I was hoping for the Quiet Room duty this evening after a busy day, but I find myself here in the games room as Lydia, Sonny, Daisy and Lizzie play ping pong. They are definitely enthusiastic, but seem to use the same amount of force to hit the ball as they would a rounders ball, so plastic missiles are whizzing across the room at high speed. There’s a certain level of jeopardy sitting here, but those are the lengths your intrepid reporter is prepared to go to to bring you the latest news from the front line. It’s not all bad though because I’ve just been serenaded by Korbyn on the piano. Lovely. If only the current piano player had the same level of skill!
It has been a packed day. The journey passed without incident and we arrived in good time to set up our rooms before having our packed lunches. The Fressingfield boys are taking the tidy room challenge seriously and have all unpacked and put their things away. Soon we were splitting into our day groups for our afternoon activity. For Lizzie, Daisy, Bella, Lydia, Oscar, Oliver, Tobie, George, Niall and a similar number of children from Laxfield and Stradbroke, this meant bushcraft. This started with a walk through the woods up to the top of the hill looking for silver birch kindling, which is full of natural oils so is excellent for starting fires. They soon had a trug filled with this and one-finger and two-finger wood. The rain was intermittent throughout the afternoon, but we were quite sheltered in the woods. So small rafts were built for our cotton wool to sit on, then a strike on the fire lighter later and the kindling caught. Lots of blowing was needed to get the fires roaring, but they did enough to boil a kettle for hot chocolates and to cook some marshmallows. The next task was to build shelters for our Bendy Bobs, which – as you can see from the photos – the group took to with enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, Nancy, Maisie, Sienna, James, Ted, Korbyn and Sonny went off to the Air Jump. Needless to say, Nancy started from where she took off two years ago, fearlessly jumping from 8 metres onto an enormous air bag. The bag itself is about four metres tall – it wouldn’t fit into Yangtze classroom – and it sits next to an enormous wooden tower. All the children start on the same level as the top of the airbag and the key to being able to progress further up the tower is technique. The trick is to leap off and throw your legs forward so that you land on your back. For some, attempting this first jump a couple of times was enough, but for others, each subsequent jump involved climbing higher and higher up the tower. Sonny, James and Ted each made it to 7 metres – which is at about the same height as the tops of the trees. But Nancy went as high as is possible to go. Awesome flying. Or falling.
By the time I saw them all, they were absolutely filthy because, having finished the Air Jump, they moved onto the assault course… just as the heavens opened. The course involves wriggling, across planks, squirming through tunnels and crawling under cargo nets through the mud. Judging by the state of them, it seems as though they really got stuck in – as you can see from the photos.
Dinner was roast chicken and apple crumble with custard – which was a first for some of us (George gives it a 5 out of 10). And this was followed by a game in the woods which involved running around trying to find hidden symbols with your team. The setting is fantastic – the centre is set in a kind of bowl with pine woodland on each slope. Dotted all around are rhododendrons and every so often there is a fantastic view out over the sea. It’s a lovely place.
So, after our down time in the games room, Dr Leicester will do his rounds and then it will be time for sleeping.
Tomorrow each group will have two activities followed by swimming and then our evening game – so it’s going to be full on.
We can’t wait!
