Trip to Oxford!

The capital of academia in the UK, and once even the capital of England during the English Civil War, Oxford has a long and rich history. Discovery Winchester’s trip to the home of J.R.R Tolkein included tours of Oxford University Colleges – which between them have educated 26 British Prime Ministers – a punting tour of the River Cherwell and a trip to see the finale of the world’s highest grossing film franchise, Harry Potter.

Despite the early start to the day to catch our buses the day was hugely enjoyable. We were on the river for our chauffeured punting tour by 10am and luckily no one fell in. Our chauffeur  even treated us to the cringe worthy story of how he had been punting along with a young couple in his punt when the man got onto one knee and asked his sweetheart to marry him...she said no and our chauffeur had to finish his tour in double quick time! Activity Leaders Franco and Sean even acted this out to allow the chauffeur to relive this for a second time, although both their acting skills left something to be desired! Even some overly aggressive ducks didn’t spoil the trip around and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Oxford in style!

Gigi enjoys the punting

After our trip we separated in to groups. Some chose to see Oxford on their own and experience the mad scramble which is the Oxford high street on a Saturday, other decided to go on college tours...perhaps Discovery will have encouraged some of our Winchester students to become future Oxford Scholars! The students were able to look around Pembrooke College, which boasts alumni such as King Abdullah of Jordan, and Balliol College, the alma mater of economist Adam Smith.

Manuel, Javier, Dan, Ana, et al.

A punting chauffeur

We arrived back at 6.30 to enjoy a lovely barbeque in the sunshine before the staff took on the students in a game of football. Seeing as this blog is written by staff it is safe to say the result will be reported as a RESOUNDING STAFF WIN...although the factual accuracy of that statement could easily be called into question by anyone who was watching!