This weekend 51 children opted to stay in. Saturday brought the usual thrills and spills in the Ashton , tuck shop and DvD's before we watched England march into the World Cup Final whilst munching on ice creams.

After the legendary full english of an optional sunday morning ,the younger children headed to Birmingham and then Tamworth for wintersports, sledging and ice skating. The sledging at the Snowdome was a particular success.

The older ones went by minibus to Oaker Wood near Ludlow. Having enjoyed two outings there last year we tried a new one as they had recently installed a high ropes course. The Superswing, a 15 foot vertical drop and then pendulum swing was a hoot. The leap of faith, jumping into the abyss to catch a trapeze swing was a little more scary. The knowledge that you were all roped up and in a harness helped a bit, but not much. Medals all round for bravery.

The afternoon saw quadbiking. This was quite brilliant. A few laps of the track to get used to the controls and then in our groups of four we were out, flying along the woodland tracks in the beautiful 175 acres of trees.

Awesome.