With only a few weeks to go, I have collated all the details I have available with regards the Jersey tour to produce this letter what I hope is a final correspondence before we leave.

Travelling Party

Our party consists of 15 players and 2 coaches. Mr Taylor ’s son, Henry, will also be attending.

Clarke	Samuel	Saltford Stars	Chandag
Daniels	Harry	Bath Arsenal	St Stephens
Davies	Joseph	Larkhall	WASPS
Grappy	Paris	Larkhall	WASPS
Jacobs	Alexander	Larkhall	St Mary's RC
McNulty	Milo	Bath Arsenal	The Paragon
Moore	Ryan	Keynsham	Chandag
Neil	Jack	Keynsham	Chandag
Norris	Bradley	Bristol Rovers	Oldfield Park
Rowlands	Jack	Larkhall	St Stephens
Smithies	Jamie	Bristol City	Chandag
Wills	Charlie	Bath Arsenal	Paragon
Scott	Kristian	Bristol Rovers	Kingswood
Pollinger	David	Bristol Rovers	Saltford
Wightman	George	Bath Arsenal	Moorlands

Travel Details

Meet Airport arrivals hall @ 1000

Departure 26^th March Southampton – Jersey 1120-1205 BE233

We will meet at the airport in order to save costs. Could parents please advise if they are able to transport children to the airport.

Return 2^nd April Jersey – Southampton 1130-1215 BE234

Meet Airport departure hall @ 1245

The boys do not need passports but some form of photo identification will be useful.

Hotel Information

Hotel Metropole, St Helier

Tel: 01534 746181
metropole@jerseytravel.com

FULL BOARD

Kit list

Try and limit your luggage to a single reasonably sized bag plus hand luggage; remember that the boys will have to carry their own luggage.

Casual wear for afternoons and evenings

Tracksuit

Beach wear!

Swimming costume

Shin pads

2 towels

Boots and tools to clean them!

Nightwear, nighties etc

All BPSFA kit

Underwear for 7 days and six matches!

Water bottle

Pencil Case

Any medicine

Best behaviour!

Please can the boys travel in trousers, shoes, polo shirt and jacket.

I would prefer it if the children did not bring mobile phones. Any electrical equipment they bring, they do so at their own risk. Bear in mind that the hotel will be full with excess of 200 children (we must be mad!)

Supervision & pastoral care

As group leaders, Greg Taylor and Tim Kirk will be responsible for the boys’ welfare during the tour.

We have completed the necessary risk assessments for such a tour and these are available to any who wish to see them. We have high expectations of the players in terms of their performances on the pitch and their actions off it.

Please could players and parents sign the code of conduct attached to this letter to acknowledge acceptance of everything stated within.

The squad last year were a credit to their families and their schools; I fully expect this group of boys to lead by example in the same way.

The trip is a schools’ trip. This means that boys will first and foremost be under the care of BPSFA. However, we also recognise that some parents will be in attendance and I am sure the boys will really appreciate the support, especially during fixture time. There will be opportunities on some afternoons to do a joint activity with parents although this may not be the case every day.

Rooming

We have not been allocated rooms yet so we will probably arrange rooming once in resort.

Fixtures

We will have 6 fixtures to play during the week. Fixtures will be played in the mornings all in one location. Unfortunately, I have not yet received a fixture programme.

We will ensure that players get ample opportunity to play. Similarly, we will ensure that players do not overplay!

Medical details

Please complete the medical forms and return as soon as possible with E111 forms. These details are essential. We will only issue medicine to the boys if we have written consent along with details from a parent. We will collect this medicine on the day of departure at the airport.

Money

I recommend that the children have no more than a £5.00 a day allowance. Could you please put the allocated amount into an envelope, one for each day.

On each envelope indicate the name of the player, the day it is to be used for and the amount within. Tim will collect these on the morning of departure at the airport or before at training (this might be better).

Could you also include an emergency envelope of £15.00. This is in case of bad weather as we may have to undertake activities indoors which have a cost implication.

Contact details

We can be contacted on the hotel number given above. Alternatively, mobile numbers in resort will be:

G Taylor 07766 136651

T Kirk 07930 867140

Jersey Facts

We will not only be the best footballing side at the festival but we’ll also be the most informed and intelligent! Here are some things you may not have known about the wonderful island of Jersey – test before departure!

History

The cultural landscape of Jersey – its Norman style farmhouses, the narrow winding lanes and small fields, the French street names – reflect a fascinating and complex history that has entwined the island in the fate of two great nations: Britain and France for over one thousand years.

