I had a lie-in which was really welcome, and because of this, I didn't get up to Hartrigg Oaks for the midday lunch with my friends from AVP, some of whom had already had a Facilitators meeting. I'm a volunteer with AVP North East and East Midlands... my only official role is the Health and Safety person. This afternoon's meeting was 1.30 til 4, and I got there just in time. I was really pleased to see so many people around the table, a baker's dozen of us. There were attendees from Lincoln, Sheffield, Harrogate, Scarborough and of course, quite a few of us from York, and one from Manchester. NEEM members are responsible for putting on, overseeing or managing AVP workshops in Doncaster, York, and Newcastle, and there are plans for more. Our Facilitators work all over the UK and several people in the room are active within various parts of AVP Britain.
One of the things we discussed was the possibility that we should employ someone to manage the group... several other AVP regions have a paid manager and our region has now got the level of support and activity to merit a paid worker. I volunteered to help prepare an initial proposal to start the process, and I'll be working with a chap I don't know at all, Colin, from Wakefield. I'm looking forward to that. I also volunteered to look at publicity and social networking with Cecile, whom I've also not worked with before.
The meeting finished on the dot of 4pm and I stayed a while to sort out the meetings I need to attend. On the way home I collected some sticks from a hedge in New Earswick, and then on the cycle path near Haxby Road there was a pile of freshly dumped Elder logs, so they just managed to fit on the pannier rack.
I was pleased to get back and have a coffee, but at about 5.45pm I went outside to do a bit of log stacking and then chainsawing... not a lot, less than an hour, but the front garden is looking a bit full, so it needs sorting.
I came in before 7 and as there was too much Strictly Cum Dancing on the telly, I went upstairs and listened to Tracey Smith doing her weekly radio show on Apple AM. I like her sense of humour, also her interests overlap with mine... for instance, she visited a landfill site recently and is thinking of doing a programme about it.
I had my evening meal at 9pm and had a fairly relaxing evening, although there was a mountain of washing up and I got through some of it.
Showing posts with label AVP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AVP. Show all posts
Quite an early start... good to have friends here and more chats over breakfast.
But at 9.30 I headed off down Heslington Road to see my friend David, who's gathered together the best of the photos he's taken of Professor Fiddlesticks since Christmas, and put them in a file of about 40 or 50 images. These are ones we both liked from each shoot, one at the Novotel on Christmas Day, one in the Museum Gardens, one at a kids party and one a week or two back at Linton on Ouse, where he also acted as my driver between two gigs.
We went through them and got it to about 12 good images, including cropping some with Photoshop software to make them frame up nicely. We agreed to do one more shoot, next week, to get a couple of specific shots. Once we have our 'top ten', David will create his idea of a publicity leaflet.
Came back via Country Fresh and picked up a sack full of compostables and two boxes worth.
Then zoom back, made my sandwiches and cycled at top speed (when the wind was behind me!) up to Hartrigg Oaks, which took just 20 minutes, to attend an AVP core group meeting. Members came from as far as Newark and Bradford, as the group is one of the AVP regions, which we call NEEM, North East and East Midlands (don't ask why we have a regular from Bradford!) and it was a very productive meeting, with several new attendees, which is always nice. My official role is Health and Safety, but I contribute quite a bit, since I've been involved in the organisation since at least 1994.
This drew to a close at 4.15 and I again bombed home, but I stopped in two places for different reasons and got in at 5.
Then I needed to prepare to go to Beverley for the Food Festival tomorrow.
I got the 8.15 bus from just outside the house, with just my big unicycle, my sports bag of sticks, balls and diabolos, my rucsac with costume, wash bag and balloons, 'handbag' with reading material, hairbrush and some edibles, and my laptop, which I wanted to have some offline time with, to delete stuff from my nearly always full inbox, which I have a problem doing with the distractions that happen when online.
I got to Beverley bus station in an hour, and to the Cross Keys within 10 minutes, and got my room keys without hassle. Once I'd dumped my kit in my room I went back down to get a pint, and back to my room to delete emails from various folders. I think I got rid of about 100. A nice quiet evening.
