MAR-ECO Visit to Ellon by Staff and students from Klaipeda and Pico Week beginning May 8th 2006 Arrival Staff and students arrive from Pico on Saturday late afternoon. They were settled into their accommodation staff were checked into their hotels and students introduced to their host families Sunday Dr Wilkins had pre arranged with the staff from Pico to attend a local premier league football match between Aberdeen and Celtic. This was greatly appreciated by all. After the game the group toured around central Aberdeen, visiting the Continental Market on route. Oceanlab Newburgh Monday Staff and students from Klaipeda arrived at Dyce airport AM on Monday. Meanwhile, the group of three Portuguese teachers and three students visited the Biology Department to hold a conference with the Ellon Mar Eco students. A lively discussion ensued on work undertaken so far and ideas were exchanged for future projects. Once the Lithuanian group of four teachers and four students arrived to join up, the whole group were then treated to a walking tour of Ellon and the surrounding woodlands. This allowed the visitors to relax in the company of the Ellon students, make friends and help them to orientate and get their bearings. The joint group spent the afternoon visiting Dr Monty Priede and Nikki King at Oceanlab in Newburgh where following an interesting presentation and tour of the Oceanlab facilities, Dr Priede explained the role of his researchers and their findings. A relaxed evening at the Wilkins' house rounded off the day allowing international relations to be furthered in informal surroundings.
Tuesday Entire party depart on a visit to various places of interest along the coastline of the North East. A marine focus was adopted as the theme for the day and our first stop off was at the 'Bullers of Buchan', a well-known area for its scenic beauty and of great interest to ornithologists. This is a highly dangerous area and a safety briefing was given to the group before venturing onto the cliff area. The party then made for the harbour of refuge area in Peterhead. The spectacular Cliffs at the Bullers of Buchan ASCo Oil base was visited briefly on route and a quick, ad hoc tour was arranged of the impressive North and South breakwaters, constructed by prisoners from HMP Salt House Head using forced labour. The massive granite structures protect the harbour of refuge and make it one of the safest havens on the east coast of Scotland. The party were very impressed at our ability to arrange for the oil exploration platform 'Galaxy 1' to be in the bay area just so they could marvel at it's scale. Peterhead South Bay, Breakwater and exploration rig, Galaxy 1
Our main port of call in the morning was Peterhead Lifeboat station. This visit had been prearranged to take advantage of the arrival in Peterhead of its brand new, Tamar class vessel 'RNLB The Misses Robertson of Kintail' She is the first of a new, high tech, breed of lifeboats which rely very much on computers to aid both rescue missions and the safety of the crew. Everyone had the opportunity to try on gear 'take command' of the vessel interview our hosts. Alex Palmer and Jim from the station gave an excellent presentation on the role of the RNLI. Marisa and Marcio dress up as lifeboat crew Arbuthnott Museum was visited after a quick tour of the harbour area in Peterhead. The museum hosts a permanent exhibition of whaling relics and during the tour guided by Dr Betrie of the museum some interesting discussion emerged on various aspects of whaling, particularly between Peterhead and Pico participants as both have historical links with the whaling industry. We departed for Fraserburgh's Lighthouse museum. Before the lighthouse tour we had an excellent lunch in the adjoining restaurant. Fraserburgh boast's one of the earliest lighthouses in Scotland and the tour guide explains how the Northern Lighthouse Board have evolved since it's early beginnings in the 18th Century. Fraserburgh Lighthouse Museum
The party then moved on to visit the small coastal communities that pepper the coastline to the north and west of Fraserburgh, stopping off in Pennan for refreshments and time to relax after a full day. Evening was taken up at Dave Cordiner where the party were introduced to Haggis Neeps and Tatties with a full accompanied by accomplished piped (3rd year pupil Stuart Robertson) and a spectacular address to the haggis by Jenny's husband Colin Gallacher. Colin Gallacher and pupil, Stuart Robertson giving it their all After a hefty meal, it s Home to bed! Taking it easy in Pennan after a full day
Wednesday Our own Mar Eco students entertained their visitors, playing badminton and table tennis in the morning before the joint group headed off to Balmedie Beach to join the Ellon S6 students for an afternoon of socialising, exploration and relaxation. Enjoying 2 royals: Lochnagar and Balmoral The visiting staff, accompanied by Jenny & Dave were entertained to a visit to the Royal Lochnagar Distillery before going on to Balmoral Castle, gardens and grounds. In the warm, sunny weather, conditions were ideal to admire the beautiful scenery. A drive to Loch Muick then followed viewing the Falls of Muick en route. A herd of wild deer were spotted feeding on the river bank close to the Loch, much to the obvious delight of the Lithuanian teachers. An improvised lesson in deer stalking then ensued.. A return to Ellon around 8pm in time for a meal and a well earned rest for all involved. Early evening in Glen Muick
Thursday Down to business! Each country gave a presentation of their respective Mar Eco projects. The friendly atmosphere in the group allowed an animated discussion to take place on future ideas for the mar Eco project. International relationships were further strengthened as the school teachers found common ground and fresh ideas were explored. A decision was reached that there would be a Mar Eco exhibition hosted in Ellon in May 2007 to showcase the work of all three schools. The exhibition would then go to each of the remaining three schools in turn from Vyduno Secondary School in Klaipeda, Lithuania to Pico in the Azores. The Science Department then hosted the visitors to a meal in the school before the group headed for the Satrosphere in Aberdeen. The Satrosphere is an interactive science centre which aims to stimulate and encourage pupils to take an interest in all areas of Science. A brave member of the Lithuanian group volunteered to be the guinea pig for an experiment with the Van der Graff generator and her 'hair raising' performance was followed by 'playtime' for the group as they experienced at first hand the exhibits. For many it was their first visit to such an exhibition and all left thoroughly impressed. Brian WIlkins welcomes our visitors
Friday Coinciding with the MAR-ECO visit, the SETT conference (Scottish Education Teaching with Technology) was being staged in Aberdeen today. Our visitors caught the bus to Aberdeen for a morning at the conference. In the afternoon they were free to spend some time in the city for last minute shopping. Saturday Lithuanian visitors departing this morning early morning. The Portuguese had arranged to go to Edinburgh for the day. They arrived in the capital at 11.00am and spent the day touring the city galleries, Scottish Parliament and Edinburgh Castle. Sunday Portuguese visitors departed early this morning. General consensus was that a full and enlightening week had been had by everyone involved. Students had struck up excellent relationships with their Ellon counterparts and were looking forward to building on this in the future. All teachers involved felt that it had been a valuable week for them. Enthusiasm for the project was high. Our Portuguese friends showing the strain of keeping up with the Scottish way of life!