Dear Family and fellow peers. Get ready for some extreme punnarations. This morning due to Mr Hudson's overly generous 8 o'clock lie in wake up call, we felt privileged and were on top of the world. Oscar was woken up by Tom bellowing, "NUTS, WHOLE HAZELNUTS OOH. CADBURY'S TAKE THEM AND THEY COVER THEM IN CHOCOLATE!" If you are bewildered by this quote click on the link below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t9ZJK-vc-I This video was driving Mr Hudson nuts!(First pun of the day) Later on we went to our first Hope church service which lasted 3 hours! Tom's rugged polo shirt was looking very holey(2 down). We performed our rendition of Amazing Grace. Tom, Archie and Oscar on the recorder. Will on the flute and the girls singing to make such a wonderful ensemble. Mr Huston, as it said ... read more

Hi friends ,family and treasured acquaintances. We have arrived safely. The flight was long and we didn't get much sleep. The evening meal was blog standard (if you will pardon the pun) and the breakfast was quite plane (that's two). Its a shame that in our virgin breakfast meal we didn't receive any Branson's pickle (make that three!!). We were livid that we got the wrong carousel and Mr Hudson was at the right carousel and we were fuming at this ethical conundrum and we didn't get to take our bags off the carousel. Mr Hudson was keen and beat us to it. Nia in a destructive rage broke her chair this evening! - Tom and Oscar Dear fellow readers, How can we follow on from that?! Maybe a more serious account is needed after Tom ... read more

This time next week we trust we shall be in Siyabuswa! We have had some encouraging news this week as we prepare. 1. We have received a cheque for £10,000 from a trust, matching our own target for fund-raising, to enable the Early Years Centre to be completed. (I had told the team about this before term ended but it is great to have it now.) 2. The Team's own fund-raising continues. I hope the boys planning to cycle have coped with the heat! Bethan has raised over £1,000 with her 'cross-channel' swim, a fantastic sum--I expect the boys would rather be swimming than cycling right now! 3. Virgin Airlines staff were so impressed with our story (which has also been published in Xn magazine this week, BTW) that they have offered us a generous free ... read more

Dear Team and parents I hope you have found Jocey Tysall's message introducing herself. Today the Newbury Weekly News contacted me as they may be publishing the report I sent recently. They would like some quotes from the children as to how they feel about going. I shall ask for these tomorrow. This may lead to a follow-up on our return. Encouraged by this, I have emailed BBC Radio Berkshire to tell them about the fund-raising and the trip. Perhaps they will invite us for interview, as has happened before. The best news of all today is that the Beatrice Laing Trust, which made a donation last year towards the EYC, has been so impressed by your fund-raising efforts that they have agreed to match the sum raised, up to £10,000! This should mean that we ... read more