Brentwoodian 2019

26 Lanzarote Athletics The Second Year and Third Year athletics team went to Club la Santa in the sunny island of Lanzarote at Easter. We were expecting it to be sunny but instead it rained non-stop for the first few days but after that it was extremely hot and ideal training conditions. Even though it was raining we still trained hard at the multiple events that were on offer to us, such as long jump in the pit or discus in the cage. In the resort there were an array of activities we could take part in, like yoga or volleyball, and in our free time we were allowed to go to the pool to cool down and have an ice bath to relax our muscles after we had finished training. It was a very enjoyable trip that I would love to take part in again. By Noah Miller Swimming My time spent in Lanzarote was very valuable to my development in training. I gained access to a 50 metre pool, a rare experience for me as the only pools I can train in back at home are 25 metres. We, the swimmers, were all very thankful for the great opportunity which allowed us to improve greatly our swimming capabilities. By Jacob Stephen Southwold We met up at Shenfield station early in the morning. It was December, it was very cold, and we were eager to get on a warm train and travel to our lectures. We were so excited about the day ahead that we arrived earlier than anticipated and were not allowed into the venue! So as a consolation we went to drink hot coffee instead. Finally the time had come and we were let inside, and soon after that the first series of lectures started. In one of them we were told about the difference between pseudoscience and science. Another one by Cara Flanagan focused on ‘What is the Point of Science?’. After two hours of lectures we had a break, which we used for the most important task of the day: lunch! After the break we returned for the final part of the lectures. Personally, I found that part especially interesting, as we were told for the first time about the psychology of magic. The day was finished by a demonstration of hypnosis which was fascinating. Overall, the day was very useful for us, as we could consolidate our knowledge and we gained so much from these lectures. Psychology Trip To be honest, the prospect of having to travel to Southwold and stay there for three days to carry out our A level and IB Diploma Geography fieldwork sounded awful. However, we were all surprised by how sad we felt when it was time to return home, wishing we could have spent more time there. For those of you who do not know Southwold, it is the epitome of a picture postcard seaside town. It has a striped rainbow of beach huts, a pier with an arcade, a gorgeous town and I can thoroughly recommend the hot chocolate sold on the promenade . However, I don’t belong to the Southwold tourist board, so I’ll leave the rest of the sales pitch to them! We stayed for two nights in a cosy youth hostel not too far from Southwold. It had a great common area and amazing breakfasts! Mrs Carter and Mr Berale had the dubious honour of accompanying us on the trip, each morning herding us onto the coach into town and gathering us up and loading us back on again in the evening. While we were there the weather was surprisingly sunny and dry for early April, although being on the coast meant that it was always pretty windy. On the first day we toured the town to get our bearings and played some ridiculous arcade games (e.g. a dog walking simulator and a wolf that slavered on your hand) - obviously all for the purpose of geographical study. We also spent time at the fieldwork centre in the middle of the town and met our tutors for the course. Our fieldwork consisted of surveys of the area, measuring parts of the beach and completing questionnaires. After two days of endlessly trudging up and down the beach taking measurements and two nights of devastating Uno losses, we did eventually collect all of our data. Although we were enormously time pressured to complete our fieldwork, being with our friends made it an extremely enjoyable, fun trip. By Rachel Keenan