Once upon a time an adventurous bunch of children from Brookeborough decided that this year's residential trip should be outdoor pursuits so off we set today with children from P5, P6 and P7 to Clonmany, Donegal. Compared to last year's outrageous residential departure time of 4am, we were happier this year with a more accommodating 9:15 departure.
The usual bus boking was thankfully absent this year, much to the relief of the intrepid staff: Mrs Robinson, Mr Honeyman and Mr Young. Thank you to parents for supplying copious amounts of anti-sickness tablets for the children, much appreciated!
We arrived at the Wild Atlantic Adventure Centre at lunchtime and settled into our rooms, who doesn't love bunk beds! We then enjoyed a fine burger and chips feast before setting out for our first activities: daringly high crate tower building and another activity involving maneuvering a real mini digger and picking up kegs!
The record height for crates was 14 reached by Miah! It gets rather wobbly when you're at the top. All the children enjoyed using the mini digger showing off their future farming skills. We the finished with a variety of games using the climbing wall. ALL children tried everything and were very brave!
We then went for a fine dinner of spag bol before heading out to the beach for what was supposed to be a gentle walk to settle our tummies for dinner, but for the children it was full immersion time after one brave soul decided to paddle and then things escalated quickly from there.
Wave battered but ecstatic, the children walked back to the centre, raided the tuck shop and settled down in the movie room together in jammies and with duvets to finish the day.
A super day 1 of this year's residential, the children have been fantastic all day.
