Our first 14-17 year old trip of 2018 took us to the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC), in Hereford. The start of the trip began with a nice relaxed lunch and an opportunity to get to know each other with lots of new faces in both the young people and the volunteers.
In the afternoon, we walked down into Hereford to the cathedral where we had the opportunity to handle some of the ceramic poppies, which were part of the iconic poppy sculpture ‘Weeping Window’ that was on tour at the cathedral. After dinner back at the RNC, we went back into town for a guided ghost walk of Hereford; our knowledgeable guide Wendy described in great detail the mysteries and horrors to befall Hereford over the years.

Day two at RNC saw us have a morning of pampering in the RNC Spa and gave everyone the chance to relax amongst new friends. We then worked up a sweat with a taster session of goalball followed by an intense fitness session – lunch was in dire need by midday! The group then split into two and chose to play either goalball indoors or football outdoors. The football match in particular became very competitive but was played in good spirits. The element of competition went up a notch in the evening when we went out for a game of bowling and enjoyed pizza for dinner.

Day three took us to Oaker Wood Outdoor Centre where, despite the wet and muddy conditions, we enjoyed a full day of high ropes activities: The Monkey Challenge, involved climbing up set routes on some very tall trees; The Tree Treking Course with several challenges to help build confidence whilst being high up. The zip wire from the top of the Oaker Wood hill down to the bottom, and lastly, the dreaded Leap of Faith, which called for real courage in order to make the leap for the bar hanging in front of each participant to catch. A busy day out was completed with a lovely meal out at a nearby pub.

The final morning saw a quick scramble to pack following another lovely breakfast. Everyone wished each other goodbye before travelling home.
Our thanks as always goes out to our volunteers and to all the RNC staff who helped make it a brilliant experience.

Written by Luke Wakefield
Lead Activities Coordinator

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