A North Sea Adventure

I cannot believe its over a month since I went on my Day Sail on the Black Diamond. I haven't had time to write about my experience so here goes.

In 1986 the Tall Ships visited Newcastle and I remember going to the Quayside several times with my family as we were fascinated by the ships both big and small.  I've always wondered what it would be like to actually go on a sailing ship so when I saw the Adult Day Sail advertised on the Girlguiding North East England website I just thought "Yes this is for me"  What could go wrong in a day, even if I hated it I was sure I could survive so before I had the chance to change my mind I paid my money.

Its a big step up and if I miss, the water is very wet!

The Black Diamond (http://www.sailingnortheast.co.uk/) is docked in Hartlepool Marina so early on Saturday morning my very kind husband drove me down. As usual I got there early but it turned out that I although we were told to arrive for 9:30 the correct start time was 8:30 as there is the safety briefing to go through and the very long job of getting into the water proofs and life jackets. The worry was we had to be out of the marina by 11:00 to catch the tide otherwise we wouldn't get out. But nothing was a drama for our very patient two-man crew (and apologies but I've wracked my brain and cannot remember their names so they will be Captain and 1st mate) .

First to arrive

When everyone arrived and safety talks done it was time to get kitted out. I already had on a t-shirt, thin jacket and my dads windproof and waterproof fleece (thanks to my sister for buying it for him a few years ago, I can vouch for the fact it was definitely windproof as I was not cold at all out at sea.) On top of that was waterproof trousers, jacket and life jacket and not forgetting the wellies.

Eventually we were ready to go, at the last minute I decided to take a sea sick tablet just in case as didn't want my day spoilt with feeling ill. So our Captain manoeuvred us out the marina into the lock and then out onto the North Sea.

It was a day of two halves weather-wise. The morning was rolling waves and strong wind so the sails were raised and carried us out to sea. Luckily the place I was sitting was slightly protected from the waves but some of the crew were getting the waves right in their face as we crashed through them. The boat was also on a very precarious tilt but as long as I didn't look at the people above me I didn't worry too much.

The Captain decided, considering the roughness of the sea that we would go into a harbour for lunch to make it easier to cook and eat, he had no arguments there. Until you are actually below deck you don't realise how cramped it is. There is very little room yet a lovely meal was produced by the Captain of pasta and garlic bread which we all devoured. Even the poor person who had been seasick felt able to eat some but I think she might have regretted that when we went back out to sea!

Then there were the instructions for the toilet which went on the lines of pull this lever 3 times and that one 3 times, do what you need to do and then repeat with levers. Never mind the layers of clothes you have to negotiate and I didn't want to even think about how small the actual toilet space was so I decided to refuse another cup of tea and just wait. As we sat and listened to all this lever pushing makes you appreciate a proper toilet.

Unfortunately, in the time we had been in the harbour the waves, rain and wind had disappeared and the sails were no use to us and the engine had to be used to move anywhere.

Returning home

The original plan had been to sail towards Sunderland and return, just as well we didn't do that as we might have been stranded. Instead we tootled around and learnt how to plot your position on a map using the coast and eventually headed back to the marina.

Pleased it's not me manouevering into dock

During the day whenever sails were put up and down or ropes were loosened or tied it was a general shout out for someone to help and I was never quick enough to volunteer or move (it was hard to move quick in a small space surrounded by people who are all a couple of sizes bigger than normal with all the layers we were wearing) But I did do some tasks and enjoyed the whole experience, I would do it again.

If you click here there is a write up on the Girlguiding North East England website and it is thanks to Guiding that I had this experience as I would never have done it otherwise

Going back to the Tall Ships I have a new admiration for anyone who is involved in this type of sailing. I don't know if I could cope with staying on a boat for any length of time but never say never.

When I lived in Whitley Bay my Mum and I would often walk along the prom and look out to sea and wonder how far the horizon was, well Mum I never reached the horizon but it was a good days sail.

In the words of Heather Small.......

"What have you done today to make you feel proud?"

This is a bit of a reflective post. I got my Bronze Award with a pin badge at the County AGM and was all excited until I couldn't actually open the catch to pin it on. But never mind, brought it home and a bit of brute force from husband fixed that and I put it with my promise badge on my Trefoil Guild Hoodie and I will wear it with pride. We re-formed our Guild in 2013 as we thought it would be good fun to organise meetings for adults. I looked at the Voyage Award and thought I'd give it a go. Little did I know it would at times take over my life but I never regretted it.

Without the award I would never have knitted 100 hats in 100 days and felt so proud to see my hat on a baby in the Ugandan orphanage.

As Chairman of our Guild I was proud that we collected tinned food, packets of dried food and toiletries and handed them over to Churches against Poverty to help those who desperately needed help. The Vicar told me by the afternoon it would have been distributed to families.

