On Saturday, 31st of January 2015 morning at 6am, twenty students and four staff members met in Dublin city centre to journey to the Manchester United vs Leicester City game. The students were from class 8th and 10th.
We boarded the ferry at 7.15 am and set sail shortly afterwards. After a rough crossing (gale force 9 winds were announced over the intercom by the ship’s captain!), we arrived to Holyhead with only a handful of students having been sick on route. This was soon forgotten as the coach made it’s way across the North Wales coastline towards Manchester.
We arrived at Old Trafford at 2.15 pm and collected our match tickets. The 8th class students were situated in the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand and were accompanied for the game by Al Sugg and Frau Reinhofer. The 10th class students were closeby, along with Mr Doris and Nika Arevadze.
The game kicked off at 3 pm and it proved to be very entertaining, with Manchester United racing into a 3-0 lead at half time, thanks to Robin Van Persie, Falcao and an own goal. They continued to try to extend their lead but to no avail and Leicester City scored a consolation late goal to add a little gloss to their endeavours.
After the game, we spent some time in the club shop where an assortment of jerseys, scarves, flags, etc., were purchased by our students. We then made our way to the hotel, Bewleys, located beside Manchester airport. After consuming a meal, we had the prize giving for the two quizzes we had conducted during the journey and the game. Ferdinand Gerhards won one and Nika was victorious in the other.
It wasn’t long before everyone retired to bed after an exhaustive day and everyone was up at 8.30 am for breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant area. We departed at 10am and stopped along the way at the location of the longest town name in Wales – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwymdrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch !! This translates to “The Church of Mary in the Hollow of the White Hazel near the Fierce Whirlpool and the Church of Tysilio by the Red Cave”.
We stayed in the town for about an hour and then covered the last leg of our journey through Angelsea to reach Holyhead at 1.15 pm. The return sea crossing was ‘choppy’ but considerably calmer than the outward leg and we arrived in the North Wall Ferry port at 5.20 pm before reaching our starting point, Jurys Inn on the Quays, where the students were collected by their parents.
Al Sugg, Sports teacher
