Bellewaerde Theme Park

Bellewaerde – Belgium’s unique mix of animals, amusement rides and landscaping – has been entertaining Belgian, French and Flemish families for over half a century. This season the park has been taking guests into a new dimension – 4D – as it increases its range of allweather offerings and builds on its range of seasonal events.

”Bellewaerde park was founded in 1954,” confirms Filip de Witte, who joined in 1993, initially as its finance director. “At first it was a bird park, then a kind of safari park. In the 80s it really developed as a theme park, but the thing for us is that we are still combination of rides, animals and landscaping, which is quite original in this region.” De Witte is now the park’s general manager, as well as a leading member of several regional, national and Europe-wide trade associations.

Located at Leper, close to the France-Belgium border, Bellewaerde entertains around 750,000 guests a year at a 54-hecatre site shrouded in greenery. “We invest a lot of time and money in the gardens and because we exist a long time, a lot of it is very mature.”

Tall trees provide plenty of shade of sunny days, preventing the exodus to the beach that can occur at other parks. “The general feeling is very good, the most important thing about Bellewaerde is the soul of the park.”

For this reason, adds de Witte, the park does not concentrate on signature attractions (“we do not have a Kingda Ka or whatever”).That said, it was the first park to open a Huss Topple Tower (El Volador), and the Vekoma Boomerang that sits close by is still high on many thrillseekers to-do lists, but they don’t dominate as certain attractions do at some parks.

If you would like more information please link to:

http://www.bellewaerdepark.be/en

Rehearsals for Belgium on Monday: All wind band must attend!

Rehearsals will be on from 27th May onwards

ALL pupils MUST attend rehearsals this week.

There are only three left before the Farewell Concert!

Belgium trip update

Parents will be receiving an information letter and pack by the end of this week – please read through this carefully as it contains vital info.

INFORMATION MEETING WITH PARENTS/CARERS: 

Monday 3^rd June from 6.00 – 6.45pm in the school hall.

At this meeting, we will: introduce members of staff going on the trip; go over our itinerary; present a slideshow of photos of Ghent and issue Code of Conducts as well as other important information.  

HOODIES

We are currently looking at competitive prices for hoodies for the trip – these will be black with ‘Belgium Music Tour 2013’ on the back.  Please let Mrs. O'Brien know whether you wish to purchase one of these.

This information will be included in your info. pack this week with a return slip to be brought, with payment, to the meeting on 3^rd June if you wish to purchase one as a momento.

N.B. We may also have to wear this over our concert shirt and tie for the Blankenberge concert as it is an open air concert on a bandstand so may well be a bit chilly!

EE2 AND PASSPORTS

At present, we only have ONE EE2 form still to be handed in to Mrs Brayford – you know who you are so please bring this in asap!!

Thanks to all who have submitted these.

Please also remember that Mrs Brayford needs a photocopy of your passport so please bring this in to her also if you have not already done so.

REHEARSALS…

Please remember that there are no rehearsals this week, but we will have to call rehearsals for all groups performing next week, week beginning 27^th May.

Full attendance next week at these rehearsals is vital.

Belgium trip added extras

Hoodies for the Belgium trip are going to be ordered on the 4th June.

If you wish to have a hoody as a momento of the trip, please look out for further information about the hoody prices in the parent's information pack.

There will be a parent's information evening on Monday 3rd June at 6pm in the school assembly hall.

Belgium trip rehearsals are running this week!

Please note rehearsals for 

Belgium

ARE

running this week!

If you cannot attend for any reason please

 contact the music staff.

Vocal Group: Wednesday after school in B1

Guitar Ensemble: Thursday after school in B1

Rehearsals will resume next week (13th - 17th May)

Please note rehearsals for 

Belgium are 

NOT

running this week 

to give those doing exams some extra revision time.

Rehearsals will take place at all the normal times next week: 13th - 17th May

Signature Dessert in Ghent: Waffles

Brussels waffles in Ghent

‘Waffle’ by Jeremy Keith. Creative Commons Attribution licence

A sure-fire way to tell natives from tourists is how they order waffles. Locals never order them consume these sweet snacks with whipped cream, chocolate or other elaborate toppings (except sometimes fruit). Instead, a Brussels waffle – a large, light rectangle with 20 ‘squares’, usually eaten in tearooms and brasseries – is traditionally buttered and sprinkled only with icing sugar.

Etablissement Max is an elegant brasserie run by Yves Van Maldeghem whose entrepreneurial family started out with a mobile waffle stall at a fair. Yves bakes waffles using his family’s 120-year old waffle irons, and also makes pancakes and sizzling apple fritters. To bake your own, pick up Jan Gheysens’ Belgian Waffles and Other Treats here, which contains Yves’ family recipes.

Ghent canals

Ghent, one of Europe's power hubs in the 11th century

Ghent is a big city. Almost 250.000 people live here. Back in the 11th century Ghent was the second biggest city in Europe.

Castle Gravensteen

Second only to Paris in that time Ghent was an economical super power. It was the European centre for the wool industry. The demand for wool was so high that it had to be imported from England and Scotland. The merchants accumulated such a wealth and power that they pretty much took over the governing of the city from the aristocracy.

They formed powerful guilds and when necessary even allied with foreign powers to protect their interests against the local sovereigns. At least for a while the merchants actually the upper hand but this period ended soon enough when Ghent fell under the rule of Burgundy. 

The guilds opposed newly introduced taxes by the new ruler and raised an army. The rebellion culminated in the Battle of Gavere 1453. The city suffered a devastating defeat against the army of Philip the Good and had to accept higher taxes as imposed by the new ruler. The defeat had another effect; the city lost influence and a shift of power became apparent in the years to come. Ghent remained a powerful and important centre of trade but it started to lose its status as THE centre of the Low Countries to Antwerp.

Belgium trip rehearsals

Finally, can I remind you that FULL ATTENDANCE AT REHEARSALS is absolutely vital as we do not have many rehearsals left until our ‘Farewell Concert’ on Wednesday 19th June due to study leave.

Please remember to bring in instruments on the appropriate day, and ensure THAT YOU PRACTISE YOUR PARTS AT HOME!

That is the only way progress can be made in the limited time we have left.

Rehearsals are as follows:

Mondays          Wind Ensemble at 1.10pm in B1 (next rehearsal on Monday 13th May)
Tuesdays          String Ensemble at 1.10pm in B1 and String Quartet at 3.35pm in ICT Suite (although quartet not rehearsing tomorrow)
Tuesdays          Pipe Band at 3.35pm in B3
Wednesdays     Vocal group at 3.50pm in B1
Thursdays         Guitar Ensemble at 3.35pm in B1

Please remember that these groups will not rehearse next week due to exams (week beginning 6th May) and therefore the next rehearsals will be the week beginning 13th May.