Prep Weekend - Charades

Charades.

After everyone came in from the bonfire it was time for a good game of sharades, everyone got involved as we frustratingly tried to guess what each player was acting while crying with laughter. However ,Dianne's turn to act was cut short as hers were guested straight away! Some of the players (Joe) were also very disappointed when there chosen films and books weren't acted (lord of the rings,harry potter,the hobbit) Despite this the whole group had lots of fun together and it was a good way to end the day! Some of the group members then went to bed and only a few were up for the task of playing “extreme sharades” This involved completely ditching the actual cards we should be playing with and taking some cards from another game which were completely random.

My first highlight from this was when Becca attempted to try and act out a troll,which did not look like a troll but more like a hamster, it also didn't help that she was confusing us with rowing actions so we were all completely stumped but also laughing our heads of at the same time.

Then there was Amy's Sharade which took us a very long time to get. The answer was “end of history” but our guesses were very far off “end of technologically” “OH I KNOW, END OF THE DAY!” ahahahhahahaha

Then there was Kira’s which was also another highlight to my night. Becca-“hmmmmmm so it’s something vit something min c” Kira then just got so frustrated with us missing out the one word we needed to say out the alphabet she just burst out the answer “ VITIAM C OMG”

The there was Jodie's sharade of sherk,but the best thing which Claire could come up with was “PREGNANT DEVIL,PREGNANT DEVIL”

There was also other funny sharardes such as tescos,”mates” and pixie the sheep but the ones above were my personal favorites.

Kelsey

Prep Weekend - Bonfire

Bonfire

After a full day of activity's we then headed out to the field to have our bonfire,with the help of Walter we got a fire going where we roasted mash mellows and made smors, and were enjoying our self's relaxing and listening to music,enjoying each others company.However,a full moon was in the sky, and legend says that the Gillarwaite ghost “Glenance” comes out at night.as the leaders headed back in doors to play the favorite gillarwaite game “sharades” us children decided to stay out and solve the history of the flashing light coming from the dark woods.As we were to busy screaming and running up and down the long field to the scary woods,our bonfire had went out so we decided to save our self's and the mash mellows and head indoors as well to join the others.however, suspicions ran high when we bumped into Walter as we were curious to what he was doing out so late. he said he was only checking on the generator,but we believe Walter and the family and DANI were planning it the whole time.

Kelsey 

Prep Weekend - KiSwahili

After a short break after going over our first aid skills, it was time to practice our Ki Swahili in preparation for Tanzania. Together as a group, we all went over the basics and what we already knew before splitting of into two separate groups. First my group went outside with Amy to practice directions. We split into pairs, and one person wore a blindfold and the other had to direct the person using Ki Swahili which really tested the person with the blindfold on, as they had to remember the directions after only looking at the translations very briefly! The pairs then swapped and did the same before we went back inside to practice for our trips to the markets in Tanzania! With Becca, we practiced our numbers and foods and then went in pairs to the market stall ran by Don and Dianne to buy a long list of foods!

Chloe

Prep Weekend - First Aid

One of the more serious prospects about the trip to Tanzania is how we would deal with situations where we would need to use our First Aid Training and so we gathered first in the barn to discuss and practice the recovery position which could only be used if the casualty was breathing. 

We established that the First Aider should place the arm nearest them at a right angle pointing upwards while the back of the other hand is touching their cheek. The leg furthest away is then bent at a right angle. The casualty is then rolled over so that the leg and arm at a right angle are able to support their entire weight. We were able to practice this on one another for a short time and, generally speaking, we all pretty much remembered what we had to do.

After a short while we were all told that we had to practice on the leaders and that they would be unconscious outside! Our aim was to make sure that they were safe but we didn’t know exactly what was wrong. 

We went out and found the leaders in very odd positions; lying in their front, upside down on a hill etc. We discovered for the most part that we had to place them into the recovery position but in many cases the leader would not have survived! We then discussed what went wrong and what we should have done to make sure that the causality would have survived. 

The final task we had to do was more complicated and involved not just dealing with an unconscious causality; there were a collection of different problems depending on the leader that we had to fix and some that required more common sense than previous knowledge. One was suffering from diabetes related problems, some unconscious and one with a broken arm. Some of us had better luck on the second attempt though I think it’s safe to say that some of us, especially myself, still need a bit more practice! Again we talked about things that went wrong and how we could and should have dealt with them.  

Matthew

Prep Weekend - Group Contract

Later on in the afternoon we all sat in the dining area to discuss the group contract. We took time to discuss as a group how we felt we should all act around eacother and the responsibilities we should all take on board to help us and everyone around us make the most of our trip to Tanzania later this year. After an hour of picking apart last years group contract and adding in our own personal touches we felt we had agreed on the mind set and ways we should all act while over in Tanzania and with that the group contract was completed.

