Well, it had been a long time since the Prison Service Trust had visited London.  The pandemic really snookered a lot of our trips which had to be cancelled or postponed.  It was with great relief when we found out that this trip to London could proceed.  Long overdue.  And it was nice to see some medically retired clients and serving Prison Officers who donate to our charity on this trip in the company of our widows…. we hope you had a nice time and were all made to feel very welcome. 

It was an early start from Belfast City Airport for our flight to Heathrow with British Airways as we boarded the plane bleary eyed yet ready for action.  It is always lovely to see familiar faces on this trip and a pleasure to see new ones and make new friends.  This is what the Prison Service Trust is all about – getting clients to mix and enjoy themselves.  No one should ever feel left out.  We landed safely in Heathrow and went by coach to our hotel near the scenic Tower of London and London Bridge.  We left our luggage in the hotel until check in time and then headed out into the Big Smoke.  A lot of clients just explored the city on foot, walking along the banks of the Thames to HMS Belfast and St Katharine’s Docks etc.  Others went to Harrods or Oxford Street – the Christmas shop in Harrods seemed very popular judging by the amount of dark green Harrods bags that came back to our hotel!  After our evening meal at the hotel, it was an early night for most to catch up on our beauty sleep after such an early start.

On the second day in London, again our clients had a lot of free time for sight-seeing or some even took in a matinee performance at a show in the West End.  We had an early tea and then the coach took us to the Novello Theatre for a performance of Mama Mia, and what a show it was.  Everyone was dancing in the aisles – what a treat to see this feelgood show and everyone raved about it on the coach back to the hotel.

Our last day in London beckoned and clients were at leisure to do as they pleased in the morning after a delicious buffet breakfast.  It was good to see a lot of them taking advantage of the hotel swimming pool and spa to relax.  Shortly after lunch (and how convenient to have a Wetherspoons on our doorstep!!) we boarded our last coach for the journey to Heathrow, arriving back in Belfast that evening. Thankfully the weather was in our favour for our three days in London and most of the time the sun shone on us.

Here's hoping everyone had a good time and let’s keep our fingers crossed that there will be no more lockdowns and lots more fabulous trips to come.

‘til next time

Be good 😊