What a Week!

Hi Year 8,

Just a quick note to say thank you for an amazing week. You can all be very proud of the way you behaved yourselves, represented your school & your families and for the way that you threw yourselves in (literally at times) to all those adventurous (& sometimes scary) activities.

You all deserve a relaxing and fun-filled summer & I look forward to seeing you for the start of Year 9 in September.

Mr. Y.

P.S. I'll put a few pics up on the blog during the holidays but there are quite literally hundreds of them so don't forget those large memory sticks in September!

Adventure Day

Today we went on an adventure trip which was full of different challenges. Firstly we walked for one mile through a pitch black tunnel with rough walls, uneven floor and it stunk of stale water with no teachers or instructors to help us. We kept our spirits up by singing at the top of our voices so that Mr Collins knew where we were but ended up driving him mad!

Secondly we went down a zip wire over a ravine. We posed for photos as we swung into action, they consisted of: superman, aeroplane and firepower, the instructors stood below us and splashed us with water. Thirdly we abseiled down a big waterfall into a canyon before walking through the stream to the next waterfall. We then headed back up the hill to the first waterfall, during which our boots got filled with water all the way to the top and sometimes we fell over.

Lastly we walked upstream through strong currents and up small waterfalls. We then went behind waterfalls, we slid down streams with currents from the waterfall, and when we got to a bit we had to swim out of James King lost a welly and he walked back with only one welly. One of the memorable moments we encountered was when Devin was swept away over a waterfall travelling at pace through Mr Collins' legs who swivelled on a six-pence like lightning , rushing to save the day. We are pleased to report that Devin is alive and well, with only a little bit of water in his ears.

What an adventure! We cant wait to come back to Glasbury.

Devin Patel, Jack Speakman and (the legend) Scott Webb

10 whole miles!

Firstly I start with an acheivement. Our group being the first group to make the 10 mile mark in the history of Glasbury, for our age group (yay). Yes thats right, our group canoed 10 whole miles!
We started the day with our heads held high, getting off to a flying start. Most of the journey went great, but Jordon and his team decided to take most of the trees with them.

Our journey began with our 4 canoes linked togther to make two rafts. Mr Naughten steered one raft, while our instructor Ryan did the other. Everyone had a great day with beautiful surroundings and even frequent fly overs of jet fighters in the sky. We spotted both Harrier Jump jets and even the new Euro-Fighter Typhoon!

At various points we pulled into the side and had a go at stone skimming. Before heading down the river, our instructor suggested that we all attempt some Canoe surfing. Austin was first up and before we knew it, was standing up in the canoe, in rapid water.

The further we went down the river, it was decided to separate our Canoes and go it alone. Meaning we now had to navigate our Canoes without teacher help. To be honest, we put them to shame!

As we were nearing the 10 mile mark, we were giving the opportunity to get wet! Jordan jumped in first, followed by Aidan, Austin and Connor. Lets say the water was just a little cold. So we rushed to get back in the canoe, but only managed to overturn our canoe in the mad rush. We then tried to get into our instructors canoe, but were told to keep away before we overturned that too. Hilarious.

Fortunately, we were at the end of our journey. So we didn't get very cold. What we did do though was have a great day. Probably our best day yet.

by Austin Sceats and Ben Stewart.

Rollin', rollin', rollin' down the river....

Hello once again from Glasbury...

Today Miss Rawlings' group undertook their kayaking challenge - and boy was it a good one!

First of all we gathered the kit together and then we attempted to put it on. We had wetsuits and cags and buoyancy aids and helmets... well, health and safety is key. We then got the kayaks and paddles out, they are sooooooo heavy. We got in them and adjusted and readjusted them before they finally fit. But it wasn't over yet... we had to drag them down to the beach and actually learn how to use them!!

Finally on our way, we headed upstream to learn how to turn and stop. Did you know that it's easier to turn around when the 'skeg' is up?? Once that was done we started out 5 1/2 mile journey down the river. Whilst dodging rocks and manoeuvring over rapids we went on our way. There were some very funny moments though...

The very first of our encounters with nature was when Miss Rawlings capsized, whilst trying to control her edge (leaning in her kayak whilst staying upright) and playing on an eddy at the same time (the line where the slow water meets the fast water in areas of rapids) - it was successful for a moment until she tried to turn and look at us - whoops!

Another was slightly more successful if equally amusing... myself and Miss Rawlings floating down rapids with no paddles... Whilst playing a game of chariots (even if Addy and I were the only ones doing it) we fell in. To play chariots you put two kayaks together and sit one of the people on top of a paddle crossing both of them, then the other person steers forward (whilst standing behind the other) in a 'gondola' fashion. It all went wrong when the two kayaks came apart and we both fell into Britain's second cleanest river. Addy was miraculously saved but I was left floating, when Miss Rawlings heroically tried to saved me by abandoning her paddle and "X-rescuing" my boat. I was saved! However this all happened shortly before we both were sent (I was screaming) down some rapids...

