Monday Day 1
Day 1 Arrival
Monday 20th May 2024
We left Salisbury at about 10 past 11, this morning. We would like to give a huge thank you to Ezinne’s mum, for holding the gate open so that the children could get through and for passing the many suitcases along ready for placing into the hold of the coach. Other parents that helped to pass the cases along and a huge thank you to Emilia’s dad, for climbing into the hold and loading several cases. Without your help, I am not sure we would have left before 11:30am. Fingers crossed you are also there to meet us, when we arrive home on Friday! It is now 9:50pm, many children have showered, and the buzz of chatter is ringing out along the corridor. Some of the children are sat outside of their bedroom doors, talking about the day’s events (we do not allow them into each other’s rooms), others are in their rooms still getting ready for bed. The coach drive was painless….. well, for those of us that enjoy listening to several voices, in several keys singing ‘I’m a Barbie girl (on repeat). We stopped at Reading services for a comfort break and lunch. The children played and chatted before boarding the coach for the remainder of our journey to Liddington. Once we arrived at approximately 3:30pm, it has been all go. First, we needed to climb the stairs with our suitcases, to the first floor to access our rooms. The children quickly found their rooms, claimed their sleeping space (top or bottom bunks), made their beds and unpacked. It was then time to rehearse the fire drill and then we were free to play until dinnertime. There was plenty to choose for dinner and the food portions were huge. The choices were fish fingers, Chinese style noodles, croquette potatoes, salad, carrots, green beans and then cake for dessert. After dinner, we had more free time, so there were various activities, in each section of the field; Cricket, dodge ball, two games of football, hula hooping, skipping, just sitting and relaxing. At 8 o’clock the children had a camp fire, where they joined in singing and dancing games and had marshmallows roasted on the open fire, before heading to their rooms at 9pm for showers and winding down for bedtime. It is now 10:35 and there is no sign of the children quieting down, which is normal for residential. Regardless of the time they fall asleep tonight, they all need to be up and dressed to meet our team leader at 8am, ready to head to the dining hall for an 8:10 am breakfast.
