A very busy day today with two gigs... and quite complicated travel arrangements.
I got the 9am bus from very near where we live out to Market Weighton, where a Brownie leader was waiting to take me from the bus stop to her car, to go to Goodmanham where the Girl Guiding people own a place called Paxwold, where Brownies go and have resedential events. Last time I visited, I cycled out, but today I didn't have time as I had a second gig at 6pm.
I was part of the Girl Guides 100 year celebrations... a residential activity event with all sorts going on. Today was the first day, and I had 5x 45 minute sessions with about 25 girls in each workshop. I did a very quick whip-through the skills and that left 35 minutes for them to have 'free-play' with a 5 or 6 minute swap-round so participants could get to try different things.
I had lunch provided, which was nice of them, and I think the workshops worked well, despite being very short. I was busy til 3.30 when I quickly packed up, and in costume, got a lift back to Market Weighton to await David coming to pick me up. He came at 3.55, a bit later than planned, a bit flustered as today was the first time his car hadn't started, ever! He'd called a couple of friends and Ben I think had come along to give him a jump start.
Anyway, he got to me with plenty of time. I directed him accross country to Stamford Bridge, Stockton on Forest, Haxby, Shipton and Newton on Ouse, and we were at Linton on Ouse by 5pm. The gig was at the Air Force base there, but they were expecting me and David and had tickets with our names on at the gate.
The event was the Charity Fancy Dress Ball. I had a good time unicycling round as the guests arrived and then did a lot of workshopping inside. David ended up being the main photographer and negotiated a deal with the organisers.
Showing posts with label Brownies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brownies. Show all posts
Awoke at 4am and went downstairs, put a log on the embers in the stove, had some soluble aspirin, did some washing up and went to bed again at about 5, getting up at 8ish to get ready for work. Last night's bath seemed to have made me feel just slightly better, better enough to cycle down to the station with reduced Fiddlesticks kit and get the 9.44 to Leeds.
This was my second year working for the Leeds Metropolitan University's 'Responsible Tourism' event, where a group of schoolchildren are invited to create a poster about responsible tourism, have it judged, be given lunch, get some entertainment and a little bit of PR about Leeds Met. This is a difficult gig for me, for three reasons, although a good one to do for at least two! Firstly I hate judging things as I really dislike creating a 'winner/loser' culture, possibly because I don't remember ever being a winner (except once, the High Jump in the second year of Humberstone Juniors in Leicester!). But as my role is to be part of the judging panel (Damn, I'm head of the panel this year!) I have to fulfil my role!
Secondly, my view of 'responsible tourism' is probably quite a lot more deep green than anyone else there... I am open about pledging never to fly again and my opposition to airport expansion and flying as a transport mode, yet the mainstream view of responsible tourism includes many measures within the country visited, ie things to do/not do once you are there, often by aeroplane.
Finally, my usual one hour routine has to be shortened for the time frame allowed, so I have to prune out bits of the show which I think make it more enjoyable and rounded... but hey, if I'm given 35 minutes, I am professional (and just about flexible) enough to do a 35 minute set with a beginning, middle and end.
So, I walked from the Station up to the University, getting there in ample time to get changed and meet the schoolchildren, and explain why I was with them today. Then starting at 11 I had two half-hour sessions looking at the posters and talking to the creators about what they'd included, which this year was a lot better than last year, as there was a focus on the responsibility aspect rather than particular destinations. They'd nearly all included not flying (!!!) but had suggested boats and ferries instead, one or two were anti car and pro train and bike! There was lots about not littering, disrupting local wildlife, shopping locally, not buying animal-based trinkets, learning the local language, fair trade and the like. One of the other judges was a ?Masters student called Paula, from Spain, and I ate my lunch with her, good chats as we shared some interests.
My show went well, although more exhausting than normal due to my less than 100% health situation, and giving the prizes was OK too. I was finished by 2, back in York by 3, in bed by 3.20, sleeping til 5. Very very unusual for me to need so much sleep.
Then repacked the bike trailer and at 5.30 set off for Dunnington for the second bite of Brownie Circus Performers badge, from 6 til 8. At 7.45 all the Brownies' families arrived, perhaps about 60 of them, to see the Brownies perform the tricks they have begun to learn. I was really impressed by some of the girls, they all worked hard and some achieved quite a lot, and we all had fun, even though I felt nauseous and tired through most of the workshop.
Home and unpacked by 9pm... a very long and exhausting day, but worth recording in some detail as despite my feeling unwell, I have enjoyed it.
