150th Post Celebrating Our Centenary Camp

Just dropping by dear friends to say hello, we have been at Girlguiding Centenary Camp all of last week in Cudham, Kent. Our two centenary ducks came with us - Barry (yellow) belongs to the Guides and Gertie (blue) belongs to the Rangers. They feature in many of the photos wearing our unit necker, they are substituting for the girls. On the Sunday evening we had the opening ceremony and then the Take That Experience which was brilliant. We had a wonderful time during the week filled with lots of activities; On Monday we went to Downe House, former home of Charles Darwin. In the afternoon we walked to Downe Activity centre where the girls got the chance to do lots of physical activities: aerial walk way, climbing, zip wire, shooting, grass sledding and Go-Karts. On Tuesday we had bungee trampolining and rock wall climbing with faith and guiding history in the afternoon. In the evening we had a talent show for our sub-camp. On Wednesday we had a day trip to Brownsea Island which was just fantastic despite getting thoroughly soaked in a downpour. Our centenary ducks enjoyed planning their route around the island and got really excited when we got off the coach as they spotted a statue of Lord Baden-Powell and wanted to have a photo taken (so did the girls). We then got on two yellow ferries which took us across to the Island. We had challenges to complete so we spent the day finding various places on the island, e.g. The public hide, the church - were we sheltered from the rain, The memorial stone - where two of our girls made their promise as Rangers and then as a group we re-made our promise. We visited the trading post and found some lovely things to buy! We walked on down to the crabbing, and sand art on the beach. Then it was time to catch the yellow ferries, and eat fish and chips on the coach coming back. On Thursday we learnt about making knots and lashings, camping gadgets, wood fires and cooking on fires, In the afternoon after our picnic lunch we did crafting - making bracelets, mosaic tile, iris folding, an Ocarina and a photoframe. Each girl had the chance to do three crafts all predetermined by ticket. On Friday we watched a display by the Metropolitan Police Dog Team then the finals of the tent pitching and rounders. After lunch we had a fete to raise money for the Kent Air Ambulance, we had a pick a card table, every go wins a prize and did very well. Our final evening had arrived and it was time to say good bye. We had the final of Cudhams Got Talent and then the closing ceremony and finally an Abba tribute band. Saturday morning we packed everything up and went home, exhausted but happy as we had a wonderful week . We made lots of friends and swapped badges, we also left a couple of badges to go onto the giant necker for the campsite.

Easter Holidays and Happy Easter wishes

Hoorah! the holidays have begun, so we are busy with the family but looking forward to the lazy mornings. I have been busy with Guides/Rangers and working towards a camp holiday in May. Em has been busy trying out recipes and made a Thai Curry rice with tofu. Without the tofu it was a lovely tasty dish :-) As we will be busy for the next few days I'll wish you Happy Easter and hopefully get back to blogging during the holidays. Jane

Performance

Last Wednesday Em did her star turn at Guides in the talent show, and performed her own composition "Rocking the Souls" on her electric Guitar. It sounded great, the other girls also took their star turn and performed skipping rhythms, Dance, Poetry reading, Singing, Jokes and finally the senior guides sang "on top of Spaghetti" to the Tune of "On Top of Old Smokey" It was a brilliant evening which we all enjoyed.

On Monday this week the English department went to see the Poetry Show which was a performance for GCSE students travelling around the local theatres. It was a presentation of the poems from the AQA Anthology and Heaney & Clarke or Duffy & Armitage. The show appealed to the students and had quite a bit of humour in it, certainly it was worth every penny of the ticket price.

My present knitting project is a Ranger Doll for Em as we are hoping to start the new Unit after Easter. The pattern is Jean Greenhowe's Mascot Doll booklet - Guide which I adapt with colours to fit the doll I'm making. Jane x

Half Term

It came and went with amazing speed and yet we didn't get as much done as we'd hoped. We visited Ali and stayed overnight. We did go up to London for a day but it rained constantly and the whole world had decided to go to The Natural History Museum! The queues were horrendous so we tried the V & A but that only really appealed to me. Later we went to China Town for a meal and then we watched a traditional Chinese dragon dance performed on the street in the pouring rain. The dancers were accompanied by a band of drummers and other muscians. It was amazing and we loved it. The crowds loved it too. Unfortunately walking round London Tony twisted/pulled muscles in his foot and was unable to do much walking for the rest of the week. So on Friday my parents came for the day to visit and we went for a walk along the harbour front at Littlehampton. The photo shows blue skies and sunshine but behind us was a sky that was almost black in colour. We managed to get back to the car before it began to rain. On Sunday it was Girl Guides Thinking Day Celebration so our local Girl Guiding area held a procession. All the girls from the youngest Rainbows through to the older Rangers, Leaders and Trefoil Guild members attended. We carried all the unit flags through the town to the church. It was an impressive site as we snaked our way up through the streets despite the rain.

