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!