Thinking Day (with a touch of extra thinking)

So it was the Thinking Day event at the church today. From previous posts you may remember that we were to make salt dough characters and waffles in the theme of Norway. On  that note that did happen, but my, was it a struggle to get there!?

We actually met last night in preparation for this evenings event- so everything was pre-made minus the ingredients for the waffles- as those were to be fresh. However one thing that my Senior section weren't relying on happening was for their leader (ie me) being 30 mins late. The reason being, the amount of thinking that needs to be done for my Thesis.

I met today with my thesis tutor after handing in approximately 4,000 words. Baring in mind that this was the word deadline for December, so I'm a little behind. The tutorial was set to be half an hour long yet my poor tutor had to talk to me for an hour, half of the time trying to calm down my panic and the other half trying to explain everything that he was saying in metaphors. The end result of this tutorial was- you have 3 weeks. You better get it done. So yes i am panicking now, and i have consequently erased any plans i have over the next couple of weeks to get it done.However this very kind gift of an extra half an hour tutorial wasn't very good for my guides. I tried texting a couple of people on the way back to say i was going to be late but unfortunately no one seemed to get them so none of my instructions were followed and  i just got to the church in to a different state of panic.

Me panicking

100 girls aged 5-16. My Senior section were brilliant this evening though, each time we had a group, one manned the dough while the other made waffles which allowed me time to explain to them what they were doing and why it was Norwegian. It got a little hectic trying to keep the younger ones away from the waffle iron but no one burnt themselves (well, apart from me) which was great. The risk assessment was obviously very worth it!

I think the girls all enjoyed themselves in the end and i think the event went really well over all- there were about 10 country's for the girls to walk around and a personal achievement for us was that we made our activity less than 20p per head per child. I thought that was impressive anyway. The evening ended with us all renewing our guide promises together, in the good old fashioned 'tea light' scenario, which seems really boring but really determines a community within a town. Over a hundred people in a room that you can associate yourself with and talk to, without even considering the parents of the children. Its a lot of people, and it gives you a bit of hope that not everywhere is so socially isolating.

Senior Section and a very crafty Norway

Next week there is a guiding event going on in our district to mark Thinking Day (For those of you that was ever in the Brownies, its that day where you light a tea light candle and think of different countries)- 100 brownies and rainbows are going to have a 'passport' and  travel around several countries, ran by the leaders/ senior section- each country has to have a craft based around their country, another idea around this event was to try and mix the groups a bit- so a little bit of cross generational teamwork. Our country is Norway, seemingly convenient after having gone to Norway, however the crafts that i found were extremely difficult to do. We spent about an hour trying to construct a paper weaved basket (maybe not the best idea for 5-10 year olds). In the end we came up with making Vaffels and whilst the kids are waiting to make them they can play with some salt dough (making some trolls, and idea from Ellie which i am very grateful for). Lots of preparation. I'm back to guides again on Tuesday to set up and make lots of Norwegian flags!

Meetings

I managed to get to Rainbows this evening- it was quite lucky, as the one of the leaders couldn't make it- the unit can only really run with two otherwise our ratios are out. I think there has to be 1 adult to every 5 children, which can be tricky, especially as everyone has to be CRB checked nowadays. When i was in Brownies, guides etc, the mums could just come and help out no problem- much easier, and there was never any cause for cancelling meetings because of staff shortage. It does make things a little difficult, especially as it is at an awkward time and it is a voluntary position, people just aren't able to volunteer anymore.
Anyway, rainbows was fun- we did some colouring in- which i was quite pleased about, although i didn't get to do one of my own; i was told by one of the rainbows that i had to help colour hers in- because it was going to be be a big job!
After Rainbows i quickly ran home for some dinner to then follow on to a District meeting to discuss plans, fundraising, that kind of thing, its a little sad though, because i know with college i just wont be able to go to half of these things; we did discuss doing something for Thinking Day, as it is a large guiding tradition. we all had to pick a country for our groups. I chose Norway off the top of my head for the senior section, presuming that i would know how to do a craft as such. Could be a little more difficult than i thought...
I was also supposed to be going back to London this evening, having a seminar tomorrow morning- but the meeting went on a little longer than expected- when i said that i needed to get home, i think i was misunderstood, there was a reply of "we all need to get home tonight"- i don't think that people have caught on that i don't live in Harold Wood anymore.

Rainbows

I went to Rainbows today after being out of service for about a year- my intention last year was to try and make as many sessions as i can, but found again with the commuting last year and so much going on at college, i could never find the time. It is a real shame though, because i have been with the group since i was 19, and have always had fun with the kids and the leaders. The main problem I find with Rainbows is the time- 4.30 on a wednesday- slap bang in the middle of the day and because th girls are 5-7 years old there is a 1:5 ratio needed for adults. I have however commited to a month, because i'm not at college at the moment and there is a shortage of leaders. Basically i will be a leader there until we can get a mum to join and commit to be there every week. It's a shame that i can't commit, bu realistically, if i have a tutorial/ seminar on a wednesday, it's to important for my course to miss. Hopefully i will be able to pop in every now and again when they need me.