During the weekend of 27 - 29 October many of the choir members, and a large number of their parents / siblings / friends decamped to the Urdd Activity Centre in Llangrannog in West Wales.
We started as we meant to go on, with lunch provided on arrival. As it turned out, a hearty lunch was just what we needed to set us up for the "short walk" to the local beach. We were ably led by Marcel, and many of us were taken in by her talk of "the scenic route" which meant a walk down a hill, round the headland and then up a hill again. Not everyone succumbed to her promises of scenery, and some smart people were already in the cafe drinking coffee when we finally arrived at the beach. It was a lovely, if windy, day, and everyone took the opportunity to explore the beach and take many photographs (my favourite is above - feel free to suggest a caption!).
The kind people at the centre sent buses to bring us back, and then it was tea time, swiftly followed by supper time, itself followed by swimming for many of the children. Although he wasn't exactly dressed for it, Christian was also "persuaded" to take part in the swimming, to the delight of all of the spectators.
Bedtime was not too late, although many of the adults managed to find some time to "socialise"
The next morning after a hearty breakfast, it was time for the children to take part in a workshop run by Islwyn Evans, a renowned choral expert, well known to the choir. The children learnt a lot from him, as always, and as well as polishing some existing pieces, he introduced them to a couple of new ones.
After lunch, time for some activities - the children were able to choose between high ropes, horse riding, archery, trampolining, quad bikes and swimming. I watched the children taking part in the high ropes course, and they were all remarkably fearless in the way they tackled it.
One thing you can be sure of when you visit Llangrannog is that you will be well-fed, and sure enough, after the activities, it was time for tea, with supper following only minutes later (well, that's how it seemed to some of the ladies, who sat in the canteen so long after tea that they were still there at supper time)
And then it was time to celebrate Allan's big birthday. To look at him, you'd never believe he had just turned 30...see the picture below for evidence. There were plenty of refreshments, a card game going on in one corner, a quiz for everyone to take part in (which was a dead heat, and the winning team is still in dispute), music and the special treat of Allan and his guitar (which I missed, as I'd gone to bed by then).
The next morning, a little bleary-eyed, we gathered to take part in more activities, including ski-ing (not the best result for Georgia who broke the Llangrannog downhill ski speed record), tobogganing, go-karts, trampolining and swimming. Having worked up an appetite, we all ate lunch, and then it was time to leave.
We all had a brilliant time with many laughs, and I look forward to the next time we can visit this beautiful part of West Wales.
We started as we meant to go on, with lunch provided on arrival. As it turned out, a hearty lunch was just what we needed to set us up for the "short walk" to the local beach. We were ably led by Marcel, and many of us were taken in by her talk of "the scenic route" which meant a walk down a hill, round the headland and then up a hill again. Not everyone succumbed to her promises of scenery, and some smart people were already in the cafe drinking coffee when we finally arrived at the beach. It was a lovely, if windy, day, and everyone took the opportunity to explore the beach and take many photographs (my favourite is above - feel free to suggest a caption!).
The kind people at the centre sent buses to bring us back, and then it was tea time, swiftly followed by supper time, itself followed by swimming for many of the children. Although he wasn't exactly dressed for it, Christian was also "persuaded" to take part in the swimming, to the delight of all of the spectators.
Bedtime was not too late, although many of the adults managed to find some time to "socialise"
The next morning after a hearty breakfast, it was time for the children to take part in a workshop run by Islwyn Evans, a renowned choral expert, well known to the choir. The children learnt a lot from him, as always, and as well as polishing some existing pieces, he introduced them to a couple of new ones.
After lunch, time for some activities - the children were able to choose between high ropes, horse riding, archery, trampolining, quad bikes and swimming. I watched the children taking part in the high ropes course, and they were all remarkably fearless in the way they tackled it.
One thing you can be sure of when you visit Llangrannog is that you will be well-fed, and sure enough, after the activities, it was time for tea, with supper following only minutes later (well, that's how it seemed to some of the ladies, who sat in the canteen so long after tea that they were still there at supper time)
And then it was time to celebrate Allan's big birthday. To look at him, you'd never believe he had just turned 30...see the picture below for evidence. There were plenty of refreshments, a card game going on in one corner, a quiz for everyone to take part in (which was a dead heat, and the winning team is still in dispute), music and the special treat of Allan and his guitar (which I missed, as I'd gone to bed by then).
The next morning, a little bleary-eyed, we gathered to take part in more activities, including ski-ing (not the best result for Georgia who broke the Llangrannog downhill ski speed record), tobogganing, go-karts, trampolining and swimming. Having worked up an appetite, we all ate lunch, and then it was time to leave.
We all had a brilliant time with many laughs, and I look forward to the next time we can visit this beautiful part of West Wales.
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