Pre E2E Trip To Another Place
14 Oct 2009
On the 24th September 2009 the Pre E2E course went on a day trip to see Anthony Gormley's "Another Place" exhibition on the beach at Crosby on the outskirts of Liverpool. The trip had several different aims; for the young people to get to know each other better and to have the opportunity to develop relationships with them myself, for the young people to explore what free opportunities there are for them to enjoy a day out and for the young people to have the opportunity to explore contemporary art in an unusual setting.
It is worth mentioning at this stage that very few of my young people have previously travelled much (if at all) outside of Birkenhead. Certainly none of them had undertaken a trip of this nature before and expectations were mixed! Before we left we sat down together and explained the travel arrangements as well as what I expected from them behaviourally.
We set off to our first port of call which was Green Lane station near to TCP where we bought tickets for the day and boarded our first train. This took us to Moorfields Station in Liverpool where we changed on to the Northern line and got the Southport train. We disembarked at Waterloo station, took a minute to orientate ourselves and get some lunch before heading towards the beach which is a short 15 minute walk.
The weather was not as good as had been predicted and there was a chill wind bringing ominous looking clouds towards us. We were not to be daunted however and swiftly made our way past the Marine lake and into the sand dunes that mark the start of the beach proper. At this point I sat down with some of the young people to eat our lunch whilst the majority of the young people took to the sand dunes. This was the first time I had seen the whole group playing together and as I ate my lunch I felt that the day was already proving successful!
Once we had eaten I managed to round up the young people up and we headed down onto the beach to have look at the 100 iron men that have been placed randomly across a 3 kilometre stretch of beach. The men caused a wide range of reactions, from "this is rubbish" and "I'm cold" through to "this is boss" and "I'm going to bring my Mum here"! Some young people climbed on them ( as well as some not so young people!) and as the weather deteriorated, we made our way to a large branch on the beach for a quick photo shoot before hot footing it back to the train station and making our relatively uneventful way home.
Overall, the young people all enjoyed the day. Most of them said that it was better than they had expected and that they would be keen to go again! From my point of view the day was a complete success. All the initial aims were fulfilled, no one died and we didn't get too wet!
Simon Huthwaite
E2E Co-Ordinator
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