Donkey Derby Day at the Holiday Club

Very strange. We got a completely different set of children at the Little Pebbles by the Sea holiday club today. They said they'd been to Drayton's holiday club yesterday but "that strange bloke and his mate with the spaghetti" had scared them.

Still, we enjoyed the Donkey Derby Day. Of course, we drew the religious analogies - the donkey Mary rode to Bethlehem. Or, rather, didn't. The donkey on the way in to Jerusalem. Balaam's ass.

And then the highlight of the day. The Donkey Derby.

Of course, we couldn't allow real donkeys. All the health and safety implications of people actually riding donkeys gave me nightmares. The RSPCA were a bit wary given our track record with guinea pigs, and we'd have needed a vet on-site. Plus that whole gambling aspect to the event. So we carried out a visualisation of the event - had everyone close their eyes and imagine what it would be like to take part in a donkey derby.

No, it wasn't very satisfactory. They say they're going back to Drayton's tomorrow.