The Big Toppers have been to most of the London and outskirts of London sights and this year was no different except that we attempted a few new venues’. The children tell us what they want to do, and we listen. They love the BBC, Tate Modern, Coral Reef, HMS Belfast, but most of all they love being together as a group and travelling through London with cheerful staff who tell them stories as they go. This year was no different and although most of the children have been to a lot of our trips, some have not and it was great to see the usual turn out and all the days were fully booked! Making up a pretty amazing 5 weeks. HMS Belfast - The ship was active during World War II. Where the children took part in a war workshop at 2pm. Lots of swimming this year in line with the theme to ‘get kids moving’. Pools on the Park and Coral Reef and The Look Out Discovery Centre were favourites. Our Drama workshop saw Oliver and Nancy with great results from our well trained Drama team – Great Job guys! Off to the BBC as always – and the children never tire of it. The BBC has fine tuned their visits now and the children spent a lot more time on the sets of favourite programmes. One of our biggest draws this year was a visit to Black Park, in Bucks. – A Film Walk in the morning and a Mini Beast workshop after a picnic lunch. This beautiful park offers hundreds of acres of woodland, lakes and rivers, and also is location to lots of famous films from James Bond to Harry Potter. Great day out. A bit of luck this year that the first major James Bond (well Ian Fleming!) exhibition, was during our summer school period. For Your Eyes Only - at the Imperial War Museum. Very interesting and the children were gripped! What a fascinating man Ian Fleming was. The expo is still on I believe so if you get a chance – GO! The very high Treetop walk in Kew Gardens (Rhizotron and Xstrata) was as close to the tree tops as you’ll ever get and the children loved it. I personally thought it was over too soon, but hey – how often do children get to walk among the tree tops. They went on Pedalos in Hyde Park and to the Diana Playground on a very sunny day and had a ball – nobody fell in this year, so a result! Not to forget our change in culture with a visit to Shri Swaminararayan Mandi (Temple) in Neasdon. As always we are very well received by the organisers and the children are taught interesting facts about the Hindu culture. The Tate Modern – Street Art – exhibition with Gigantic new art works created on the external walls of the building was OK… but if I’m honest, this was not a favourite visit. The children were keener to walk across the Millennium Bridge and buy an Ice Cream at the other end. The street art was a little beyond their artistic understanding – they looked up for about 2 seconds! Oh, well, we tried!
Another new visit was The Household Cavalry Museum (SW1) - An opportunity for a unique “behind the scenes” look at the work that goes into the ceremonial duties and operational roles of the Household Cavalry. The children watched troopers working with their horses in the original 18th century stables and heard accounts of their rigorous training. The Museum’s outstanding collection of treasures represents over 300 years of military history and each item on display had its own compelling story to tell. Nicola Burton’s ceramic workshop did not disappoint yet again and the work which the children turned out this year was absolutely fabulous! Cookery workshop – blinding success – Carrots Cakes were yum! The Bluebell Railway – Due to rain and travel problems this trip was cancelled, but we will attempt it again next year. Fruit Picking at Garsons – mainlyStrawberries, pumpkin (Rebecca’s was the biggest I’ve ever seen!) and some vegetables, were up for grabs. Good weather that day so a pleasant day out. Food Glorious Food Healthy Eating workshop – Interactive, cooking, labelling, (using some of the food from the visit to Garsons) was a great success. Thanks to Cally who brought lots of goodies for the children. Hope they have not forgotten the good healthy messages!
Next year – 2009 – we celebrate 20 years of wonderful play and fun and loving care of your children. I look forward to thinking up some great Big Top Adventures for you all. Much love……….
Yvonne