Mr Kirk said on Sunday, 03 January 2010 21:41:56 Bonjourno!! Well, we have made it here after what turned out to be a fantastically easy journey. Other than the time of departure this morning, everything has been great. Everything has run to schedule and the whole group is ready to hit the slopes first thing in the morning. We are all kitted out and amazingly all the skiers are tucked up in bed sleeping. Although everything ran smoothly, it is fair to say that there were a few tired faces around the dinner tables. And that was only the staff!! On a serious note, the group has made a fantastic start and from what we saw when we arrived the conditions look great. There are no photos as yet, but I assure you there will be this time tomorrow. Just like everyone else, it's time for me to get some sleep!! Mr Kirk said on Monday, 04 January 2010 22:19:18 After waking a few sleepy faces this morning, the group had breakfast and got organised to hit the slopes for the first time. It is fair to say that with anything new there can be teething problems and it did take a little while to get everyones boots on and get out on the snow. We divided into three groups and the instructors took the groups away to begin Ski School for the week. The conditions were overcast with a little snow around, which made things interesting to begin with. By lunchtime, the sky had cleared somewhat and when the afternoon lessons began, the conditions were good. I know that the instructors were impressed with the group, not just with their skiing, but with their general behaviour and attitude too. Day one of Ski School was a success!! After the lessons had finished, the group had a little time to relax and swim before having a quick hot chocolate and heading out for some 'bumboarding'!! We needed a guinea pig to test the slope we were going to use and I managed to show everyone how not to do it!! It must have worked as the group were fantastic with Alfie Sheppard managing to win the longest run competition. This activity must have been a hit because it was with a great deal of reluctance that the group returned to the hotel for dinner. The food has been lovely and tonight was no exception. Perhaps this was because it was Christian Kirk's birthday!? Christian heard 'Happy Birthday' in both Italian and English before receiving a present and hug from Mrs Griffiths. Once again, the group seem tired and have all gone to sleep without any fuss. I think this is testamnent to how hard they have worked today and I'm sure this will be the case again tomorrow.   Mr Kirk said on Tuesday, 05 January 2010 22:05:22 Any teething problems that we experienced yesterday were well and truly a thing of the past today!! The group was out on time with very few problematic ski boots or misplaced ski poles. The skiing groups themselves have changed slightly, but we are now confident that people are in the right place and progressing at a suitable level. The group continue to impress in all areas. In fact, each instructor keeps trying to convince us that his group is the best!! We have been very proud of the children in how they have handled themselves both on and off the slopes. Tonight the apres ski activity was ice skating. Now, to be fair, we have had some fantastic moments on the pistes so far. However, the most amusing moments have been on the ice rink!! We crowned JJ Sermon as the dancing king after he boogied his heart out to Mambo Number 5 whilst standing in the middle of 40 people skating while Mr Griffiths kept us entertained by performing some very acrobatic wipe outs!! I think the group worked just as hard on the ice rink as they had on the slopes today!! All of this made for some very tired faces once again. As is seemingly becoming tradition, the group has gone off to sleep without any fuss whatsoever. I have been really impressed with the way in which the group is gelling together and I really hope this continues for the rest of the week. We have a nice clear day forecast for tomorrow and snow predicted for the end of the week, so all bodes well.   Mr Kirk said on Wednesday, 06 January 2010 22:01:04 We woke to absolutely clear skies today. We couldn’t have asked for more and the photo that I’ve included demonstrates this I hope. We hadn’t had these sorts of conditions until today and all the groups made the most of it. I think that I’m becoming a little bit like a broken record, but certainly the groups I saw today are continuing to make fantastic progress. Challenging yourself in a sport like this leads you to develop your skills quite quickly and there is an attitude of pushing the limits within this group, certainly on the slopes. We had a game of bingo as an après ski activity today and this was met with a great deal of enthusiasm, which was somewhat surprisingly to me!! We had two or three big winners who claimed a skiing hat each and then a number of chocolatey prizes too. We even had a celkbration dance at the end!! The weather forecast is good for tomorrow and I am hopeful that the level of progress made today is replicated tomorrow.   Mr Kirk said on Thursday, 07 January 2010 15:58:04 What a fantastic day! The conditions were , once again, very good and everyone had a productive day. Throughout the week, all of the staff have skied with different groups at different times and the progress the groups are making is excellent. The beginners group was taken onto some red runs this afternoon and for that to happen at this stage of the week is very impressive. The intermediate and advanced groups are progressing well also and are having a huge amount fun in the process, which is the main thing!! Tonight we are heading out to do some night skiing which should be good fun, but for those who are all skied out today, a DVD will be on offer. There have been a couple of comedy moments worth mentioning today!! Eliza Kirby and Huw Carter managed to forget to get off the chairlifts on a couple of occasions while Kara Griffiths managed to get on one, but then proceeded to fall off!! It must run in the family as Mr Griffiths managed to fall on his face on the ‘Magic Carpet’ which is for the people learning to ski on the nursery slopes!! If only we had a photo of that!!   