Click thumbnail photos to enlarge

	Standing: Carol Martin ... many NKs .... Liz Cave, NK At the front: many NKs
	Liz Cave, Carol Martin and NK
	1st XI and 2nd XI Hockey teams
	A visit to the Klompen Maker

A member of staff writes:

I too recall that Holland trip for I was on it!  In fact, I helped organise the damn thing.

The trip was the brainchild of Chris Bowyers, a friend and a D&T teacher who came to the College in the mid-eighties. We took a combined boys and girls trip to Holland with the lads playing football and the girls, I think, playing Netball and Hockey.

I was on the trip as Chris ran the 1st XI and I ran the 2nd XI and U16 XI's. Not that I was overworked as there were few fixtures for each and often players would play for both. Anyway, I digress here.....

The pictures of the girls half of the trip evoke some personal memories. In the dugout picture on the left is Liz Cave then head of girls PE and godmother to my son. The woman in the middle is my (ex) wife Carol Martin who was on the trip as she did a lot of supply work for the school and for some reason, there was a lack of staff who wanted to go. My ex is on the left in the 'group shot' photo and Liz is second from the right.

The most memorable moment for me was when we were returning home. As people know, in Amsterdam you can freely get publications of a dubious nature, flick knives and organic substances that cannot be grown legally in the UK. Mindful of this, I mentioned it to Chris and he told me to remind the crowd. When the bus stopped at the ferry port I stood up and strongly advised the group that if they had been a little foolish and purchased any such illegal items that they were to throw them overboard and nothing would be said either way. As a lever, I stated that if the coach got stopped in the home port and searched and things were found, we would leave the offender in the port with the police and call their parents.

Well, we got off the ferry and the coach was stopped. We waited, the staff hoped that the group had heeded my words and re affirmed the 'threat' of leaving them there and we waited some more. After a while, the customs officer climbed onto the bus and said that we could go.

Anyway, I met one of the party later in some drinking hole I think (it was you Neil Pallent!). After reminiscing about the trip, Neil reminded me of what I had said. I said that I had hoped that he and the rest had thrown things over board IF they had bought anything. Calmly, he replied that the party had ignored all that I had said and had brought 'some' stuff in! When I said that we would have left them there, he said that they knew that we would and it did not bother them!  Undoubtedly, confidence is one thing that WyColl taught them.

Other memories are the bus drivers asking how many 18+ people we had so that they use their personal allowances for extra fags and booze.  Oh, and Neil Pallent being accosted and very embarrassed by a 'lady of the night' in the red light district ..... don't deny it Neil for the staff saw you .... which of course gives rise to the question of why the some of the staff were in the same area ..... I am not telling!

Cliff Martin

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