WINMARLEIGH HALL

 

Day 1

 

Good evening everyone! Well it's sure to say that Grosvenor Park children do not disappoint- so far behaviour has been very impressive! 

 

Mike (our 'Groupie') seems like really good fun and he has also been impressed with our behaviour: When we arrived, we set our rooms up and Mike took us for a tour of the grounds whilst explaining the health and safety bits too. 

 

Tea was yummy- a choice of shepherd's pie and veg/ fish fingers and chips or vegetarian nuggets. Mr Fern and Miss Gornall said that we were 'spot on' with our manners and behaviour in the dinner hall and  we think theirs was quite good too! 

 

Tonight's activity was 'Camp Fire' and it was a fantastic opportunity to have a good old sing song around the fire. The rain didn't show its face which was definitely a bonus! 

 

You'll be glad to know that most of us have had a shower and we are now all fast asleep smelling beautiful! Goodnight everyone! 

 

Day 2

 

A great first night!!

 

Miss Gornall and Mr Fern told us that the first night is always the trickiest for children settling down and getting to sleep with all the excitement. Apparently this was not the case for us, as not a single one of us even stirred in the night: so a fantastic night's sleep had by all!

 

On the menu:

 

For breakfast was toast, bacon and beans.. a perfect start to the day! For lunch, we had soup and a baguette with a choice of fillings- yum! 

 

Acitivities and highlights:

 

Each group has enjoyed a mixture of activities today such as: Giant Swing, Climbing Tower, Problem Solving, Trapeze and Archery. It's fair to say we have had SO much fun already! Alex Kerr, Ben Reynolds and Eva Farmer stepped out of their comfort zones anod succeeded on the Giant Swing. Taylor Garth proved to be a very supportive companion as he offered super advice to support others on the climbing tower. Emily Shepherd tried really hard to do the trapeze and even though she ended up hugging the tree instead, she didn't give up! Shruti Naikwadi has been challenging herself to reach the top of every activity! In archery, the girls team beat the boys team with their amazing skills! We also saw some sibling rivalry as the Newbolds had a race to climb the tower. 

 

We are currently having fun playing games whilst waiting for our tea time- will check in again later.. bye for now!

 

Day 3

 

Well what another fantastic day had by all! Toby Benson thoroughly enjoyed his birthday and loved his cake and card provided by the PGL staff- our singing brought the cantine alive! 

 

On the menu:

 

Breakfast was sausage, hash browns, spaghetti and toast.. a yummy start to the day. For lunch, we had jacket potato with a choice of fillings and tea was lasagne, chips, veg and/ or vegetable lattice followed by chocolate angel delight- mmmm! 

 

Activities and highlights:

 

Our activities today consisted of: Jacob's Ladder, Vertical Challenge, High Ropes, Quad Biking and Challenge Course (the muddiest activity EVER!!) Tyler Burrow, Imogen Hutchins, Jayden Heald, Ruby Wilkinson and Eva Farmer couldn't get enough of the mud and worked fantastically in their teams to complete the course. Toby Benson's birthday highlight was reaching the top of Vertical Challenge- well done Toby! Morgan Doherty also reached the top of Vertical Challenge and conquered her fear. Taylor Garth had a brilliant climbing  technique for Jacob's Ladder- in his words ' smashed it!' Abiha Zafar proved quite the 'speed freak' on the quad bikes and Alex Petrou learned the true meaning of 'off roading' as he couldn't seem to keep the quad on the track- what fun he had however! 

 

In the evening:

 

After our tea, our evening entertainment was ' Wacky Races'. We had such a great laugh competing in various themed races in our teams. We then had a talent contest and it's fair to say we truly have an abundance of talent in our company! Everyone tried hard but our overall winner was Luke Anderson who sung a 'Despacito' solo complete with all the Spanish bits! In second place was Mia Newbold who sung 'Titanium' whilst Harriet Ross and Emily Shepherd performed a gymnastics routine and third place was Evie Terry, Abiha Zafar, Imogen Hutchins and Darcie Treasure-Shepherd who told some great jokes whilst donning crazy hairstyles. 

 

Following our busy day and evening, we all got off to sleep very quickly ready for another fun-packed day tomorrow. Night night everyone, lots of love.

 

Day 4

 

Evening everyone! We all had another good night's sleep last night and a small lie-in this morning as breakfast was a litter later today (8am). 

 

On the menu:

 

For breakfast we had bacon sandwiches, omelette and beans which we all enjoyed very much. Lunch was pasta and even though Miss Gornall said it was very good, she said it wasn't quite the standard of her mum's! At tea time we had a choice of meatballs, chicken pie or sweet potato and lentil curry and to follow we had apple crumble and custard- scrummy!

 

Activities and highlights: 

 

Our activities today were: Survivor, Trapeze, Raft Building and Zip Wire. We learned lots of useful skills today such as: how to light a fire with flint and steel, how to make a shelter, how to tie knots (to make a shelter and to build a raft) and what the essentials would be in order to survive an extreme situation. So if you ever get stuck in such a situation, you know who to ask for help!

 

Raft building was so much fun with two groups of us on the water at a time. Most of us managed to stay afloat, however some of us decided that a quick dunk in the lake would be the fastest way to take a bath- Sydney Ellison particularly enjoyed this! Keiran Jackson proved to be quite the Robin Hood at the archery session and he said it was definitely one of  his favourites. Luke Anderson did the trapeze today which was 'the worst thing ever' in his life according to him. However, he did say he 'might do it again!' Emi Petersen was a pro at gathering sticks and leaves for the shelter building and Taylor Garth and Cole Bardsley were the quickest to light a fire with steel and flint. Eva Farmer loved building her shelter too. Jake Rigby and Mitchell Swan really pushed their boundaries and made it to the top of the trapeze. Thomas Bradburn went down the zip wire backwards and loved every second of it and Toby Benson was unsure of participating, however after much deliberation, he encouraged himself to slide off the edge and also thoroughly enjoyed it. 

 

Evening Activity:

 

The night we'd all been waiting for: the disco! After another rather muddy day, the adults said we 'scrubbed up well.' Some of us even had an extra shower and brushed our hair twice today!! We have had a wonderful evening dancing and laughing with the PGL instructors (who were dressed as a flamingo and a giraffe). 

 

We can't believe it's our last night but then again time flies when you're having fun! We really have had the time of our lives but we are all very much looking forward to coming home and seeing our loved ones. Not long now- see you all very soon!!