But at 9.30 I headed off down Heslington Road to see my friend David, who's gathered together the best of the photos he's taken of Professor Fiddlesticks since Christmas, and put them in a file of about 40 or 50 images. These are ones we both liked from each shoot, one at the Novotel on Christmas Day, one in the Museum Gardens, one at a kids party and one a week or two back at Linton on Ouse, where he also acted as my driver between two gigs.
We went through them and got it to about 12 good images, including cropping some with Photoshop software to make them frame up nicely. We agreed to do one more shoot, next week, to get a couple of specific shots. Once we have our 'top ten', David will create his idea of a publicity leaflet.
Came back via Country Fresh and picked up a sack full of compostables and two boxes worth.
Then zoom back, made my sandwiches and cycled at top speed (when the wind was behind me!) up to Hartrigg Oaks, which took just 20 minutes, to attend an AVP core group meeting. Members came from as far as Newark and Bradford, as the group is one of the AVP regions, which we call NEEM, North East and East Midlands (don't ask why we have a regular from Bradford!) and it was a very productive meeting, with several new attendees, which is always nice. My official role is Health and Safety, but I contribute quite a bit, since I've been involved in the organisation since at least 1994.
This drew to a close at 4.15 and I again bombed home, but I stopped in two places for different reasons and got in at 5.
Then I needed to prepare to go to Beverley for the Food Festival tomorrow.
I got the 8.15 bus from just outside the house, with just my big unicycle, my sports bag of sticks, balls and diabolos, my rucsac with costume, wash bag and balloons, 'handbag' with reading material, hairbrush and some edibles, and my laptop, which I wanted to have some offline time with, to delete stuff from my nearly always full inbox, which I have a problem doing with the distractions that happen when online.
I got to Beverley bus station in an hour, and to the Cross Keys within 10 minutes, and got my room keys without hassle. Once I'd dumped my kit in my room I went back down to get a pint, and back to my room to delete emails from various folders. I think I got rid of about 100. A nice quiet evening.
A very busy day.
Got up quite early and both felt like doing some spring cleaning and sorting out. Gill made a start on the conservatory, which has become somewhat cluttered, and I did some washing up including a load of storage jars which have been building up.
Gill also rang a chap who'd advertised two flat irons in the back of the Press. She's been wanting to have a couple of these to heat up on the stove so she doesn't have to use electricity (despite it being from renewables, and us not using very much, it still costs, so using less would be good!). Gill isn't into ironing everything, but the school uniforms and my work clothes need to look good, and the electric iron is quite heavy on the juice. So a pair of flat irons will be a good addition to our low carbon lifestyle. The old fella wanted a fiver each, as they were antiques, but was happy to hear they'd be used. He lives in Easingwold so Gill might take the bus out there next week to get them, or he might deliver if he's coming down the Hull Road.
Soon after this telephone conversation, we discovered our phone handset wasn't working... it was completely dead. Gill tried to 'ring home' with her mobile but only the base rang, not the handset. So, with the phone being important for my work, it was essential that we get it sorted. So, within the hour I cycled down to town to take it to where we bought it to see if they knew what was wrong with it, or maybe buy another handset. I felt a bit daft when the chap in the shop told me t was just the batteries which had expired. I thought they were rechargeable, but apparently they don't keep recharging for ever. I bought new batteries... and a second pair for when this happens again!
I also visited the Friends Meeting house where the old AVP computer has been waiting for me to pick it up and bring it home to erase the hard disc data, before taking the whole lot to the recycling depot at James Street. The monitor is huge! It only just went in my trailer but with bungees, it came home safe and sound. I set it all up and tried to run the DBAN 'boot and nuke' floppy disc that Ben had supplied, but I didn't quite understand the commands so I phoned Ben and asked him if he could pop round and press buttons in the right order.
Gill was doing wonderful things with the conservatory and I helped too, being ruthless about throwing stuff away, for once! Ros came round with her son, and she stayed and had a coffee and chatted about some of the stories from when she was a customs officer. Our boys played happily all together.
