Thank you letter from Threlfall Primary School

A huge thank you to all you hard-working students for painting the Threlfall Primary School Hall.  Follow the link to our website expedition news page and click on the article to see a thank you letter from the Principal and all staff:  Outposts Open Expedition to South Africa.

STOP PRESS!! New pick up times ...

Calling all Expeditioner parents, guardians and those meeting the students from South Africa!!

The bus has only just left London - 9.00

New pick up times are:

Churchill: - 11.30
Taunton: - 12.30

Any questions please call the office 01823 451959

Welcome Home ... and keeping the dream alive!

Good Morning ... and welcome home to all our 'adventurers' who have now landed at Heathrow. 

We are awaiting news that they have boarded the coach and will update arrival times at drop-off points as soon as/if we have any updates to the times already given out. 

Help us to keep alive the dream and share in the memories and unforgettable experiences of  the expeditioners' special time in Africa! 

We hope you have enjoyed reading our updates. Don't forget to share your son's or daughter's photos, experiences, anecdotes, personal stories and experiences with us (via the blog, Facebook, with Fee, or directly into the Outposts' office).

Photo Competition: We run a competition each year for the best photos from our expeditions with a prize being awarded to the winners. Why not enter your best photos by sending them in to us? Winners will be chosen and announced in September. Good luck everyone!

Here's last year's winning South Africa photo:

A special message from Michael Kingscote, Managing Director, Outposts Ltd

Dear Parents and Guardians,

DD (my wife) and I set up Outposts Ltd 17 years ago; the aim for overseas expeditions was to:

·        Seek out overseas locations and projects, particularly in Africa and Nepal, that offer our clients an opportunity to know and understand the culture, ecology, history and true essence of the country.

·        Encourage the development of all who participate to learn about the wilderness environment in selected locations by providing a range of fascinating expeditions, courses and opportunities.

We wanted to enable young people to have the option to travel to far flung places to learn about others and themselves.

Thank you for allowing Outposts Ltd to take your children / wards away to South Africa and Nepal for the last three weeks. Since meeting the first of you at a parents presentation, nearly 22 months have passed and a long distance has been travelled.

Many of you heeded my advice and worked hard with your ‘Expeditioner’ (s) to raise the money for the expedition, getting them involved in the whole process of planning and earning; the reward of this process was the expedition, but the lessons learned have been witnessed by our leaders and will stay with your children forever.

You have read the Blogs from Nepal & South Africa and apart from some minor medical conditions, (parents have been advised when applicable), overall, both expeditions have been a success. The majority of Expeditioners have totally immersed themselves in the programmes, contributed with vigour and have learned a lot about themselves, other people, different cultures, environments and life. A few have struggled with their personal administration and hygiene, as a result they have had to be strongly guided; all will take away something worthwhile from the experience.

If all goes to plan, the expeditioners will arrive back at LHR on Monday, I shall be at Terminal 1 to greet the South Africa expeditioners and then, time allowing, will move to Terminal 4 for the Nepal arrival.

We would appreciate feedback, so please let us know what you and your expeditioner have to say …

Michael Kingscote

MJF Kingscote

Managing Director

Wonderful show put on for expeditioners as a thank you from the whole school. Cultural visit proves an eye-opener!

Expedition leader Tom sends his final report from South Africa: 

Project complete! The team spent the first part of the morning tidying up the inside of the building and generally getting it ready to handover to the school, by mid morning everything was in place and we awaited the arrival of the students. As soon as the break time bell sounded hundreds of students descended on the grassy area outside the hall, they put on a great show with acts including kindergarten rap, traditional dance and poetry. 

Traditional dancing

The whole school turned out to thank us

Formalities complete the team handed out numerous gifts brought over from home and all were very gratefully received. 

Newly painted blackboard put to good use

After a quick lunch we walked out to one of the homesteads for a cultural visit, a formal bowed greeting on approach had us welcomed with open arms. All traditional customs were observed with the boys sat on benches and the girls on the floor, our host talked through the family values, way of life and the making of Palm wine with members of the team trying a small sip of the interesting liquid!

With the last day of the project complete everyone took the opportunity to relax before a delicious fish supper and bed.

Tomorrow will see a relaxed day spent down on the white sands of the bay before our final night in Africa! - Tom 

Community Project Work nears completion with fabulous results. Teaching requires some improvisation!

Expedition leader Tom reports to Michael Kingscote:

Today: (Thursday): Progress at the school today went on at lightening speed! The outside and inside have both now been finished, the black boards have been re-painted, holes in the floor concreted and a great octopus mural is nearly complete on the end wall creatively designed and painted by Jenny and Louise. Tomorrow will see the finishing touches put in place before a hand over ceremony/concert at lunchtime. Josh, Matt, Harry and Jordan participated in a maths lesson this morning and once the equations became too taxing they proceeded to teach the pupils gangnam style that could be heard throughout the school and drew an audience to every window! Lucy, Nicola, Dani and Lydia started the day in a Zulu language class much to the students' amusement they couldn't understand a word, luckily the timetable changed later that morning. 

Great job Jenny and Louise!

Louise takes centre stage in refurbished classroom

Yesterday (Wednesday): Renovations continued at speed with the outside walls now compete, two coats of blue paint on the bottom half and the windows painted. The base coat has now also been finished inside in preparation for further coats and colours tomorrow. We continue to put Harry's height to good use on top of a step ladder reaching the higher parts of the building whilst Lina and Kate resembled smurfs by the end of the day by sporting large quantities of blue and white paint. Annabel and Aaron tried their hand at some basic maths, almost being thoroughly out done by the class in attendance. Louise and Jenny also spent time interacting and teaching with an older group, all four thoroughly enjoyed the experience. After finishing late afternoon everyone took the opportunity to get some washing done and put it out to dry in the breeze before one of Tommy's legendary beef stews and some fire side stories with me.

I'm pleased to report that those with tummy bugs are now well on the mend - so all's good at Kosi Bay. - Tom

Happy in their work - expeditioners put undercoat on outside

... and walls get an undercoat inside too. 

Inside painting is finished - looks smart!

Playing ball at breaktime

A bit of colour makes all the difference as the first coat of blue goes on.

Kosi Bay and Community Project Work begins

Expedition leader, Tom, reports from Kosi Bay:

Progress at the school has been outstanding. All worked like Trojans to scrub, scrape and generally clear the hall inside and out. After only a day the outside has had two coats and the windows have been sanded back and under coated. The building is bigger than originally thought and we will need more paint, I proposed we use the money originally earmarked for the Zulu village (not up and running) to buy enough paint to finish the job in full, this was met with a unanimous 'YES' vote. We finished at three and took a leisurely stroll to the estuary mouth to wash off some of the paint and admire the view (see our photo below). Spag Bol for supper and an early night. Tomorrow we begin the teaching phase in conjunction with continued renovations. I think the whole team have now had a chance to reflect on how lucky their own school life has been. There were some upset tummies for 12 hours or so following the Pongola River phase but other than that all is well in Kosi. - Tom

Expeditioners hard at work on Community Project

Hardworkers break for lunch on Community Project

Kosi Bay on the Indian Ocean - perfect for washing off the paint!

Sunset from Expeditioners' camp at Kosi Bay