My NCS experience #1 : Residential


I signed up for the NCS not quite knowing what it
was or what I would be doing. MY friends had done the program in preious
years and said it was a blast.
At my first proper meeting I was told all about the program
and all doubts and fears evaporated almost
instantly when I met my team and the team leaders.
NCS is a government funded program that allows 16-18
year olds to do things for their local community and also have a
great time whilst doing it!

The residential.
For my residential we went to a lovely place in Shrewsbury
called Condover Hall , it is a beautiful old house that has been turned in to an
activity centre, it has everything from rock climbing
to lazer quest!
At the beginning of the residential I only really knew one
person on my team, and she is a dear friend of mine called Daisy.
Everyone else was new to me, It was strange at first but by the end of
the first day everyone got on really well and we were all having
a laugh.
Day #1: The first day was only a half day, we arrived at the hall about 1pm
and all went to find our rooms, have lunch and we were allowed to
look around then meet our activity leader (Josh).
When we had all got settled we went to our first activity which
was the low ropes, we basically had to go over obstacles
and refrain from falling on our asses.

That's Lyd doing the splits, wow.
After low ropes we were informed everyone would be changing rooms,
and originally myself and daisy were in a room together on our own.
After the rooms had been changed we realised all the girls in
out group had been put together in a room!
The fact we had to share a room seemed awful at first,
but im glad we did otherwise I doubt we would be as close with the girls
as we are! In the evening there was indoor activities
but after the stressful day everyone just wanted to chill in our rooms.
This is how we made friends with the guys from the room opposite our dorm,
they turned out to live not to far away and we hope to be friends with them for
quite some time.
Day #2: On the second day the main activities were the high ropes,
(the gladiator wall and the leap of faith) and then lazer quest.
I didn't do the gladiator wall because I have a fear of falling and the obstacle
was very shakey, but everyone else who did do it was absolutely
amazing!!!
Some people went up like a lightening bolt *cough MO and JOHN cough*
but everyone did brilliant.

After gladiator we did the leap of faith, this was the scariest but
also the best one as if you managed to grab the bar
you felt amazing after and the rush of adrenaline was A-MA-ZING.
Im so proud of everyone who did it and everyone that cheered for us.
Im not gonna lie, I swore profusely when everyone started counting down but
 1 failed attempt and a panic attack later I DID IT!
It felt amazing and I was oh so proud of myself for doing it!
Some of my other team members did absolutely amazing and had the bar as far away as they could
and still managed to get it! ( I'm talking to you Aaron, well done bud ;) )




After leap of faith we had an amazing few games of lazer quest,
these games were very heated and lots of insults were fired. Some people had
team tactics, no one in particular LANCE AND DAISY.
And for others it was a free for all, at the end of it everyone's war paint
was smudged and we couldn't catch our breath but it was AMAZING.
Day #3: The second to last day was oh so tiring, first we did
team building activities that weren't the most exciting things ever but
the fact we did climbing afterwards makes up for that.
I managed to get to the top of the wall quite quick and for that im proud,
but others in my team were like spiderman and then
they even did it blindfolded!
Lyd in my group is a climber and got up there super quick
but some of the others in my group gave her a run for her money ;) .

Day #4: This was the last day of our residential and I think it was one of the best!
Everyone was in high hopes and good moods, even though the girls got
practically no sleep after the fiasco from the night before.
On the last day we did abseiling, everyone was singing grease and
high school musical and the instructors were joining in.
After abseiling we did buggy building that consisted of us
making cars out of logs, barrels and rope.
It sounds as safe as it was, we had to split ourselves in half
and my team did not win BUT ours did not fall apart unlike the other team!
After the buggies we got group photos taken that were lovely and then we went to
get lunch for on the coach and say goodbye.
As I was saying good bye to one of the guys from the opposite dorm I gave him
a hug and said bye and then he set off a party popper, frightening
the life out of me I might add, but it was a fitting goodbye in comparison with
Danny's personality.
And then it was the coach journey home that consisted of
90's music, Disney songs and moaning about our joints aching.

Although NCS was a tiny bit tiring, I'm SO glad I
did it! I got to meet new amazing people who I probably would not have met
otherwise, and it also pushed me to do new things and get over some fears!
Im going to miss my team so much!
YOU HAD BETTER ALL STAY IN TOUCH GUYS <3 p="">
WOOOOOOOO YEAAAAHHHH, SPRIIINGGG BREEEEAKKKKKKKKKKK!




LOVE YOU ALL DECLAN, JOHN, RYAN, AARON, MO
TEDDY, LYD, DAISY, CHLOE, ABBI, LOUISE
LANCE AND SARAH
Thanks for reading!
More blog posts soon!
xoxo







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