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Year 6 UK Trip - A day out in portsmouth
What glorious weather, which was good as we were about to spend the entire day outdoors!
Today was all about Portsmouth and British traditions as we headed for the Historic Dockyards. A surprise awaited us on our arrival. With it being a weekend, they often put on performances and re-enactments and today we were lucky enough to see some men dressed in 1850’s style naval uniforms re-enacting the morning routines of cleaning and firing their weapons. They were even ‘visited’ by Queen Victoria.
Our first port of call was a visit to the HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship. It first set sail on the 7th May 1765 and in 1805 she played a pivotal role in Britain’s greatest naval victory when Vice-admiral Nelson defeated the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar.
In 1922, HMS Victory was placed in dry dock, permanently, where she began a new life as a museum and she now sees 400,000 visitors a year.
At lunchtime, we had a surprise piece of entertainment, provided by a Punch and Judy show. (a puppet show) Punch was first recorded in England in 1662 in Covent Garden when an Italian puppet showman put on a performance. Over the centuries, the puppet show evolved in to what we saw today: Mr. Punch and Judy fighting over sausages and Judy leaving Mr. Punch in charge of the baby. The shows were often common in seaside towns and they told stories relevant to the time.
The Mary-Rose was next on the visit. This Tudor ship was built in 1510 and was in service for 34 years. As Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose was a successful warship going in to many battles against the French. However, in 1545, she fought in her last battle and she sank with several hundred men on board. There were only about 25 survivors. In 1971, after years of search and exploration, the Mary Rose was discovered at the bottom of the Solent. 11 years later, she was raised and preservation and restoration work began. The ship is just a couple of years away from being completely dry. She is an amazing sight to see in the dockyards. The museum is being around and within the hull.
Time for some action! Action stations provided an opportunity to climb and develop some naval skills. The climbing wall was scaled with ease by some students. It was wonderful to see just how confident certain people were as they climbed to the top, being encouraged by their friends. We ended the day with some traditional fish and chips .A two minute from the dockyards is the Britannia fish and chip shop. It wasn’t quite fish and chips all-round, but a mix of pies, fish, sausage and chicken, all of which was accompanied by the obligatory mushy peas! We were very impressed with those who managed to clear their plates, as the child-meals were really rather large!
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