The Simpson Cup is our winter points competition. It starts in the Autumn term and the six in the lead at Christmas wins a bowling trip. The competition continues until Easter with the winning six at the end of the Spring term winning another trip. In 2005 it was Grey Six from Stags and Wolves that won the competition and they chose to have a trip on the London Eye. Unfortunately this was delayed to the Autumn term but took place on 1 October 2006. Thanks to Chil, here is their story.

It was an early Sunday morning start for the three cubs and leaders going to London for the Simpson cup Winners prize trip; Chil even arrived at Bracknell station with his breakfast! Mmm Bananas. The 0914 to Waterloo arrived on time and we piled on board thanks to Shere Khan having bought the tickets earlier, and everyone excitedly discussed what lay ahead after our hour-long train journey. Alex was able to give everyone a good idea of what was in store, as it transpired he had been on the British Airways London eye just two weeks previously to our trip. He even had the souvenir backpack to prove it.

The clouds had looked ominous that morning and we weren’t disappointed as the rain began to fall as we walked from the station to the London eye. After wading through some rather pond like puddles we made it to the south bank and settled into the queuing system to await our turn. It looked a long way up, and after Alex had told us that it reached a total height of over 400 feet, Shere Khan told us that she wasn’t too keen on heights! The queues moved swiftly and soon we were boarding our pod for a half-hour ‘flight’ over London. The rain continued to fall in spatters but it didn’t spoil the view from our nice dry viewing bubble, and Alex’s bag contained a handy fold out brochure that showed us what to look for and where to find it. Everyone could see The Parliament buildings on the opposite side of the river, but Gareth quickly spotted the Telecom tower, and Anders pointed out St. Paul’s Cathedral with a little help from Alex’s map.

With our brief tour of London over it was time to find somewhere for lunch. The cubs had been asked to bring a picnic lunch with them but the rain had drenched the large grassy area next to the river so we took a stroll along the south bank looking for somewhere dry. On our journey we passed some of the many performance artists who work on the south bank, including an invisible man, a stilt walker and some human ‘statues’ who were doing their best to scare the passing tourists. We ended up in the largest covered space in the surrounding area, Waterloo station! Not many people can say they’ve had a picnic at a train station but the boys all agreed it was fun, although they would have liked the option of sharing the leaders lunch, an unsuitable of mix of processed meats and fat courtesy of McDonald’s from the main concourse.

After lunch we all had to dodge the rain again to get back to the south bank for our river trip, at this point Mang and Shere Khan bemoaned the fact that they hadn’t brought wet weather gear with them, but the cubs were well prepared as ever. So we dodged the puddles again and hid under a bridge to avoid the worst of the downpour, even getting a glimpse of a few flashes of lightning, accompanied by rolls of thunder in the distance. Chil calculated that the eye of the storm was roughly 5 miles away and everyone was glad that they had missed the worst of it.

 Then it was onto the boat for a 40-minute round trip taking in the sights of the riverside buildings of London. We had a running commentary from an extremely knowledgeable if somewhat monotone guide, but Shere Khan said she enjoyed the jokes he threw in to keep everyone interested. All three boys listened attentively for the whole trip aware that some points would be up for grabs for this years Simpson’s cup later on. The rain had been trying to dampen our spirits all day, but as the boat pulled back into the riverbank at the end of the trip it started to ease off and there was even a little bit of sunshine peeking through the clouds to brighten things up.

Back at Waterloo we were hit by traditional British train timetables, and boarded our train home after a short delay due to some signal failure or other. On the journey Chil and Mang quizzed the boys on what they had learnt on the boat trip so they could have the chance of getting some Simpson’s cup points. It wasn’t easy though, can you tell me why Westminster Bridge is painted green? Or why waterloo is called the Ladies Bridge? The boys can. They even found out about a building in London that cannot be obscured from the river due to an ancient planning law…

We finally got back to Bracknell and all three boys agreed it had been a great day out with the London Eye having been their highlight. Many thanks to Shere Khan for organising the trip, and Mang and Chil for making up the numbers.

Where will the next trip be? Who knows, but if you win this years Simpson’s cup you could be going!

Here are Chil's photos from the trip

Simpson Cup Winners Alex, Anders and Gareth wait in the queue	Looks a long way up From the entrance the wheel loomed above the Cubs	Seeing the sights The Palace of Westminster	Enjoying the view Can you see where Jacala works?
Meet the neighbours As the view moved over Charing Cross and the pod reached the top of the wheel we could see who was in the pod next door	All over The Cubs pose in front of the London Eye	On the train Time to go home	Are we there yet? On the train home