Ben came round and found that the software would work if the computer was tweaked slightly first, and so he reset a password by doing something to the innards and then set the disc to AUTONUKE and completely wipe the hard disc. He also showed me how to take out the disc afterwards and extract two very strong rare-earth magnets, which make excellent fridge magnets. After 40 minutes nuking, the monitor declared it was now 'done', so I switched the whole thing off and extracted the hard disc (actually 3 of them in a stack) and the two magnets. The rest of the hardware will be going to Hazel Court tomorrow for recycling.
I then found time to sort through seeds and plant some courgettes, squash, pumpkin and basil. This felt extremely satisfying. All three boys ate together and then played til 9pm when I took our visitor back up the road to Ros. I spent some of the evening peeling some giant pumpkin seeds I found from last year, and sorting out old seed packets from newer ones which I will hopefully plant up soon.
A very productive day. And destructive too, with the mangling of the old computer and throwing away of loads of unrecyclable and unusable stuff. Satisfying!
Got up quite early and both felt like doing some spring cleaning and sorting out. Gill made a start on the conservatory, which has become somewhat cluttered, and I did some washing up including a load of storage jars which have been building up.
Gill also rang a chap who'd advertised two flat irons in the back of the Press. She's been wanting to have a couple of these to heat up on the stove so she doesn't have to use electricity (despite it being from renewables, and us not using very much, it still costs, so using less would be good!). Gill isn't into ironing everything, but the school uniforms and my work clothes need to look good, and the electric iron is quite heavy on the juice. So a pair of flat irons will be a good addition to our low carbon lifestyle. The old fella wanted a fiver each, as they were antiques, but was happy to hear they'd be used. He lives in Easingwold so Gill might take the bus out there next week to get them, or he might deliver if he's coming down the Hull Road.
Soon after this telephone conversation, we discovered our phone handset wasn't working... it was completely dead. Gill tried to 'ring home' with her mobile but only the base rang, not the handset. So, with the phone being important for my work, it was essential that we get it sorted. So, within the hour I cycled down to town to take it to where we bought it to see if they knew what was wrong with it, or maybe buy another handset. I felt a bit daft when the chap in the shop told me t was just the batteries which had expired. I thought they were rechargeable, but apparently they don't keep recharging for ever. I bought new batteries... and a second pair for when this happens again!
I also visited the Friends Meeting house where the old AVP computer has been waiting for me to pick it up and bring it home to erase the hard disc data, before taking the whole lot to the recycling depot at James Street. The monitor is huge! It only just went in my trailer but with bungees, it came home safe and sound. I set it all up and tried to run the DBAN 'boot and nuke' floppy disc that Ben had supplied, but I didn't quite understand the commands so I phoned Ben and asked him if he could pop round and press buttons in the right order.
Gill was doing wonderful things with the conservatory and I helped too, being ruthless about throwing stuff away, for once! Ros came round with her son, and she stayed and had a coffee and chatted about some of the stories from when she was a customs officer. Our boys played happily all together.
Ben came round and found that the software would work if the computer was tweaked slightly first, and so he reset a password by doing something to the innards and then set the disc to AUTONUKE and completely wipe the hard disc. He also showed me how to take out the disc afterwards and extract two very strong rare-earth magnets, which make excellent fridge magnets. After 40 minutes nuking, the monitor declared it was now 'done', so I switched the whole thing off and extracted the hard disc (actually 3 of them in a stack) and the two magnets. The rest of the hardware will be going to Hazel Court tomorrow for recycling.
I then found time to sort through seeds and plant some courgettes, squash, pumpkin and basil. This felt extremely satisfying. All three boys ate together and then played til 9pm when I took our visitor back up the road to Ros. I spent some of the evening peeling some giant pumpkin seeds I found from last year, and sorting out old seed packets from newer ones which I will hopefully plant up soon.
A very productive day. And destructive too, with the mangling of the old computer and throwing away of loads of unrecyclable and unusable stuff. Satisfying!
