Wow what a day! Blue and Yellow groups have had some amazing fun on the Zip Wire activity – I think we have some dare devils in training, judging by the astounding variety of ways the children discovered to jump off of a tower. They have also had a try at the problem solving – Mr George wasn’t at all smug about his riddle that no one could solve. (The poor have it, the rich want it, and if you’ll eat it you die)

Green group have had their turn at the raft building – once again it proved to be a very damp (and quite freezing) experience.

Hello all! A bright and early start today, with a lot of different options for food – sausage, mushroom, beans, hash browns, and the usual cereal options.

We’ve also had our first room inspection – most of the rooms scored very highly, though we have knocked some marks off for ‘toothpaste sink’, a ‘foul air’ and ‘leaving a bag outside that Mrs Gibbard tripped and nearly broke her neck over’. We shall be having more spot checks throughout the week.

This morning Blue and Yellow group will be facing the Giant Swing  and problem solving, whilst the Green team does archery and the Vertical Challenge. We will try and check in with an update this afternoon.

What an afternoon! The Blue and Yellow groups have both tried their hands at Raft Building, which I think everyone found to be a slightly…damp experience. These two groups also threw themselves at the Vertical Challenge, and I must say how impressed we were at how eagerly some people could scramble up ladders, tires, and climbing walls.

The Green Group have had the mighty Zip Wire, and I am told that they took this very seriously, and zipped from end to end with some very focused looks on their faces. They have also had the Problem Solving, which Mrs Morrison says was particularly tricky this year – a couple of them even had her foxed!

For dinner we had the options of lasagne, a chicken chow mein, or a Mediterranean vegetable pastry thing that I didn’t get the chance to sample! After that we headed out to play a game of capture the flag, before doing our nominations and heading to bed.

We have also spent the day wishing Mrs Morrison a happy birthday! There has been cake and presents, and I know that absolutely everyone is glad that Mrs Morrison has decided to spend her birthday here with us, rather than at home with her feet up!

We have attached a selection of photos from the day to give you at home a feel of what it’s like to be here.

More updates tomorrow, as we reach the halfway point of our residential!

What an action packed morning! We were awake bright and early, on time for our 7am wake up call. Once we had prepared ourselves for the morning’s activities we headed down to breakfast and could choose between bacon or cereal – just the kind of fuel to keep us powered throughout the day!

Yellow and Blue groups spent the first two sessions on the Trapeze (Leap of Faith) and the Tunnel Trail. We were all really impressed that everyone had a go and tried their absolute best – everyone pushed themselves!

The Green group spent the first session on the Giant Swing – apparently we have some really adventurous people that were really keen to go right to the top straight away (not naming any names Harry…). The Green group then joined the Yellow group for the second session of Tunnel Trail, where amongst other things they helped rescue a frog that had been stuck inside the tunnel…

For lunch we had the choice between jacket potatoes with various toppings or sandwiches. We then made our first visit to the much-talked-about gift shop…which mainly turned out to be a sweet shop…

We are off to our next set of activities now, which include the Raft Building and the Vertical Challenge for the Yellow and Blue groups, and Zip wire and Problem Solving for the Green group.

Stay tuned this evening for another update with some photos attached!

We have officially made it! Our afternoon was spent playing some group games with our PGL leader, Tara, and having some down time as we got settled. We had some good choices for dinner – between sausages or fish pie! This set us up nicely for our evening activity, Ambush, an exciting version of hide and seek in the dark.

We had a wonderful time and developed some great tactics, including not shouting and shining a torch when we are trying to hide in a hedge. We also had some discussions as to whether or not Mr George’s team had cheated by hiding under some nearby canoes…

We have also had our first round of nominations, where each member of the groups nominates some people that they think have done something really positive today. This will help us recognise when we have pushed ourselves and faced our fears later in the week.

The children are all now asleep (we think) and getting ready for a big day tomorrow. There is a whole host of activities arranged for the day ahead, including the tunnel trail, the leap of faith, and the raft building.

See you in the morning…

Posing in front of the climbing wall.

Getting to know our PGL leader, Tara.

Enjoying our down time this afternoon.

We have arrived (and finally have the wifi code)! The coach managed to safely hold all of our luggage and we have now unpacked in our rooms. We have been very impressed by the size of the bathrooms (en suites and everything!) and have spent a lot of consideration on who gets top bunk. We are currently touring around the site and getting to know some soon-to-be familiar locations, whilst eagerly wondering what’s for dinner and when it will get dark enough to play our evening activity, Ambush.

More information to follow later this evening, and maybe some pictures too!