Exchange

Exchange
Sophianum – Honywood
part one:
Coggeshall
1st – 6th October 2012
1
Whenever you go to Great Britain, your motto should be:
‘THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS BAD WEATHER, …………..
ONLY THE WRONG CLOTHES’.
book by:
H. Venderbos, text and pictures
printed by: P. Odekerken, the ‘Sophianum Printshop’
Dear student,
Welcome to the first exchange with Honywood School in
Coggeshall. I hope it will be a great experience for you.
The set-up of this exchange is different from other
exchanges, as the English ‘learners’ are not allowed out of
school while you are there. The trips you do are all done
in a single nationality group. This is also the reason why
you always arrive back at Honywood at 3 in the afternoon,
giving you an opportunity to spend time with your host in
the afternoon and evening.
This booklet is especially designed to give you an idea
about what you are going to experience while in England.
It gives information on all kinds of things.
You are required to read the booklet before leaving for
England. It is self-evident that your leaders also want you
to carry it on the trip, so that you can look things up as
you bump into them.
If, after reading, you are left with any questions please, do
not hesitate to ask one of your leaders. Where possible,
they are always willing to assist you. I hope that you will
enjoy your visit as much as your teachers shall certainly
do, and that you will remember it as one of the highlights
in your career at SOPHIANUM. Have fun!
H. Venderbos
Co-ordinator International contacts Sophianum
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CONTENTS
Programme
Matchings
Host Families
Rules for the exchange
Information about life in an English family
Honywood Community Science School
General information about Great Britain
Food
Visit to Cambridge
Visit to Coggeshall
Visit to Colchester
Visit to London
Some History
The Tower of London
Tower Bridge
The City of Westminster
Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
Houses of Parliament
St Paul’s Cathedral
Homeward bound day
Canterbury
Bluewater
4
7
8
9
10
12
14
17
20
22
23
25
26
28
29
31
31
32
33
34
36
36
38
3
Arrival in Dover
PROGRAMME:
Monday 1st October:
07.30am Leave from ‘Mosaqua’.
Then drive to Coggeshall.
08.00pm Arrival?
Tuesday 2nd October:
08.45am Students arrive at Honywood School.
09.00am Dutch group goes to Cambridge for guided
tour and some free time.
02.00pm Leave Cambridge for Honywood School.
03.00pm Arrival Honywood.
03.20pm Spend rest of the afternoon and evening
with host.
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Wednesday 3rd October:
08.45am Students arrive at Honywood School.
08.45am Registration of Dutch students in dance
studio.
08.55am Workshop 1 by Mrs Mitchell (ex1) or 2 by
Mr Bilby (ex2).
10.35-11.50 Break.
11.50am Switch around: Workshop 1 by Mrs Mitchell
(ex1) or 2 by Mr Bilby (ex2).
12.35pm Lunch.
01.20pm Discovery Trail in Coggeshall.
03.00pm Spend afternoon and evening with host.
Thursday 4th October:
08.45am Students arrive at Honywood School.
You may be invited to sit in with some lessons in the
morning, alternatively:
09.00am Depart for Colchester.
09.30am Arrival and Shopping/free time until:
11.30am Meet guide to go to Colchester Castle.
01.30pm Lunch.
02.30pm Depart for Honywood School.
03.00pm Spend afternoon and evening with host.
Friday 5th October:
08.45am Students arrive at Honywood School.
09.00am Departure for London.
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10.15am
Arrival at bus stop 15 at Tower of London
(by Tower Hill Underground station) to
meet guide June Addison for guided tour.
11.00am Change of the Guard at Buckingham
Palace (to be confirmed).
Then walk through St James’s Park to
Westminster Cathedral and Houses of
Parliament. Along the south bank of the
Thames to the Tate Modern and St Paul’s
Cathedral to be picked up by coach.
03.00pm Back at Honywood School for last
afternoon and evening with hosts.
Saturday 6th October:
08.00am Coach leaves for the coast. If possible there
will be a stop at Bluewater (bad weather
option) or Canterbury before catching your
crossing back to the continent.
20.00pm Arrival at Mosaqua in Gulpen.
