The Great British Beach Clean

1st Forest Hall Guides and 4 members of Forest Hall Trefoil Guild were found on Tynemouth Longsands this morning to help with the Great British Beach Clean organised by the Marine Conservation Society. The beach was deserted when we arrived.

In groups of three, armed with a litter picker, black bag, thick gloves and a clip board we roamed a 100m area from the high tide area to the dunes looking for litter. We had to log everything that was found and that is used for the annual summary report prepared by the society about the state of our beaches. 

I was impressed by how clean the beach was and most of the litter was just on the tide line so was probably washed up with the last tide. There were not many others there to do the clean so it was just as well we turned up. It is an activity that all ages could take part in so keep your eyes open for the next one, I would do it again. 

For more information take a look at www.mcsuk.org/greatbritishbeachclean

This little piggy........

Forest Hall Trefoil Guild meet up every second Monday of the month and when I started this blog I said I would include what we do at the meetings. This month we were painting pigs. Kelly suggested we decorated the pigs to help a relative who is involved with a charity that helps bereaved children. The charity visits schools to explain about their work and give out the pig money boxes asking that they are used for donations for the charity. Kelly couldn't remember their name but it had Rainbow in it so there is a loose Guiding connection! Anyway for two hours we sat and painted with barely a word spoken as we concentrated. Here are my 4 little piggies, started off painting them all but the last one was spotty for quickness.

 Here are the rest of the pigs, our creative juices were certainly flowing that night.

100 hats in 100 days part 2

After taking my hats to the Post Office they were handed over with a heavy heart. Also slightly worried, what if they went missing in the post? No money could replace the time and sense of achievement I felt. So it was with relief  I read the post on Crafty Aid to say the hats had arrived in Hampshire. It's the end of my involvement with the hats but the start of a long journey to Uganda.

And in case you're wondering......no I haven't knitted any more since then but did buy some new wool yesterday ready to start again.

100 hats in 100 days

As part of "learning a new skill" I thought I would learn to crochet. My Mum used to crochet squares and take them to Oxfam so I thought I would give it a go. I tried many moons ago but could never master turning a corner. I spent an afternoon browsing the Internet to see who I could do the squares for and where they could be sent. Inevitably I got distracted by websites about knitting hats for premature babies so I thought I would investigate that instead. I found a group called Crafty Aid on facebook, the members of it knit hats (among other things) for a maternity hospital in Uganda. Inspiration struck - one of the sections of the Voyage Award is Explore my World and a category is Global. One of the suggestions is to "get involved with a global charity for 20 hours", from that came my plan. I started on the 6th May 2014 and kept timings to make sure I did 20 hours. After knitting about 15 hats I decided I needed to make it more of a challenge. As I lay in bed one night mulling this over it seemed appropriate that as Brownies are 100 years old this year I should knit 100 hats in 100 days. The next morning I worked out 100 days from 6th May which would take me up to 2 days before my holidays so I thought that was a sign and would do it. To make sure I kept to the target I announced it on Facebook  so that I now had to do it. 

The charity is the Basingstoke Hoima Partnership for Health  http://www.bhph.org.uk/home.  Amongst other activities, midwives and nurses go out to Hoima in Uganda to help in the maternity hospital. They take medical supplies and items for the babies - like hats.

Crafty Aid (https://www.facebook.com/groups/CraftyAid/) on Facebook help to co-ordinate desperately needed items for newborn babies in Uganda to help their survival. The hats are given to the new babies when they are born to help keep them warm which surprises me. I think of Africa as a hot country so why do babies need to wear woolly hats. Many new born babies in Uganda die of hypothermia which is frightening. The hats have to be in bright colours as that is what the mothers want. They also have to be in darkish colours as they are put on the baby when it is born and stay with that child until it no longer fits. If they are washed it would probably be in cold water so our traditional baby colours would be no good as they would soon look grubby. 

So the challenge was on and every night I sat and knitted a hat and then my brain started ticking over again. As I said Brownies are 100 years old this year and there are many enthusiastic badge collectors who are collecting badges commemorating the centenary. I have never designed a badge before and so I tentatively asked if anyone would be interested and the proceeds would go towards the cost of the wool and postage. I was overwhelmed with the response of people who wanted to buy it. I had 100 made (in keeping with the theme) and have practically sold them all which I never expected. Some very kind Guiding people also donated extra money or sent me wool to help. 

The final week of the challenge was looming and I got a bit worried as I knew I was out for 2 nights so I doubled my efforts. Normally I knit one hat a night and then stop but for the last week I just knitted until I'd had enough. And I did it, I was so proud of myself for sticking to it.

Today was the final step posting them off to the co-ordinator and they will be on their way to Uganda very soon.

I think I've satisfied the time requirement of 20 hours! It has actually taken about 150 hours and that doesn't include the sewing up (the part I hate doing). What will I do next?

How do you add a website to a blog?

