Mr Stanworth’s Paris Journal
12th Feb
05.30
I am in my office in the music department collecting together all the remaining bits of paperwork, checking that I have all the music that we need. The School Choir is about to embark upon a 4-day trip to Paris that I have been planning for about 10 months. Despite feeling buoyed by the success of our concert the previous night in Mickleham Church, I am now a little concerned. There are several centimetres of snow on the ground and the coach is supposed to be coming from Oxfordshire. I am hoping that everyone arrives promptly. As the snow continues to fall I am re-counting all the passports and medical forms for the tenth time.
06.40
We are pulling out of the school grounds with a full complement of choir members (and their passports). Mr. Rayner, Miss Martinelli and Mr. Monk are with us. We are picking up Jonny, our pianist, in Dover along with Amy, our rep from the tour company.
11.00
After a snowy journey down to Dover we are now on board a P&O Ferry and heading for France. After a 2-minute stroll along the deck with the year 8s, battling the gale-force winds in sub-zero temperatures I decide that my time would be better spent supervising the restaurant area, in particular the fried breakfast section.
20.00 (Continental time)
We have all settled into our accommodation – a rather strange combination between a Youth Hostel and an out-of-use primary school – and are enjoying a very pleasant dinner. Most people seem quite happy with the sleeping arrangements. There are 3 or 4 students in each room. I hope no-one snores!
23.00
The juniors went off to bed at 9 pm. Since then we have been in the bar enjoying a few glasses of wine and watching some rather strange programmes on French TV. Mr. Rayner has been dominating the pool table, though he is now being given a run for his money by the arrival of Ayano “the hurricane” Yamamoto who has located a previously undiscovered talent for potting balls.
13th Feb
09.30
After a pleasant breakfast of croissants and a short coach trip we have arrived at the tradesmen’s entrance of Disneyland. Disappointingly, we were not welcomed by Mickey Mouse but a member of the Disney team called Antonio. The Weather is freezing. The interior of the theatre is somehow even colder than being outside. We have an hour to kill and so spend some time in “Fantasy Land”. The spinning teacups and “It’s a Small World” are both very popular rides with our younger members, and indeed with the staff.
11.50
We are about to go on stage. Attempts to heat the stage area have proved completely ineffective and we are not allowed to wear coats. We will be performing in our white shirts. A technician is trying to fix a dodgy sustain pedal on the keyboard.
12.40
The choir sang fantastically. They really rose to the occasion and weren’t put off by the cold. We had a small but vocal audience (including Mr. and Mrs. Pullen). Some of the audience were just passing through on their way around the park but I am delighted that our singers were able to give such a convincing performance under such circumstances.
19.00
We are back on the coach after an enjoyable afternoon in Disneyland and heading back to the Hostel for a well-deserved supper.
14th Feb (Valentine’s Day)
11.00
After a couple of hours negotiating the Paris rush-hour we are standing underneath the Eiffel Tower. Some of the pupils have never seen it before and are a little overwhelmed by its size. We all have tickets to go up but some of our more vertigo-prone members are not so sure. Josh Barnett is having second thoughts but he is cajoled into the lift by Mr. Monk and then there is no going back!
14.00
I am sitting outside a café on the Champs-Elysées with Mr. Monk. I am sipping an espresso; Mr. Monk is tucking into a waffle. We have just navigated the chaos of McDonalds and now the students have some free time to go shopping. I have given them all maps and clear instructions on how to find the meeting point. We will be leaving the Place de la Concorde at 16.00 sharp!
16.40
We leave the Place de la Concorde.
17.30
We arrive at the venue for our Evening Concert. It is a hostel for young ladies run by nuns. We spend a considerable amount of time working out how we are going to stand and then settle into a lengthy rehearsal. The pupils are a bit tired and not particularly in the mood for rehearsing but we plough on anyway. I am planning to present the concert in French and am running through the lines in my head.
19.00
We have just met some of the Nuns. They are all Spanish! The concert is at 19.30 and now I need to re-learn all my lines in Spanish! Calculating that half an hour may not be a sufficient amount of time to learn a new language I decide to stick to French.
20.30
Despite a tough rehearsal the concert was superb and we got a standing ovation from the audience. Some of the more over-excitable nuns even took to heckling me in between the items.
23.59
We arrive back at the hostel. Everyone is full of joie de vivre following our evening meal and there has been a lot of singing and jollity on the bus. The children go off to their rooms and after a quick mug of cocoa the staff all head off to bed.
15th Feb
19.00
We return to school after a shorter-than-expected journey home. Everyone seems to have had a great time and the pupils are very grateful. I am just pleased that I managed to get everyone back into the country and that we are returning with the same number children with which we set off. Some of them are asking me where we are going next time. Excited by the enthusiasm I start planning an even grander trip for next year. Italy could be fun…