I would probably got around to doing the Rainbow sleepover but this give me the push to do it now and I was proud to see my Rainbows taking that big step to go on the sleepover and that parents trusted me and my team to look after them.




I'm proud of my Blog and I love looking at the statistics that show where it is read.

I know people in England, Northern Ireland, Canada and Dubai so can understand why its read there but wonder who is it in Poland that reads it!







So Heather, I can safely say I am proud for my personal achievement and it doesn't end there.

Next month I am off to sail on the North Sea for the day with North East England Girlguiding on the Black Diamond of Durham which is a 10 berth 45 foot Ocean Racer for a bit of "hands on " sailing. It was an impulsive decision but looking at the grey North Sea today I hope I don't regret it.

Me, Dancing Queen and Comic Relief

I started the first stage of my Silver Voyage award by taking part in the Comic Relief Danceathon.

Girlguiding and Comic Relief had set the challenge of raising money for Comic Relief by being sponsored to dance for 6 hours. I helped to organise an event and we asked units to come for 2 hours at a time with the goal being that as a Division we would have someone dancing in the room for the 6 hours which was the Comic Relief Challenge.

My Rainbows started at midday, they went home at 2 o'clock but I decided to stay.

At 4 o'clock when it was just me and the DJ there was no question it had to be Dancing Queen that I requested. With the whole floor to myself and my favourite song how could I not dance.

For 6 hours I didn't sit down (except for the loo breaks) but moved with varying degrees of energy.


I think my legs have now recovered  (just) but it was worth it.  I'm proud to be part of  our fantastic Benton Division where each person from the smallest Rainbow to the Adults all contributed in their own way to help raise over £1,000 for Comic Relief and the money is still coming in. Its good when we all do our little bit and it adds up to make a difference.




We have a page set up for sponsors if anybody would like to contribute  click here for the Giving page of Benton Division Danceathon and to those who already have, thank you.

Bronze award completed now on to Silver

This week I received my letter to say I've achieved the Bronze award, I was so pleased because until I got that I was worried that what I had submitted wouldn't be acceptable.

What did I do to get it?

From 22nd February 2014 to 21st January 2015 I have spent:

Service
12 hours on duties as Trefoil Guild Chairperson
28 hours helping out in different Guiding units

Myself
27 hours learning about and developing a blog
16 hours exploring local history with Newcastle City Guides

Teamwork
11 hours planning and participating in the Rainbow Christmas event

Skills
30 hours getting a Girlguiding qualification by organising and taking part in a Rainbow sleepover

Explore my world
20 hours getting involved with a global charity by knitting my hats for Uganda (I went way over the hours needed for this)

Overall I've probably done more than these hours but this was the amount recorded for the award.

I get a badge and certificate for doing it which will be presented to me (and those who know me will know how much I'm dreading that) but more than that is the personal satisfaction I got from achieving the award and the fact I've done some things which I wouldn't have tried if not for my participation.

So now its moving onto the next stage when the hours required are increased and I have to think of different activities but I'm mulling that over with a few thoughts to get me started. One thing I do know, I  will continue with this blog as a record of all that I do.

The Journey of my 100 hats

You may remember that I set myself the challenge of knitting 100 hats in 100 days which I accomplished.

Can you imagine my excitement when amongst the photos posted by the team that go to Uganda on Crafty Aid  was not one but two of my hats!

So I decided to give a pictorial history of the journey of my hats.

100 hats on the start of a long journey

From Forest Hall to Uganda

Thats my hat!

If you would like to see more of these beautiful babies have a look on  Youtube

9 Sleeping Rainbows and 1 Wide Awake Leader

One week on and I am still excited at the thought that I did my first sleepover and it was a success. I have helped at sleepovers before but this was the first where it was my responsibility.  I was well-organised and knew what I had to do but Rainbows are an unknown quantity  and none of them had slept away from home unless at a friends or relative so it was a big step for all of them. I had one girl drop out at the last minute as she was ill and another arrived late as she had been unwell in the morning (just as well she turned up as we needed her DVD to watch at bed-time but we made a back up plan involving going to Asda to buy the DVD)

The girls arrived all excited laden down with sleeping bags, airbeds, pillows, teddies, little suitcases and several other essential items, unbelievable to think they were only there for one night but I was just as bad.



Our theme was Frozen so we had many crafts and activities about snowmen, snowflakes, ice, trolls, Elsa and Anna (the main characters from the film in case you have succeeded in missing the film). Rainbows were a hive of industry sewing, painting, gluing all with a generous smattering of glitter. Stopping only for tea the Rainbows were busy all evening always asking "What's next?"




