On Thursday evening March 1^st, members of the Welsh department plus 45 year 9 pupils left upper school on a coach to Eurodisney, Paris. Why Paris on March 1^st, you may well ask – well, one of the managing directors of Eurodisney is a Welshman and decided to celebrate the important day by holding a Welsh festival in the park each year.

 

We travelled through the night, crossed at Dover then drove down to Paris in the morning. Whilst the staff found it difficult to keep awake, most of the pupils had no difficulty and it was a very noisy coach which arrived at the hotel the next morning. Staff were kept awake by Scott Greenway’s constant question of “Are we there yet? which he asked at least twenty times between Calais and Paris.”

 

We dropped our luggage  at the Disney resort hotel “The Hotel Cheyenne” which had a cowboy theme, then walked to the Park itself which was a five minute walk away. For the next two days a very enjoyable time was had by all on the trip. The Welsh  theme was very much in prominence – there was an open market just outside the entrance selling welsh goods and produce, the welsh colours were there for all to see in the daily parade, young children took their turns in removing Merlin’s sword from the stone and on our final night we were treated to a welsh firework display.

 

All this, together with the magic of Disney resulted in a wonderful and worthwhile cultural experience. The trip home was a long one, particularly since we had to take a detour around London due to an accident on the motorway , but well worth the effort and we look forward to running the trip again next year with the new year 9. Letters will be given out in September, so come to the Welsh staff room and pick one up!