This can't be the end.......

Hi Tec central has gone to bed but the kids have the password!

It has been such a great holiday. The weather was fantastic and let us do everything we wanted. Some of the best bits - new indoor activities (sports and party hall, indoor caving, chill out room), being able to jump into the lake twice (it wasn't actually that cold), all the Bendrigg staff were fantastic as usual, the teams worked really well together, it was jokes, excellent party (Go John!)
After we'd all cleared up we even had another load of goes down the tube slide. We watched Cool Runnings then The Simpson Movie on the coach. We stopped and bought drinks and sweets at a service station then watched Grease and the end of Mr Bean on Holiday. The journey went so quick and then we were in Epsom.

Can't wait for a BL09 reunion.

Night all, Courtney Luke and Zoe on behalf of HiTec central

What a day!

Today’s blog will be a bit shorter than usual, not because we have nothing to report, but because we did so much, it couldn’t all fit into one blog. It is our last full day so that has made it even more special, and yes the sun was out again to ensure the scenery looked at it’s best as we did our activities.

We broke away from our normal groupings as there were so many choices. So, in no particular order there were options to do: Ghylles Scramble, Zap-wire from the top of a 70Ft Quarrey, Caving, a farm visit, as well as the chance to have another go at all the on-site favourites including the new giant swing.

Then it was down to some serious rehearsals and preparation for the last night show and party – ‘Neon’. Hi tec central pulled out all the stops to make it a good one. In a dark hall, everyone glowed in their neon clothing with special lighting emphasising the colours even more. Each group performed some great sketches including some very funny moments, specially written songs and even a bit of Shakespeare!

Pictures from the week and live footage were then projected onto a massive blank wall for all to see. With suitable gentle music it was the calm before the storm. The beat changed and the dancing started. Let’s just say, “We had a right rave!”

Although this is our last full day there is still more to come, so check in tomorrow for a final holiday blog and of course we will give regular updates on Twitter too!

Easter Sunday at Bendrigg

Sun block was definitely the order of the day as yet another lovely blue sky kept our smiles at full beam. The Easter bunny helped us to celebrate Easter by leaving a trail of eggs for everyone outside their bedroom doors this morning.

After breakfast there were plenty of Edgars and Arthurs handed out, but yet again nobody was awarded a Rodney, much to the relief of most of the leaders.

Tonight, Danny reported into Hi-tec central that he had "climbed, abseiled, canoed, kayaked, played football, and if that wasn't enough, don't forget he also played volleyball and won!" He finished his report saying, "Today was really good and I will sleep all morning tomorrow."

Amy said, "there was the most amazing indoor cave." She climbed the indoor rock and told us that the quarry was good too.

George enjoyed the singing as his Bebo group practised for tomorrow nights show.

Nadia said her highlight was jumping of the jetty into the lake. Zoe reported that the whole Bebo group actually jumped off the jetty into the lake. Zoe said the whole holiday is really good and really bright (neon).

More Tweets and blog updates tomorrow.

Happy Easter to everyone from all at Epsom Phab.

Day 2 & the sun is still shining!

The day began in glorious sunshine with our customary after-breakfast award ceremony where Arthurs, Edgars & Carries (No Rodney’s yet!) were handed out to all those who achieved successes yesterday.

Reporters from each team (Twitters, Facebookers, Bebos & Myspacers) worked together to bring you the following news in poetical form:

“Ashleigh conquered the zip-wire but George went down the Sssshhh-wire. The campfire was warm & bright, and we sang and stayed up all night. Ali was very clumsy (reported in an earlier twitter), she fell in the water, when she got out she only had one wellie & her other foot was smelly. The tuck shop finally opened today & all the kids shouted hip hip hooray”

Malcolm from the Facebookers told Hi-tec central that they had done canoeing & kayaking with members of the team who were dry, choosing to jump in. Congratulations go to Phil who successfully completed a forward role along the plank between the two canoes

On the new indoor climbing wall the Bebos & myspacers tackled the Chris Bonnington Challenge and completed a free abseil in the sunshine. Nadia was particularly courageous on the vertical challenge.

As the sun went down over Kendal, both Georgia & Amy reported to Hi-tec Central, that the camp fire “was the best! It was the greatest”. Ronan, who had led some great songs around the fire, said the camp-fire “was real fun!”

Another great day ended with a sing-song all the way back to the lodge. Updating tweets will continue throughout the day tomorrow, so be sure to check in on Twitter. Our blog will also include coverage of day 3 of Epsom Phabs Holiday 2009!

Our First Day @ Bendrigg Lodge

What a great day we have had on our first whole day at Bendrigg Lodge.

