Seniors and Sixth Form
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze practice
Without doubt the toughest Bronze practice weekend that any NSB DofE participant has ever experienced. Nothing will be as tough as that on the Bronze qualifying expedition in June.
All twenty boys completed the 30 km route and got a real sense of achievement. On Saturday several slipped into bog on the supervised route between Once Brewed and Stonehaugh on the edge of Kielder Forest. They excelled themselves on Sunday – some showing true grit and resilience cooking breakfast for their tent group in a freezing force 6 gale. Even Mr Drax’s zippo lighter packed up in the deluge.
All four groups set off alone in appalling weather, two of them heading east directly into wind. The staff looked ruefully at their mobile weather forecasts of 15 degrees sunshine at Whitley Bay on Bank Holiday Monday. Of course blue skies appeared just as the last team reached the finish, which allowed Mr Thompson to put on his sunglasses as he set off back to school in the bus. The boys’ exultant singing at the end reflected their unconquerable souls. Many thanks to Iona Lawson of Winshields Campsite for the best sausage bap on Hadrian’s Wall and to the four stoic group leaders – Mr Black, Mr Drax, Miss Gott and Mr Thompson.