Where did you go on your school tours?

freshpopcorn

In primary school we went to a country park, UL activity , another activity place, (Lots of water sports which wouldn't have being my thing) Ice Skating, cinema and we may have had a few day trips also.

In secondary we went to a few place on day trips in secondary school.
We also went to Poland(Went somewhere on route) and Italy.
We did lots of sight seeing best part was going to pubs and clubs in the evening and seeing the teachers get a bit tipsy.

gerrybbadd

Did you mean school tour OP?

We never left the country for ours. Strokestown House, Bunratty Castle, those kind of places was the height of it

Sonics2k

Viking World in Waterford was basically the pinnacle of it.

Pretty ****e school.

colm_mcm

Siamsa Tire and Aquadome in Tralee
The Square in Tallaght and the ice skating place in Phibsboro

NickNickleby

When I was a child I lived in Birmingham. I can remember three outings:

one to Stratford on Avon, very atmospheric place. Remember being in an old house, and being told it was haunted. Must have been the ghosts' day off though:D

Another was to Bourneville, the home of Cadburys. That was exciting, but for the life of me I cannot remember if we got any free chocolate, but I remember it being a lovely little village with flowers.

Lastly was a visit to The New Forest. Seemed magical to me, was waiting to see goblins or fairies or even some of the Merry Men.

These were all when I was aged between six and ten, and that's (almost) at least 55 years ago, so details are scant now, but I remember the feelings, if you get me.

The Tetrarch

Hill of Tara/Newgrange/Drogheda; Waterford.

My father was a national school teacher in south Dublin.
One year the tour went a bit rural. The boys started stoning cows as they had never seen a cow before.

Mehaffey1

Two night Three day trip to Shannaghmore Outdoor Education Centre near Newcastle, Co. Down when I was 11. Might have been my first time staying away from home without family involved. Was absolutely lethal, orienteering, canoeing, obstacle courses etc.

This is it

Went to Mosney for one in 5th or 6th class. They had everything there, some craic and great memories.

matchthis

Dublin zoo one year, the zoo in dublin the next and the zoo in phoenix park the year after. Snowballs and shandy for lunch

branie2

The Burren for a couple days for 2 years
Same with Spanish Point for just one year
Shannon Airport
Ailwee Cave
Cragganoun (excuse spelling)

Plumbthedepths

Dublin Zoo, back in the 80's. I was 9 at the time. The most depressing place I was ever in . If the animals had access to the means , i'm sure they would have committed suicide. Last school tour I ever went on.

GinSoaked

Sonics2k wrote: »

Viking World in Waterford was basically the pinnacle of it.

Pretty ****e school.

Wow that dates you to an very specific period. Wasn't Viking World one of those total flops that only lasted a year?

xzanti

From what I can remember. From Jr Infants up:

Primary:
Puppet Show on the Quays in Dublin
Farm
Sonata
Glendalough
Carlingford
Cinema (The Classic in Terenure)

Secondary:
Paris
Coolure House - Retreat Centre
Some observatory up the North

deise08

The heritage park in Wexford.
Kilkenny castle
Muckross House.. That was a long one, from waterford.
Our school must have been on a budget,. I remember one year being brought to a trout farm

Can't think of many more to be honest.

Loafing Oaf

Primary school nearly always a day in Galway, mostly round Leisureland. Think we went to Westport House once.

Secondary school, a day in Dublin in first year IIRC, the zoo the only bit I remember. Weekend in Dun Chaoin a few years on.

Loafing Oaf

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

Primary school nearly always a day in Galway, mostly round Leisureland. Think we went to Westport House once.

Secondary school, a day in Dublin in first year IIRC, the zoo the only bit I remember. Weekend in Dun Chaoin a few years on.

All these school ski trips to Italy that brought the plague back sound very alien to me...

freshpopcorn

xzanti wrote: »

Secondary:
Paris

Did ye get Pis**ed?

NSAman

Courtown and Glendalough.... None of this Skiing Trips to Italy and Spa weekends in Prague crap!

Oh yeah and camping in Lough Key Forrest Park which was a frigging disaster as the tents leaked and it P***ed rain....

Purple Mountain

Primary: Athlone for activities on the Shannon. Dublin for the Dail and Wax Museum and another year we went to a local pet farm.

Secondary: I never went abroad, we didn't have the money but I remember in first year going to the crannog in Wexford.

IrishHomer

Isle of Man day trip

ShatterAlan

Primary school went to the Japanese Gardens and The Falconry. The they kicked us off the coach in the Curragh to play football while the teachers went for pints.


1st year in secondary went for 9 days to France, Germany and Switzerland. So overnight sail from Rosslare to Le Havre, a night in Paris, a night in Heidelburg, 4 nights in Interlaken, a night in Paris again and then overnight ferry home. Fcuk me those motorways were boring.


A bunch of us got lifted by the Polizei in Heidelburg for feeding 5p pieces into the vending machines as it registered as a Deutschmark so we were emptying cigarette machines (and getting change back), playing arcade games, etc.


