forest of dean

Got back from three days in the Forest of Dean yesterday (just before the start of our number40 exhibition in the basement!) with a group of Year 8s from school. Really excellent time and the pupils were great. We stayed at the Dean Field Study Centre as usual (the school has undertaken this trip with all year 8 pupils every November/December for the past 29 years!). Always a relief to get back with no accidents or complications (or losing anyone on the two night exercises through the forest!). I even managed to climb the vertical face of the climbing tower (perhaps 15m high?) – which, with my huge fear of heights, felt like quite an achievement. However, I didn’t attempt the “leap of faith” (I think that’s what it was called)! This involved climbing a telegraph pole, struggling on to an incredibly small platform, standing upright and then launching oneself into mid-air aiming to catch a trapeze bar some 5-6 feet in front of you!! Just fantastic to see pupils go from “there’s no way I can do that and I’m not even going to try” to “that was the most brilliant thing I’ve ever done in my life”!