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MATCHINGS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
first name surname
first name surname
Isabel
Ruben
Charlotte
Colin
Jesse
Esther
Joost
Mick
Amy
Tom
Chris
Tim
Eva
Tom
Dylan
Brechtje
Vincent
Lio
Zevus
Boris
Kenneth
Moire
Sjoerd
Niklas
Carlo
Ivo
Rani
Phoebe
Ryan
Caitlyn
Nadine
Tom
Katherine
Andrew
Natalie
Laura
Gregory
Andrew
Tom
Lucy
Daniel
Lottie
Madison
Harry
Emma
Sarah
Naomi
Henry
Becca
Orla
Brandon
Lizzie
Alex
Rebecca
Andriessen
Andriessen
Beniers
Bertram
Bijster
Bormans
Bours
Ceelen
Deckers
Douven
Gillissen
Graaf
de Graaf
Hanraets
Heath
Heusschen
Huls
Huntjens
Janssen
van Lieshout
Merx
Moeke
Narinx
Raehse
Rose
Sikkinga
Škrabanja
Samuel
Dogget
Whiteside
Field
Potter
Hayhoe
Dewar
Morris
Squirrell
Kilgallen
Borgartz
Gee
Panting
Rudge
Adams
Howard
Clarke
Cooke
Dixon
Kohn
Onno
Quarrie
Convery
Tickner
Waddilove
Griffiths
Alewijnse
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28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
Max
Christian
Yentl
Niek
Jurian
Ellen
Slangen
Smeets
Smeets
de Vreeze
Wijnheijmer
Hompesch
Peter
Hatty
Rebecca
Harvey
Alex
Lottie
Lawrence
Gribben
Van Zanten
Chattaway
Batt
Adams
HOST FAMILIES
The host families are volunteers, parents of English kids
who thought it would be a good idea to have their
son/daughter join this exchange. This means that they
are willing to share their home with you for a couple of
days, just like your own parents when the return visits
takes place later in the school year.
Your visit is only 5 nights, so you will most probably
survive, whatever the circumstances you will
experience. It will certainly be different, just like it will
be different for your hosts when they become your
guests later. Despite the fact that they are carefully
matched by our English colleagues, it is always possible
that a host and his/her guest are not too happy with
each other. Try to live with that and have as much fun
as you can with the rest of the group. In case you feel
you have a genuine complaint do not hesitate to tell
your leaders and they will see what can be done.
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RULES
 Speak English, particularly in the company of your
host family, it is rude to speak Dutch, and it will not
improve your English.
 Behave to your host family as you would (or should)
to your own family or friends.
 Tell your hosts if you have any allergies, or things you
do not eat or if there are any medical complaints they
should know about.
 Please do not hesitate to tell one of the leaders if you
feel you have something to complain about. Do that
as soon as possible, so that it can be dealt with
quickly!
 Do not drink alcohol during the programme
 Do not smoke on the coach or in the host family!
 When you are dropped off go straight back to your
host family unless you have arranged otherwise.
 It goes without saying, that, if an other person’s
belongings are damaged, broken or have gone
missing due to your actions you need to pay for them.
That goes for host families’ stuff as well as your
colleagues’.
Always remember: SCHOOL RULES APPLY ON THIS
TRIP TOO!
SO: In case you do something that the leaders think is
not tolerable, the ultimate punishment will be being
sent home, by train, at your (parents’) costs.
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SOME INFORMATION ABOUT LIFE IN AN ENGLISH
FAMILY
You may see differences between how we and many
British furnish their houses. You are likely to find
carpets throughout the house, sometimes even
including the bathroom. There may be the absence of a
separate toilet downstairs. There are probably different
tastes. Generally, people are not fond of modern
architecture or design.
They also have a different social life. It is for instance
not unusual for an entire family (of over 18 years of
age) to go to a pub together and meet the rest of the
village or neighbourhood. On the other hand they do
not tend to entertain at home as much as we seem to
do. It is more common than in our country to meet
friends over dinner in a restaurant, instead of at home.
You will have five evenings with your host family.
During these evenings you will be forced to speak
English to them. Take this opportunity to improve your
fluency!
