Monday 11^th - Wednesday 13^th August 2008

How it all Began

The idea for the Residential/club holiday first arose in around March/April 2008. For the last few years we had run several successful day trips, (including Colchester Zoo 2007, Pleasurewood Hills 2006) but had not had a proper club holiday for around 10 years. Following the success of these trips, we felt this would be a good time to go on holiday together, and was pleased to see nothing but interest, ideas and enthusiasm when the idea was presented to the whole club. There then followed weeks of planning, organisation, thinking... you name it we did it! Originally we had hoped to go away in June, but the hostel was already fully booked, so we had to put it back to August, and ended up settling for 11th-13th. It was deliberately kept short, as the whole idea was a new one to most of us, and no one was really sure how it would go or what people would think. However it was a great success and many people have said that they would like to do it for longer next time!

Monday 11^th

Everyone arrived in time for lunch - this meant staff having a massive ‘rollathon’ in the kitchen! Once we’d done the usual meeting, greeting and saying goodbye to parents etc it was time to eat the long-awaited lunch. Following this, we all sat down in the common room for a while, so everyone could remind themselves of who’s who, before agreeing on a few basic ground rules.

We then split into two groups, with some going shopping, and most of the rest of the group going for a walk to the beach. Despite it being a warm August day, would you believe we could not find a single Ice Cream shop open! Nonetheless it was a good chance to get out for a while before returning to the hostel to get ready for evening meal in a local pub.

Tuesday 12^th - Main Day

Well, as you can tell from the photos, the day started with games of football, Frisbee, and Kite Flying.

This was a morning of great fun and many laughs - especially watching Eric's kite rescue attempts!

Following this hour or two of hilarities, we headed off to Felixstowe main town to first have a round on the arcade machines, before unleashing ourselves on the local swimming pool. A great time was had by all, and as you would expect this entailed splashing, chasing, and a whole bundle of further banter! (Social interaction - don't you just love it...)
       Once we'd finally dragged ourselves out of the pool, we all sat down to a Fish and Chip Lunch, before splitting into two groups: some went back to the arcades, whilst others went for a walk, an ice cream and to a local residential sweet-shop.
      Upon returning to the hostel, everyone chilled out for a while - well most people did, while some of us endured a water-pistol fight on the backfield! We got pretty soaked doing this, but it was a great laugh, and it certainly beat sitting indoors, or cooking the tea!


Chris in a kitchen - indeed a rare sight! 12th August 2008

     Once tea was over, the whole group gathered in the lounge to watch two members show off their talents in model making. Both individuals put on a great performance, which had the entire group absolutely fascinated. We had the pleasure of being shown a plasticine model train engine being constructed, with every last detail from wheel spokes to name plates being included. Well, enough of me talking about it, here are some examples...

 
Steam Engine 'Blaze'


 
 Steamboat 'Sonic'



Steamengines 'Cream' and 'Cheese'

Also during this evening we had a small birthday celebration for one of our members. A few laughs and a nice chocolate cake were a nice addition to the evening, and left everyone in good spirits for the night ahead.

Wednesday 13^th - Final Wind Down

Finding it hard to believe that it was almost over, we awoke in time for a final breakfast together - even Chris managed to find his way into the kitchen for this one! (Well, under the guidance of Eric and Maddie, that is!) Nonetheless we eventually managed to knock something together, and we all sat down for a final meal and goodbye, during which we had a great laugh talking about the highlights of the holiday, with many people making requests for it to happen again next year. Kevin also spent some time recording some final interviews for his 'School Dudes' radio show.

The last breakfast begins. Let's all gather round for one final time!

       The rest of the morning was spent on the boring bits: clearing up, packing away, cleaning etc. Parents and carers eventually arrived to collect everybody, and we finished up feeling happy, satisfied, and exhausted. Glad that Christy's Club's first holiday for 10 years had been a roaring success, and with hopes that we would have more chances to get away for more days on end stretches of madness in the future!