James 

Prep Weekend - Classroom Planning

On the Saturday of prep weekend we spent some time planning our lessons for Tanzania. While in Tanzania we will be delivering lessons to young people in various schools in Tanzania. The different lessons include Science, Art and P.E and more. We planned our lessons in the groups which they will be taught in and then fed back our idea to the rest of the group where we then suggested improvements each group could make to their lessons.

Jodie

Prep Weekend - Orchard

When staying at Gillerthwaite for prep weekend we were split into groups and given different outdoor tasks to complete. I was in a group with Amy, Joe, Matthew and Lucy and we were in charge of expanding the orchard as some trees were going to be planted.  

We started by removing the current fence poles and moving them forward to make the orchard bigger. After we had made the whole orchard bigger, and watched a chicken show courtesy of Walter, we started digging the holes to plant fruit trees. Me and Lucy laid out the trees while the rest of the group finished off putting in the new fence poles. Then all the groups came together to plant the trees, and collectively as a group we planted the first ever fruit trees at Gillerthwaite!

Kira

Prep Weekend - Daffodils

After a morning of breakfast and getting ready the group was split into groups and each given a task around the hostel to either help clean the area up, or help Walter with various tasks. 

One group was tasked with cleaning the surrounding hill and area. The area its self had been submerged in daffodiles as it was a memorial to a good friend and helper of the hostel for many years. So, as the morning progressed we helped clear the area and polish over the hill and memorial daffodils for the next visiting group.

James

Prep Weekend - Making the Bonfire

I was in a group with Becca, Amy and Chloe on Saturday morning. Our job was to move the bonfire from its original position, as an orchard was going to be put in its place. Firstly we moved a pile of wood out of the way, then we got to work moving the bonfire. We moved the stones which framed the bonfire and then, with help from some of the lads, placed thelarge wooden log benches around the new bonfire. We also dug some holes for the benches to sit in and whilst we were doing this we were surrounded by chickens trying to eat the newly dug up worms.

It was quite hard work, but we still had fun working together!

Claire J

Prep Weekend - Raking

On Saturday morning we did outdoor activities. We (Dianne, Ian, Jodie and Tia) raked some moss for Walter so that his grass would grow better. We couldn’t really do it at first but Walter came and showed us how to rake properly. We did itfor about two hours and although it was tiring and our hands were killing, it was actually quite fun.

Tia

Prep Weekend - Showtime

On Friday night, all the students decided that we were going to put on a show to entertain the leaders, just like we did when we last stayed at Gillethwaite. We separated from the leaders, and tried to come up with a brand new and hilarious idea. It was hard. We were all so tired and Friday night’s activities had taken all our energy. We mentioned a ‘Take Me Out’ style show, with some involvement from the leaders, an enactment of The Titanic, a cheerleading style dance routine, an X Factor/ Britain’s Got Talent show and a complete replay of last time’s routine.

After discussion and a few prompts here and there, we decided that a Britain’s Got Talent style show was our best idea. However, we did decide to include some clips from the previous Gillethwaite performance. This is how it went:

‘The Fabulous Four’ (Amy, Chloe, Claire and Lucy) inspired by the ‘Magical Magicians’ (Amy, Chloe and Kelsey) took to the stage first. As a member of ‘The Fabulous Four’, we performed card tricks, walking on ‘water’ with the aid from a sauce pan and a roll of tinfoil, magically transforming water into diluted orange juice and the famous disappearing act.

The second group, ‘A Rose between Three Thorns’ (Kelsey, Dani, Tia and Matthew), performed their routine. They had choreographed a very lively and fun routine, which got the audience going, however the judges had enough and rudely stopped them.

Gary Barlow (Kira), Louis Walsh (Jodie) and Simon Cowell (James) suddenly took to the stage and showed the acts how to deliver a top quality performance by singing and dancing along to Proud Mary. The finale of the show involved all the students joining in and Jodie throwing the Link Pencil Case in Don’s face… (Poor Don!!!)

Prep Weekend - Quiz

On Friday night after we’d all had tea, we got together downstairs for Diane’s culture quiz. Diane had the unique idea to get everyone in height order and split the teams into ‘big people’ and ‘little people.’ The quiz, which tested our knowledge on Tanzania, consisted of questions such as which countries border it, the diseases which cause the highest amount of deaths there, and the average household income of a Tanzanian family. Everyone soon realised just how little they could remember about Tanzania, and there were lots of giggles throughout. Eventually the ‘big people’ took the lead and ended up beating us

Dani

Prep Weekend - Risk Assessment

Our first task after tea on Friday 11th April we all got together and talked about the rick assessment for out trip in July. Don bribed up with chocolates to come up with ideas of what a risk assessment was as a starter. Then we split off into groups of 3 and came up with as many ideas as we could. After about 10 minutes we rejoined as a group to discuss what we all came up with. Each group had lots of ideas of what could happen whilst in Tanzania. We then discussed how we could overcome these risks by identify what we would need to do to prevent them.

Lucy