Em's Birthday

Hello dear friends, thank you for your very much appreciated good wishes for my back. they worked a treat and I am back to normal - thank goodness! This week I was hit by a chest infection which I have mostly recovered from, it has though caught Tony (no it shouldn't be the other way around) and he is suffering much more with it than I did, temperature, wracking cough, streaming nose struggling to breathe, etc. Moving swiftly on to much nicer things it is Em's birthday this week and I cannot believe how fast the years have flown by. Em was only a few days old when this first photo was taken -she was so tiny. My next photo is of Em four years old on a rocker with her favourite bear Eddy Teddy at Pecorama, Beer, Devon during an Easter break. Em at 9 years of age dressed up as an evacuee for a history lesson on WW2 at Primary school. She loves all sorts of animals but she's always had a love/fascination of snakes so when we found a fountain with a most enormous snake in Copenhagen she was determined to have her photo taken with it. A year later we visited Malmo and she spotted some bronze cats for a photo opportunity although the real cats are even better for a cuddle. She loves sheep and has her very own flock of cuddly sheep in her room! She draws beautiful accurate detailed pictures and loves manga stories. She has been a Brownie and a Guide and had lots of fun during her meetings and camps. Happy 14th Birthday Em, love from Mum, Dad, Ali, Granny & Grandad.

Dorset and Pincushions

Photos from our holiday in Dorset at the end of July.

Old Sherborne Castle, which was dismantled during the Civil War after it fell to the Parliamentarians.

Castleton Waterwheel, Sherborne, now fully restored

Clevedon Court, Bristol.

This week I have been sewing - Pincushions. This all came about because a few months ago one of my frequently visited blogs (it may have been Lucy or Lesley) did a post about pincushions and I realised that I don't have a pincushion! I trawled the web and found some wonderful patterns: Flower Pincushion Square Pincushion Hedgehog Pincushion Pretty Patchwork waterlilly Chicken Small Flower Thumb Pincushion Mothers sewing box in between doing other things around the house I have been busy sewing. They aren't quite ready to be photographed yet but when they are I will post a photo and do a give away to celebrate a year and 1 month blogging (1year and 3 months being a member of blogger).

Finally a photo of the finished Sydney collage hung up at Guide Camp last week.

Happy crafting Jane x

Awards and holidays

Gina and Willow have both given awards out to their readers/commenters of which I am one. Thank you ladies, the rules are: Post the logo, link to the sender, and pass it on to five/seven other blogs. I have decided to give it to everyone who reads and comments on my blog, because I in turn read and enjoy your blogs. Thank you.

Em and I went down to Dorset to visit my parents, our days out included Weymouth beach on the day that it was featured on BBC1's The One Show and the film crew took a shot of our sand castle, we were very excited but sadly our castle didn't make it onto the show.

We also spent time visiting Clevedon Court, Bristol (NT) and Old Sherborne castle which is a ruin from the Civil War and the recently restored Castleton Water Wheel. The weather was beautiful with blue skies and sunshine.

We also went to see two films: Mamma Mia! which was just brilliant and we'd love to see again, then we also went to see Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging which was another good film.

Sadly during the week we heard from the owner of the house we were going to stay in Brugges in a couple of weeks time. During restoration to the house next door the builders have found problem with the water supply which affects both houses. We have been to Brugges before but were looking forward to visiting all our favourite places again. We can have a full refund but now will be staying at home for the week.

Tomorrow Em is off to Guide camp for the week and is very excited about it all. Quite by accident we have discovered that Em is dairy intolerant so have stopped her eating all dairy products. Immediately she recovered from the illness that has plagued her for weeks. Still no Biopsy results, but the blood test came back negative. So, she may not be coeliac after all but for the moment, to give her tummy time to recover, she is to stay wheat and dairy free. After Guide holiday we may try wheat food and see if she is ok or not. Happy weekend Jane x

Sydney Opera House and a little hat

Whilst I was visiting Alison's blog I popped over to Elizabeth at Kitty Cafe where Elizabeth had posted a photo of a tiny hat thimble and needle case which used to belong to her Grandmother.

