Year 9 Creative Writing Weekend, Philip Eakins a Year 9 pupil writes:
At
12 noon on Friday the 11th of May, 15 year 9 pupils and two English teachers, Ms
Brown and Mrs McGoldrick, departed for a creative writing trip to Criccieth,
North Wales.
Upon arriving at our destination, we collected our bags from the bus and sorted ourselves into three rooms of four and a room of three. During Friday evening Luke Rowson made a huge portion of caramel, and Ms Brown ate nearly all of it!
We were told at what time breakfast was each morning (shock, horror! Getting up before noon on a Saturday) so that we could ask for a wake up call and start our workshop on time.
The workshops were basically all similar. Most of them were held by a man called Barry who had written for ‘Midsommer Murders’. Most of the time we wrote in non-rhyming verse, because when it rhymed it just didn’t work (yes, Connor, I mean your pickle and sickle poem). In our first one, we had a line from a poem and we had to find our partner with the next line. Then, with our line, we had to write something new.
Lunch was at about 12.30 on Saturday. Most people had a roast potato, but I can’t stand the things so I had a huge open-faced sandwich with excellent, thick, farmhouse bread. Then from about 1-4 we were allowed into Criccieth for the afternoon. It was easy getting there, but not so easy for me to get back. Everyone on the trip knows what I mean. Let’s just say that cows are now my arch-nemesis. There was a wonderful beach and a huge, old, crumbling castle, and it was a joy to visit.
On the Saturday evening, we had a very famous Welsh poet for an evening workshop. He read his work in English and Welsh, even treating us to some songs on his guitar (he was a much better poet than guitar player though.) Afterwards, Ms Brown, Luke and I made some doughnuts, with some help from Oliver Carins, Phil Ball, and Connor Neild-Crabb; excellent icing makers each and every one. Unfortunately, our escapade nearly ended in tragedy as the larger doughnuts remained slightly undercooked and doughy in the centre, although I pleased to report that the smaller ring doughnuts survived.
I would like to thank Mrs McGoldrick for organising the trip and Ms Brown for taking us and bringing us back in one piece. I look forward to going again, and I’m sure that most of the lads do too.
Below are some photographs of the trip, click on the image for a larger version.
