Report on our Broomley Weekend - October 2007

We arrived at 1506 – 6 minutes later than our schedule!!!

After telling the boys their rooms and room mates we decided it would be good to take the lads out on a tour of the grounds so those lads who hadn’t been to Broomley before could see the grounds. We then started our activities with none other than Danish Long Ball. We played it on the activities field (very controversial I know!)

The Ellertons arrived from Scotland during the game and our number was complete although we almost had another mouth to feed when one granddad managed to get stuck on the train and had to travel to Seaham before catching a return train to Hartlepool. Kipper, Natalie and Stu found this very, very amusing. This has to be one of the most memorable starts to any holiday we have had.

What came next? I hear you ask……….

The lads had a quick play on the adventure playground before going in for tea of sausage, mash and gravy or beans. Some of us had sausage, mash,beans, gravy and veg – strange but true!

Board games and tuck shop followed with the return of the Wispa. FANTASTIC!!! During the evening we played a game called ‘What makes me me?’ were the lads split into pairs of 1 older lad with 1 younger lad. They had to find out 5 things about each other – this was great as the lads mixed very well from the off and those new friendships developed over the weekend.

And then… Man-Hunt. A popular game played at night were one team hides and the other has to find them. The lads love being outside at night, but one or two didn’t stray far from the conservatory lights as they were a little scared! For many of the lads it was their first experience of night without street lights.

Once inside it was PJ’s on for the Juniors and supper before heading up to bed. The Company lads chilled out for a bit before turning in themselves.

Saturday

7.50am…… all quiet?????

The dark mornings mean the lads don’t wake early – unlike our May holiday when the early morning sun starts to wake the lads from 6am!

We woke the lads at 8am and the lads headed of to the showers and got dressed before breakfast of Cereal, toast and croissants. After tidying the bedrooms for inspection we went out looking for conkers. There weren’t as many as there have been on previous years, perhaps due to the poor summer? Each lad managed to get at least 4 or 5 so we returned to the house for conker fights. No goggles, no gloves, no tinhats, no body armour and no accidents! It was good to see the older and younger lads mixing again – the older lads helping them with the rules and showing the younger lads how to play. Some outdoor freetime filled the gap before lunch during which many of the younger lads decided to explore in the ‘burnside’.
 

After lunch we met up with Tom and Kevin to go into the activities field to do some of the adventure activities. Once we were kitted out with our safety equipment of helmets and climbing harness we started with the climbing wall which most of the lads had a go at as well as the green cargo net and Zip wire. These activities are some of the lads favourites – those activities with the ‘danger element’ even though they are very safe.
Tea tonight was Pizza and Chips after which the Juniors started some craft based on Autumn at Bromley. This craft was used to complete a display board at Broomley.

A chance to watch a DVD followed Man hunt and supper after which the younger lads went to bed. The older lads had some ‘chill time’ and a take away supper before bed.

Sunday 

The clocks went back last night and the extra hour was much appreciated – not least by the staff!!!

Sunday morning started with breakfast before we had Tag Rugby and Football competitions. Both competitions proved to be popular with the lads and were a chance to get rid of some energy before lunch…….and what a lunch! Roast Turkey, roast spuds, yorkshires, veg, gravy, stuffing and followed by jelly, custard, fruit and cream.

What was needed now was a sleep, but unfortunately we had some more things planned. Once the lads had packed their bags they headed out for freetime while the equipment was packed away. After a quick Tuck Shop we started off on our 40 minute walk down to the train station. Alison, the manager at Broomley, met us at the station in the van with our bags and our journey home was underway.

We arrived back at Hartlepool Train station 10 minutes late but excited to see our families and they were all pleased to see us even though their quiet weekend was at an end.

All in all a great weekend for everyone………….I can’t wait for next years Camps – see you there?    Miss them? Miss out!

Conkers - without safety gear!