Lucy Stevens - 29th June 2023
29th May
We got picked up in the morning by a minibus from Colchester Stadium. I was so excited! It was really good to see the other children that I know through Eastern Fostering Services. From there we went on to Ingatestone to pick up some other children and staff. Then it was off to Southampton to catch the ferry to the ISLE OF WIGHT!
I’d never been on a ferry before and was a bit worried I may get sea sick but guess what? I didn’t, so at least I now know I don’t get sea sick. When we got to the Isle of Wight, we had to walk on a floating bridge. I was so excited.
We had a tour of the site and then after that we went to the dormitories and put all our stuff down. It was time for the first activity so we got changed into wetsuits and got into the sea. They couldn’t find one that fitted me but we sorted that out.
Then we got changed and had dinner. The last activity of the day was football which was a lot of fun.
30th May
We woke up at 7 o’clock, got dressed and went for breakfast. The sun was shining and we were all excited about the day. We went to the beach first and did some litter picking. We had lunch on the beach and then went back to the site.
In the afternoon, we went crabbing and on the way back in the orange dinghy, I got completely soaked! I didn’t mind though, it was good fun.
We went back to the dorms, got changed and had dinner. After that we played basketball and guess what? I was the team captain!
31st May
Up again at 7am – it’s not like getting up for school though! We had breakfast and then got changed into our wetsuits. We went on the canoes. OMG it was so fun.
After lunch we got changed into warm clothes and trainers. We met up with the instructors who were so nice and then we went on the paddle boats. And. Yes you’ve guessed it. The orange dinghy. Yes. I got drenched and soaked. We got stranded and had to wait for rescue! Drama 😉 We had 3 boats to take us back to the dock LOL.
We got changed, played rounders and then went to the shops to spend our pocket money.
1st June
Our last full day! Up at 7. We had breakfast and then went paddle boarding which was so much fun. We watched the instructor jump in which was funny.
After lunch we did raft building and went on the big paddle board. That was when I kept getting hit on the head with a paddle. I jumped into the water with Teegan the instructor. It was so nice and then I just swam and floated about!
2nd June
Our last day! We woke up at 7, went down for breakfast and then put our stuff in the mini bus. We then had a talk about the careers at UKSA and in the maritime sector. After that we played a game called drop the bomb and we got a gift bag each with a certificate and some souvenirs. We got our stuff ready with our back packs and walked out the gate to the floating bridge with an instructor. We met Teegan round the other side waited for a little while then got onto the ferry and said goodbye to the instructors and went on the ferry back to Southampton and had lunch on the ferry.
Special thanks to Paul for reminding me to take my tablet and looking after me.
Note from the carer:
“L so loved the trip and it has really inspired her. She wants to train to be an instructor and showed me a 2 year course. She has never been so enthusiastic about something to study!”
Eastern Fostering Services - The small agency with a strong family feel
