We met FAAAZE @ Faringdon Community college at 10am, there were 14 youngsters and 14 carers and two Rotarians, Clive and myself. FAAAZE have the use of a mini bus from Fitzwarren school in Wantage, together with four cars, with volunteers and youngsters, we set off, in convoy, to the park.
We’d previously notified Burford WildLife Park of our attendance so we had a booking with a special rate this enabled us to enter the park easily and with out queuing.
In previous years our schedule at the park was to see the Penguins being fed, then lunch then the train ride, last year, to most of the children’s disappointment, we were unable to do the train ride due to the length of the queue, not tied to tradition, this year we opted for the train ride first( especially as two of the youngsters were wearing Train Drivers hats). We followed this with lunch, which was taken in a private room in the cafeteria, then quickly on to see the Flamingos, Wolves and Wallabys, then a Stroll around the large animal enclosures to view the Giraffe(4 of), the Lepoard(2 of), the Lions( 2 of) and the camels( lots of). We passed the Zebra’s and the Rhinoceroses on our way round. We finished our tour with the traditional ice cream, although it appears that 25 ice cream’s is to much for some ice cream making machines.
The trip was rounded off with a visit to the park shop and then photo’s and thankyou’s.
It’s a great way of spending the day with these youngsters who have special needs, their faces when they see the animals are a picture, some of them have been to the park with us many times, others it was their first visit, but they all gave Rotary a big round of applause and a thank you