Tree O'clock

On Saturday December 5th 2009 over 100 volunteers assembled at National Star College at Ullenwood near Cheltenham as part of the BBC Breathing Places attempt to beat the Guinness World Record for the total number of trees planted in 1 hour. From 11am to 12 noon we planted 2,000 trees between us. Similar plantings took place all over the country at the same time.

Thanksgiving USA 2009

I made a flying visit to Seattle on November 22nd for Thanksgiving week in Seattle. For the majority of Americans this is a more important celebration than Christmas and a time when families are most likely to travel to be together, hence the chaos at the airports on both the day I arrived and the day I left!

On the Thursday itself lunch is almost identical our Christmas fare, with the substitution of pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake for Christmas pudding.

Just before lunch everyone at the table was asked to say what they were thankful for - Sam (age 10) said it was his current favourite online computer game whilst Rory (age 7) said it was for all troops protecting the country's freedom and for the absence of slavery - Bless!!

The day after Thanksgiving we drove up into the National Forest near Snoqualmie Pass where we trudged through the snow to select and cut down a Christmas tree. Then on the Saturday the whole family went skiing to Crystal Mountain at Mount Ranier; they have had so much snow that the resort was open even before Thanksgiving.

Principal's "Star Appeal" Challenge India Trek 2008

From October 19th to 29th I joined 29 colleagues or supporters of the National Star College and 9 fundraisers for Help the Aged on a charity fundraising trek to to the Himalaya foothills in Himachal Pradesh in north-western India.

After an overnight flight to Delhi we had a coach tour of New Delhi and a 90 minute rickshaw ride through the streets and bazaars of Old Delhi town before boarding the overnight sleeper train to Pathankot. From there a three hour jeep ride took us to Dharamsala. We visited McLeodganj, home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile, and after the official welcome briefing and dinner spent our last night of comfort!

The trek covered 55km in 5 days, with four nights camping in two person tents. Each morning started at 6.00am with a cup of tea and bowl of hot water for washing brought to the tent, followed by a cooked breakfast at 7.00am and trekking by 8.00am. Each day there would be a morning tea stop, cooked picnic lunch and afternoon break for juice and chocolate bars. Arriving at camp each afternoon we collected our kit duffel bag, transported by mule, and selected one the ready erected tents. Hot water was provided in a large bucket for showering. After a three course buffet dinner the days trek was analysed and the next days trek briefed. We then gathered round the campfire under amazing starlit skies, for songs and chat with fellow trekkers and the Indian guides and porters, before heading off to bed with hot water bottles!

We trekked up and down river valleys, over old rickety metal bridges, through mountain villages and past terraced hillside fields. The local people were very friendly and it was great to visit two primary schools on the route, with such polite and well mannered children in their matching school uniforms; at the second school we were even entertained to an impromptu concert! The walking was challenging but personally not too difficult, thanks in part tot he extensive training walks undertaken in preparation for the trek.

Trek day three ended at an alpine meadow at Triund (3,000m) in the shadow of the peaks of the Dhaula Dahr and with long views down over the Kangra valley. That night we watched the sun set and the next morning got up early to see the sun rise over the mountain. From Triund we climbed to the nomadic shepherds summer pasture at Laka Got (3,500m) where, due to global warming, there was no sign of the "promised" glacier. The cloud came down, bringing rain and hailstones so we soon returned to camp rather than climb higher to Lahes cave as planned.

On the Sunday, after a ceremony to present gifts to the local guides and staff, group photographs and a very moving Holy Communion service conducted by the college chaplin we set off the final descent to Bhagsu, arriving there mid afternoon in the rain. That night there was a celebratory dinner, certificate presentations and disco back in the hotel.

The next day, after last minute shopping, we returned by jeep to Pathankot for the overnight sleeper train back to Delhi, arriving there at 5.30am Tuesday morning. By 6.00am we were on a coach to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, arriving there at 12 noon! After a guided tour and free time at the Taj, followed by lunch at a local hotel, we set off back to Delhi, arriving at our hotel just after 9.00pm. After dinner we adjourned to the hotel roof to watch firework displays all around for the start of Dewali. After much needed sleep and a leisurely breakfast we set off to the airport for the homeward flight, arriving in London Wednesday evening to temperatures just above freezing and snow in Cheltenham.

India was an amazing experience. We were struck both by the sheer poverty and squalor in Delhi and Agra, and other towns we passed through, but also by the friendliness and hospitality of the mountain people we met. The hustle and bustle and congestion on the roads, shared by every sort of transport (pedestrians, bicycles, cows, horse and camel drawn carts, tuk-tuks, cars, lorries etc) with little concern for the directional flow of traffic, even on dual carriageways, and the noise as everyone used their horns to warn others of their presence, and intention to overtake, was something to behold.

Thanks to very generous supporters I exceeded my £2,500.00 target by nearly £400.00! And now I'm starting to save up for the next trek, provisionally scheduled for 2010!