Finally we all got ready for bed and  watched the film. Just in case I didn't know what was happening in the film there was always a Rainbow eager to tell us what was happening or what was coming up. And of course they had to sing along with all the songs. I could tell, as the film went on more and more were getting tired and at 10:30 they went to bed. Of course that meant they were suddenly wide awake  It was a lovely sight to see them all lying in bed reading their books until we put the lights out. It took a long while for them to go to sleep but they were never noisy and so those who couldn't sleep didn't disturb those who could.

The leaders went to bed at 1:00 and there were still some Rainbows awake but eventually they all slept. Only one Rainbow woke up crying during the night and wanted to go home but my very capable young leader sat with her until she settled again though in my mind I was already going through the "come and collect your daughter" phone call. The most annoying part of the night was my airbed going down but fortunately one of the other leaders was in a very cold part of the room and was freezing, so I sent her upstairs to a warmer room and pinched her air bed.

The first Rainbow awoke at 7:00 but again just lay quietly and as they one by one started to wake up they read their books until I said they could get up.

For Sunday morning we changed the focus of activities to the summer (a girl can only take so much of snowmen and winter). A few Rainbows  were a bit more subdued on Sunday due to lack of sleep but they still joined in. Before we went home I asked if they wanted to do another sleepover and one Rainbow said she wanted to do the whole sleepover again and do it exactly the same.

I am so relieved it was a success but that wouldn't have happened without the fantastic team that supported me. If they saw anything that needed doing they just did it without being asked and kept everything ticking along so that I could concentrate on keeping the whole event on track. So thank you to Kate, Irene, Gail and Janis, without them it wouldn't have taken place.


Its probably fitting that the badge we got was "My first Rainbow overnight" as I don't think I slept.  I might have dozed for a few minutes but that hasn't put me off. I now need to complete the paperwork to gain my Overnight license and then look forward to planning the next sleepover (after buying a new airbed of course)

12 months of the Trefoil Guild

I thought it was fitting to do an annual report for Forest Hall Trefoil Guild in the spirit of Christmas. I've spent many hours trying to do something that on the face of it seems quite simple but I'm not a poet or a songwriter so some of the lines don't scan quite right so as long as you don't try to sing it out loud (and believe me I've tried using youtube as my backing music when the house is empty) and take it in the spirit that its intended it kind of works.

In the 1st month of 2014 the Trefoil Guild agreed to plan an exciting year of activities

Collingwood Monument

In the 2nd month of 2014 the Trefoil Guild agreed to be detectives by the North Sea and plan an exciting year of activities








In the 3rd month of 2014 the Trefoil Guild agreed to relax and find with their inner animal,
play detectives beside the  North Sea and plan an exciting year of activities

My egg turned out nothing like this!

In the 4th Month of 2014 the Trefoil Guild agreed to celebrate Easter with eggs, balloons and string, find inner animals, play detectives beside the North Sea and plan an exciting year of activities








In the 5th Month of 2014 the Trefoil Guild agreed to sample Fairtrade food and wine
4 String Eggs
3 inner animals
2 detectives and
an exciting year of activities

In the 6th  month of 2014 the Trefoil Guild agreed on a trip to see the Vicar of Dibley
5 Fairtrade wines
4 String Eggs
3 inner animals
2 detectives and
an exciting year of activities

In the 7th month of 2014 the Trefoil Guild agreed that Mexico was the place to be
6 theatre visits
5 Fairtrade wines
4 String Eggs
3 inner animals
2 detectives and
an exciting year of activities

In the 8th month of 2014 the Trefoil Guild agreed to go to the Shire Horse for a meal,
7 Mexicans
6 theatre visits
5 Fairtrade wines
4 String Eggs
3 inner animals
2 detectives and
an exciting year of activities




In the 9th month of 2014 the Trefoil Guild agreed to paint pigs for a Rainbow charity
8 Shire Horses
7 Mexicans
6 theatre visits
5 Fairtrade wines
4 String Eggs
3 inner animals
2 detectives and
an exciting year of activities

In the 10th month of 2014 the Trefoil Guild agreed to celebrate 50 years with 50p's
9 Painted pigs
8 Shire Horses
7 Mexicans
6 theatre visits
5 Fairtrade wines
4 String Eggs
3 inner animals
2 detectives and
an exciting year of activities

In the 11th month of 2014 theTrefoil Guild agreed that our first birthday called for food and drink at Amicis
10 50p challenges
9 painted pigs
8 Shire Horses
7 Mexicans
6 theatre visits
5 Fairtrade wines
4 String Eggs
3 inner animals
2 detectives and
an exciting year of activities

In the 12th month of 2014 the Trefoil guild agreed to once again eat and drink merrily,
11 birthday wishes
10 50p challenges
9 painted pigs
8 Shire Horses
7 Mexicans
6 theatre visits
5 Fairtrade wines
4 String Eggs
3 inner animals
2 detectives and
an exciting year of activities

A brilliant year with some lovely friends and I look forward to 2015