On Thursday 18th September, 17 lucky pupils went to see the opera ‘Falstaff’ at  Grange Park. We had three teachers with us: Mr Berry, Ms Seth-Smith and Mrs Lowman.

When we walked in, the sensation was indescribable. There were three big chandeliers made out of what seemed to be red and white cloth with tiny fairy lights and there were lights all the way round the room. There was enough time to settle down and find out who was playing who. Next came a great surprise – the chandeliers floated up on their strings! There was a buzz of excitement in the air as the lights went out and the director walked on. She told us all about who wrote the music (Verdi) and all about the sur-titles. These were little words or sentences that told us what was going on and being said (because the opera was sung in Italian). Each act lasted about 50 minutes and by the interval there was plenty to talk about. Both the singing and acting were fabulous and it was reasonably easy to understand. The singing was so good that even Maddy, our junior opera singer, would only be half as good as them! Falstaff had such a good voice you would have thought he never spoke a word, however my favourite person was Meg.

When we were walking back to the minibus I studied the building. It had two or three porches held up with colossal pillars. The building was square with an open bit in the middle. This trip was amazing and I am sure none of us will forget it, especially because for many of us it was our first opera!

Grace, 6W