By Caitlin Sneddon, age 15

Falls of Clyd

After months of anticipation, January came – along with fresh drifts of treacherous snow across the country.

Despite the weather 14 home-educating families made their way to Scottish Youth Hostels Association’s Youth Hostel in New Lanark, near the Falls of Clyde in to have a fantastic weekend with other home-educating families. The families were welcomed in, each with their own tales of getting lost, as well as a car getting stuck just outside the Youth Hostel which was obviously very exciting. Some people made their way down to the swimming pool whilst others just relaxed and made friends after their journeys from all over Scotland.

The next morning everyone woke up excited about the organised trip to the Heritage Centre. There had been a bit of confusion about the time of the trip, but by 11am everyone who wanted to go was standing outside the museum. The tickets were handed out I have to admit that it was still difficult to work out who was in what family and I gave myself a personal challenge to know everyone by name by the end of the weekend! Almost everyone went on the Annie McLeod Experience Ride telling the tale of New Lanark in it’s working days, and those who didn’t met up with everyone else in the museum. The families loved looking round the Centre and playing on the pond outside, which was apparently frozen over completely – not that that stopped at least 2 people getting soaked!

The cafe had plenty of food for everyone, although some families opted to go back to the Youth Hostel for lunch. After eating everyone went their own way, with some people going to the different renovated houses around the village and one party attempted to walk to the Falls although they soon discovered that it was too icy. The old-fashioned sweetie shop proved to be a great hit and that night every child seemed to be holding a bag of sweets (or else trading sweet for sweet!) Everyone had their group of friends and it was great to see the children all making friends with each other despite the range in age groups. There were card games for the kids and the grown-ups had a chance to discuss home-education with a mug of hot chocolate. The TV lounge was used as the youth hideout and there were several films put on throughout the evening.

Because the Youth Hostel had to be vacated by 12pm the next day every family was allocated a job. At 12:15am the next day there was a spotless Youth Hostel and a scattering of exhausted workers. At this point most of the group decided to take the opportunity to walk to the ‘awe inspiring’ Falls of Clyde. The river was in spate and very impressive and everyone had a good time. Those Mums who hadn’t had quite enough of chatting went to the cafe for a cup of tea and a bowl of soup, whilst the children played more cards!

Everyone seemed to have had a brilliant weekend and there were lots of good reports. The children all made lots of new friends and got on well, which created a great atmosphere. I had a brilliant time and loved getting to meet so many interesting people. I know that people were hoping that another similar trip could be organised soon and I am certainly looking forwards to it!

Some of the weekenders

Young weekenders

Young adventurers