Crocodile Hunt
It was mid morning on a Saturday when members of the Association meet in a field in the middle of the Cheshire countryside. All around the noise of excited children could be heard from the for large slides that stood in the foreground, beyond lay more structures that the shrikes of children could be heard coming from. As some parents stood watching as their children slid down the bumpy and reverse slides, some also stood there a little upset that an upper age limit of 15 and in some cases 30 had been put on some of the attractions giving many a parent a reality check that yes in fact they were getting old!.
After almost two hours of throwing themselves down slides, across moving beams and being bounces down a rather large mechanical slide, it was time for lunch where we compared notes on what we had done and what could possibly lie ahead of us in the woods.. As we followed the trail through the woods and along the steam we had to negotiate a number of obstacles that we came across at one point, some of the smaller children worried when we came to a cannon that even the biggest of them could climb through.. As we moved around the trail the obstacles got bigger and harder to get past but the children pushed on in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Crocodile who is said to lurk around these parts, then in a clearing in a patch of woodland inside a small metal hut we came across the croc, who was not to please to see us and spat water out at you if you got to close.
Once we had our glimpse of the crocodile and survived, it was back to the cars after another successful outing.
For ten families their Christmas started early with a magical trip to Disneyland Paris, thanks to the Children’s Heart Association. On a cold and wet Friday morning the families met at Liverpool’s John Lennon airport to be treated like royalty thanks to Val and the staff at the airport who had arranged a private lounge and priority boarding. The short flight to Paris was met with lots of excitement by the younger members of the party with one little boy shouting “Mickey Mouse come out come out wherever you are” as soon as the plane touched down on the tarmac.
As ever all good things have to come to an end. Day 3 saw tired and weary children and adults alike pile onto a coach back to the airport. Amidst the chatter about who saw what and searching though bags of toys to show each other what souvenirs they were taking home, one lucky boy got to go home with the memory that he saw Mickey Mouse on his birthday, a memory Tony Walsh will treasure forever.