Then there was Maddie's interesting efforts to stay on the good side of nature. Within the space of about 40 minutes Maddie managed to visit the bottom of the river not once but twice! The first was when she became friendly with a tree at the side of the river - of course we all knew that trees aren't friendly when playing in the water!! This caused great hilarity as her perfectly groomed hair and make up were soon ruined completely (she even admitted to Miss Rawlings that she should have taken the advice not to do either this morning ....). The second encounter was when she was paddling alongside Miss Rawlings. For some reason she decided to lean in her kayak but instead of edging she lent in the kayak - causing much more hilarity when she again went under.

Finally at the end of the day, we came across some rapids. Once our kayaks had 'floated' down them we decided it was time for some real fun. Ryan (our instructor for the day) said we could go down again if we wanted to... as long as we weren't in our kayaks. When our turn came we were each thrown down the rapids using just our buoyancy aids to keep us on the surface!! Of course the funniest of these was when Ryan got Faye and said "Oh, we have a small one.". He was very enthusiastic when he threw Faye down the river, as we all watched on the side. We were all singing "Rollin', rollin', rollin' down the river!"- literally!

Overall we had a very enjoyable day with lots of fun, learning and laughs had by all. Definitely an activity we would all recommend to anyone who is up for a challenge!!!

Emily James and Addy Mercer. x

In The Mountains...

In the beginning everyone was really excited and as we drove round the corner and saw our first view of the countryside it was beautiful. There was so much grass it was unbelievable and in so many different colours. But even more sheep.... We were all speaking in gavin and stacey accents to the sheep sayang you alright sheep what occuring!!!!

in our group there was alex, emma, ashleigh, sarah, celine, chloe, yasmin, joy, jasmin miss (kate) and our instructor stu. by the end all our feet were aching and we were really glad to see the mini bus. we are all hoping that there isn't alot of walking tomorrow.

emma and alex

First Day

Morning All from Glasbury House,

I thought it'd be an idea to snatch five minutes to write the blog now as it's my duty groups turn to set the breakfast table; Chace, Tom K & co really did enjoy being woken up at 7 & asked very politely by yours truly to go & set 64 table places!

Yesterday was hectic... lots of information to take in after a long coach journey & some excellent team building games put on by Mr. Collins after 9pm... we thought all the running around might tire them out... we were wrong! There are 58 very excited Year 8s in Wales this morning. Not a hint of homesickness from any of them & they really can't wait to get going opn the activities...

The surrounding area is beautiful. (I'm looking out on to the rolling, lush-green Brecon Beacons as I type) Today our six groups will be doing one of: Kayaking 8 miles through villages, caving, mountaneering, adventure day (including a mile-long pitch black railway tunnell & a zip line through the forest) or walking through waterfalls. The groups will rotate so that they've all had a go at everything by Friday.

We'll try & get back on to tell you how it went later... til then... enjoy Epping & we'll see you all soon.

Mr Y. & The Team

See you all at St. John's no later than 11:30 Sunday... Remember: 1, yes that's 1 suitcase each people!!

Glasbury Kit List... What to bring!

GLASBURY HOUSE OUTDOOR EDUCATION CENTRE
KIT LIST
Please bring a good supply of warm clothing for activities in addition to normal
casual wear. Jeans are only suitable for leisure wear. A supply of carrier bags
and bin liners can be very useful.
Staff and students should expect to get wet each day and whilst
drying facilities are available at least a change of clothes per
day is a good guide when packing
Essential Items:
Fleece/Woollen Hat & Scarf, that won’t blow off!
Gloves, Ski-type and thin woollen or thermal are good (bring both if you
can)
At least 3 warm fleeces and/or jumpers.
Synthetic t-shirts (not cotton) or football type tops make excellent base
layers.
Swimwear for use on water activities
Thick socks, football socks or lots of pairs of thinner ones for using with
walking boots. Students always run out of socks!
Slippers/indoor shoes
Old trainers (lightweight/low cut) for use on water activities
Towels, bath or beach size
Pen or pencil
Winter only
Washing up gloves for water activities (washing up gloves should be
large enough to be worn over the wool/thermal gloves)
Summer only
Sun block & insect repellent
Sun hat/baseball cap/sun glasses
An additional kit list will be supplied if visiting groups intend to camp.
All bed linen is provided.
The Centre provides specialist clothing and equipment for each of the
activities, e.g. waterproofs, walking boots, rucksack, Wellies. If
students/visitors have any personal specialist clothing/kit they wish
to bring, this will be vetted by the instructor responsible for suitability
before use on any activity.
Contact the Centre if in doubt.

What to bring

Lots of clothes