Friday 7th June
Morning: Depart hotel, visit Donkey Sanctuary
Afternoon: Ferry from Yarmouth to Lymington
6.30am Good morning everyone from the leather armchair in the lounge for the final time in 2024. It's been a fabulous week. In one way, Monday seems an eternity ago and yet, the week has absolutely flown by. Led by the indefatigable Mrs Holy/ Holt, we have packed a huge amount of activity and memory-making. Your children will be tired when they arrive home, but they will have a very warm inner glow of pride, satisfaction and joy at what they have experienced this week.
We will soon be waking them up, packing the final things into suitcases and enjoying our final Isle of Wight breakfast together at 8am. During breakfast, Diane, Mark and David will award their tidiest room of the week prize...which the Room 2 spa must surely win? I haven't actually been in there personally, but my roving reporter team have assured me that my assumptions are accurate. At this stage, I must praise the positivity and optimism of the boys in Room 1. They feel they're in the running to win, which is utterly fabulous under the circumstances and a big part of what success in life is about. If you believe you can win, you probably can and often will. Full marks to Alex, Owen, Dominik, Laurence, Jakub and Jamie who have clearly been inspired by their golf & ten-pin bowling successes this week. I think if there was a prize for talking, they'd definitely have a chance of winning that one. So, let's not fully count them out as stranger things have happened...take the recent FA Cup Final as an example.
Following that, we will load up the coach and make our way to the Donkey Sanctuary for our last educational visit of the 2024 trip. The ferry returns to Lymington from Yarmouth just after 2pm, so we will hopefully be back at school around 4.30pm.
Much like the festering mound in Black Magik room, the blog has taken on a bit of a life of its own this week, whilst Mrs Holt has just informed me the official photo total is currently 1,300, "with more to come of lots of donkeys." Hopefully, between us, we have captured the trip highlights thoroughly, and you will all have a portfolio of memories to share and laugh about for years to come. Once we leave the hotel, I will switch my note taking to the red exercise book, then type everything into Word. I will then copy the Friday antics across to the website when we get back to Addlestone and I have some Wi-Fi coverage. I need to finish the job properly.
I hope my daily inane ramblings, reflections and reports have allowed you, to some degree, to experience the trip with your children from afar. Without your financial support, trust and backing, we wouldn't have been able to do it. I hope your children thank you this weekend for enabling them to be here and live out the experience first hand. Without our amazing staff, the trip would fail to deliver. Mrs Holt, Mrs Tindall, Miss Hunter and Mrs Capindale have been incredible all week. I am not surprised as I am privileged to witness this every week of the year, but, when you are caring for children and on duty 24 hours a day, my respect, pride and love for them all elevate to a different level. We are truly blessed to have staff who genuinely care about the children and are not in the profession for their own gain.
Before I sign off for now, I'd also like to pay a huge tribute to Mrs O'Neil and the rest of the staff back at school who have had to manage the week without 5 of us in the team. We are a small, tight-knit team at the best of times, so this will have been a harder week than usual for them all. A Year 6 residential really is a team effort.
OK, I'm off now to do the wake-up circuit on the ground floor for the final time. Let's see what gems of wisdom they are ready to serve up this morning. I'll be back soon...
Breaking News...Massive shock and controversy has shaken The Wight Hill Hotel following the announcement that the tidiest room winners for the week was Room 6. The shock and controversy is mostly arising from those in Room 6 who cannot for the life of them understand how or why they have won. 'The People'' from the Room 2 spa are in a semi-catatonic/semi apoplectic state; they cannot understand how they haven't won, with Liza exclaiming "Our room was absolutely spotless, the only thing we didn't do was polish the toilet!" As I said earlier, stranger things have happened when judging panels sit...I mean you just need to look at the rugby league disciplinary panel for proof of that.
Right, it's time to get the coach loaded up. More inane ramblings later...
1.30pm Hello everyone, live from the coach on route to Yarmouth...
After saying our goodbyes to the Wighthill Hotel staff, we boarded the coach and made the short drive to the donkey sanctuary where we were met by Tim, our volunteer guide who handed out quiz sheets and a donkey ID sheet to the children.
Mrs Holt pointed across the paddock and said “Look, there’s a donkey who wants to be a zebra.” Sure enough, a small brown donkey was happily walking and munching her way around the paddock in a zebra-patterned coat.
The guide informed us there are 807 donkeys that live in the sanctuary, happily eating, drinking and braying away every day…which is 157 more than those doing the same in the House of Commons.
We also found out that unlike horses, donkeys skin is not waterproof. This is the reason you never see one walking down Deansgate in Manchester doing their shopping. Shops selling donkey-sized anoraks have not yet reached Cottonopolis.
