Kilvrough Blog Day 1 - We have arrived!

Good evening everyone - I know you will have been waiting with bated breath for the first thrilling instalment of this year's residential blog and here it is. I'm just imagining the messages shooting round on the Class WhatsApp groups letting you all know that its appeared on the school website. The first thing you will all be pleased to know is...we've arrived safe and sound!

So today could be subtitled, The Day Mr Brigg played chase the coach down the M4 while simultaneously trying to source sick bags (given that those we had taken with us had been filled within an hour of the coach leaving school - hurrah for Becky Roberts and her expertise for dealing with that one). My saviour came in the unlikely guise of the nice lady in Costa Coffee at Magor Services - just across the Severn Bridge. Taking pity on me when I explained that I had a coach with various vomiting children arriving imminently - she supplied me with 10 extra strong carrier bags and three bin liners and all for £3:04 including an Americano with skimmed milk - bargtastic!

So there I stood dutifully waiting for the coach to arrive with the requisite bags tucked under my arm - only to watch the coach arrive and drive off without even stopping, there being no spaces left in the coach park. Cue phone call...'Guy we can't find a space, we'll meet you at Cardiff Services...' So off I went, sticking strictly to the speed limits of course, and eventually met the children and the staff (with my precious improvised sick bags) which as it turned out were not needed again, thank goodness and the rest of the journey passed without incident. All's well that ends well as they say!

Today, has been an opportunity for the children to get to know the centre, the Kilvrough staff, to orientate themselves round the grounds, collect various pieces of equipment and also to take part in some team building and problem solving activities with their activity groups. This will hopefully give them some preparation for the rigours of more challenging activities as the week ensues.

I have once again marvelled at the ingenious methods different children have for putting duvet covers on duvets (including two who were discovered actually inside the duvets trying to escape) and also what passes for unpacking in the world of Dr Radcliffe's. The weather has been glorious all day with the promise of more to come - I'm hoping that it stays until at least Wednesday when my group are going body-boarding in the Bristol channel eek! So far the children have eaten well - pasta  / Bolognese this evening, followed by Angel Delight (very retro). They are all out on evening an activity at the moment which is orienteering around the grounds of the house and involves quite a lot of screaming and red faces. So all in all everyone is in good spirits - we hope it stays that way although I suspect there will be some tired faces in the morning. Everyone seems very happy with their dormitory allocations thanks to the wizardry of Mrs Marshall...so keep your fingers crossed. Apologies for the slight lack of photos this year - the centre currently only has two working cameras, so we will need to share them round the five groups as we go through the week.

More tomorrow...have a great evening!

Guy Brigg