Paris Trip
Diary written by Mrs Sutcliffe

The Music Department took a coach load of Commonweal musicians and singers to Paris during the February term break. They played at several places including Disneyland!

Saturday
It was 6.30am on the dot as we drove down the mall waving goodbye to parents, husbands and wives, our 6 day Music tour 2008 had begun!

The excitement really started as we pulled into Clacket lane service station where the gleaming lights of various Fast food chains attracted the students like a moth to a flame. Fully stocked with greasy food we journeyed on to Dover to board the ferry and head to France.

After whiling away a few more hours driving through France we finally arrived at our destination – Campus Saint Therese….. a boarding school. A very tired and over excited group then eagerly descended on the canteen expecting a delicious array of fine foods but unfortunately this was not to be! Fish, fish and more fish headed our way – much to the inconvenience of the dozen vegetarians in our group.

Sunday
The following morning saw us up and out by 8.30am and on our way to the Eiffel Tower. Miss Clement’s was unable to bring herself to climb to the dizzy heights and so ‘offered’ to stay on the ground and look after those students scared of heights. This meant the Mrs Sutcliffe – also scared of heights had to climb up to the second floor with all the rest of the students! A mere – what seemed like at least a million – steps later we emerged to an amazing view over the city and a welcomed hot chocolate. The majority of students then took the lift to the very top of the tower to enjoy the breathtaking views in the crystal clear sunshine.

After descending from the tower we set off to find a local hospital where we were due to do our first concert – after all, this was a music tour! We set up in a lovely little hall fully equipped with stage and flowers and did a brief rehearsal before heading out into the sunshine in full tour hoody uniform for a concert photo. The concert was well received by a large audience and we moved on to Notre Dame Cathedral….

Given the students an hour to look around the fantastic building gave the staff a brief period of rest bite before our walk to the coach. It was during these treks through Paris that we often ended up in two groups – those keen to get to where they were going, and those who dawdled! Mrs Sutcliffe had little patience for the dawdlers I’m sorry to say!

Once fed and watered (a meal much improved on the previous nights!) the students were treated to a quiz night. Questions based around sights visited during the day had been prepared by staff and the highlight of the night had to be the fancy dress round!

Monday
Another early start saw us heading back in to the centre of Paris where we were booked on a river boat cruise along the Seine. The weather was again glorious and allowed us to sit outside and take many photos of the sites along the river bank. After an hour of ‘cruising’ we re-joined the coach and travelled to the Tuillery gardens where we had time to enjoy baguettes and fresh coffee in beautiful surroundings. We then walked through the gardens to The Musee du Louvre where we had just over an hour to literally sprint around to see a few things! The scale of the museum is hard to comprehend with it being the largest museum in Europe. We split into our groups and elected a ‘tour guide. I later found out that Mr Leslie had mistaken my instruction to stay in groups and decided to wonder off to the toilet leaving Miss Clements bemused and lost in a foreign environment! In my group John Waite took the map and we headed to Napolean’s state apartments quite by accident! We then decided to head for the famous Mona Lisa painting and therefore did some speed-walking to the relevant ‘wing’ to see it. After taking a few pictures and generally being rather disappointed by the painting we headed off to see the French Crown jewels. Once this had been found and photographed we had to find the exit – quite a task! Each group then ended up exiting out of a different door but finally we all met up and headed back to the coach.

The journey to Montmatre that followed was an interesting experience as we turned into what would be known as the ‘Moulin Rouge’ area the city. We parked at the foot of the hill and proceeded to climb the many steps up to Sacre Coeur. Many a student was complaining at this point about the number of steps they had to climb on the trip as their bedrooms were also up 6 flights of stairs! Once at the top everyone had an hour to explore the local shops, cafes, art galleries and the church itself. After an unfortunate accident involving a visit to the police station we all headed off to a local restaurant for a delicious pizza.

