Residential to Barton Hall - PGL:

Thursday:

Last night's silent disco was very enjoyable - especially for the staff! Everyone danced the night away and sang very loudly, despite there being two different songs to choose from. Settling at night is becoming much quicker - perhaps aided by the incentive of the quietest room being first into breakfast.

Today, all the children did the same activities.

• They built shelters in the woods and made fire using flint and steel in Survivor.
• They made a group raft from drums, rope and poles and sailed this on the lake. Some of the children even stayed afloat on the raft... most of them, however ended up in the lake - much to the amusement of the staff watching!
• The vertical challenge consisted of a climb up a swing ladder, tyres, cargo net and a pegged pole to reach the top. It was great to see so many of them becoming more confident with using harnesses and climbing effortlessly.
• They were all taught the fundamentals of fencing using foils and the correct protective clothing. The photos are sadly anonymous due to the size of the helmets they needed to wear.

Tonight's, final activity is the campfire, which is a legendary PGL experience. As well as toasting marshmallows, they will sing campfire songs, which will annoy you for weeks!

One more night and you will see them (and their dirty washing) tomorrow.

Wednesday:

After a much better night’s sleep, and with another filling breakfast devoured, we began the morning’s activities.

Throughout the morning, all groups (and all the staff) braved the Giant Swing along with problem solving and Aeroball. This afternoon, everybody had another opportunity to wear this week’s essential fashion accessories: the safety harness and helmet, to enjoy the wonderful views over Torbay from the zip wire. Rifle shooting was also a popular afternoon activity, with some budding marksmen and women in the making!

The food has been as plentiful and well-received as always. Nobody will be coming home hungry!

Currently, preparations are well underway for tonight’s silent disco. There will be no hot water left by the way the showers are working overtime!

We will hope for another good night’s sleep ready for tomorrow’s final day of activities. More photos below. 

Tuesday:

It always takes longer to settle on the first night, but after much patrolling of the corridors, it was finally quiet enough for us to grab a few hours sleep. Despite much horror about the early start for 7.30 breakfast, most of them were up long before we actually planned to call them. After a filling breakfast of bacon, hash browns, porridge, cereal, toast, fruit... (I could go on!), we separated into activity groups and enjoyed a fun-filled morning of aero-ball, abseiling and problem solving. It seemed only 5 minutes before we were eating again! Pictures of the children enjoying their lunch are in the album below. 

This afternoon, all groups did orienteering and - the highlight of the day - a fun swimming session with balls, inflatables and party music. The lifeguards were amazing at encouraging even those less confident swimmers to have a fabulous time: there were smiles all round. We had glorious sunshine for the whole day, which made everything much more enjoyable.

Tonight, the competition hots up as they work together to protect a water balloon from bursting when dropped from a height. 

Tonight, we're aiming for more than just a few hours sleep!

Monday:

We arrived safely at Barton Hall in time for a very filling lunch of pizza and chips. The sun has been shining all day and the children have all settled into their dorms and enjoyed their first activities: climbing and archery. They all had a good go at getting up the climbing wall and met or exceeded their personal targets. Despite the substantial lunch, they have eaten a very large supper and are just about to go out for our evening activity: Passport to the World. Let's hope the running around wears them out and we get a good night's sleep! They will certainly need it for the packed day that is planned tomorrow.

Click on the link below to see the gallery of photos.

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