On Wednesday the 25th of October the 5th form of Alton Convent School went on their last residential trip to Stratford upon Avon, the home of William Shakespeare. After filling the minibuses with our (what were suppose to be) small luggage's, we started our journey there, all very keen to make the most of our last trip together. We all settled into our rooms at the youth hostel and immediately got on with our first activity of the trip. This was a drama - based lesson which included gradual understanding of how to create a better performance, use of imagination and improvisations. Though many of us did not take Drama GCSE as a subject and were not too keen on acting, each of us enjoyed the lessons and took something new home with us. Our instructor made the workshop extremely entertaining and I was particularly surprised at the great boost in confidence it gave those who did not seem so eager to act at the beginning. It did not matter your level in drama, everyone got involved and could do it. After our two sessions, we finished the day with free time, unpacking our bags, all impatient and eager on finding out what these few days were to bring us.

The next morning, following breakfast, we traveled to Compton Verney, which was a grand art gallery with breath taking views. We learnt a bit about the building and after having a good look around we were told to sketch a few pictures and create an art piece of our sketches put together. As a group of 5th formers whose artistic skills were known to be nonexistent, this sounded like a task, which was to automatically destroy the sights of Compton. Warning each other of the drawings we were to produce and after a constant mention of 'I can't draw!' we finally all completed our rather surprising final pieces, which didn't seem, at all, as bad as we made it out to be.

Later on that evening we had some free time to get ready to go watch "Love's Labour's Lost', one of Shakespeare's comedies, at the theatre, that we would be studying as part of our English GCSE course. Knowing a bit about the story line before hand, watching it at the RSC in Stratford allowed us to complete our understanding of the play and would be of great use for our coursework when we got back. Not only this but many of the girls were taken away by the excellent performance of David Tennant (from Doctor Who) and some even got his autograph after the performance.

Our last full day at Stratford started off with another drama workshop, this time to do with the way Shakespeare presented his plays. Again, we learnt more tips on how to make a drama piece better and studied the way these plays were set out to an audience. We then traveled back to the center of Stratford where we visited Shakespeare's birthplace. This began with a talk on Shakespeare's life and how he became such a wellknown writer; this was particularly useful as it gave us background information on the writer we were studying and was interesting to know. After our talk we all freely took a look around the house on where he was brought up and got a feel of what it was like to live there. It was weird to think that such a well-known play writer as himself lived in the very place we went round. In addition to some free time shopping and having our lunch, we were sent on a trail round Stratford, noting down information that we came across in different areas. This part of the trip was enjoyable as we were allowed our own time to look round while leading us to areas of history and interest. That evening, after a day of hard work we were rewarded with a meal out at Bella Italia. The food there was delicious and we ended our last evening together in high spirits.

Although we had enjoyed a great few days at Stratford, we were all extremely tired and were ready to go home. Our last workshop took place at The Civic Hall where we were given a chance to learn some circus skills! We weren't too sure what this was going to bring us, but the moment we entered the hall and saw a trapeze being set up, most of us were in great doubt. The activities we tried included scarf juggling, plate spinning, hat tricks (that proved that getting a hat from your foot to your head needed a lot of practice) and the one most of us were interested in learning, ball juggling. It was surprising how much easier it was then we made it out to be. Though it included using a great deal of our brains to figure it out, most of us got the hang of it towards the end and the silent sound of concentration put towards juggling 3 balls surprised the teachers greatly. We were also allowed some free time at the end to face some other circus skills including uni-cycling which looked easy when the instructor showed us, and very hard when we tried. Though we were disappointed that we did not have enough time to attempt other tricks, it was good news for most of us as we were all rather relieved we did not have to step onto the trapeze. Stratford brought the 5th form together for the last time, and only after coming home that evening, I missed it terribly. Although the place was nice, and the workshops were great fun, nothing could beat the friendships and laughter we enjoyed together.

It may be just known as a trip full of wonderful memories, but I swear at least one picture was taken by a different person every 2 seconds. Many thanks to Mrs Alcock, Mrs Hoyes, Mr Hoyes, Mr Hawkins and Mr Warner who ensured that our trip to Stratford was as enjoyable as it could be.

Anya, VA