August 16th 2015 - Volunteer

August 16th 2015 - Volunteer

What is a volunteer?  According to the online dictionary a volunteer is:

"1.a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking.

2.a person who performs a service willingly and without pay."

I am a volunteer, I do not get paid and I am proud to be a volunteer.  I have been a volunteer with St John Ambulance for over 20years now.  I started out as a cadet and worked my way up the ranks to corporal,sergent and cadet leader and then at 17years of age I moved up to the adult unit and took over the running of a cadet unit.  I have been working with the youth section since then.

Yesterday's day camp has taken over 6weeks of planning and hard work.  I have spent over 40hours printing and researching activities for it, not to mention the extra time messaging adult members, going shopping for various bits needed, waiting in for delivers of craft supplies etc.  All of which I have not been paid to do.  I do it because I enjoy it and I knew that all my hard work would be appreciated by the young youth members who attended.

I found the verse below on pinterest as well and it is very true.

I made a post on facebook last night saying that "I had had a really great time at the SJA badger day camp today, it was a long day and a lot of hard work, but the kids who came enjoyed themselves, they were all tired by 5pm but carried on til the end and even then they helped pack up as well. thanks also to the adults who helped with various bits during the day. (1 of mine even asked if we could hold another 1 at some point)."  1 of the adult members (and personal friend) that was helping out for the day replied with "Really enjoyed it the Badgers were fantastic and Amy you worked very hard on it all the kids and Whitehaven are very lucky to have you xxx"  This was so nice to wake up and see this morning.  I know its only a few words but the did make me smile and its nice to know my hard work is appreciated.

August 15th 2015 - Day Camp

August 15th 2015 - Day camp

Today was the day of Badger Day Camp.  I've added the link to the whole board not just 1 pin as this has most of the ideas that helped me to organise and run the day camp.

Although we only had 3 out of 5 children turn up they all had lots of fun and were very tired at the end of a long and packed day of activities.

The above photo collage show our set up and the camping lanterns the kids made. 

We had 1 room set up as a campsite, with tents, Christmas trees, bears, bean bags as seats round the "fake" campfire and a small kitchen area with snacks and drinks.  We had another room for crafts, games and activities.  Some of the activities were done around the campfire.

During the day the Badgers made their own id badges, camp t-shirts, a noughts & crosses game from sticks and stones, they made camping lanterns from tubs, battery tea-lights and tissue paper flames and they made their own stick photo frame which a photo of them at the "camp site" was added to.  They covered many things in short subjects including camp fires and how to get help and where they should go, maps and compasses, things they can  and can't eat in the wild, the importance of hand washing especially outdoors and we used the units UV gel kit - they did really well at it.  They also talked about things you can find in nature - animals, birds, plants etc and did an A-Z of them, after this we went on a short walk to the church gardens where we looked for items that we had talked about and they had a spectrum colour chart and needed to find things in nature for each colour.

After tea the Badgers and some of the adults got into their pj's, brought their blankets and torches and lanterns to the campfire where we had a camping story and sang some campfire songs, they then got into their sleeping bags to await the arrival of parents to collect them.

Each Badger was given a certificate for handwashing, a certificate of attendance and 2 old SJA Badger badges for hobbies and games.  They will all be receiving their Adventure badge and certificate at our next presentation evening.  It was a great day the Badgers were well behaved and all had fun, but it couldn't have happened without the help of the adults from the unit as well.

August 14th 2015 - so much to do

August 14th 2015 - so much to do

I have So much to do but so little time.  Tomorrow is my middle son's 10th birthday and the day of day camp.  I got the confirmation I could do it 6weeks ago and this time has gone so quickly!

I have emptied and re-packed the crates of stuff I need to take with me tomorrow.  I *think* I have everything I need.  I still have few things to cross off my list but i'm getting there slowly.  The cakes are now made and are cooling down ready to ice, the chocolates and biscuits i'm using as twigs for the fires are in the fridge to harden slightly as this will make it easier.

I have boxes of stuff everywhere as well as lists.  I just hope I get it all done in time, as I dont want a late night tonight as need be up at stupid o'clock in the morning.

August 13th 2015 - Making a badge sash

August 13th 2015 - Making a badge sash

As per previous posts I have had to take my badges off my camp blanket as I bought a new one.  I had a sash when I was in guides many years ago of which my guide badges are fixed on to.  I didn't have one when I was in brownies as my uniform was a brown dress and the badges were sewed to the sleeve.

I tried to buy a brownie sash off ebay but the prices of them were not cheap, even for used ones.  So I asked on the local selling pages, 1 lady said she had 1 I could have but she lives over 45mins drive from me so too far to go and we were not able to meet up as not available at the same time.  So this left me 1 option - to make a sash that I could sew my brownie badges onto.

When I went to £1 shop today I bought a beige under bed storage bag.  It had a dark brown trim round the edges.  When I got home I cut out the strip that ran round the bag making the depth of the storage bag and cut off the zip.  It was double the width of what I needed so I stitched it in half and made it slightly shorter as well.  From here I have pinned all my badges onto it ready to be sewed (or pinned with safety pins if I don't get them all finished in time).  This will be sewed to my new blanket as I think the guide ones look really nice on it.

August 12th 2015 - St Bees beach

August 12th 2015 - St Bees beach

As it turned out to be a hot afternoon we loaded the car and set off the 2 miles down the road to St Bees beach.  It seemed that everyone else had the same idea as it was really busy down there.

However we found a spot big enough for us to put the shelter and wind breaks up and "make camp" for few hours.  I laid sunbathing and reading and hubby sat in the shelter reading (he doesn't like the sun that much) and the boys played in the sea, the giant puddle left near the rocks on the beach and the beach.  They built castles and had fun.

A family behind us had started to build a big castle with moat and when they left the boys took it upon themselves to fill the moat with water.

August 11th 2015 - Minecraft papercraft

August 11th 2015 - Minecraft papercraft

Following our trip yesterday to the Rheged for the minecraft event, we have spent today making paper mincraft bits.

I have found loads of them, copied them all to word documents and printed them out - the kids wouldn't share them so I have had to print 3 copies of everything!  (how to kill printer ink!)  The older 2 were able to cut, fold and stick their own but I had to help lil man with his.

Some of them have turned out better than others, and some the glue has held others have had to have tape on.

Here are a few of their makes:

a torch, house red creeper, cat, 3 small and 1 big block.  They do have pages upon pages of others that they can make as well.

August 10th 2015 - Rheged Centre

August 10th 2015 - Rheged Centre

The Rheged Centre is an hours drive from my house.  Over the summer holidays they have a minecraft event on.

Today we took the boys, we hadn't told them where we going but they needed to get up, have breakfast and get dressed ready to go.  Once we were all ready we set off.  Sadly the weather was really naff and was raining all the way there.  This isn't a problem in itself as the Rheged is indoors but would mean they couldnt play in the outdoor play area.

Upon arrival the boys saw the big minecraft signs outside the building and the older 2 were really excited.  We went in and I took a few photos of them with the figures that were downstairs and they stood infront of the minecraft wall with minecraft heads on for pics.

It looked like it was going to be a really good event.  We followed the signs up to where it was and still looked good.  However looks are deceiving, we were there a total of 45mins!  The boys looked around had a few photos taken, tried to make paper figures but the glue was too runny it made the paper wet and not keep shape.  They were unable to play with the lego as it was really busy, so they coloured a minecraft figure and we left.  You exit through the shop which was very expensive, items were more than what they are in the shops in town!

They did enjoy looking at the models and pictures  but said its a shame there wasn't more to do.  We came home and they played minecraft on their devices.