An excursion (trip) to Lord’s Cricket Grounds by Prince of Wales Years 5 and 6. Brief History of Lord's Cricket Grounds: Lord’s Cricket Grounds was originally a piece of land bought by Thomas Lord, a professional cricketer, hence the name. This happened over 200 years ago. The trip: It only started to feel surreal just a day before the trip! I wasn’t as excited as I would usually be for a trip but before I knew it... the DAY was here. On that day, I became quite the excited person! I came into class and played a little word game along with my class 5T, got briefed and before you could say “Prince of Wales”, we (Years 5 and 6) were already on our way. The route was simple: We (Years 5 and 6) took a Greater Anglia train from Enfield Lock to Tottenham Hale, then the Victoria Line on the London Underground to Green Park, after that the Jubilee Line to St John’s Wood and finally Prince of Wales would walk the rest of the way. So Year 5 and I followed that route (On one platform, I was involved in a fun game of I/eye spy!) and reached the stadium all at different times. But as soon as I stepped in, I felt like the cricket was “embracing” me and my head in pandemonium, buzzing with questions like “What will we do?” and “When will we eat lunch?”(I was quite hungry then!). Once 2 Year 5 classes (including my class) settled down, courtesy of Mr Shah, he explained the history of different things on site as well as the main attraction, including the history of the cricket grounds. I learnt that there was this futuristic-looking media centre (where news agencies, radio centres etc. that go to broadcast, commentate etcetera on the cricket game) that opened just in time for the 1999 World Cup called J.P. Morden. Here's how it looks like (as pictured below): and a practice field where all the players practice called Nursery, named after Henderson Nursery. After learning about the history for myself, some other classes who had come on the trip were now arriving and I was lucky enough to be chosen to present the history to other classes that missed out on the initial briefing by Mr Shah. I believe I did a great job. Afterwards, I wanted to have a feel, a feel of the cricket practice, but then so after waiting for an elongated (long) time, Prince of Wales (All of us on the trip) eventually were able to do the activities. The first one focused on your speed and the second one focused on your throwing and catching accuracy/ability. Next up, it was lunchtime! I was extremely hungry and as soon it was time, I felt relieved! I gobbled down my lunch and then had to wait what felt like a year before the cricket match. I wanted to have a feel, a feel of the cricket practice. In the end, my class left last to start an exploration led by Mr Shah. He gave us a mini grounds tour and also gave us access to the MCC museum (It was the oldest sports museum in the world!). It was worth the wait as it was eminently interesting. You could listen and watch things relevant to your section and I even think I saw a mini model of the media centre J.P. Morden! I learnt a LOT about the Official ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy called The Prudential Trophy there. (When my friends and I looked through a gap between the buildings, saw that the match had started and we were a bit agitated!) Here’s the facts: The West Indies won the first 2 editions of Official ICC Cricket World Cup (The 1975 and 1979 ones) and nobody thought that another country would win and stop the West Indies streak, but...India did just that in the 3rd edition of the Official ICC Cricket World Cup (1983) So India requested for the game to be played there since before it was played at Lord’s (Where we visited). The request was fulfilled , so there was a model trophy created but the original trophy was kept at Lord's. In addition, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) are the owners now from Thomas Lord and it takes a staggering 27 years to join the club! And even that is not guaranteed! The club is quite prestigious. Finally, at the museum, there was a urn called “The Ashes” and it became the symbol of rivalry between England and Australia. Originally, the term was first used when a newsletter mockingly said “English cricket had DIED at The Oval on 29th August 1882. R.I.P. N.B- The body will be cremated and the ashes will be taken to Australia.” A lot of people were saying this, let alone, reading it! Ivo Bligh (captain of England Cricket Team) promised to “recover those Ashes.” After a win for England when they beat Australia, Bligh got a urn symbolising the Ashes. That urn was the one I saw at the museum (All this happened in 1882-1883). Once my class left the museum, we came back to the stadium to watch a bit more of the match, but before long, our time was up to return to school. O, how time flies when one is having fun! Before leaving, my class had a photograph and then Prince of Wales (all of us on the trip) started to make the journey back home. We took the reverse route of what we used to go to the Lord's: We walked back to St Johns Wood Underground Station where I spotted a tile on a platform wall dedicated to Thomas Lord (creator of Lord's). Here is what it looks like: Then we took the Jubilee Line on the London Underground to Green Park, after that the Victoria Line to Tottenham Hale, next, on to the Greater Anglia train to Enfield Lock and finally, we walked the rest of the journey back to the school. Most of us were exhausted whilst commuting back! I found this trip quite exciting and interesting. Even though we were constrained by time and the rain still didn't help matters, I still enjoyed the trip. My favourite part of the trip was... of course the museum as it was quite interactive and you learnt a lot. Thank you to all the teachers who helped in diverse ways towards the trip. All of you did an outstanding job. .