Got served in the duty free on the ferry..age 13. :eek:

cj maxx

Mosney, Bundoran and the zoo.
Secondary school was a 747 Dublin to Shannon and on to bunratty castle. 1st time on a plane, whoo hoo

Purple Mountain

cj maxx wrote: »

Mosney, Bundoran and the zoo.
Secondary school was a 747 Dublin to Shannon and on to bunratty castle. 1st time on a plane, whoo hoo

Shame on your teachers and the carbon footprint!

Sherry Baby

Primary - The Traffic School, the Zoo, the Farm, Blessington Lake, Natural History Museum and Mosney.

Secondary - we went to see a play of Hamlet.

Some of the lads were messing at the back of the bus and the teacher stood up to give out and she fell. She was bruised a bit and she blamed us. I felt she may have exaggerated the situation. Every teacher gave us the cold shoulder for about a week and she wouldnt speak to us and took time off.

She was in her 60s and she came back after a week. She came into the class to talk to us like a martyr (I feel bad saying it, she was a sweet thing really) and she hoisted her skirt up to show us the bruising on her thigh. You couldnt see anything but there was a collective gasp and turning of heads from the lads. Not shocked by the bruising but disgust at her lifting her skirt too high. :pac:

cj maxx

cj maxx wrote: »

Secondary school was a 747 Dublin to Shannon and on to bunratty castle. 1st time on a plane, whoo hoo

Last year of primary school we were flown from Shannon to Dublin, including a sighting of the lesser spotted Robert Redford in first class department. Upon landing whisked by private bus to the Dáil where Mary O'Rourke gave us the grand tour. I'll admit she was an exemplary host, there was a natural rapport which had more than half of us awake.

Harry Palmr

Three I remember are

Dunmore Caves in Kilkenny
One of the turf cutting zones in Laois (likes something from a post apocalypse movie)
JFK Arboretum in Wexford

cj maxx

Purple Mountain wrote: »

Shame on your teachers and the carbon footprint!

Shame on me. In Limerick I bought my 1st album..
Meatloaf. Hits out of Hell I think. Fcucking Meatloaf.
I'm putting it down to peer pressure and youthful stupidity

Third_Echelon

Primary School are the only ones that I can remember. Don't think we had them in Secondary school. Only thing we had in Secondary School was a student exchange for German class where we lived with the family of a student in Germany for a few weeks and then the student came and lived with us. Was great craic I have to say!

In primary school we went to the Coca-Cola factory tour up on the Naas Road plant. Everyone got the branded pencil case and rulers etc at the end. Ended up with lots of fights afterwards as everyone had the same stuff in the classroom!

There was definitely a trip to Newgrange at one point and then in 5th or 6th class we went to the cinema and the Square Tallaght - was only open a few years at that stage, so was AMAZING!!!

Everyone bought either a Guns 'n' Roses tshirt or a Right Said Fred - 'I'm Too Sexy' tshirt!!! More simple times!

whisky_galore

Fota Island, Cliffs of Moher, Burren. Some cave or other.

We were supposed to go on a European trip but there wasn't enough interest, or money for that.

cj maxx

whisky_galore wrote: »

Fota Island, Cliffs of Moher, Burren. Some cave or other.

We were supposed to go on a European trip but there wasn't enough interest, or money for that.

You reminded me ,we went to the Marble Arch caves in Enniskillen. Not sure if it was school or youth club

Better Than Christ

Newgrange
Knowth
Dowth
Howth (and then a trip on a small boat to Ireland's Eye)
Dublin Zoo
The Viking Adventure Centre
The Enfo environmental information centre
Glendalough
The National Heritage Park in Wexford

diaduit73

Primary school:
Newgrange Farm, The Zoo, Newgrange, Knowth & Dowth. Glendalough, some museum, Armagh Planetarium and A coca-cola bottling place.

Secondary school:
Carlingford

France & Germany. I was only in 2nd year and it was my first time away from home.

An Adventure centre in Galway and An Adventure centre in Donegal (one night we had to sleep in the woods and got bit by insects all night long, it was a nightmare).

Some kind of peace & reconciliation centre in the middle of nowhere.

Dry slope skiing (near Dublin). On the way there the bus went on fire and we had to stand on the side of the road for two hours waiting for a replacement bus.

cj maxx

Ulster folk museum and At Patrick's protestant cathedral Armagh. Armagh planetarium.

Purgative

At 12 we stayed in a convent in Belgium. Was OK.


Pros:
- Being Belgium they served Beer with meals
- Plenty of trips out, Atomium, Antwerp ...


Cons



- A kid a couple of years above fell out with me for reasons I still don't know. He was a skinhead, which made the 10 day break a bit like some escape movie. Always looking over my shoulder. Ye bastard.

The Princess Bride

In 6th class, we went to the zoo and then the Lambert's Puppet theatre.
And had food in a burger place.
We'd never had any other tours in Primary school.

In secondary school, we went to Ardnacrusha and Bunratty Park, Glanbia creamery Ballyragget and Kilkenny Castle, Trinity College and a Dublin museum with a picnic in St Stephen's Green.

