On Monday 22nd December at 1pm, all 4th Years were called to the Concert Hall. Everyone was dying to find out where we were going for the afternoon. There was huge suspense all morning. On the previous Friday all Transition Years were told to bring in a change of warm comfortable clothes so this suggested that we were going somewhere cold possibly?

Everyone had gathered in the Concert Hall and there were loud whispers throughout the hall. Sitting in suspense we zipped our mouths and listened carefully to everything Ms. Early was saying. She eventually announced that we were off to the RDS to go 'ice-skating' for an hour. Everyone cheered and there were smiles streching from ear to ear on all faces.

A couple of minutes and a few rules later we were allowed to go. Everyone rushed off to get out of their uniforms and into their change of clothes. We all rushed for the bus as we didn't have a lot of time before our hour of ice-skating would be starting.

Power walking down to the RDS from the N11 at Donnybrook, we couldn't wait to get skating on the ice rink. We met the teachers and ran to get our skates. Other schools were already on the rink but there was plenty of room for us. A number of girls glided on the rink like professionals and some found it a bit tricky. Many adapted quickly and flew through the groups of people. Of course there was an occasional fall but everyone was helped up while they were in fits of laughter. Ms. Litton and Ms. O'Leary had a go and suprisingly enough they were pretty good !

The hour wasn't long coming to an end. Some girls treated themselves to marshmallows and strawberries covered in melted chocolate. Everyone returned their skates and thanked the teachers for everything. On our way out we were given a bottle of 7up and a green Santa hat! We all were thrilled with the outing and look forward to more exciting suprise outings throughout the year.

By: Edith Mason & Nicole O'Flaherty