This is the part of the World Challenge experience where it suddenly gets very real.  After more than a year of fund raising and team meetings in school, bag packs are on, tents are allocated and setup the trekking begins.  And suddenly challengers think – “this is happening  – I’m quite excited/scared/nervous buzzing”.  Take your pick – it may be all 4.

Team Tanza 2 made their way to Aviemore with some brilliant weather considering it was October.  Team 1 will head up in November, and if they get the weather half as good they’ll be delighted.

Day 1 saw tents allocated.  The very tents that will be used in Tanzania.  This was also the first time that the team met Expedition Leader Lyndsay and to get the ball rolling with responsibility and team work the first task was to put the tents up – blindfolded.  Not a bad job done, with one member of the team giving instructions to 2 wearing blindfolds.

Next up it was packs on and up the hill.  In Tanzania packs will be carried day after day (including tents) as this was a great chance for the team to see where they were with their fitness.  Some work still to be done for sure, but with 8 months to go there will be nothing to worry about – as long as the fitness regime kicks in now.

Saturday evening saw the team cook up the meal that they had brought with them.  A great job done here with everyone working well together.  Another school were using the same training facility in Aviemore – they started cooking long before Team Tanza and were still at it long after Team Tanza had finished.  Super efficient!

Bedtime saw weary bones getting into sleeping bags and a cold night ahead. More lessons learned – get a good quality bag, liner and ground mat.  It pays to be comfy with more than 3 weeks in a tent facing challengers in Tanzania.

A 6 am start on Sunday and another efficient food service with the cooking team on breakfast sharply.

Today would see an easier trekking day with lots of stops to look at scenarios and consider isues that will be needed for the team in country.

Lunch at Loch Morlich and the leadership groups for Tanzania were announced.  The al important accountancy role going to  Morgan Spence.  Mess this one up Morgan, and the team will be going hungry!

The day flew in and soon it was time to say farewell to Lynsey – the next time the group wil meet her will be at the airport heading for Tanzania next summer.

Back down the road and the journey went quicker knowing a McDs stop was planned.  There will be none of that malarkey in Tanzania!

All in all a very succesfull training expedition.  The team will have learned lots about themselves, their team mates, their levels of fitness and what is expected of them in Tanzania.

It’s going to be epic.

The Tanzania World Challenge team have organised a collection with Bag 2 School as part of their fund raising for their trip to Tanzania next summer.

Bag 2 School will be coming to the school to make a collection this coming Tuesday 14 June.

If you have any old clothes, shoes, hats, bags, handbags etc.  cluttering up your wardrobes at home then why not bag them up in any old bin bag and get them into the school on Monday or Tuesday for collection?

A list of items that can be submitted can be found at the following web page – Bag 2 School.

Bags can be deposited by pupil or parent at the school reception and we’ll make sure that they make their way down to the Computing and Business Education Department for uplift.

Those old kipper ties are not coming back into fashion any time soon – let them be gone!

With Christmas and exams in January, it’s been a low key start to the new year for the Tanzania World Challenge group in Johnstone High.

Things are beginning to get in the swing now with a series of bag packs seeing all the team involved in their favourite weekend pursuit.

This coming Saturday sees the team in Morrisons in Johnstone.  Hopefully local support will see a great return for the group fundraising effort.

The last group activity saw the team raise £1300 (shared with the music department) at the Christmas concert and raffle where a great turn out on the evening saw a very generous crowd supporting the dual causes of World Challenge and the musical talent of various bands and singers from the school, in what was a really entertaining evening.

The World Challenge group will shortly be looking to split into the 2 separate teams that will travel to Tanzania.  Each team will then choose their own itinerary for what they intend doing in country, which is when the whole experience becomes very real indeed.  And highly exciting!

A first bag pack for Team Tanzania this coming Saturday.

The team will hunt high and low for a bag pack opportunity so it’s off to Govan for the team of 8 (4 in the am and 4 in the pm).

If you’re out Govan way on Saturday, then it’s B and M (just down from the the big Asda) for all your early Christmas shopping where the bag packing service will be delivered with a smile.

Fiona Lyons kicked off her big solo fund raising mission with a craft fayre in Kilbarchan.  All in all a very successful venture and Fiona raised almost £800, which is a tremendous return.

A lot of hard work for Team Lyons and very well worth it too.

A big thank you to everyone who helped out Fiona and came along on the day to make it such a worthwhile experience.

The World Challenge 5050 is making a resurgence this term with Team Tanza busy acquiring new recruits to fill the gaps left by lapsed members.

The October draw has just been drawn, and Mrs F. Fitzsimmons was the lucky winner with number 74 being drawn at the team meeting on Wednesday.

Congratulations to Mrs Fitzsimmons who wins £142.

Fancy a go yourself?  Find a Team Tanza representative and £12 sees you awarded a number for a whole year.  Maybe you could win all 12 monthly draws?  Only if you’re in it.

A big challenger fund raising weekend down in Lochwinnoch.

Things kicked off at the BB coffee morning with some of the challengers doing a spot of car washing.  So that was the morning.  Time for a rest and bask in the glory of a job well done?

Not so for young Rory who then had 23 ladies at his house for a pamper session on the Sunday and a spot of afternoon tea.

Come the end of an exhausting and busy weekend Rory had managed to raise a magnificent £441.

Good job Rory (and I believe a great deal of thanks go to Rory’s mum and Mark Brown for organising the weekend’s events).

Well done team!