After the great success of the choir’s tour of Europe in 2000, this year the choir have visited Holland again, by popular demand. In the four days in which we were away, we have managed to pack in horse riding, swimming, not playing mini golf, visiting a theme park and performing in a concert.

We left in the coach for Dover at 6.30am on Tuesday 2nd April excited, but somewhat quieter than usual. As we entered Dover, though, a burst of ‘The White Cliffs Of Dover’ came from the back of the coach. The singing stopped abruptly after the first verse, however, as no one seemed to know any more of the words.

We boarded the ferry, and many of us were glad to have a proper cooked breakfast after four hours on the coach, while others could be seen reading the paper over a good English cheeseburger. After one and a half hours on the ferry, we arrived in Calais two and a half hours after we left, to the confusion of many a chorister.

To get to Holland we had to travel through France and Belgium, and, stopping off at the service stations along the way, we familiarised ourselves with the Euro currency. This sparked the beginning of the Coach Debating Society, which discussed such issues as Should Britain Accept The Euro? and Is Corporal Punishment For Children In Schools Wrong?

We arrived at the Hotel De Ossewa in Noordwijk, were shown our rooms and ate our first meal at the hotel. Later that evening we ventured outside to play a game of mini golf, only to find that it was closed. Instead, the children spent the evening visiting each other’s rooms, tidying up their own and having walks on the beach at midnight. How the adults spent the evening, however, who knows?

After an excessively long day of travelling, moonlit walks on the beach and no mini golf, many choristers woke up with a shock at ten to eight in the morning for breakfast. At a quarter past eight in the dining room, one could see many half-asleep teenagers trailing into the room and brushing their hair over steaming cups of tea. By nine o’clock most of us were ready to start the day off with some horse riding, while rumours swept between the junior choristers of the adults going off in the coach to ‘frolic in the tulip fields’. Apparently this was not the case.

Those who were going horse riding (all the children plus a few adults) enjoyed a walk across the beach to the horse riding centre. All of us thoroughly enjoyed the hour-long horse ride, which was done in two groups. Afterwards, we all walked bow-legged back to the hotel, met the rest of the choir and sat down painfully to have lunch.

In the afternoon was our concert practice and performance; at the church of St. Matthias in Warmond. After the practice we ate our packed tea in one of the church rooms. The concert started at eight o’clock and was a huge success. We performed a selection of English music mostly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which consisted of: Elgar’s Ave Verum, Farrant’s Hide Not Now Thy Face From Us O Lord, Wood’s O thou The Central Orb, and of course, Faure’s Requiem. The choir, conductor and organist were in extremely high spirits both before and after the concert, which may have been our best performance yet.

The Thursday visit to the theme park was for some of us the highlight of our trip, as there was something in it for everyone. The whole park had a frog theme, to the delight of all of us (especially Nicky!) and many frog souvenirs were bought. As before, the children went around in groups, an adult accompanying each group of primary school age children. Most of the day was spent at the theme park, which had enough white-knuckle rides to whiten even the toughest knuckles, and a lot of other attractions for the slightly less daring. The choir then went back satisfied, if slightly nauseous, to the hotel for dinner.

That evening, the choir went to Amsterdam for a canal boat ride. The canals of Amsterdam and the river Amstel looked lovely with their bridges lined with lights, and the whole choir enjoyed taking photos and seeing the sights.

Friday 5th was a sad day for all of us leaving the hotel, especially those who did not like Jelly Babies. At breakfast, the Jelly Baby Oscars were handed out, in which each choir member, plus the coach drivers, received a certificate and a Jelly Baby. The reasons included: ‘For not skateboarding in the hotel’, ‘For not getting her bellybutton pierced’, ‘For only smoking fake cigarettes’ and ‘For her excellent debating skills’.

As we said our final goodbyes and took our final pictures of the Hotel De Ossewa, we boarded the coach obediently and left.

On our way to Calais, as well as stopping off at service stations, we also visited a chocolate factory. To our great delight, the chocolate was not only delicious, but was priced in both Euros and Sterling. We were also given a basket of chocolate buttons to sample and this was exhausted only after being passed around the coach a great many times.

The ferry crossing was rather rough this second time, but choir members were advised to eat well because we would not be stopping the coach until we got back to Bristol. We arrived at Dover safely five minutes before we left Calais, again to the bewilderment and amusement of the younger and older choir members respectively.

At about a quarter past nine in the evening, we arrived back at St. Albans Church exhausted but happy, and hoping that the next choir trip; be it to Austria or Australia, Belgium or Brazil, Holland or Hispaniola; would be this good.

On behalf of all the members of the choir, I would like to thank Nigel and Nicky Walton, Reg and Mavis Barnwell, our organist David Hobourn, Roger Holbrook, Chris Cox and all the adults in the choir for putting up with the children.

I would also like to thank Val Smith, who actually volunteered to come and help us, which I think is a terrific contribution.

K.M.

N.B. Hispaniola is an island in the West Indies.

Postscript - an Adult’s View.

To add to this account, the adults would like to compliment our treble line on their excellent singing at the Concert, also on their good behaviour – which was commented on by both the Hotel Manager and our coach drivers. The care shown by our teenagers towards the younger children created a true community spirit.

The alternative programme of visits to Keukenhof Tulip Park and Delft for adults not directly supervising children was a welcome innovation, although those of us who remained with the children had an equally good time!

Thank you Nigel and Nicky - we cant wait for the 2004 trip!

                                                       Roger Holbrook