NOW SOME COMMON DECENCY
If you want to leave the table, when having a meal, for
whatever reason, ask for permission to do so. Always
offer to help clear the table or do the washing up.
People in Britain tend to be far more polite than in our
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country, so: ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do!’
You will find English food and eating habits different
from your own. Try everything, you might even like
it!!!!!
You should always bear in mind that the fact that you
are exposed to life in a family in a foreign country is
one of the main reasons for us to organise these
exchanges.
If you have ‘an open mind’ and are not afraid to make
mistakes, you may benefit enormously by the
experience.
The differences mentioned above might be an
interesting discussion subject and will find that being in
a host family can be a worthwhile experience and you
will probably be able to make some new friends, as
long as you try!!
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HONYWOOD COMMUNITY SCIENCE SCHOOL
The school you are going to visit and exchange with is
completely different from our school. The English
educational system is different anyway. The presence
of school uniforms and the pride in being an
outstanding pupil or ‘Head Boy’ or ‘Head Girl’ are
something we lack. The age range, the range of
subjects and specialties like Science, Arts and
Languages you find at a typical school are very much
different from what you find in a Dutch school.
An exam for everybody at the age of 16 (General
Certificate of Secondary Education, GCSE) is something
we also do not know. After that exam it is determined
where you will continue your education, e.g. at a
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college for Further Education (like an ROC) or at a Sixth
Form college, which prepares for University or College.
Honywood school is not like the average English school.
Here the present Head wanted to change the way in
which the kids learn. In order to do that he reorganised
the entire school.
I really hope that you will be able to find out for
yourself what that means if you are given the
opportunity to sit in with some classes, but I can give
you some clues: Pupils are called learners here, lessons
are ‘learning opportunities’. All learners have iPads; not
as a substitute for books, but more like an alternative
‘notebook’ in which they store films and pictures and
with which they can look up things they want to know
and learn about.
Taking pictures in the school ground is not advisable.
Always ask if you want to take one!
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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT B R I T A I N
BRITISH MONEY
Britain has an easy decimal currency: the pound
sterling. There are five banknotes and eight coins. Each
pound is made up of one hundred pennies (100p). At
the time of going to press the value of £1 varied
between Є1,20 and Є1,25.
BANK NOTES
£5 note (Elisabeth Fry on the back)
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£10 note (Charles Darwin on the back)
£20 note (Adam Smith on the back)
New-style £50 note (Matthew Boulton and James
Watt on the back)
Old-style £50 note (Sir John Houblon on the back)
COINS
The 1 Pound Coins have different pictures on the
reverse side (where it does NOT say 1 pound). The
pictures sometimes tell you where a coin is from
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(England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland) or are
meant to commemorate special events (like the
London Olympics in 2012).
The best thing to do is bring British money with you. If
you do not trust yourself with much money, see to it
that you bring a valid ‘Giro’- or Bank-card, to get money
in a ‘hole-in-the-wall‘, a ‘CASH POINT’, while you are in
England.
Please note: Sometimes there are extra costs attached
to withdrawing money from your Dutch account.
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
If you bring a hairdryer, or any other electrical
appliance into Britain you must be aware that the
standard British voltage is 240v. This means that you
should adjust that on your appliance(s). If this is not
possible, it will not be damaged, but it will work a little
faster, so take care when drying your hair, unless you
are planning to start a new hair fashion!!!.
a standard English plug
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As you see on the previous page, you will also need an
adapter because the plugs and wall sockets in Britain
have a different shape. You can buy one at the ANWB.
EMERGENCIES
IF YOU ARE IN DANGER, OR IN URGENT NEED OF
MEDICAL OR POLICE ASSISTANCE GO TO A PUBLIC TELEPHONE AND DIAL 999 (free of charge)
FOOD
For most of you this will be your first visit to England,
and as the reputation of ‘English Cuisine’ is not that
good (undeservedly), there are a few things you ought
to get familiar with.
The members of your host family will most probably
not have a ‘full English Breakfast’ every morning. They
just have a cereal (Corn Flakes, Muesli) or a piece of
toast and marmalade. So do not expect to get a lot of
food in the morning. Mostly people only have an
English Breakfast on Sunday morning.
