Our Trip to Winmarleigh Hall in England

1.Preparation…by Brendan Stone & Zoë Doheny

We decided to go on the trip around Christmas time. We all had to save up the money. We were only aloud to bring £20/25 pounds. We had to decide what activities we wanted to do. We had to decide to bring two tracksuits and two pairs of footwear. We were getting more exited every day. The following people went on the trip, Colin Mc Cormack, Eamon Walsh, Gerard Healy, Kevin Mc Donnell, Billy Dooley, Kevin Lawlor, Brendan Stone, Damien Fogarty, Ronan Dowling, Brian Nolan, Shane Walsh Micheal Bollard, Liam Carol, Donal Mealy, Thomas Fogarty, James Ruth, Karl Brennen,Caroline Mc Donnell, Emma Hennessy, Teresa Shore, Aisling Fogarty, Sarah Jackman, Sinead Mc Donnell and Jackie Manfield.The whole trip cost £130.

2.The Trip …………by Kevin McDonnell & Stephen Higgins

We departed From Firoda N.S at six pm. We had a two hour drive to Dunlaoire. We stayed in a hostel for a night. The next morning at seven am we checked in on the Ferry.We were all excited, some very nervous .Once we were sailing we were fine. We had breakfast on the boat . We had a pleasant sail over. In no time we were in Holyhead . We got off the boat and were back on the bus again .We had a three hour drive to Winmarleigh Hall. On the way up we stopped at burger king for a brake and were off again. In no time we were at Winmarleigh hall.

3. Winmarleigh Hall ……..by Ronan Dowling & Emma Stone

We arrived at Winmarleigh hall for lunch at 12.30am.There is a big avenue in to it. It looks like a boarding school. It is a huge place. The staff were waiting for us outside. They showed us our rooms . There were six in each room. There was a bathroom in each room. It was very nice and comfortable.

4. Archery ………….by Ger Healy & Marie Murphy

On our second day in Winmarleigh Hall.We were brought up the fields to test our skills at archery.There was three targets .we were given instructions what to do .We all had a try at getting a bulls eye. Some however went a little of course .

5. Quad Bikes…………by Michael Bollard & Damien Fogarty

The quad bikes were in a field. There was two tracks surrounded with tyres. The over twelve's had the big quads and the others had the small quads. The tracks had about one foot of mud in places. Mike crashed into the tyres by slipping in the mud. When the instructor came over he revved it up to the last and splattered him with mud. When the instructor fixed up the tyres and let Mike off again he looked at Mike and he was in another pile of tyres. We think the instructor went mad and Mike just laughed. Emma went over the tyres and kept her thumb on the throttle and then she went straight into the steel fence and there was a big dint in it. It took the instructor ten minutes to get the quad bike out of the fence. She escaped with just a scratch on her nose. When Damien was getting off the bike he slipped and fell into a lump of sheep s**t. Our instructor told us that he flipped the quad bike over when he was jumping a ramp. That was our adventure on the quad bikes.

6.High Ropes ………by Jennifer o Neill & Brian Nolan

The high ropes were made up of three parts. There was the CAT-WALK,TRAPIES and the BEAN POLE .

The CAT-WALK was made up of two bars, one was 25tf high and the other was 40^ft high. We would climb up the side to the 25ft high bar and would walk across it.

The TRAPIES was made up of a telephone pole standing upright with steps on the side. We would climb up the steps and stand on the top of the pole which was 30ft high. Then we would jump off the pole onto a trapeze.

The BEAN POLE was a slanted pole reaching up into a tree. We walked up the pole and jumped from the top of it. This was about 15ft high.

7.Climbing by Emma Mc Donald & Kevin Lawlor

It was not easy but everyone could climb it. Twelve people went up at a time. I found it was very easy. We had to wear a harnesses and helmets .It took us a few minutes to climb up

It was a few metres high and easy to climb. Everyone thought it was good fun

8.Low Ropes by………..Emma Hennessy

Low ropes is a challenging sport where you have to balance yourself on a very tight and safe rope. We all had to get on the rope and help each other to balance.

9.TEAM CHALLENGE BY ………….. Eamonn Walsh

The team challenge was very exciting. We had to get through a web of ropes. We had to work as a team and use our heads. But we figured it out after a while. Then we had to get over a pit of mud using two planks and a rope . Then there was three poles in the ground with five numbered tires we had to switch then around and get back numbered or one.

10.MOUNTAIN BIKES by ………….Colin mc Cormack and Ronan Dowling

Their bikes were very good. We went through a forest with a mud track . After that we went to a lake and cycled through it. We were very wet . The mountain bikes were very good and we enjoyed it . Colin fell off the bike in the water and so did everybody else as well as our trainer.

11.Initiative Exercises By……………..Damien Fogarty

In the initiative exercises there was three courses to complete. Charlotte's Web, The River and The Hand Tangle.

In Charlotte's Web we had to lift our team members through the web, without touching it! The web was about 7foot high and 6foot wide. The holes were about 1.5foot wide. There was about 14 holes in the web and we had 12 in our group!

The River was about 8 foot wide and about 5 foot long. We had two planks measuring roughly 4 foot long and a long rope. The planks could not touch the river and we were not aloud to tie knots. In the end we had to have the 2 planks ,the rope and all our team on the other side of the river. There was a tree with a big, thick branch sticking out over the river to help us. After 5 minutes of thinking we came up with an idea. We doubled the rope and held the two ends while the others threw the looped end over the tree. Then we got one of the planks, lowered the rope to ground level and then we put the plank through the loop while the others held the two ends of the rope. Then I put the other plank on the rope also. That joined the two banks together. One by one we crossed the river. Then I gave the rope over by holding my own weight while crossing. Then we had to get the equipment back. I went out on a plank and lifted the other plank up with my foot. we just pulled the rope down and then we were finished.

Then we had The Hand Tangle. We had to catch hands with someone and then catch hands with someone else. So we ended up catching hands with two people. The object of the exercise was to end up in a circle and we had to be catching hands all the time! It was very, very hard but we dud it!

Out of ten I would give it 10/10.

12.Information Technology………………by .Teresa Shore.

In Winmarleigh hall there was a computer room with fifteen computers in it. Everyone had a computer for himself or herself. The staff took photos of us and we decorated them on the computer. We played Castle Explorer on the computers which was very good, you go around to all the parts of the castle collecting coins and clues for the king.

13.The Staff By………….Sarah Jackman

The staff were very nice. Their names were josh , lynds, fiona, carla, puds, derek and reg. Josh was big and strong and he dragged damien Fogarty across the wet grass and held him up-side - down by the legs with one hand. Lynn's helped us with the quad bikes. Fiona is from New Zealand and she had a funny accent. Carla helped us with the high ropes. Puds helped us with team challenge. Derek did archery with us. Reg set up a disco for us. They were all very nice and looked after us well.

14. Accommodation ……by Aisling Fogarty

The accommodation in Winmarleigh hall was very good and the dinner and breakfast was lovely. The tea was a plate of chips. And whenever we were hungry we could get something out of the vending machine. The bunk beds were soft and the rooms were lovely and clean. They looked after us and if we had a problem they would help us .

Out of ten I'd give the accommodation in Winmarleigh hall 10/10.

15.Evening Entertainment By ………… Caroline Mc Donnell

View Some Photos of our Trip