That was my question of the day and the answer was easy once I worked out how to do it. So as this blog is about my Trefoil Guild and Guiding experience I thought I'd start with them. I've also played around with the colour of the text. Let's just say it's a work in progress. I had a sense of achievement today - I thought I would google Voyage Award to see what is out there and lo and behold what did I find......my blog comes up on page 3. At first when I saw it I thought how strange that's the same as mine then realised it was mine! I know there is a way to get it bumped up higher in searches so maybe that should go on my to do list.

Time to do something for myself

The Voyage Award is split into 5 sections and the hours you are required to do on each section varies but overall it is expected to take at least 12 months. : The sections and hours for the Bronze award are:
Service - 40 hours
Myself - 40 hours
Teamwork - 10 hours
Skills - 20 hours
Explore my World - 20 hours

It sounds scary when its written like that but the hours are stacking up apart from one category - Myself. I seen to have a problem doing things for myself. The section is divided into three categories Mind, Body and Heritage.

This is a long post as I'm looking back to 22nd February when I started the award to see what I've actually done for myself.

On 22nd February, with Forest Hall Trefoil Guild, i did a Treasure Trail around Tynemouth . We wandered around Tynemouth searching for answers to clues which helped us to find out the murder of a local dentist. I like knowing about our local heritage and found out new facts about  Tynemouth. There was a building I've passed hundreds of times which was actually Tynemouths first train station.

This day was special as we also made our Trefoil Guild promise in front of the Priory.

In June I joined some members of another Trefoil Guild to do a city walk in Newcastle. we started outside the Central Station and meandered through the streets of an area that was once a very select place to live. How often when you walk up Westgate Road do you look above the streets and shops to see the buildings above? At one time all the best families in Newcastle lived in these houses. In a graveyard beside the Evening Chronicle offices I found out that before the 1st World War one of the crypts was opened the body removed and a printing press hidden in it. It was put there so if Britain was invaded there would still be  a way of promoting the free press. The same happened in the 2nd World War. Nobody knows what happened to the body! We ended up at St Nicholas' Cathedral and had tea and scones. a lovely morning in good company.

I'm trying something new by writing this blog though I need to develop my skills with this, I want to add links to websites and learn to read the data it produces. I think a few people have read it - even in America. I have also learnt if you press a key and the whole post disappears that I should not panic it is still there in draft form (a heart-stopping lesson learnt today)

I've also tried something new by learning to paint a room. My mum always said she never learnt to paint because if she could do it my dad wouldn't. Well I like that approach so followed that philosophy for years but now I've decided its time to learn to paint. I started with my son's room. He wasn't impressed that he was my first attempt but I had to start somewhere.

What did I learn?
No matter how hard you try, paint will always find the bit of carpet that you don't cover.
A white ceiling has a magnet  that attracts your paintbrush even though you actually want to paint the wall
There is no point in finding the roll of masking tape after you have finished
You never have enough paint to finish and have to go out for more.
Will I try it again? Of course but as I'm sure as everyone knows preparation is the key to it all so I will try to be more organised next time.

One of the suggestions for this category is to achieve a dream. When I was a child I went to London with my family and I can remember camping in Slough and I think we went to London Zoo. It might be a false memory but I do know that I have wanted to go for a few years but never got there. This year in April I went to London. I  googled London Zoo before I went but decided it was too expensive but on the train down I picked up a leaflet with offers on and one of them was 2 for 1 admission to London Zoo so I decided that was a sign that I had to go. We walked through Regents Park to the Zoo and spent many hours there. I loved it and my favourite animals were the giraffes.

Whilst in London - another sign - the Olympic Park was opened to the public for the first time on the weekend we were there so I had to go. When the 2012 Olympics were on I hoped that one day I would be able to visit the park so with the bribe to my daughter of visiting the Westfield Shopping Centre and to my son of going to a football match at Leyton Orient I got to achieve my dream. The actual arena was still closed but we had a wander round and I took many photos of the ArcelorMittal Orbit but couldn't persuade anyone to go up it. I'll just have to go back sometime (maybe another dream for the Silver award.)

Well if you've stuck with me through that well done, looks like I'm not doing too bad for that section - need to check it all is acceptable but it even if it doesn't its a record of some good times and as a learning point for writing blogs, do posts more often so that they are not too long.

North Tyneside Big Brownie Birthday

6th July 2014 was the day of our Celebration for the Brownies 100th birthday. Beaconsfield at Tynemouth was taken over by the Girlguiding North Tyneside County team who had worked so hard to prepare for the day. Bouncy castles, Puppet shows, fun races, a fashion show of Brownie uniforms, an archive display of photographs, the North Tyneside Steel Band and plenty of sideshows to test your skills. I was in the craft tent helping children make Rosebuds. It was a bit fiddly but the children all did so well making them and patiently waiting in line for their turn. I made sure they knew that when Brownies started they were called Rosebuds. It was a great day and even the sun decided to join in the fun. Another 4.5 hours of volunteering for the Voyage Award.