At first we didn’t really know what to expect, we didn’t know what our rooms would be like or if Dalguise would be big or small. When we saw the sign for Dalguise we were all cheering with excitement. It was much bigger that we thought it would be, at the front there stood a beautiful castle, we sat in front of it to have our lunch when we arrived. Soon it was time to go to our rooms, they were great, there were 3 sets of bunk beds and an en suite bathroom in each of the rooms. We didn’t really spend much time in them though.

There were many more activities than we expected, each group had the chance to try 8 activities. We were split into activity groups with people from our own school and people from other schools. This was a good opportunity to meet some of the people that might be in our classes when we move to Lornshill. Some of us already knew people from the other school from dancing and football. Our first 2 activities were abseiling and archery, then we had a go at wall climbing, orienteering, the zip wire and the challenge course, this was our chance to get really muddy. On the Thursday night all of the people who were staying and Dalguise got together in the inflatable dome for a disco, we all had a great time and met many new friends. Before we came home on the Friday we completed 2 more activities, they were the giant swing and  raft building. Building the raft gave us the opportunity work together as a team so it was important that we listened to each others ideas and opinions.

We all enjoyed our time at Dalguise and wish that we could do it all over again.

The 13^th – 15^th March 2013 was one of the best experiences of primary 7P at Craigbank Primary. It was the day before Dalguise and we were all buzzing with excitement. This was the day where we got told the information we had all been waiting for. We got told our activity group and our accommodation. The atmosphere in the classroom was amazing and filled with joy.

 Finally the day had arrived and everyone was anxious about the following days ahead. The bus journey seemed to take a lifetime. But soon enough we were there to see our groupie. Vicki was our groupie. She would take us to the dining room for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Overall the food at Dalguise was a lot better than we all expected it to be. The meals were quite filling so we had energy to do our activities.

One of the activities was the giant swing. People often said this was the best activity (and they were right). The giant swing was one of the best and scariest activities there. We were all nervous at the start but when we were all stepped foot on the platform all our nerves floated away.

Here is one of the coldest activities there was – raft building. The pond we did it in was as cold as the North Pole. Building the raft was quite easy because you only needed two bits of rope, four barrels and two logs.

The activity, which was probably one of the funniest activities, was archery. Archery is actually quite hard to do because you’re under pressure to get the right colour to win the game. One of the games was called Archery Dinner.

Ten metres off the ground is pretty high. That’s where abseiling starts. Leaning off the edge of the tower was really scary. Once we were going down it was amazing.

The challenge course was the muckiest of all. No matter what you did, you go mucky. The hardest part of the course was the tyres. We had to make sure we were all wrapped up warm.

The best nighttime activity was the disco. The Dome was full of flashing lights and noise. Everybody was dancing and having a great time. The disco went on for about two hours but when it ended we all wished it lasted longer.

Sadly the day came to go home but we didn’t want to go home because it was so much fun. We had a great experience and will remember in years to come.

Written by Gary Fleming and Abbey McEwan in consultation with P7P

It was a great experience at Dalguise because we learned lots and most important we had fun. When we got there we had our lunch because the bus ride was about an hour and forty five minute!!! After we had our lunch we went to see where our lodges would be. To our surprise our lodges were up a really big hill and we were tired when we reached the top because the hill was that big and also our suitcases were that heavy.  Once we had settled into our rooms we went to find out who would be in our activity groups. There was a leader in each group from different schools.We then went into our groups and headed to our first activity. After we did the first activity we then went straight to the second.

We all did the activities at different times. The activities we did in the three days were big swing, raft building, abseiling, archery, climbing, challenge course, zip wire and orienteering.  We all have different favourites. Although we had favourites we enjoyed them all.  All of the activities were in different places and some were up hills.

Once we had done our first two activities we then went to have our dinner.  The dinners were good and there was a choice of food. There was also some deserts you could choose from.  After we had our dinner we then headed up to the lodges to get our money to go to the shop. The shop was filled with all sorts of thing including sweets, magnets, bracelets and stationery. We gave our money to our teachers so we wouldn’t lose it.

That night we went to the dome to play some games. The games we played were whacky races. Whacky races are  just silly races.  We played that for a few hours. We did the whacky races in teams and we had to make up a chant and some actions to go with the chant.  We were in the dome for a few hours and then we went to our lodges to go to sleep. That was one day up.

We then got woke up by our teachers in the morning.  When we got up we had about ten minutes to get ready and be outside for breakfast.  Breakfast was delicious with bacon,sausages and toast!After breakfast we got about an hour to tidy up and play games.

After we played some games we then got back into our activity groups. We had two activities in the morning and two after the afternoon. If we got wet or muddy we could not get a shower until night time or in the morning.

On Thursday night we all got ready for a disco! 🙂 At the big dome (or as we  call it the marshmallow) it had music, a DJ,lights and everyone was up dancing! The disco was 7:00 till 8:15. After the disco I think everyone was tired from all of the dancing! I think the teachers were pleased because we all  fell asleep easily. 😀

On Friday morning again we got up at 7:00 am. This was our last day at Dalguise sadly and we got up and pack our bag but we still had two more activities!

We all had a great time and we whished we could stay longer. It was a useful experience for Lornshill because we met a few friends who might also be going to Lornshill.

(written by Head Girl Tiffany – in consultation with all the children of p7)

We hope that you have found this blog interesting and useful. We are also hopeful that we might yet be able to upload a further selection of photos over the next week or so once we have had time to collate them so please keep checking back.

(A bit late posting this as I forgot to press “publish”)

Lots of very tired children this morning! Last two activities then lunch and bus home. Expect lots of muddy clothes and sleepy children…..

A great afternoon.  All the children are strutting their stuff at the disco just now and frankly, I am not sure where they are getting the energy! They have been climbing and sliding and zipping and crawling and laughing and running non stop since we got here. All the staff have been really impressed how all the children have thrown themselves into each activity and co-operated and encouraged each other and challenged themselves over the last couple of days. Here are a few more photos of today’s activities and this will have to be the last I think as there will be little or no time tomorrow between completing the last 2 activities and packing!

PS Once we get back we will try to get all the photos that we have of the experience collected into a central place and have more of them shared with the children.

Hectic morning with lots of fun and a bit of snow!  Will try to get a few more photos up tonight.

All meeting before heading off to the activities.

First sitting for breakfast was 7.15!

First light.  All quiet at the lodges this morning.  Breakfast at 7.40 and first activities begin at 9. I will try to post throughout the day but connection is a bit sketchy…..