Day 1

The coach arrived a little late, gave everyone time for those last minute preparations and wobbles - but eventually left and all arrived safely.

The first activity was a treasure hunt around the house: getting bearings; getting lost; getting frustrated; getting hungry!  Lunch, as always here, was plentiful and set everyone up for the afternoon events - indoor bouldering wall and buggy races!

The cave was conquered by Noah, who displayed hitherto-unknown simian qualities, and Jas B has already accrued 2654 points on her licence before stepping foot into a real car.  The local constabulary commented on the new series of 'Police, camera, oh-my-Jas-is back' and are already looking forward to repeats on Dave.

Evening meal was roast beef and sticky-toffee pud (sorry Mr Windsor, but you missed a treat).  This filled everyone up for the night-walk.  2.1 miles of country lanes, farmers' fields, stiles and moans.  However, to coin a phrase, 'we counted them all out, and we counted them all back in again'.

So now, the children are in bed, tucked up and sleeping like babies - yeah, right!  We will be re-lights-outing in about 10 mins, then 20 mins etc etc.  Still, hope springs eternal eh?

Mr C. 

Day 2

Bacon and egg for breakfast - what a top start to the day.  That was followed by the customary round of sweets, chocolates and biscuits which had been left over from the day before.

After that, we split into Team P and Team C.  Team P headed out onto the canal and Team C on to the ropes.

Team P realised that a canoe full of girls was not the best crew and overall got away lightly with only one of the team ending up in the canal.  I cannot name him for legal reasons but his name rhymes with pacer.   The afternoon saw them go from the depths of the Cromford Canal to the heights of the high ropes.  

The girls redeemed themselves - Jas B, Miruna and Jess A all worked as a top team.  They encouraged each other, worked hard and developed a real support network to help get the best out of each other.

Team C hit the ropes first.  It was a bit wet and slippy, which accounted for a few scrapes and bruises, but none of that stopped Oli from wowing everyone with his 'Can do' attitude as he hit the heights of the top platform on the 'All Aboard' section.  Jess, Noah, Finn and Jas R all pushed themselves as far as they could up the pole and Lily and Ruby achieved personal bests on each of their attempts.  Again, teamwork, bravery and support were the watch-words of the morning.  

For us, the canal was dominated by the girls.  Ruby captained the ship and organised in a way that was confident, safe and full of support.  The boys, marshalled by Jess M, were worthy runners-up and have to be admired for doing so without any adult support in their boat.

Tea was a super chicken pie and chocolate sponge and custard!  Getting fed seems to be an activity in itself!

The final activity was Smugglers Run, where the children had to smuggle 'finest cognac' through the English Channel to the Dover coast, avoiding those pesky Customs Officials.  Step forward Daniel and John who, with a young lady from Spire Juniors, managed to woe the guards with their rendition of 'Let it Go'.  (Tickets on sale soon).

And so to bed.  All tucked up and packed up by 10.20.  A good end to a good day.

Mr C.

Day 3 

Apologies for the delay in writing up Day 3 (Mrs P had the camera, so couldn't upload photos).

Everything was packed and ready to go, which gave us the most time possible on the Team Swing.

THE TEAM SWING - a human-powered 30ft-high pendulum of terror.  Designed to strike fear into the hearts of children and adults alike.  Unless you are Camm's Y5, and then it's a piece-of-cake!  Everyone helped out winching each other to the top (or as far as they dare go) and then stood back and watched.  Faces turned from fear to horror to delight in about 0.3 of a second.  The exception to this was Charlie... her face remained in a state of rictus horror throughout the whole of the swing!

And so to the end...

Tall Paul reminded the children of the reasons for being at lea Green - teamwork, support, independence and working together to get the best out of each other.  All of these are skills and qualities that need to be carried back to school and developed further to make it work.

My thanks go to the Mrs P for coming along, the Lea Green staff for looking after us and the kids to growing through the three days and ending on such a high.

Mr C.