Royal Marines Band

The Royal Marine Band came into school to do a show for us.  They had been into the Junior School earlier that day.

It was really good fun as they introduced each section of the band, and played some music for us.

The Corps of Drums then came in and did some drumming

There was then a chance for the students to choose a member of staff to go up.  I avoided being chosen, but it was close between me and John!  He had to go up with the Corps of Drums, and try and keep up with them!

The final piece was the Postman's Gallop, which features two bugle players competing with each other.

All in all, a good fun day!

8th December Battle Day

Parades are really popular here.  8^th December was Battle Day, which commerates the Battle of the Falklands, 1914.  It was a really decisive sea battle, and effectively confirmed the British Navy’s dominance of the seas.  It was fought because the British sent a fleet to reassert dominance of the seas after the Battle of Coronel.

Ten British sailors were killed, and about 1900 German’s died, with only 2 ships surviving from their fleet of 8.  The two fleets were 8 ships each, although the British ships massively outgunned the Germans.

There is a large memorial for the battle on the way to Moody Brook, near the Museum, and a gaurd of honour surrounds the monument.

 

A marching band from the Royal Marines normally comes over for the occasion, and they led the parade!

As usual, The FIDF form a huge part of the parade.

 and the Governor inspects the troops......

we had a Hercules flypast

and the Governor takes a salute.

 The final parade of the year, done!

Movember

Alex, the PE Teacher introduced the male staff to Movember, a charity event to raise awareness of prostate cancer, so most of the male teachers took part.  They have a website at http://www.movember.com/

I grew a goatee affair, which Dawn hated.  I thought I would experiment on the final night to see it facial hair did suit me....

Prior to shaving.....

The 70's Porn Star Look!!

The Dodgy Army Tash

And for obvious reasons, I call this one the Adolf.....

Off came the Adolf and back to clean shaven.

Still, all good fun, and we raised some money for charity, which was the main aim of the exercise!!!!

Volunteer Point

Did this trip a few weeks ago, but have been busy, so decided to update the blog as there is nothing on telly tonight (Strictly followed by X Factor.....)

Volunteer Point is home to a King Penguin colony, and trips there can be expensive, as you need a guide to take you.  There is about 90 minutes of rroad driving floowed by another 90 minutes of off road.  Abbie, who used to work at school has access to the Point, and offered to take us along.

We finally got there, and were greeted by the most amazing penguins - really colourful and pretty; still smelly though!  This time more like liver, rather than "ratty" smell of the Magallenic (Jackasses).

The sand is the usual really bright white, which is really glary, despite having a UV Filter!

Really big as well, nearly up to my waist, so Harry felt a little bit intimidated by them!

The chicks are covered in fluffy brown feathers, which they begin to moult, showing off the glorious colours underneath.

They had great fun talking to each other, and you can here the wind too in this short video clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Yv6tcxtH8

Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time.....two penguins in love, holding hands......

The last picture shows the wind blowing the sand, this Jackass was obviously feeling a bit lazy!

It was really windy, I actually struggled to hold myself and the camera still!

Helicopters, helicopters, helicopters.......

We are regularly visited by helicopters here at the school, we are right next to the hospital, and the school playing field is used by the RAF Search and Rescue Helicopter for landing during casualty evacuation.  People around here are used to the SAR helo landing, but it does take some getting used to!   It can also cause severe disruption, as we found out a couple of weeks ago when the PE teacher and I had to abandon our lesson due to the helicopter arriving.  We couldn't move indoors to the sports hall as it was being used for a careers fair!

Anyway, in it came today at lunchtime, and I had my camera with me this time, so I snapped a few pictures.  It was quite windy today as well, gusting at 40+mph, so you really have to admire the pilots and loadies on the Sea King.

The Sea King acts as a vital lifeline for many people, as a 30 mile journey out here can take over an hour, so it really is a vital and useful role that the RAF carry out.

It's a massive turnout too, as the helicopter cannot land until the ambulance crew and fire brigade are ready, and often the medical evacs happen at short notice!  Generally the helo remains on the ground after the casualty has been unloaded, people have mentioned it is in case they need to casevac the patient off the Islands, it means they can be at Mount Pleasant very quickly!

On a more positive note, we had a "show the flag" visit from a Lynx helicopter based on HMS Gloucester, a warship currently on patrol here.  All the students had a chance to meet the pilots and be shown around the helicopter.  One of the funny anecdotes behind the visit is that when the crew first came to recce the area a couple of days before, they asked where they should land, so someone said "over there, about where the Sea King lands, we'll show you in a minute........no we wont.........the Sea King is here.......Look, it lands there!!!!"

In came the Lynx and began a hover, before lowering a man dressed in a penguin suit to the ground!

Lowering the "penguin"

And down onto the deck!

Once down we went out with students, a class at a time.  My group was the first out, so we recieved a commemorative picture of the Lynx in flight above Gloucester and a HMS Gloucester hat band.  I'm next to the pilot, and receiving the photo is our acting head, Helen, along with some year 7 students.

Cape Pembroke BBQ and Bogging

After the Remembrance Day Parade, we decided to go down to Cape Pembroke with Tracey, WIll and Ollie.  We decided to follow the Northern Route, as it is more challenging.  There were some nice holes on the way, but the Front Hubs on the Lightweight wouldn't engage, so I ended up bogged in something quite simple

When we got to the end, I jacked up the front end, and the hubs clicked in.....grrrrrr.........

Anyway, we had a lovely BBQ

and Ollie went exploring

A more unusual view of the lighthouse

and then it was time for a snap of the Lightweight covered in sludge

We finally headed home, Will and Ollie had decided they wanted to come in the Lightweight, so we had fun on the way back finding holes, and funnily enough not getting stuck.  Will then saw a puddle which he wanted to go though.  I knew there was no way to get through it, but it would be fun anyway!

By now the Lightweight was plastered!  Harry decided he wanted to help wash it, but as he was too small he went and fetched the kitchen mop.....guess whose fault that was........

Still, a good time was had by all!

Remembrance Day Parade

When I arrived, I joined the Faldkland Island Defence Force (FIDF).  They are liek the UK TA, but get more kit to play with, and are held at a high state of alert because of the political situation with our neighbours across the water.

Anyway, they needed some people to fire the saluting guns for the two minute silence, so Frank and I volunteered.  In what appears to be a case of travelling 8000 miles away to meet people who were local to you in the UK, Frank comes from Peterborough!

First of all we had to set up the guns.  They are 3 pounder guns and take a blank charge of 11 oz.  The weather was fantastic!

Once set up, we waited for The Last Post to be played, ready to start the silence

and then I had to fire my gun.....BOOM...there was a surprising pressure wave!

Frank fired his to end the silence....

and we were done, time to pack up and go back to the FIDF club for a well deserved pint!