This is my Little thimble/needle case hat which my Gran gave to me, it looks very similar to Elizabeth's and is only slighlty larger than a 50 pence.

Further photos of the Sydney Opera House collage, which the guides have spent two weeks adding items too. I love all of it but the item that made me laugh was the pink car and speach bubble from Sheila's Wheels.

Myself and the other Guide Mum - Jan worked along side pining and stitching, threading needles and chatting to the girls. Lesley our Guide Leader requested a sailing ship like the tall ships race, so I cut out and started to sew a tea clipper and Jan added Sydney in large letters along the bottom. It isn't finished yet and we don't get another opportunity to sew with the girls until three weeks time. So I shall try and do some more sewing before then as it needs to be ready for early August.

I was hoping to do some gardening today but I think it may have to wait until the rain stops.

Hope you have a happy weekend Jane x

Field trips and Father's Day

Last Tuesday I went to Littlehampton with one of our Year 7 Geography classes. We looked at the way the sea moves the pebbles and sediment across the beach and the role of the groynes. The students had work books and completed a field sketch about the sea front showing its commercialisation and development.

Today it is Em's turn to go on the same trip which she is very excited about. As I started this post this morning and completed it this afternoon I can now tell you that Em had a lovely time, it turned out to be a warm sunny day too, perfect weather for walking.
Em's guide unit is joining a summer camp this year which will be all about worldwide guiding.


So they needed to make a 9m x 2m collage for the side of the marquee with Sydney, Australia as the subject. They decided to choose The Opera House using sheets to make up to the correct size, one of the other Guide's mum helped me plot and cut out the sails of The Opera House. I took it all home to dye the sheets blue, then I did all the stitching and added some jeans material to make the windows and the base. On some of the sails I added some wadding and stitched in the ribs of the roof. Last week I took the collage back for the girls to decorate with all things Australian. It looks fantastic but I will take a picture when it is done as there is lots of sewing still to do.
This weekend on Saturday we went to the Amberley Working Museum as they had a Steam Day with traction engines all coaled up and running around the site. Some of the engines were steam rollers used for road laying by local councils whilst others included a fun fair showmans engine, a minature version, a steam lorry and steam bus.
On Sunday, Fathers Day, we visited Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum, East Sussex. It was a beautiful day out wandering around the car collection and walking through the wildfowl reserve oohing and aahing at the ducklings and goslings. The gardens were fragrant with Roses and full of colour, then we were able to enjoy a meal in their restaurant.

Sunshine and Promenade

Saturday: Em went to a Mardi Gras sleepover with the Guides.

We went for a drive down to Littlehampton, walked along the harbour front and spent time watching the boating activity. The sun was warm on our faces but the wind was cold, the views were beautiful.

Later we drove along to Worthing for a walk along the beach to see how much of the wood was still awaiting clearance. Quite a lot of wood is still there although it has now been gathered up into huge heaps at the top of the beach. Almost the full length of Worthing beach is fenced off to keep the public out of the way of the big diggers working to clear the wood.

We walked along to the pier and on the way stopped at the former Lido, looking back at the machines sifting the beach for wood. On our return walk we noticed the Parks department are redesigning and replanting the gardens at the end of Heene Road. This photo was taken in the summer of 1998, it will be interesting to see the finished garden this summer and how it will compare to the old gardens.

Sunday: Collected Em, she had a lovely time. Yesterday - they did High School Musical karoke, went out into the woods exploring and other activities, in the evening they visited each others rooms and went to bed around 11pm! today they had a Mardi Gras party after breakfast.

Back to School

Yesterday it was time for me to return to school, I work as admin support to 3 departments, English, Geography and Health and Social Care. (so I am back to knitting in the evenings)

In the last two weeks I have completed 2 ipod covers, the pattern was on chocnvodka.blogware.com

I finished off little Girl Guide for Emily and added a sweater, rucksack and teddybear.

my next project is to knit some teacoszies for St John ambulance appeal. http://www.sja.org.uk/sja/about-us/latest-news/stitch-in-time-saves-lives.aspx