This was my second year working for the Leeds Metropolitan University's 'Responsible Tourism' event, where a group of schoolchildren are invited to create a poster about responsible tourism, have it judged, be given lunch, get some entertainment and a little bit of PR about Leeds Met. This is a difficult gig for me, for three reasons, although a good one to do for at least two! Firstly I hate judging things as I really dislike creating a 'winner/loser' culture, possibly because I don't remember ever being a winner (except once, the High Jump in the second year of Humberstone Juniors in Leicester!). But as my role is to be part of the judging panel (Damn, I'm head of the panel this year!) I have to fulfil my role!
Secondly, my view of 'responsible tourism' is probably quite a lot more deep green than anyone else there... I am open about pledging never to fly again and my opposition to airport expansion and flying as a transport mode, yet the mainstream view of responsible tourism includes many measures within the country visited, ie things to do/not do once you are there, often by aeroplane.
Finally, my usual one hour routine has to be shortened for the time frame allowed, so I have to prune out bits of the show which I think make it more enjoyable and rounded... but hey, if I'm given 35 minutes, I am professional (and just about flexible) enough to do a 35 minute set with a beginning, middle and end.
So, I walked from the Station up to the University, getting there in ample time to get changed and meet the schoolchildren, and explain why I was with them today. Then starting at 11 I had two half-hour sessions looking at the posters and talking to the creators about what they'd included, which this year was a lot better than last year, as there was a focus on the responsibility aspect rather than particular destinations. They'd nearly all included not flying (!!!) but had suggested boats and ferries instead, one or two were anti car and pro train and bike! There was lots about not littering, disrupting local wildlife, shopping locally, not buying animal-based trinkets, learning the local language, fair trade and the like. One of the other judges was a ?Masters student called Paula, from Spain, and I ate my lunch with her, good chats as we shared some interests.
My show went well, although more exhausting than normal due to my less than 100% health situation, and giving the prizes was OK too. I was finished by 2, back in York by 3, in bed by 3.20, sleeping til 5. Very very unusual for me to need so much sleep.
Then repacked the bike trailer and at 5.30 set off for Dunnington for the second bite of Brownie Circus Performers badge, from 6 til 8. At 7.45 all the Brownies' families arrived, perhaps about 60 of them, to see the Brownies perform the tricks they have begun to learn. I was really impressed by some of the girls, they all worked hard and some achieved quite a lot, and we all had fun, even though I felt nauseous and tired through most of the workshop.
Home and unpacked by 9pm... a very long and exhausting day, but worth recording in some detail as despite my feeling unwell, I have enjoyed it.
Woke feeling substantially better than yesterday, got up and got busy, lit the stove and put hot water on the washing up, and got a phone call from my CRAGger buddy Robin... St Nicks had offered me a big sack of sticks last week but I'd been unable to collect them, so they'd offered them to Robin, who also didn't want them (lack of space for storing) so he brought them round to me in his trailer on his way back from B and Q, where he was looking for a way to make his woodstove-fired central heating system 'Building Regs compliant' ie, gravity driven, not pump driven. He said he'd worked out how to do it, using 'only' £200 worth of copper pipe! But having a Dunsley Yorkshire woodstove, which burns smoke free and is therefore allowed in smoke control areas, AND which heats radiators, is such a beneficial thing, that it's worth getting the plumbing right.
Robin stayed for nearly an hour, chatting and drinking tea and admiring our Clearview Vision 500 working well. Just before lunch the SUMA order came, just stuff for us and one other family (sorry, 'member of the Cossham Food Co-op'!) such as laundry liquid, soya milk, muesli base, olive oil and Bulgar wheat.
Enjoyed having lunch with Gill, she then went out to take some grown-out-of shoes to the charity shop and I did emails and blog in front of the hot stove, looking out at the cold and windy weather.
I took a cycle trailer load of flour, Fentimans Cola and assorted nuts down to our friends and came back with our youngest, who'd had a good day.
I sorted out the big sack of sticks delivered by Robin, and our eldest came home. He'd forgotten to go to a meeting of invitees to a University-based computer game try-out, based on identifying plants I think, and when he realised, he was absolutely mortified, and spent at least an hour beating himself up about it. We really need to get him a mobile phone, so he can let us know when he's going to be late, and so we can remind him to attend things he needs to go to which are outside of his routine, which is how he forgot this event. We were really sad for him, he was looking forward to it SO much. I'm going to try to see if it can be re-arranged in some way for him, not through the school, but direct with the University.
I had an early tea (Bulgar wheat etc) and got ready for work. My gig this evening was with the Dunnington Brownies, a lovely group of 20 or so 7 to 10 year old girls (and one boy!) plus 5 adults... I did a shortened version of my show, then a throwing/catching/memory game, and then a one hour free-play workshop. A second one next week, when some of them will earn their 'Circus Performer Badge'.
