Oh, the weather outside is
frightful (well, it’s not great, is it?),
But the Old Gym looks delightful.
The lights are turned way down
low.
“Woah there!” you’re probably
saying. “It hasn’t snowed here. What are they going on about?” Well, dear
readers, you should have been at the boarders’ Christmas party last Saturday and
you would have seen. What you also would have seen was the Coronation gym
decked out as a Winter Wonderland; a wonderful array of party dresses and super
sharp suits as well some of the hottest moves a dance floor has ever seen (so
hot the fire alarm went off!) but we’ll get to that.
The run-up to Christmas kicked
off with the junior boarders’ Fun Tuesday Christmas Special. A great spread
laid on by Mr Dudley and Miss Ith, with Christmas hats supplied by Miss Swain and
a quiz by Mr K was thoroughly enjoyed by the younger members of our community.
At one point Yilong tried to wear ALL the hats, much to everyone’s amusement and
the hotly contested quiz was finally won by Alex, Rain, Sanskar and Viktor.
Thank you to Mr Dudley for organising all the Fun Tuesdays this term and we
look forward to more in the New Year.
Keeping the Christmas spirit in
full swing was the annual Christmas concert in which a large number of boarders
took part. Mrs Williams informed AIB that this was an excellent occasion, with
many wonderful songs and musical pieces performed, including the first outing
of the Ashford School Big Sing group. Well done to Vlad, Howard, Isaac and many
others for all the work you put in rehearsing and making it such an enjoyable
evening for everyone. A big thank you too to Mr Hall and Mrs Powell for
organising.
And now to Saturday. Well, the
action started right after breakfast as Mandy and her team, including boarding
prefects Yana and Shanahan, set to work decorating the dining hall. Once that
was suitably festive, they turned their attention to the old gym. It has always
been impressive to us here at AIB how involved our boarders are in what goes
on, so it was no surprise to see many give up their afternoon to help turn the
gym into a winter wonderland. Calvin was filling balloons; Michael was putting
them up where no-one could reach them; Mr Siddle was lowering and raising beams
to be decorated; Mrs Williams was putting together the wonderland scene; Mr K was sweeping the floor and Mandy was directing
operations, but everyone made sure they asked Shanahan first!
Come 17:30, all the boarders and
boarding staff in their Christmas finery sat down to a wonderful Christmas meal
presided over by Paul and his staff (many thanks to you all). Every year the
girls seem to outdo the last and this year was no exception, though a certain
little Santa did steal the show.
With the last crumb of cheesecake
munched, it was over to the gym, where the party really got started. We wer
very happy to be joined by some of the senior prefects who had made the effort
to come down and share the fun. It would take too long to mention everyone who
lit up the dance floor that evening, but there are some who cannot be left out.
Early doors it was Daria and Chris fairly ripping it up to whoops from the
crowd. Janice and Kitty whirled like chiffon tornadoes and Mark was a bouncing
sensation. However, most agreed that Timur was the heart and soul of the party;
flitting from group to group, we don’t think there was a card he left unmarked
by the end. At the end too it was he leading the cheers for Mandy, without
whose tireless effort and boundless enthusiasm it would not have been possible.
Thank you Mandy!
Now the excitement has died down
we have but one week to go before our community breaks up for a well-earned
winter rest. All hear at AIB would like to take this opportunity to wish you
all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. See you in January. We’ll now leave
you with of the photos from that brilliant Christmas ball (keep an eye out for the snow!)