If you want a breakfast which is more like the one you
are used to at home, ask for something you do like, but
remember that in England cold meat and cheese are
normally speaking only eaten at lunch or after dinner
(this goes only for cheese).
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You will most probably not be asked whether you
would like a ‘cooked (or full) breakfast’. You can,
however, order it in cafe or restaurant during any time
of the day, but, be prepared for: some sort of juice. a
cereal (corn flakes or muesli etc) a (fried, scrambled or
poached) egg with bacon, a grilled tomato, mushrooms
and sometimes even baked beans, followed by toast
with marmalade. All this is washed away with very
strong tea, with milk.
You may also be supplied with a packed lunch. Mostly
the British make sandwiches with a double filling like
ham and tomato, chicken and lettuce, cheese and
onion, turkey and ham, egg and tomato.
In most cases you will also get a candy bar and some
crisps (bacon or salt and vinegar are popular tastes).
If there is anything in the lunch which you did not like,
choose the polite option and tell your host family what
you did like and what you would even prefer.
In your free time it is not advisable to go and look for a
restaurant, as the good ones are frightfully expensive
and the cheap ones a real rip-off, but do like the British
do and go to a cafe or coffee shop like ‘Cafe Nero’ or
‘Costa’ or ‘Prêt a Manger’. Mostly they have a snack
menu, with a variety of dishes, ranging from
sandwiches, to quiches or even pies and chips (pies are
a bit like our ‘pasteitje’).
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Pie, chips and peas
Please remember that McDonald’s and Pizza Hut are
not particularly British and not really good value
compared to cafes/coffee shops.
Be adventurous (if just for once in your life) and forget
about McD's!!!
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CAMBRIDGE
Oxford and Cambridge are the most famous University
towns in Great Britain, often called ‘Oxbridge’ in short.
If you are allowed there, you can be certain of a great
future if you manage to finish your studies there.
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Trinity college
Life at university is different from the Netherlands. You
live in a college. Every college has their own colours.
You may be able to see students walking around, but
you will certainly have the chance to look at the shops
where students and teachers buy their ‘official clothes’.
There is one opposite Trinity College, the big one in the
main street, with an imposing chapel and ‘green’
around it.
Students stay in ‘halls’ where they sleep and have their
meals in communal dining rooms, not unlike the ones
you see in Harry Potter films. For their lectures they
may have to go to different colleges.
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The river Cam & Magdalen College
As Cambridge is not only a student town, but also the
centre and capital of the county Cambridgeshire, you
will see a great number of shops in the streets around
the colleges, but also in a covered shopping centre a
little bit outside the centre.
COGGESHALL
Coggeshall is a small market town of 3,919 residents (in
2001) in Essex, England, situated between Colchester
and Braintree on the Roman road of Stane Street (the
drainage aqueducts of which are still visible in the
cellar of the Chapel Inn today), and intersected by the
River Blackwater. It is known for its almost 300 listed
buildings and formerly extensive antique trade. Many
local businesses, such as the White Hart Hotel and the
Chapel Inn (The Chapel Inn became a legally licensed
premises in 1554) have been established for hundreds
of years. A market has been run every week on Market
Hill since 1256, when a charter to do so was granted by
Henry III.
Coggeshall won the Essex Best Kept Village award in its
category in 1998 and 2001–03; it was named the
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Eastern England & Home Counties Village of the Year in
2003.
(information from wikipedia)
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COLCHESTER
Colchester Castle
This is the biggest town close to Coggeshall. It is the
oldest town in Great Britain, which was established by
the Romans. It was even the Roman capital for a while.
Nowadays it is one of the fastest growing towns in
Britain. It is home to a garrison of the British army and
the 16th Air Assault Brigade as well as Colchester Castle
and the University of Essex (the county that also
Coggeshall belongs to).
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Firstsite Museum
One of the new developments in the town is the
‘Firstsite’ arts facility, a controversial modern museum
with a very nice coffee shop that houses a permanent
collection as well as special exhibitions.
