Aside to the luggage difficulties in York, the trip was a gooden! The main purpose for me going is to help the school out and to get to know the kids that I will be working with over the next few years. I did it 2 years ago and I enjoy the best response to my work with that group because they have got to see beyond the 'bloke from the church' veneer.
We stayed at the Race Course Centre, which is where the stable hands stay when it's the York races. We were sharing it with another primary school and a 6th form college from Colwyn Bay. How disappointed the 6th formers looked when they arrived for a wild living field trip, only to discover they were sharing a corridor with 30 primary school kids. No late night parties for them, or we'd set the kids on them.
I really like York. I've visited it for years for camp reunions and planning days, but normally I got no further than St Paul's Church or the Micklegate Bar. So it was good having the free benefits of open top tours, guided walks, a visit to every museum and even Castle Howard (quite boring really...wow it's a big house showing off the wealth of local posh people who exploited the poor...are we supposed to be impressed?). The downside was having to shepherd 30 kids around with me. Also the tedious routine of having to go around gift shops looking at crap replica Viking coins and genuine Roman snowstorms and pencil cases. I did get a nice surprise in Jorvik, the Viking Centre. My photo taken 2 years ago, is up on the wall as part of the display boards. Another part of the entertainment was a visit form one of those Viking reinactment people. 'Danelaw Dave' lives and breathes the Viking life and scared the pants off the kids. He was good but I wish he would use the toilet and not crap out of the window on to the streets below!
I know a lot of people in York and it was inevitable that I would see one of them. Rob & Sarah met up with us at the bowling, but apart from that I didn't see anyone until the last hour of the trip where I saw Beth Tew (Criccieth Camps) on the York Eye. Sadly we were just getting on and had to rush off afterwards to get the train so I didn't have chance to chat. Tom our bus driver was up for an award for best ambassador for the city. If you get a chance to visit then I'd recommend the open top tour bus as a way of understanding the history and geography and social background to York. we even got to see the York Ness Monster!
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