As we began our tour of the sanctuary, quiz and ID sheets in hand, I was scanning left and right for any sign of ‘Geraldine’. There were no early signs but I was not overly-concerned, there were plenty more paddocks to search. In my group, Maximilian was excelling in hunting down the answers to the clues and enhancing our knowledge of donkeys by reading the information boards. As thoughtful as ever, Izzy B had brought along her own bag of apple-flavoured donkey treats. Tim the guide got on his walkie-talkie and the donkey medicine & diet lady arrived to gratefully accept the gift. Another class touch from one of our children. Well done Izzy.
We made perfect progress solving all the clues but I had still not spotted Geraldine the donkey. I had, however, found the donkey with the best name…’Donkeyote’ I recognised him as he was carrying a lance and sword in his hooves and braying in a Spanish accent.
As we reached the end of the tour, I checked the donkey ID board and read Geraldine’s biography. She is described as ‘timid, placid and always ready to let others go first, except when it is raining, and they are rushing back to the shed to stay dry…or when they are looking for a volunteer to lead any donkey orienteering…particularly up hills’ 😊
Geraldine was nowhere to be seen. I expect she was very busy at the donkey photocopier, collating another load of ‘EAT’s’ (Equine Assessment Tests), plus all the medical forms for the next donkey residential to The New Forest…and packing up boxes of biscuits and treats for everyone at the same time.
Our visit concluded with Tim and Tracy (the sanctuary manager) who ran a question & answer session and, as every other guide has commented this week, they were exceptionally impressed with the knowledge & engagement of the children. Particular praise was given to Abi which tops off a fabulous week for the newest member of our Year 6 family. We are thrilled Abi came to Holy Family in September. Using my authors prerogative, I’m also nominating ‘best teacher answer’ to The Blog Bloke, particularly as it has been a tiring week and it is now Friday…or I think it is.
Tim asked “What happens in Paddy’s Penthouse?”
Blog Bloke “They serve a great pint of donkey Guinness.” 😊
They may do...but they also use the building for vaccinations, medical treatments and quarantine for sick donkeys. The two concepts share some remarkable similarities.
Tracy, sanctuary manager, concluded in the perfect manner for this week by thanking the children for their ‘impeccable behaviour.” From start to finish this week, their behaviour has been impeccable and very interested in everything and everywhere we have taken them.
As we enjoyed our final picnic lunch together on the island, I sat with Carly, Ferne & Evie who said “Room 2 missing out on the tidiest room prize this week is the biggest travesty since Viggo Venn won Britain’s Got Talent in his silly high-vis vests.” I can’t argue with that…although nothing will ever be as strange as the Viggo Venn victory.
We boarded the coach for the final time on the Isle of Wight 2024 trip and set the Sat Nav for Yarmouth. The journey home had started.
Until we see you all later, it’s over and out for the final time on the island this year
The Blog Bloke
2.05pm I am sitting in the sun on the top deck of the ferry as we depart the Isle of Wight and begin the final leg of our journey home. The sun is shining, as it has done almost all week. The children are sitting together, chatting happily and giggling, as they have done all week. If Carlsberg did Year 6 residentials, they would look a lot like this. It has been a wonderful week and a very successful trip in every way. The children have grown in confidence, overcome numerous obstacles, challenges and faced their fears. They have stepped out of their comfort zone, tried new things and, at times, surprised themselves. They have gained greater independence, resilience and maturity in the process which we hope will benefit them as they transition to secondary school in September.
Hopefully, they have also learned that fabulous family & friendships, and making memories together, are the most important keys to a happy life, along with a trust in the plan that God has for us all. God has made us different for a reason. Our role is to be grateful for who we are, and what we have, then do everything we can to make the best of every opportunity presented to us in life. Appreciate the moment, appreciate those around us in the moment and our wellbeing will generally be strong.
This trip would not have been possible without the selfless service of our sensational staff who have sacrificed their family lives for 5 days. They have provided exemplary care, around the clock, for every child. If children ever need a role model for how to serve others, they do not need to look far. We are truly blessed to benefit from their expertise and devotion to their roles…and I am truly blessed to be able to lead them every day.
That’s pretty much it from The Blog Bloke for this year. It has turned into another Ben-Hur style epic and, if you got this far, you should award yourself a medal and enjoy a celebratory beverage this weekend. Thank you for hanging in there until the end.
Who knows what will happen in 2025 but, if the trip runs again and God provides another opportunity for The Blog Bloke to return, the Bowdery, Kilpatrick & Jones families will need to wade through all of my inane ramblings yet again!
For now, it’s a final over and out from the sunny upper deck of the ferry as we approach Lymington.
To everyone involved with this trip, and their families, may God always bless you.
The Blog Bloke 7th June 2024