Even Jersey’s prehistoric period produced a rich legacy of artefacts. Remnants of a great French forest that existed over 10,000 years ago, when the island was part of the continent can still be seen today at St. Ouen when there is a low tide. Flints and crude stone tools were left by hunters in La Cotte a la Chevre (Goat’s cave) now perched 60 feet above the sea level on the north coast of St. Ouen and La Cotte de St. Brelade is one of the most important Palaeolithic sites in Europe. La Hougue Bie is another very impressive prehistoric burial chamber some thirty feet long, four feet high and roofed with flat, rectangular capstones. Made of earth, limpet shells and rubble it houses a Neolithic passage grave built about 3000 BC.

While Christianity likely came to the island in Roman times, it was Jersey’s own hermit and martyr, St. Helier who put Jersey on the Christian map in the sixth century. St. Helier lived and preached at a site just south of Elizabeth Castle and was probably murdered by Saxon pirates. Six hundred years after his death, the oratory, now known as the hermitage, was built on the rock to honour the saint.

While Jersey’s size and location had always made the island vulnerable to pirates of one kind or another, it was the Viking marauders from the north, or Normans as they were called, that were to have the greatest impact. All through the summer months of the ninth century Norman pirates would plunder the island during the summer months. The French King – Charles the Simple – decided the only way to stop them was to bargain with their chief known as Rollo. So in exchange for peace, Rollo got the lands around Rouen later known as Normandy. Thus was forged an important link in Jersey’s connection with France for it was Rollo’s son William who, when he became Duke of Normandy, incorporated the Channel Islands into the duchy. Much of Jersey’s laws, landscape and customs date back to the period of Norman rule between 933 and 1204. It was the same William who conquered England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and thus created the link with the English Crown.

Norman rule prevailed until 1204 when a descendant of William, King John decided to war with France and lost. In 1204, the Channel Islands were given a choice – pledge their allegiance to England or France. England won!

This pledge of allegiance came with a price over the centuries as England and France were often at war with each other. Not only was the island in danger because of its own proximity to the French mainland but also a first line of defence against a French invasion of England. So fortifications against the French can be seen all around the island. Mont Orgueil Castle was built by direct order of King John himself to guard the approaches to the island’s east coast; Elizabeth Castle named after the Tudor English Queen was built in the sixteenth century to defend the growing town of St.Helier and, later on in the 1770’s, the coastline was literally littered with a series of “Martello” towers designed to protect the island from Napolean’s advances.

These defences were penetrated by the French on several occasions. In 1461 French troops seized Mont Orgueil Castle itself and from it ruled the island with great severity for 7 years. In 1781 a French expedition managed to land at La Rocque one January night and march right into St.Helier without a shot being fired against them .It was only the bravery of an English officer, Major Pierson, that prevented further French occupation.

The relationship between the British Island of Jersey and the American state of New Jersey can be traced back to the English Civil War. During that war, King Charles II twice took refuge in Jersey, first as Prince of Wales and then as exiled King of England. The Island's loyalty was rewarded when King Charles gave Smith's Island and some neighbouring islets off Virginia to Sir George Carteret with permission to settle. Sir George renamed them New Jersey. The original venture failed but a grant from the Duke of York in 1664 gave Sir George Carteret, Lord of the Manor of St Ouen joint ownership of the territory which is now known as New Jersey.

But if there was an occupation that was to leave the greatest mark on the Jersey landscape and etch a deep furrow in the Jersey psyche it was the German occupation that lasted between 1940 and 1945. Despite gallant and heroic acts of bravery shown in rescuing British troops at Dunkirk, Churchill determined that the Channel islands could not be defended and declared them demilitarised. Once again, Jersey islanders had to make a terrible decision – to evacuate to England leaving homes and loved ones behind or stay and face a very uncertain future. In round figures some 10,000 did leave, many to join the armed forces, and some 40,000 stayed. The moving story of that occupation is most effectively told at the German Underground Hospital.

Under Hitler’s direct order an elaborate system of fortifications were built on both Jersey and Guernsey, the remains of which are very much in evidence today. These fortifications were built by slave labour from countries as widely dispersed as Spain, Russia, Poland and the Ukraine. They lived under the most appalling conditions and islanders who sheltered them, when they escaped, faced punishment as severe as that meted out to the prisoners themselves.

Bath Primary Schools' Football Association