In the 16th and 17th Centuries many ‘Dutch’ weavers
(mostly from Flanders) settled in the east of England
(as there was a thriving wool trade). In Colchester there
still s a ‘Dutch quarter’ that reminds us of that.
Colchester is a nice town for shopping and sightseeing.
Most of the worthwhile places are around the High
Street and the Lionwalk shopping Centre.
LONDON
London is a city that cannot be compared to
any city in Europe. Its size, its number of
inhabitants, its importance in the world of
trade and politics, but also its sights and parks, its
shops and theatres have made it the number one
tourist spot in Britain.
The information given below aims to give you some
insight in what London is, what made it the way it is,
and what you should not miss. About 8 million people
live in the area that is commonly known as London
(1,561 square kilometres). ‘Greater London’, London
and its 32 boroughs, has 11 million inhabitants (the
area occupied is comparable to the Dutch province of
Utrecht).
As London is the capital of the United Kingdom,
Londoners (like most people from capital cities) often
think that it is the most important place in the country.
It is the centre of government and commerce, so
naturally it is a vast and busy place.
London, as we call it, really consists of two different
cities (with each a number of ‘boroughs’):
The City of Westminster and the City of London. The
City of London, an area of only 2.6 square kilometres is
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the centre for business and finance. The major sights in
the City of London are: The Tower, St Paul’s Cathedral,
and all the offices of the financial institutions like the
Stock Exchange, Lloyd's etc.
Government Offices are to be found in the City of
Westminster. The most important sights there are: The
Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham
Palace, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square.
Some History
After the Romans had left Britain early in the 5th
century, London was still an important place; it has
always been a trading centre. It grew in importance
within the British Isles when the Kings and Queens of
England moved their Headquarters from Winchester to
the Royal Palace of Westminster.
Westminster was a few miles up the River Thames from
the City of London; the King felt freer outside the City
walls. Gradually, London began to grow. The villages
around it grew and they became towns, (now still
called ‘boroughs’), with their own local government.
The ‘boroughs’ grew into a vast, built-up area of
houses, shops and factories which now forms Greater
London.
A few very important years in the history of London
are: 1066, when the Normans (led by William the
conqueror, from Normandy in France, and not an old
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Viking!) conquered England and built a fort on the
place where an old Roman fort used to be (which we
now call The Tower of London).
1666, the year of the Great Fire, when a baker’s oven
overheated in a wooden bakery in Pudding Lane and
started a fire, which destroyed over 13,000 (mostly
wooden) buildings, including St Paul’s Cathedral. After
that fire, an architect called Christopher Wren was
commissioned to make plans to rebuild the city. He
built lots of churches, among which (New) St Paul’s
Cathedral in the City of London and many Parish
churches all over town.
In the 18th and 19th centuries builders developed new
housing estates. They laid them out in the fields near
the City and Westminster. The new houses were built
in terraces around a square piece of open ground. The
centre of this ground was made into a garden. These
gardens had iron fences around them and only people
who lived around such a square had a key to get into it.
Squares can still be found in various parts of London,
but mostly in the more expensive parts because they
are spacious, and space in a city costs money. For that
reason, not all the houses in the squares are occupied
by private persons now; many are used as offices.
Another very important period for London was the
Second World War. During ‘The Battle of Britain’ a
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huge number of houses and offices were destroyed.
Especially in the City of London, the business-centre
devastation was enormous and after the war an
extensive rebuilding scheme was started. Not everyone
was happy with the results of that, judging from the
fact that a lot of buildings, built after World War Two,
around St Paul’s, are now demolished and being
replaced by buildings that are considerably lower and
much more in keeping with the rest of the area than
the 60s and 70s high-rise buildings that were there, so
that the view of St Paul’s will be unspoilt again.
You will be picked up by a guide at:
The Tower of London
William the Conqueror started building this bastion, by
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building the White Tower, a fort that was meant to
keep all enemies out. Building went on until the 19th
century, but at that time there was no need anymore
for a defensive fortress.