Home soon after 8.30, quite exhausted, so had a pint of perry and sank into the sofa and watched an interesting Horizon programme on mental illness. A quiet evening.
Robin stayed for nearly an hour, chatting and drinking tea and admiring our Clearview Vision 500 working well. Just before lunch the SUMA order came, just stuff for us and one other family (sorry, 'member of the Cossham Food Co-op'!) such as laundry liquid, soya milk, muesli base, olive oil and Bulgar wheat.
Enjoyed having lunch with Gill, she then went out to take some grown-out-of shoes to the charity shop and I did emails and blog in front of the hot stove, looking out at the cold and windy weather.
I took a cycle trailer load of flour, Fentimans Cola and assorted nuts down to our friends and came back with our youngest, who'd had a good day.
I sorted out the big sack of sticks delivered by Robin, and our eldest came home. He'd forgotten to go to a meeting of invitees to a University-based computer game try-out, based on identifying plants I think, and when he realised, he was absolutely mortified, and spent at least an hour beating himself up about it. We really need to get him a mobile phone, so he can let us know when he's going to be late, and so we can remind him to attend things he needs to go to which are outside of his routine, which is how he forgot this event. We were really sad for him, he was looking forward to it SO much. I'm going to try to see if it can be re-arranged in some way for him, not through the school, but direct with the University.
I had an early tea (Bulgar wheat etc) and got ready for work. My gig this evening was with the Dunnington Brownies, a lovely group of 20 or so 7 to 10 year old girls (and one boy!) plus 5 adults... I did a shortened version of my show, then a throwing/catching/memory game, and then a one hour free-play workshop. A second one next week, when some of them will earn their 'Circus Performer Badge'.
Home soon after 8.30, quite exhausted, so had a pint of perry and sank into the sofa and watched an interesting Horizon programme on mental illness. A quiet evening.
An early start as had a long cycle to work... a day's worth of Brownie camp near Market Weighton 20+ miles East of York. So by 7.30 I had loaded up my trailer with circus gear, unicycles balloons etc, and set off down the A1079 past Dunnington, past Kexby and Wilberfoss, Barmby Moor and Pocklington, and onto Market Weighton where I doubled back on myself for a short distance and then turned North to get to Goodmanham where the Brownies have a building where they go to have holidays. I got to Goodmanham at about 9.40, so 2 hours cycling... before getting changed and ready for a show, 10-11, workshop 11.15 til 12.30, a second workshop 1.50 til 3 and a balloon show 3.15 til 4.15...
The girls were very hardworking and several succeeded in some of the basics, although all had a lot of fun. I pretty swiftly got going after picking up my 'charity' fee and cycled quite fast home, taking just 1 hour 45 minutes.
The main feature of the A1079 is the huge volume of roadkill. I counted 3, possibly 4 hawks (ether sparrowhawks or kestrels), a large white owl, about 30 rabbits, 20 hedgehogs, a fox, 30+ pigeons and scores of smaller birds. The carnivorous birds must come to eat the other roadkill and get hit themselves. I didn't bring anything home for composting apart from the food the girls left uneaten at lunchtime and the burst balloons. Roadkill is just one more reason I dislike motor-vehicles, the annual toll must be enormous if this 20 mile stretch is anything to go by.
Anyway, got in and collapsed, knackered, and Gill provided a delicious tea. The boys had had a good day, playing with friends and Gill had catered for several visitors, including making a wonderful cake which went well with loganberries and ice-cream!
Enjoyed Tour De France on TV a lot this evening, amazed at their speed compared to my 11 or 12 mph crawl.....
The girls were very hardworking and several succeeded in some of the basics, although all had a lot of fun. I pretty swiftly got going after picking up my 'charity' fee and cycled quite fast home, taking just 1 hour 45 minutes.
The main feature of the A1079 is the huge volume of roadkill. I counted 3, possibly 4 hawks (ether sparrowhawks or kestrels), a large white owl, about 30 rabbits, 20 hedgehogs, a fox, 30+ pigeons and scores of smaller birds. The carnivorous birds must come to eat the other roadkill and get hit themselves. I didn't bring anything home for composting apart from the food the girls left uneaten at lunchtime and the burst balloons. Roadkill is just one more reason I dislike motor-vehicles, the annual toll must be enormous if this 20 mile stretch is anything to go by.
Anyway, got in and collapsed, knackered, and Gill provided a delicious tea. The boys had had a good day, playing with friends and Gill had catered for several visitors, including making a wonderful cake which went well with loganberries and ice-cream!
Enjoyed Tour De France on TV a lot this evening, amazed at their speed compared to my 11 or 12 mph crawl.....