The most exciting tour ever-NOT-was a cycle to The Cut in the Slieve Bloom mountains, on a miserably cold and wet day.
This was actually a punishment because our class tutor was cross with us over something.
She frequently called us retarded monkeys.
SH née L if you're reading this, I'm talking about you, you nasty woman.

Del.Monte

Primary School, the annual school picnic went to Silver Strand nr.Wicklow town - fab beaches and smugglers caves; Lough Dan and the one dreadful year to Mosney and than back to Silver Strand thereafter.

Secondary school was more exciting with numerous trips - the Burren 3/4 day Nature trip staying in Lisdoonvarna; Stratford on Avon to see King Lear (I was only allowed to go if I promised to give up English !) and the Continent (based in Ostend) and taking in Bruges when it was only famous for lace; Brussels, Paris and, of course, Amsterdam where we managed to shake off the teachers.

My last two years I was in charge of the school natural history club and was able to hire coaches at will to such exciting destinations as Malahide Estuary, Robertstown Falconry and Lugnaquilla - the latter was right up my street as I could cool my feet in the river and have a few crafty beers, and smokes, at the Baravore Ford while the saps made their way to the summit.

anewme

Primary:

Zoo and Lambert Puppet Theatre
Mosney
Lough Quay Forest Park

Secondary:
Stratford on Avon to see McBeth.

Carodh

Primary
1-Athlone - Cruise on Shannon & Clonmacnoise
2-Clare- Leadmore Icecream Factory in kilrush & Kilkee.
3-Clare- Ailwee Caves
4-Cork- Fota Wildlife Park

Secondary
1-Knock- Gardaí were called as some girls shoplifted at the looks there. School was the shame of the city next morning.
2-Viking Museum & Kilmainham gaol

JupiterKid

In primary school:

Dublin Zoo
Japanese Gardens
Glendalough
Powerscourt
Howth
Cork city and Fota Safari Park
Wales in 6th class.

In secondary school:
Kerry
Mayo
England
Newgrange
Russia in 5th year.

Archeron

Clara lara. I honestly believed there were crocodiles there

daviddwyer

We went to Castletown House in Celbridge which would have been a lovely cultural experience except for the fact that the school and the majority of it's students was located in Celbridge

Seamai

The one that sticks out for me most was when I was in 5th class, we got taken to a cheese factory in Mitchelstown, the Glen of Aherlow for a picnic, the Rock of Cashel and Holy Cross Abbey, what I remember most though 45 years on is that we had been led to believe that we were going to be taken to Cadbury's chocolate factory in Rathmore and could barely contain ourselves with visions of as much chocolate as we could eat, imagine the disappointment on the bus when the news was broken to us that it was going to be a cheese factory, kinda hard for a 10 year old to get excited over a smelly cheese factory. When we had to write the obligatory composition on our trip I doubt too many of us finished with the customary "And we all agreed that it was the best school trip ever"

pauliebdub

We went to Paris in 93 just before my junior cert and Austria skiing in 95. Both were brilliant holidays.

JeffreyEpspeen

I remember going to France and girls from a different school sneaking into our room and shifting everyone apart from me. In fairness, one girl wanted to shift me but I didn't want any part of it.

It goes without saying they were girls from another Irish school. As if French girls would shift a bunch of pale, gawky Irish lads.

Signore Fancy Pants

Primary:
Dunmore Caves
Viking World
Dvblinia
Kilkenny Castle

Secondary:
France/Switzerland 1995

Woke Hogan

I didn’t go on any but the talk of school tours reminds me of the holy war we had in our house after we could send our son on a trip with his class and his older (by a few years) sister never went on any trips with her’s.

At the time we said it was because her marks weren’t good enough, but actually her exam results were uniformly better than her brothers.

We later told her we just couldn’t afford it at the time but really I just didn’t think she would get much out of it. She was alright in school but she wasn’t going to set the world on fire academically, no use sending her to see some old museums in Rome when she could be home cramming for the Leaving Cert.

TheBody

In primary school we were brought on a tour of the Pat The Baker factory. We each received a loaf of bread to remember the trip. Whop-de-do.

Bunratty castle and mitchelstown caves once in primary school,

That was about it....we went to see a play in fermoy of all places during secondary school and it ended in mayham and that is/was it

Vita nova

Only went on one trip to Turlough Hill pumped storage power station in the Wicklow mountains. It was organised by our geography teacher and there were a lot of geological features to be seen but not much fun to be had unfortunately.

fryup

Primary school - early 80's, flew aer lingus from Shannon to Dublin (big thrill back in the day) - took in Dublin Zoo and all the usual museums and then a quick shopping spree in henry st & moore st for the stalls and then a quick visit to Hector Greys then end the day at Heuston station to take the train home, .

boege

Tour of the HB ice-cream factory in Rathfarnham - now closed. Two boxes of choc-ices and brunches set on the ground at the end of the visit and we were like flies on cow****e! Still vivid nearly 50 years on!