It was the Royal Mint from the 13th century to 1834,
and a prison from its early years. ‘Traitor's Gate’, best
seen from the river, leads from the river to the site of
the execution block on Tower Green which has seen
Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Gray and many other figures
from British history being beheaded. Later in its history,
the Tower was also used as a zoo, until London Zoo was
built in Regent's Park.
The Tower is most famous for The Crown Jewels,
shown in a new, top-security setting. The Tower is
‘guarded’ by Yeoman Warders or ‘Beefeaters’, wearing
a ceremonial uniform that has not been changed since
the days of Henry VIII.
Tower Bridge
At this point in time, London has 24 bridges and plans
to build at least one more, but in 994 AD London had
only got one bridge: London Bridge. In 1750 a second
bridge was built at Westminster and new London
bridge was ordered to be built, but the old one ‘hung
on’ until 1821 when it was sold to a wealthy American
businessman who thought he had bought Tower Bridge
and was rather surprised to find out it was a different
bridge altogether after he had it dismantled, shipped to
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America and rebuilt again. Meanwhile the council had a
new bridge built and the ‘New London Bridge’ was
opened in 1831.
As the size of the place where the bridge was to be
built was limited, there were very strict rules that
should make it possible for horse-drawn carriages to
climb the bridge without difficulty. The bridge was built
between 1886 and 1894, and cost £1,500,000. The
design is not unlike the famous Amsterdam canal
drawbridges, only here the two bascules, weighing over
1,000 tonnes each, were raised and lowered by steam
power.
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Today the bridge is still much as it used to be when it
was first opened, except for the steam-powered
mechanism which has been replaced by more up-todate methods, opening the bridge in 90 seconds!!!.
At Tower Hill you will be picked up by a guide who will
take you to Buckingham Palace in Westminster.
THE CITY OF WESTMINSTER
The City of Westminster is the ‘Seat of Government’.
This is where the Queen’s official residence in London
Buckingham Palace is, as well as the Houses of
Parliament and the Offices of the government, but not
only that, it is also the part of town where you can find
beautiful parks and the major stores and shops. When
people think of London, they often think of the City of
Westminster more than about the City of London.
The best way to see all this is on foot. This is the
‘hardest’ part of your sightseeing. You’ll have to walk
all the way, no ‘shilly shallying’ or lazing about, no
taking tubes or buses, it’s all walking. But, there is one
consolation: you see most when you are on foot!!
Buckingham Palace
This has been the principal home of the sovereign since
the time of Queen Victoria, built in 1703 for the Duke
of Buckingham. The classical front was added in 1913.
Apart from The Queen and Prince Philip, the princes
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Andrew and Edward have an apartment here, as do the
50 staff members who ‘live in’. In total, about 300
persons have their jobs here as members of the
Queen's household.
Every day ‘the Changing of the Guards’ takes place here
between 11.20 a.m. and 12.05 p.m.
Westminster Abbey
The most beautiful gothic church in London, founded in
the 11th century. Among its features are Poet's Corner,
where some of England's greatest writers are buried,
the ‘tomb of the Unknown Warrior’ (in remembrance
of the dead in the First World War) and the Coronation
Chair, now without ‘the Stone of Scone’, the stone on
which the Kings of Scotland used to be crowned under
it. The Stone of Scone was handed back to the Scots in
1996(!!!), after many years of disagreement about it.
Most of the coronations of the English sovereigns since
that of William the Conqueror in 1066, have taken
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place here and it is also the place where the majority of
British sovereigns are buried and where the “memorial
service” for Diana, Princess of Wales was held in
September 1997.Since Diana’s memorial service the
place has become a genuine ‘tourist trap’ and they
charge you ‘an arm and a leg’ to get in, so we shall
gladly ‘give it a miss’.
The Houses of Parliament
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The present Houses of Parliament are a group of
buildings in gothic style, built between 1840 and 1860,
by Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin. The House of
Commons was destroyed by fire in an air raid in 1941,
but was restored after the war.
The clock tower by the House of Commons is famous
for its bell, (Big Ben), named after the first
Commissioner of Works, Sir Benjamin Hall. To give you
an impression of the dimensions of the bell tower
which people undeservedly call ‘Big Ben’, here are a
few numbers. The tower is 106 metres high, the dial of
the clock on the tower has a diameter of 7.5 metres
and the minute hand is 4.25 metres long.