Our second concert was to take place in a hotel and so we headed off to find it – it turns out that street maps of Paris do not necessarily match up with the actual road system so we had a little trouble! Never-the-less we arrived in one piece and hurriedly set up for the event. We had just started playing when we heard someone shout – “Its Sam Wearing!” It turned out that a trip from Nova Hreod was staying at the very hotel we were playing at and so we had an immediate attentive audience. After a very rousing performance we headed back to the school and straight to bed.

Tuesday
The day had dawned – we were heading to Disney Land! Excitement was hard to contain as we packed the bus and got on our way. Upon arrival Mrs Sutcliffe nearly had a heart-attack when the ‘Disney Magic Music Days Co-ordinator’ told her we would not be allowed to go on stage wearing jeans! With some grovelling and sad faces we were able to persuade her that we could continue with the concert as we were so good! After a brief rehearsal and talk about procedures from the Disney staff we awaited the countdown to the curtain raising. It was great to look out and see Mr Chivers and his family as well as Joely Woolford’s family. The performance went extremely well and we were then able to relax and enjoy the rest of the day in the Park. Space Mountain was the first port of call for the staff – except Mrs Sutcliffe who is petrified of rides! After standing out in the freezing cold for 35 minutes holding bags I was somehow persuaded that Space mountain is not scary, does not go upside down or fast and so I boarded the ride….. how wrong they were! I then experienced the worst 1 minute of my life and resorted to hyperventilating in order to attempt to relax. Never again! We continued to visit rides and experiences throughout the day and everybody had a great day.

Wednesday
Our final full day allowed us to visit Disney Studios. Mr Leslie had swatted up on the places to see and things to visit. On our journey Mr Leslie imparted his knowledge to the students in order for them to plan their day. The aim of the day for many people was to go on the Rock n Roller Coaster as many times as possible without being sick! Some students managed this 10 times and even the staff (not including Mrs Sutcliffe) went on it 3 times! The other essential ride to visit was the new Tower of Terror where once you have boarded a lift – you are plummeted to your death by falling 4 floors with views over the entire Disney Park! Mrs Sutcliffe only ever wanted to go on the Turtle ride but was denied this experience due to the adrenaline seeking staff who accompanied her, however, she did get to go on the Aladdin flying carpet ride!

Our final night was one to remember with another quiz courtesy of the staff. The grand finale of the evening was the task given to each group…… to rehearse and perform a song from a musical with choreography, make up and costume. The teams were judged on their performance skills, choreography, costume and vocal ability and then points awarded. The night ended with a cabaret act courtesy of the staff – Snow White and five dwarfs! It was however rather worrying that Mr Leslie looked far too comfortable in Mrs Whittington’s clothes whilst trying to be Snow White!

Thursday
The long journey home began at 8.30 but it was far quieter due to the fact that we had left Joely Woolford at Disneyland with her family that morning! We set off to the sounds of choir singing ‘One Fine Day’ but we soon put a stop to that by watching as many Disney DVDs as possible until we reached Calais. Once at Calais we had time to go shopping and stopped off at Cite Europe to stock up on essentials such as bread, croissants, cheese, etc…. After nearly leaving Carine Conway and Verity Dams behind due to their somewhat questionable time keeping skills we headed to the ferry. The crossing was fairly un-eventful with numerous group photos being taken, shopping, eating and general chit chat before we docked at Dover. Upon arrival at Dover we had to say goodbye to ‘Tour guide Phil’ who had become a good friend and, as a fluent French speaker, a huge asset to the trip. He was presented with a goodie bag organised by the year 10 students containing a mug, pen, card, and other presents and was sad to leave us. The students also presented the rest of the staff and bus driver with a goodie bag containing all sorts of thoughtful gifts and we would like to thank them for these presents.

A brief stop at Reading services allowed a quick Marks and Spencer visit – a welcome relief after too much baguette and fromage! We then headed for Swindon and the songs just kept coming from the back of the bus. As we pulled up outside school at exactly 8pm the door opened and parents were blasted by the tune of ‘Tequila’ (a concert band piece) sung at full volume by the entire coach!

All in all the trip was a huge success and one enjoyed by both staff and students. Thankyou to all those who took part and I’m now in the process of deciding where to go next time……