Epsom Phab arrived last night at around 9.30pm (You might have read this news on our Twitter page) and were greeted by some friendly and familiar faces at Bendrigg Lodge. After some home made soup it was off to bed to be ready for today’s activities.

We have split into 4 groups: Twitters, Facebookers, Bebos & Myspacers.

Alice from Facebookers reports that “We started off the day on the ropes course and all worked well together - We all got to the end. Once we had a play we moved onto the bendy tubes. Everybody did it at least once and Jo & Leanne, after some encouragement from the team, did really well to get up the bendy beam. After a long day we were exhausted but we all had smiles on our faces.”

Tania from Myspacers said “from the beam to the swing with plenty in between – Michael & Georgia our group ‘novice Phab holidayers’ have been leading the charge. For tonight I wonder what indoor caving might mean?!”

Ashleigh of the Bebos thinks she can’t, but the rest of the Bebos think she can can!

Liz of the Twitters felt “Tatiana and Ciara (two more ‘Phab holiday first-timers’) were full of enthusiasm and inspired the rest of the Twitter team."

As this blog gets published to the web, the group are off to do bendy pot, indoor caving (another new activity at Bendrigg Lodge) and volleyball. It’s been a great day full of personal achievements and successes and to end the day the sun has come out in celebration too!

Don’t forget to check Twitter for regular updates of what we are up to tomorrow.

It's time to go on Holiday!

Hooray, the day has finally arrived.

The weathers cool, so perfect for travelling and the forecast for the next few days is noisey with a spot of singing here and there.

Hi-tec central is heading off a bit earlier than the main group, so the next blog will come from Bendrigg Lodge. Hope everyone has a great journey and heres a new song to learn whilst on the trip:

"

I don’t know but I’ve been told

The Bebo gang are made of gold

The MySpacers are always friendin’

The facebook gang are always pokin’

Twitters tweet they’re never stopping

We’re Epsom Phab so let’s get rockin.

Facebook – pokin

MySpace – Friendin

Twitter– tweetin

Bebo – Life-streamin

Epsom Phab – Lets rock

1 Day to go.....Yipppeee!

Only one more nights sleep to go. Tomorrow night I'll be officially of on Epsom Phab's Holiday for 2009. I'm actually waiting by my front door so I can get out quickly to go in the morning. Hi-tec will be in cyber-space for the next 5 days, so hoping that technology is going to work ok!

We've got a new song too, but I'm not going to post it till the morning, so be sure to check our blog as we'll be posting what we have been up to each day. Don't forget we are on Twitter too.

Right, 7pm, I'm off to bed so I get a good sleep and hopefully it will make tomorrow come around faster too!

See you all at Bendrigg!

2 Days to go

How exciting is this? 2 days to go and we are ready to go.

Hi-tec central has unplugged and closed down ready to be transported and set up at Bendrigg. Well all is unplugged except this one communication portal. We have to stay connected to blog and tweet tomorrow!

Social networking is the name given to how lots of people stay in touch using the internet. So things like, facebook, msn, twitter & bebo are all social networking sites. Manuy of you will be using facebook to chat with Epsom Phab and now we are on twitter too.

A blog is like an on-line diary to share words and pictures of what you've been upto or things that you've been thinking about. Once you have written it, you can post it (without the help of a postman!) onto the web so that everyone can read it and find out what we have been up to!

Twitter is like a mini-blog, it's a quick way to put a short messages onto the web so people know what your up to. Many people 'tweet' (the name given to your message) from there mobile because it is quick and easy to do and it keeps your 'followers' up to speed with your adventures, perfect for our holiday!

I wonder which group I'm going to be in? Only 2 days till I find out!

3 days to go.

Hi to all from Hi-tec central.

3 days to go and everything is going to plan. I've just been checking the kit list to make sure I've got every thing packed and ready to go.

Now where did I put those neon socks?

Testing our new holiday blog

With only 4 days to go, we are all getting very excited here at Epsom Phab's Hi-tec control centre. We leave from Epsom on Thursday and head North to our friends at Bendrigg Lodge in Kendal located at grid reference 581892, to be specific. We have a packed program of fun and activities to look forward to and this years theme will be certainly colourful and very up to date with the latest web social networking craze.

We will keep everyone up to date with what we are doing as Epsom Phab go hi-tec with all the latest news as we enjoy our Holiday 2009 at Bendrigg. Lets get packing!

If that isn't enough there will also be shorter messages (or tweets) over on our very own Twitter page (see the link for this to the left).

It's all very exciting and the countdown is now on!