I took our youngest down to school and when I got back, Gill was nearly ready to go to her art class. I did a big pile of washing up and made some mushroom and leek soup, from fresh leeks and a bag of very out of date and unidentifiable Chinese or Japanese dried mushrooms, which I'd soaked overnight in cold water. I fried the chopped leek and cut up the 'shrooms into this and added some water and a stock cube, and a bit later, once I'd whizzed it to reasonable smoothness, some red lentils to add a bit of thickness. I've no idea what it'll taste like but the mushrooms needed using as they've been hanging around for ages, sealed in their packet, but taking up room. So, tomorrow night's tea will be that, for me... I doubt the boys will have any, but I'll offer it in case! I've been surprised by their ability to enjoy some mature tastes, on occasions.
I popped round to the bread shop and got a big pile of 'Yesterbake' loaves and rolls, and came back to have an avocado sandwich (one which was thrown away as it had a damaged side... this I cut off for composting, leaving t'other half for a mayo and granary deliciousness...) and at half 12 I jumped back on the bike and zoomed over to the home of an AVP facilitator who was hosting the biannual AVP NEEM meeting. AVP is an organisation I've been involved with since 1995, when I found myself having occasional difficult conflict situations which led to me not respecting myself, and at that time a new group had just been set up in York called Alternatives to Violence Project, and they ran workshops on how to resolve conflicts in a creative and non-violent way. The first weekend course I went on was a revelation... I'd never learned anything like it before and I went away feeling like I could deal better with provocation and things which made me angry, and had previously led to me being verbally and physically aggressive and violent.
Anyway, I joined the organisers and started helping to put on more workshops. I did a further three, all 'level twos' where the participants explore a particular subject in detail. I remember them well despite them being many years back. My first level 2 was 'Anger in the parent-child relationship', which was excellent as I was then still angry about the way my parents had treated me (I've more or less got over this now!) and the pivotal point was when I took part in a role play with me being me and someone else being my father. That was when I realised I could only change myself, not anyone else. The second level 2 was quite odd for me, as it was decided at the beginning of the session by the participants, by consensus. The group chose 'Blame and Forgiveness'. I wasn't very thrilled by this topic, as it didn't seem to relate to me much. However, the weekend showed me that many other people are very much affected by both blaming others and blaming themselves, also forgiving others and forgiving themselves. I realised that I didn't think like many other people and didn't use these concepts... I tended to use the idea of 'responsibility' which, for me, encapsulate all the blame/forgiveness areas. But it was a good workshop, and after a gap of a few years I went on another level 2, on 'self development' which by that time I was exploring in other ways too, not just through AVP.
So, 14 years on and I'm still committed to what AVP is doing. In York we hold 4 community workshops each year, in Doncaster we've a partnership with MIND and run 6 a year. We also run them in prisons and occasionally with other groups. AVP Britain reorganised a while ago and now AVP York is part of AVP North East and East Midlands, or NEEM. We had a good meeting, with representatives from Whitby, Sheffield, York and Manchester (a member of one of the AVPB bodies). I always enjoy these meetings and it was productive, with another interesting partnership on the near horizon (with a hostel for the homeless) and news of prisoners from an open prison attending a community workshop, which is good. This meeting ran from about 1pm til just before 5, and I was pleased to meet a new person, just recently trained up as a facilitator, and a facilitator who heard me enthusing about AVP a few years ago and got involved... I didn't know til today it was my talk to her group which caused her to become involved. That makes me happy!
Home via George Hudson St where I got rid of an invoice which I should have done weeks ago... but, better late than never!
Boys playing video games when I got in so I went in the front room where it was quieter.
Tea was nice... more mashed root mix, home made 'baked beans' and toasted cheese on a roll (thanks Richard... better to feed me than feed chickens!!!)
Popped out at midnight once I'd done another batch of washing up to get the neighbours fence which she offered me, and today asked me to take away. I did it quietly.
I popped round to the bread shop and got a big pile of 'Yesterbake' loaves and rolls, and came back to have an avocado sandwich (one which was thrown away as it had a damaged side... this I cut off for composting, leaving t'other half for a mayo and granary deliciousness...) and at half 12 I jumped back on the bike and zoomed over to the home of an AVP facilitator who was hosting the biannual AVP NEEM meeting. AVP is an organisation I've been involved with since 1995, when I found myself having occasional difficult conflict situations which led to me not respecting myself, and at that time a new group had just been set up in York called Alternatives to Violence Project, and they ran workshops on how to resolve conflicts in a creative and non-violent way. The first weekend course I went on was a revelation... I'd never learned anything like it before and I went away feeling like I could deal better with provocation and things which made me angry, and had previously led to me being verbally and physically aggressive and violent.
