropes Course is only to be used when a supervised by an authorised member of staff.
• Students must sepsect each other's privacy and only go into allocated dormitories and washing facilities.
• Quiet after lights out.

Glasbury - 13th March to 19th March

The residential visit to Glasbury is nearly upon us and I know the children are looking forward to this adventure.

A meeting is due to take place on Tuesday 1st February at 6.00pm when final details and information will be given.