 |  | | | School: Exchange visit | There are 2 messages in this section. |
Liz Willis from London. Posted 8 Oct 2004.
The head of the French Department in Dingwall Academy in the early 1960s used to organise exchange visits to Belgium in the summer holidays, for (I think) all the secondary schools in Easter Ross. The scheme was that Belgian pupils stayed with Scottish pupils’ families for 3 weeks, then the Scottish pupils’ went back with them to stay with their families for 3 weeks. The idea was to improve our French, but this was a very economical means of going abroad at a time when foreign holidays were still not on the cards for most people. To keep travel costs down to the absolute minimum – I believe we had to pay a total of £5 return in 1962 - we did the epic journey from Dingwall to Dover, and back, by coach. Many of us had never been south of the border before, never mind further afield, and we were amazed at the sight of city gents pouring out of their offices en masse as we made our way through London in the rush hour. There was a form to fill in with various details to try to ensure a degree of compatibility between the matched pairs of pupils and their families, and we were briefed, via a booklet, on the other country’s history, culture and customs. In many ways the experience was an eye-opener as to how other folk lived, and widened our horizons memorably. | | |
|  | Anne from Glasgow. Posted 29 Oct 2004.
travel had gone a bit more upmarket, perhaps, by the time I participated in the Dundee-Orleans exchange in the mid-60s. We left Dundee on the night train for Kings Cross, traversed London to Victoria Coach Station and were bused to Lympne Airport in Kent.
It was the first flight for almost all of us and the bumpy take off from the grass airstrip was scarey! However, we touched down safely at Beauvais and from there by coach to Orleans.
I can see now why the accompanying teachers looked as if they'd just survived a war.
After three weeks, we made the journey in reverse. It was enlivened by turbulence on the Beauvais-Lympne flight, and our apprehension was not relieved by the party of French nuns who prayed at the top of their voices throughout!
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