The Denny High School company was chosen to go to Dublin to represent Scotland at this International Trade Fair. They had to develop their company properly, design and market their product, and attend Trade Fairs and give presentations in order to achieve this. Dublin is taking place from 26th of March until the 28th, and six members are going. They've promised to bring us back lots of pictures for our site!
Here's a little report by one of our members. We're still waiting on the pictures...
We left the school very early on Friday Morning - around 7 am - and started the eight hour journey to Dublin. The weather was fine and we made good time - but we were still very tired when we arrived at our hotel around 4pm. The hotel had lots of people from the YE Conference staying at it, and we went everywhere in huge buses. The hotel was lovely and we got all our rooms sorted out before we left to go to our first engagement.
This was an Irish Night, attended by most of the delegates as well as the President of Ireland, Mary Macleish. This went on quite a long time, but we were all very tired, and eager to get to be, so that we would be fresh for the next day.
The next day was our Trade Fair - the most important bit of the whole weekend. We got up bright and early - around five am - and were all ready to go very early. The actual Trade Fair was held in a huge shopping mall, and there was hundreds of stalls - lots from Ireland, as well as many from all over Europe. Our stall was the first within the doors, and so we got lots of business that way. I was kept busy with all the face-painting - everybody wanted to be tigers, even the wee “free” year olds!
After this, which finished at around five, we went to a disco that had been organised for us all. It was great fun, with a whole range of music - everything from Fat Boy Slim to Neil Diamond. This finished at 1am, so we were all exhausted. We had a long lie in the morning - breakfast wasn’t until a quarter to eight (!), and then we got ready to leave. We were lucky to be able to have a bit of a wander in the actual city - although no shops were open!
We then had high drama getting back home - first our bus way winged by a drunk driver, and we had a rush to the ferry. Then, because of all the bad weather, our ferry was cancelled, and we were very lucky to make a Ferry - we were on the Reserve List. So we ended up sailing the Irish Sea with a lorry, full of sheep. It's only thanks to Miss Swan's great driving that we're safe!
We got home safely around ten o’clock at night, and I know that I immediately went to sleep...
Miss Swan and Bob, our business advisor, were both very kind to take us there, and we all had a fantastic time, as well as meeting people from all over!
Report by Pamella E Dow