A Christmas cracker!

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.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it… (apologies to Dean Martin)

 

 

“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!)