On 14th September 2007, the Year 11 artists made the annual journey down to St Ives, accompanied by the 6th formers who persuaded Mrs. Benton to take them again. Our trip started with a long and somewhat tedious journey by coach which was made slightly shorter by the endless supply of films, however briefly they were played for. On our arrival we anticipated a wet weekend on gloomy beaches but were pleasantly surprised for the next few days.

We began our experience ambling around the town followed by a trip to the local theatre. The play wasn’t quite what we had expected from the so called “Kidz-r-us” although we were thoroughly amused by the frequent audience participation, well choreographed dances and lyrics, a sight to behold.

After a well earned sleep we woke up the next morning and began our day visiting the Tate St Ives. Half of us then spent the day at the Barbara Hepworth garden/gallery whilst the rest of us visited the “If Everybody Had an Ocean” exhibition at the Tate, inspired by Brian Wilson.

Both groups visited the beach that afternoon and responded differently to the tasks at hand. In line with the GCSE theme of ‘rhythm’, one group was even serenaded throughout the afternoon by a man on his guitar.

That same evening, we journeyed to the “Skittles Country Club” which had an array of interesting games on offer. This included bowling, at which Mrs Benton excelled and was voted ‘player of the match’, which she enjoyed reminding us of throughout the rest of the weekend.

The next day the groups switched locations (Hepworth/Tate) and were equally fascinated by the simplistic yet intricate detail of Hepworth’s sculptures as well as their ambiguity. Our next workshop included a visit to Jesse Smith, an artist based in Penzance. He showed us, through the simplest of methods, how to depict movement in a continuous line. We soon realised when we got there why this was Mrs Benton’s favourite part of the trip. We then had a pleasant meal at Coco’s restaurant as well as a trip to the cinema to see ‘Atonement’, which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Sadly, Monday arrived, marking the time for us to make the seven hour trek home, that morning we had a successful morning workshop with artist Naomi Frears, who allowed us to pick one of her canvases for her to improve under our instruction, which was great fun! At 1:00pm, the time arrived to say good-bye to a beautiful sun-dappled St Ives, and the blue sea, and return, enduring the long coach journey back to the equally beautiful valley of Woldingham.

Finally, a big thank you must go to the Art Department, who made it such a special experience for us all!

By Lucy Middleton and Harriet Downing (U6) and Emily Prior-Willeard
(Y11)