Mr Kirk said on Thursday, 07 January 2010 21:44:24 Since I wrote a few hours ago, the weather closed in and unfortunately the night skiing had to be cancelled. But as Henry Hancock is proving in the photo, we made do!! The disco we were going to have tomorrow night was brought forward and really enjoyed by everyone. We saw some amazing dance moves!! The snow has really started to fall here in the last few hours and if anything is getting heavier. That bodes well for the skiing conditions tomorrow as the runs could do with a little more snow in places. I know that all the groups are looking forward to getting back out there.   Mr Kirk said on Friday, 08 January 2010 10:25:46 We were greeted with about a metre of snow when we woke up this morning. Disappointingly, we have missed lesson time this morning while the pistes are prepared for skiing. We will make up the time missed this morning by adding an hour to each of the afternoon sessions we have remaining. As normal, we tried to make the best of the bad situation and what followed can only be described as one of the largest snowball fights in history!! We are waiting for lunch now and the snow continues to fall. However, the group has still managed to have a great time, even without skiing this morning.   Mr Kirk said on Friday, 08 January 2010 22:36:38 After the mammoth snow fight and lunch, we were able to get out skiing this afternoon. Obviously, with a lot more snow around, the conditions were very different than what the groups were used to. The photo shows snow that is above knee high. This area was completely flat yesterday. This demonstrates just how much snow fell in the last twelve hours. Two of the runs near the hotel were open and it was nice to be able to ski around and see each of the groups without too much trouble. We made up an hour of the time that was lost this morning and from what I could see, most of the groups were able to adapt to the conditions pretty well. That said, there were one or two spectacular wipe outs!! We had a talent show this evening and it has to be said that there were a variety of events on show. From wrestlers to sketches to dance routines, the group was highly entertained!! The conditions now are clear so we hope that when we wake up tomorrow this will still be the case. The snow is looking great so we look forward to a fantastic last day skiing. We will be in touch with both schools when we are aware of how our travel on Sunday will be affected by the weather in the UK. Please check the Moulsford or Cranford websites on the day.   Mr Kirk said on Saturday, 09 January 2010 15:33:58 Before bed last night the skies were clear. Even with all the optimism in the world, it was always doubtful that it would be clear when we woke up this morning. Unfortunately, the weather had closed in once again during the night and it was snowing this morning. The head chef assured us that today would be perfect skiing conditions at breakfast, though I am sure his tongue was firmly in his cheek!! The conditions were difficult today, but the snow itself was lovely. The group has made up all the time that was lost by adding time to the afternoon sessions. The instructors have been brilliant in this regard and have also managed to forge really positive relationships with the children which have helped them progress immensely. We are packing at the moment and at half past five we have the formal presentation. This will involve each of the group receiving a certificate outlining their progress and the level they got to by the end of the week. We will then have dinner and after that a presentation ceremony of our own!! After that, it will be straight to bed as our departure time from the hotel seems to get earlier and earlier!! The conditions in the UK are still fairly treacherous we understand and more will be said tomorrow about the time and place of pick up when we arrive.   Mr Kirk said on Saturday, 09 January 2010 23:24:18 The final evening in Italy has come to an end. The entire group received their certificates from the instructors and in turn, the instructors were presented with gifts from both the children and the staff. We really have had a fantastic week and part of that is down to the instructors. Once the formal part of the evening was over, we had dinner and finished packing. The final part of the trip was to have a little awards ceremony of our own. Everyone has played their part this week and we have had moments of comedy tied in with some excellent skiing. Hopefully everyone felt satisfied with the award they received and I am sure that when another ski trip departs, many of these children will be on it. All that is left to say now is that we will be in touch one way or another as soon as we know what our timings will be tomorrow. See you all then.   Mr Kirk said on Sunday, 10 January 2010 10:57:00 We have arrived and checked in at Genoa Airport. It is almost midday and the flight is scheduled to leave at 1.50pm local time. At this stage we have no delay!! I will write again as more information comes to hand. Mr Kirk said on Sunday, 10 January 2010 15:57:14 We're here!! Amazingly everything has run absolutely to plan. It is just before 4 o'clock and we are on the coach on the way back. We envisage being at Cranford House around 5.30pm. See you soon!!