Netball Tour to Barbados
February 2008
On 16th February 2008 a group of 48 girls accompanied by five teachers set of to Barbados for a thrilling and exciting netball tour. We met at Heathrow early on the Saturday morning, checked in and made ourselves ready for the 8 hour flight there.
We arrived in Barbados late afternoon and were escorted by coaches to The Dover Beach Hotel where we were to be staying. On our arrival we were allocated our rooms and we made our way there to start unpacking our stuff. We were given a brief meeting by our tour representative and after a buffet dinner we all made our way back to our rooms to sleep and prepare for the next day. Here is the diary of the week written by Lucy Bairstow in Year 9:
Day One: What better way to kick-start our trip in Barbados than an island jeep safari? This was a fantastic way to visit some of the islands top tourist attractions and enjoy our first installment of the sun. It was a great opportunity to photograph some truly amazing sights and explore Barbados. Later that night we went for dinner and enjoyed our first tastes of Bajan cuisine.
Day two: we set of to The Boatyard. Three hours of beach access and loads of beach activities. A wide range of activities volleyball, swimming, trampolines in the water and inflatable climbing walls made it enjoyable for everyone. After lunch we all returned to the hotel to prepare for our first netball game. Our first game was against a primary school - St. Mary’s - on hearing this we immediately thought ‘a primary school, this will be easy!’ In fact we were proved wrong when the beat us 22-3!! Someone had failed to mention that they were the champions of Barbados and they took netball VERY seriously! Anyway, we were gracious in our defeat but extremely glad that game was over! We made our way back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at a restaurant called ‘Jumbie’s’.
Day Three: Finally some time to shop, in Bridgetown! We walked around the capital for two hours shopping. Later we had transfers to C.O Williams Rangers for the other team’s first netball game. They also lost but at least their opponents were the same age as them! We returned to the hotel after yet another defeat and made our way to Bert’s Bar for dinner.
Day Four: after eating breakfast at the hotel it was time for relaxing. Lazing by the poolside or down on the beach after all we’d earned it! Then after some last minute coaching tips from Miss. Morrish (we definitely needed them if we were going to even try and win!) teams A and B made their way to St. Lucy Secondary School whilst teams C and D set off for Queen’s College. After two hours of netball both teams were eager to get back to find out how the other teams had done. Team C won against Queen’s College whilst all of the other teams had played some great games of netball. That evening we went to Harbour Lights Beach Extravaganza and Dinner show. This consisted of live entertainment, limbo dancing and a BBQ dinner. A fantastic night accompanied by a sensational show!
Day Five: Tour of Harrison’s Cave - one of Barbados’s main tourist attractions. A guided tour showed us around the caves and told us about the history. After, it was time for our final games of netball against Alexandra School and Unity Stars. Unfortunately no one won any of their games but felt that our netball skills had improved enormously over the week. After a tiring day it was back to the hotel for dinner and one other celebration: Khadija’s Birthday! Cakes had been provided for us and we all sung her happy birthday.
Day Six: Our most enjoyable day so far - for six hours we lay relaxing on a Tiami Catamaran Cruise. Snorkeling with turtles, sunbathing and dancing on the roof, accompanied by the warm sunshine and crystal-clear sea made this a fantastic experience. This day really gave us the chance to appreciate the gorgeous weather in Barbados. To finish the day off we went to a Bajan Roots and Rhythms show full of dancing fire-eating and more limbo dancing! Miss Bryant even had a chance to show off her limbo skills!
Day seven: our last day in Barbados. After our final breakfast in the hotel we made our way to Ocean Park, an outdoor aquarium. It was great fun and we all got the opportunity to view the sea life Barbados had to offer. That evening we went to Jumbie’s for our last meal together. We walked back to the hotel, took one final look at Barbados and got on a coach to the airport.
Thank you to Miss Heiskanen, Miss Bryant, Miss Morrish, Mrs Pickard and Mr. Pickard for an amazing holiday!
 
 
 
 
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