A First School Trip

In line with our Geography studies Mister Potts arranged a 1A1 trip to Ashdown Forest. Not the most thrilling destination for a first Upbury outing, but a day out is a day out and a forest is a forest, and in my mind that meant dense woodland, leafy canopies and the snarling images in the bark of old trees. What a disappointment.

Mister Potts bounced off the coach in a state of rapture. ‘What a marvellous view!’ he said.

‘What view?’

Thinking we’d missed something, we followed Mister Potts’s gaze. Sure enough, he was looking at the same few acres of nothing in the middle of nowhere. If there were any trees out there they were lost in the mist. Nobody was impressed.

We split into groups to explore the place. For most of us boys that meant wandering off in the opposite direction to Mister Potts and getting as far away from his beady eyes as possible. A good thing too, for as soon as a dip in the landscape took us out of sight we were quick to soak the land with steaming piss. After that we had a natter and a laugh and that was the sum of it. If there was an educational benefit to spending an hour traipsing around a wasteland, it passed us by. We might as well have gone for a stroll on The Lines.

Before going back to school the coach stopped off at couple of places in the Kent/Sussex area, like Tonbridge, or possibly Tunbridge Wells. In one of these places Burty and others went into an old church and made some brass rubbings. I couldn't be bothered. I’d had enough excitement for one day.