This part of the city is famous for the fact that it houses
‘The London Eye’, The Royal Festival Hall and the
National Theatre, the so-called South Bank Arts Centre.
Opposite the Houses of Parliament we shall pass the
Palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
From here you will take a walk along the ‘south bank’
of the River Thames until you reach the Tate Modern
Museum (worth to have a look in the great turbine hall)
and the Millennium Bridge, which you will cross to St
Paul’s.
St. Paul’s Cathedral
St Paul’s seen from under the Millennium Bridge
Building this Cathedral, on the site of the ‘old St. Paul’
which was lost during the Great Fire, started in 1675,
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by Sir Christopher Wren.
The idea was that the church should look like ‘Saint
Peter’s’ in Rome. During the last World War the
surroundings of the church were heavily bombed, but
St. Paul’s escaped with only damage to the stained
glass windows, which were replaced by clear glass
windows after the war to make it look less dark. In the
dome there is the ‘whispering Gallery’, which picks up a
whisper from the other side of the dome. You can climb
even higher, to the ‘Stone Gallery’ which gives you a
view out over the city and higher to the ‘Golden
Gallery’ at the top of the dome and finally into the
‘Golden Ball’ (111 metres high). The crypt of St Paul’s is
almost a Cathedral in itself, with massive tombs of Sir
Christopher Wren himself, Horatio Nelson, who beat
the French and Spanish fleets of Napoleon at the Battle
of Trafalgar, and the Duke of Wellington, by whom
Napoleon was finally defeated at the Battle of
Waterloo. Also it houses the tombs of the painters
Reynolds and Turner. Many older people will still
remember St. Paul’s Cathedral as the place where
Charles and Di were married.
At St Paul’s Cathedral your guide will probably leave
you and the coach will pick you up to take you back to
Coggeshall.
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THE HOMEWARD-BOUND JOURNEY DAY
At the time of going to press it is not clear where we
are going to stop over on our way back home. This
depends on a couple of things:
1. The coach driver and company
2. The weather
3. The time you have before your crossing back
4. How the group and the leaders feel.
The options are:
1. CANTERBURY
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Buttermarket
Canterbury, the city you could be visiting on your last
day in Britain, is a relatively small town. It is also a
historic city; it dates from before Roman times. When
the Romans conquered England they called it
Durovernum, as any keen fan of Asterix the Gaul will be
able to tell you. Nowadays it is swarming with tourists
who want to come and see the historic sights. Every
year there are more than 2 million guests. The visitors
come to Canterbury all year round, but in summer the
town is at its busiest.
The beautiful Cathedral is the most important building
in the city. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Church, the British State
Church. Building this great church was started in 1070,
and lasted a few centuries. A lot of styles can be found
from Norman to Perpendicular. If you were to walk
along the Cathedral, you could see the styles change,
from the (Norman) back, to the (Perpendicular) front.
In the Cathedral Thomas Becket, a former Archbishop
and friend of King Henry II, was killed by four knights
who had taken Henry's words a little too literally. He
had had an argument with the king about the position
of the church, and the king said something like ‘I wish
someone could rid me of that priest’, and some
knights, (over) eager to please the king killed him. After
a few years he became a Saint, as a good martyr of the
faith should, and Canterbury became the most famous
place in Britain for a pilgrimage. The most famous
English writer in the fourteenth century, Geoffrey
Chaucer wrote a book about such a pilgrimage, which
became one of the most well-known book in English
Literature: The Canterbury Tales.
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During the last war Canterbury was heavily bombed.
Evidence can be found in the centre, near East Gate,
where a lot of old houses were destroyed and replaced
by modern buildings. On the site of some post-war
buildings, a new shopping centre was built which really
blends into the surrounding area.
2. BLUEWATER SHOPPING CENTRE
This is of course what it says: ‘shopaholics’ heaven!’ A
huge shopping centre with department stores and all
the famous ‘High Street Stores’ you have now grown
used to. A last opportunity to get rid of your money!
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ROOM FOR NOTES
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