Anyway, I joined the organisers and started helping to put on more workshops. I did a further three, all 'level twos' where the participants explore a particular subject in detail. I remember them well despite them being many years back. My first level 2 was 'Anger in the parent-child relationship', which was excellent as I was then still angry about the way my parents had treated me (I've more or less got over this now!) and the pivotal point was when I took part in a role play with me being me and someone else being my father. That was when I realised I could only change myself, not anyone else. The second level 2 was quite odd for me, as it was decided at the beginning of the session by the participants, by consensus. The group chose 'Blame and Forgiveness'. I wasn't very thrilled by this topic, as it didn't seem to relate to me much. However, the weekend showed me that many other people are very much affected by both blaming others and blaming themselves, also forgiving others and forgiving themselves. I realised that I didn't think like many other people and didn't use these concepts... I tended to use the idea of 'responsibility' which, for me, encapsulate all the blame/forgiveness areas. But it was a good workshop, and after a gap of a few years I went on another level 2, on 'self development' which by that time I was exploring in other ways too, not just through AVP.
So, 14 years on and I'm still committed to what AVP is doing. In York we hold 4 community workshops each year, in Doncaster we've a partnership with MIND and run 6 a year. We also run them in prisons and occasionally with other groups. AVP Britain reorganised a while ago and now AVP York is part of AVP North East and East Midlands, or NEEM. We had a good meeting, with representatives from Whitby, Sheffield, York and Manchester (a member of one of the AVPB bodies). I always enjoy these meetings and it was productive, with another interesting partnership on the near horizon (with a hostel for the homeless) and news of prisoners from an open prison attending a community workshop, which is good. This meeting ran from about 1pm til just before 5, and I was pleased to meet a new person, just recently trained up as a facilitator, and a facilitator who heard me enthusing about AVP a few years ago and got involved... I didn't know til today it was my talk to her group which caused her to become involved. That makes me happy!
Home via George Hudson St where I got rid of an invoice which I should have done weeks ago... but, better late than never!
Boys playing video games when I got in so I went in the front room where it was quieter.
Tea was nice... more mashed root mix, home made 'baked beans' and toasted cheese on a roll (thanks Richard... better to feed me than feed chickens!!!)
Popped out at midnight once I'd done another batch of washing up to get the neighbours fence which she offered me, and today asked me to take away. I did it quietly.
A bit of an argy bargy this morning due to someone not doing his homework... but both boys did go to school and got there on time. I spent the morning with Gill who was feeling very tired, and I went to the Tang Hall Library to take back two books the boys have finished, and pick up another in a series that one of them is reading and had ordered. That'll mean a peaceful weekend with a good book to be immersed in... Melody with her CVS Funding Advice hat on was there, so I slipped on my YorkLETS hat and asked her about funding stuff for the new software... she was excellent and gave me some really good advice.
Home and then cycled down to Counrty Fresh to get some veg for the weekend and then back in time to make sandwiches to take up to New Earswick Quaker Meeting Housefor the AVP NEEM meeting... we usually gather for lunch at midday and the meeting kicks off at 1pm. I chaired and got us through the meeting by 3.30. A good meeting... it's like being amongst old friends (well, I am amongst old Friends, literally, hahahaha) (they won't mind me putting that!) It was a productive meeting anyway, got lots done.
Then zoom home and made up the stove, had a coffee, did a 10 min wash up and zoomed into town to see Ali, who's in York to make a film. She did some filming at the Indian restaurant we ate at and she was happy with what we did.
Home quite late, Gill had had a peaceful evening, thank goodness!
Home and then cycled down to Counrty Fresh to get some veg for the weekend and then back in time to make sandwiches to take up to New Earswick Quaker Meeting Housefor the AVP NEEM meeting... we usually gather for lunch at midday and the meeting kicks off at 1pm. I chaired and got us through the meeting by 3.30. A good meeting... it's like being amongst old friends (well, I am amongst old Friends, literally, hahahaha) (they won't mind me putting that!) It was a productive meeting anyway, got lots done.
