Kids Company Surf Trip
Kids Co & Sherborne School Surfing Trip, 5th – 7th June 2009
“Sherborne School invited five, thirteen and fourteen year olds to join a small group of their boys on a surfing trip to Cornwall for the weekend. The Kids Company contingent met early on Friday 5th June at Kenbury and set off to London Waterloo to catch a train to Sherborne, Dorset. Stefan and Albin had not been surfing before and they were inquisitive in their questioning of the others. All the way to Sherborne they were chatty and excited.
James Clarke from Sherborne greeted us at the station, he led us through the small town which is dominated by the school and its pupils, to the school's dining hall where we had a lovely lunch. We then began to play some football on a grassy square in an inner courtyard of the school, here the pupils from Sherborne, who would be also coming on the trip, trickled out from their classes and joined the games.
Simon, Peter and Claire were the staff from Sherborne coming on the trip, they had run surfing trips before and were full of enthusiasm. We boarded the mini bus with all our kit packed into the back and set off for Cornwall. The mixing between the Kids Co boys and Sherborne boys seemed natural and easy; stories were being told and sweets were being shared.
After a long drive we arrived at St Issey in Cornwall, the small village where the Manor House Activity Centre (our accommodation for the weekend) was situated. Following a rather strict rendition of the dos and don’ts of the house rules the boys were whisked to the village green and we enjoyed a sunny evening playing rounders and other team games all together in mixed groups. After this all the boys sat together and watched a movie while the staff worked out a route of getting to the beach early and missing heavy traffic caused by the Cornwall Agricultural Show which clashed with our weekend!
In the morning we were up early (some of us not so early as alarm clocks had not been set) to have breakfast and make snacks for lunch. It had been decided that the mini-bus would drop us off in Padstow, and from there we caught a small quaint ferry across the estuary and followed a beautiful coastal walk all the way to Polzeath Beach. The weather was fresh and slightly drizzly but none of the boys complained and as we walked we passed and kicked a rugby ball between us and wondered to each other as to what we could expect from the surf.
Animal Surfing School had been hired to teach is the rudiments of surfing and their instructors were energetic and very enthusiastic; encouraging us to get into our wetsuits, grab a board and head off towards the water before safety instructions and a warm up. The surf was very small, initially we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to do very much with it, but by the time were in the water it was apparent that it would be fine and in fact was excellent to learn from, as the waves weren’t hugely powerful but crisp and clean.
We had an excellent session in the morning, all the boys were able to enjoy themselves, catching waves and having fun. We popped into Polzeath village for lunch and agreed to convene at 2pm for our second surfing session of the day. Polzeath beach is an idyllic cove, largely protected by cliffs at either side of the beach and the village is pretty with lots of surfing shops and ice-cream stores selling wonderful clotted cream ice-cream.
The second session was again a huge success, with the waves slightly bigger than the earlier session and a growing confidence amongst our boys, in particular Andreas and Albin showed an improvement and lots of courage catching and standing up on the waves. Being in the sea almost all day was exhausting yet none of the boys seemed that tired, so once we were out, Peter and Simon set up a beach volleyball net on the sand and with the evening sun breaking through we enjoyed some great games of volleyball.
Back at Manor House we were fed and watered before heading back to the village green for a game of football. This was a tough encounter with two very evenly matched teams; Stefan finished the game with a wonderful goal. Unbelievably this lasted all evening, which meant that we had been almost relentlessly undertaking activities since our beach walk at 9am in the morning. The boys put a film on and it was a tired and calm evening for all with sleep being on everyone’s mind.
Again the morning was started with breakfast and preparing our own packed lunches we skipped the long walk this morning as all the boys were keen to get straight onto the beach and start surfing. Once there we wasted no time in getting our wetsuits on and heading to the sea, Ricardo, Tomarieo and Stefan were brave going straight in and catching waves and despite feeling very tired and cold they remained in the water for some time enjoying themselves. Andreas and Albin were indomitable catching wave after wave and loving the experience.
It was a real shame to finally have to leave the water, eat lunch and begin the trip back to Sherborne. The surfing had been great fun and being with the group from Sherborne a huge success. The boys from Sherborne had been wonderful and respectful, really allowing the Kids Co children to enjoy themselves for the whole weekend. They exemplified this personally saying goodbye and shaking hands at the end of the trip once we had returned to Sherborne School.
Simon said his goodbyes so Peter and Claire walked us to the train station; it was obvious that our boys had really enjoyed their company as well. They had been so inclusive in their encouragement and interest that they had really made the boys feel part of the group. The train ride home was very calm, Ricardo led a relentless game of blackjack but this was conducted very quietly, in a similar fashion that I had observed the Sherborne boys playing between themselves...’
