Page 64 - royal-times-11-12

Transition Year Trip to England 2011

On the 6th of April 2011, 22 transition year students set off Day 2
on an English trip to Stratford upon Avon and Birmingham We set off at 9 o’clock to Alton Towers. We arrived at around
along with Miss Trenier, Miss Reilly and Mr Robertson. We 11 o’clock. We split up into groups to go around. Some of
left Cavan at 2am on Wednesday morning to go to Dublin the roller coasters were Rita, Oblivian, 13, Nemisess and Air.
airport and most of us were dead on the bus so we tried to Oblivian was class, it was a straight drop into a dark hole.
get some sleep. We flew out of Dublin after nearly missing Rita went from 0 – 100 km/ph in 2.4 seconds. The weather
the flight and landed in Birmingham airport where we met was good and everyone really enjoyed the day. We had
our coach and driver Bell.
lunch in KFC while we were there.
He brought us straight away to Stratford upon Avon to We left Alton Towers around 5 o’clock and arrived back at our
explore the Shakespeare properties. Stratford is a beautiful guesthouses at 7 o’clock and had our evening meal there.
old town in the middle of England famed as the home of
the world’s most famous playwright and poet William After tea we had an option to go on a ghost walk or just
Shakespeare. relax. The ghost walk took part in an old house in Stratford,
he told us about all the different spirits that were there and
We visited Shakespeare’s birthplace, where his mother and their story. It was really creepy buy well worth going to see
father john, who worked as a glove maker, and his family and hear.
of 5 (4 boys and 1 girl).This was an amazing house which
dated back over 500 years. The gardens were stunning Day 3
and when we went out there were actors in costume who
performed sections of some of Shakespeare’s most famous We packed our bags and headed off at 9 o’clock for Cadbury
works, considering we were all half asleep at that stage it World, where we learned about Cadbury Chocolate and the
was interesting. Bournville town started by George Cadbury. We got loads
of free chocolate and we learned about how chocolate was
We then travelled to Anne Hathaway’s cottage in the made and we got to write our names in chocolate. There was
countryside. Anne was Shakespeare’s wife and her home a Cadbury shop there, it was the biggest one in the world.
place was a beautiful old cottage dating back from 1463. We saw all the Cadbury ad’s from over the years and we got
Some of the house had remained unchanged from the a bean mobile to bring us around some of the factory.
period! After that we travelled to our guesthouses and
checked into our rooms. Our bus broke down but it was all ok because it was sunny.
After that we headed to the Bullring Shopping Centre where
The afternoon was our own explore Stratford and its many we shopped for a while and had something to eat.
literary references or else to go to bed and catch up on some
well needed sleep. The weather was amazing (over 20°C) so In the evening we boarded the bus and set off for the airport.
most of us headed off to a park literally outside the guest We had an amazing 3 days and we would like to thank Ms
house and we just relaxed there for a few hours. Trenier for arranging it and Mr. Robertson and Ms Reilly for
That evening after dinner we went to a bowling alley and coming with us.
amusement centre. It was good fun. After that we were half Amy Eccleston
asleep so we headed back to the guesthouses and slept.

64 The Royal Times 2011-2012