Then zoom home and made up the stove, had a coffee, did a 10 min wash up and zoomed into town to see Ali, who's in York to make a film. She did some filming at the Indian restaurant we ate at and she was happy with what we did.
Home quite late, Gill had had a peaceful evening, thank goodness!
Not a good start to the day as was woken by boys fighting (or, one irritating the other, the irritated one over-reacting and causing such a din as to be irresistable to the irritating one) and then later there was a huge paddy as the irritating and angry one tried to put on a belt and fed it through his trousers the wrong way. As parents, we offered to assist or tell him how to solve the problem, and he kicked off. There was so much yelling and slamming of doors, we feel really sorry for our neighbours. Gill says we need to move to a detached house where our activities (both my logging/composting AND the extremely noisy child) won't affect anybody else.
I got ready to go to my AVP management meeting with a 'heavy heart' feeling depressed that I am unable to solve conflict in my own household when I'm going out to help run a group which aims to help other people solve their conflicts.
I cycled up to New Earswick to the Hartrigg Oaks 'older persons' housing and care development, where three of the AVP volunteers live. The development also has a central building which has meeting rooms, which is where we met for today's meeting. The group of nine of us are 'AVP NEEM'... Alternatives to Violence Project North East and East Midlands, a member of AVP Britain (http://www.avpbritain.org.uk/) We put on workshops and courses on conflict resolution, some people come for anger management help. We work in prisons and in the community. One project works in conjunction with MIND and a local NHS Mental Health service, putting on a workshop every other month. The workshops are quite long and 'deep', the ones we put on start on Friday night, take most of Saturday and Sunday until teatime. We can provide somewhere for participants to stay if they don't live locally. All the facilitators AND participants are volunteers, and the process really works. It helped me and I've heard very few negative comments, more than 9/10 coments are 'All Very Positive'!
So this meeting was one of our twice-yearly management meetings and it went well. Afterwards I popped in to see our old Treasurer Harry, who in his old-age has gone blind but is receiving good care from the Hartrigg Oaks team.
I cycled back and whilst collecting some logs and positioning them in my trailer, my buddy Philip cycled past, coming home from his gardening job, so we cycled together back to Tang Hall chatting, and when I got back to Hull Road, Gill told me that all had gone smoothly and peacefully since I left. Thank goodness!
Gill had created a lovely tea and we all ate together.
I got ready to go to my AVP management meeting with a 'heavy heart' feeling depressed that I am unable to solve conflict in my own household when I'm going out to help run a group which aims to help other people solve their conflicts.
I cycled up to New Earswick to the Hartrigg Oaks 'older persons' housing and care development, where three of the AVP volunteers live. The development also has a central building which has meeting rooms, which is where we met for today's meeting. The group of nine of us are 'AVP NEEM'... Alternatives to Violence Project North East and East Midlands, a member of AVP Britain (http://www.avpbritain.org.uk/) We put on workshops and courses on conflict resolution, some people come for anger management help. We work in prisons and in the community. One project works in conjunction with MIND and a local NHS Mental Health service, putting on a workshop every other month. The workshops are quite long and 'deep', the ones we put on start on Friday night, take most of Saturday and Sunday until teatime. We can provide somewhere for participants to stay if they don't live locally. All the facilitators AND participants are volunteers, and the process really works. It helped me and I've heard very few negative comments, more than 9/10 coments are 'All Very Positive'!
So this meeting was one of our twice-yearly management meetings and it went well. Afterwards I popped in to see our old Treasurer Harry, who in his old-age has gone blind but is receiving good care from the Hartrigg Oaks team.
I cycled back and whilst collecting some logs and positioning them in my trailer, my buddy Philip cycled past, coming home from his gardening job, so we cycled together back to Tang Hall chatting, and when I got back to Hull Road, Gill told me that all had gone smoothly and peacefully since I left. Thank goodness!
Gill had created a lovely tea and we all ate together.
