Look Wider Octant Creativity Phase 2: Make Christmas Stockings

I have recently started to complete the Look Wider Challenge for Senior Section and decided for my Creativity Octant I would make a couple of Christmas Stockings for my cats (I know sounds pretty sad but can I say I love my kittys). I have kinda jumped ahead here and gone straight in one Phase 2, for this you need to complete an activity over a minimun of 12 hours (1 month). For Phase 1 you just need to try out 3 different things that you have never done before, I have found this harder to do as I am very arty and have had a go a most things but I think I am getting there now.

Right back to Phase 2. I am pretty good a sewing, my nan pretty much taught me all I know about this sort of thing and I have become really good at sewing my badges on my camp blanket very neatly so I thought I would do something a bit more challenging and actually create something from bits of fabric, so this is where the stocking idea come from.

Rather than talk about how I made here are some pictures I took whilst completing it.

    



So as you can see it wasn't easy. This took we just over a month to do and there was a lot of sewing involved. I am glad I choose to do them for the cats and not for the people in my house, otherwise I could of been here ages trying to do 4 of them.

Breast Cancer Moon Walk 2011 Look Wider Community Action Octant Phase 2

I did this back in May of this year but really wanted to share with you my experiences from it.

The moon walk is a charity event held each year of a walk around London over night. The event consists of two walk the full moon which is 26.2 miles and the half moon which is 13 miles. This event is to help raise money and awareness of breast cancer and everyone taking part in the walk do it in their bra. Each year they do a different theme that you have to decorate you bra in. Last year it was show time and this year is was wild side. This challenge can be done on your own or as a group. Lots of people from all over the country take part in there local walk. Our local walk was in London.

Myself and my friend Ingrid both set ourselves up for a bit of a challenge back in 2010 when we first applied to do the moon walk. Being very silly and naive we thought we would do the 26 mile walk instead of the 13 mile walk (the half moon race). We thought being that we have done lots of walking in the past on guide holidays that 26 miles would be no problem, well guess what, we thought wrong. This had to be the hardest thing I had ever done in my life. Not only did my ankle give out at the 13 mile walk but my feet became so sore and covered in blisters that it may it sooo painful to walk. I think I cried all the way for the last 5-6 miles. Once I had finished I swore I would never do it again so naturally I signed up to do it the following year with Ingrid again. I must be very stupid.

This year we decided it probably would be best if we actually did some training and prepared ourselves for the walk. Again we choose to do the 26 miles (once you do it once you can't really chicken out and do the 13 miles). For our training each week we went out for a very long walk. The first time we made it from my house in Abbey Wood all the way to Bluewater. This took us I think about 5 hours and was about 12 miles. We done this pretty much most weeks leading up to the challenge.

This year I found the walk a lot easier having trained for it. This year we did it in 8 hours 15 minutes and last year we did it in 8 hours 46 minutes. Although we only did it half an hour quicker this year it was a lot easier having trained before hand. Plus it means if we do it again we haven't got a ridiculous time to beat. 

In total this year I raised about £200 which is fantastic and is going to a great cause. Not sure if I will be doing it again next year, I think I deserve a break (or I may just try a new challenge for charity, no not the marathon, I don't do running).

Thanks to everyone who supported us and sponsored us. We hope we have made a difference.

Temper Temper Chocolate Factory

The Guides requested that we go to the Temper Temper Chocolate Factory. Now they have been here before but this was my first time.

The chocolate factory is based in Tunbridge Wells. The parties are in their workshop and last around 2 hours. (just think how much chocolate you can make in 2 hours!!) Everything you make you get to take home with you.

Here is what we got up to.

Firstly we created a moulded chocolate figure. These come in a variety of shapes such as a teddy, heart, rocking horse, dinosaur, truck etc, I choose to make a duck (obviously!!). For this we could create a design or colouring in parts of the mould using two types of chocolate. I went with the dark and milk. After this we had to pour in the main chocolate which was white for me and close the mould and move it around until it set.

Next we made a lolly. I choose to use milk chocolate for the main and decorate with dark and white. I thought I would be a bit of a geek and do a trefoil.

After that we made our baskets which once set we can put all of our treats in to take home. Now this was quite scary for me as I don't like balloons especially when they pop. To make the basket you had to place the balloon into the melted chocolate and rock it back and forth until it was covered, again I choose white and if you haven't already guess white chocolate is my favourite. That was it for that one, quite simple really.

Next we made Florentines which are small circle chocolates with a fancy pattern on them. I enjoyed this part the most and think they come out pretty good, the hearts are my favourite.

Lastly we made truffles with a variety of things to stick to them. All we had to do was roll them into balls and then roll them in the toppings. The toppings to choose from were icing sugar, almonds and sprinkles.

And here is the finish product!

The chocolate tastes amazing and I think everyone had a really fun day, can't wait to go again.

Sign Language

Since the beginning of October I have been learning British Sign Language, I am doing this as part of my Queens Guide award so I thought I would talk about all the things I have learnt so far.

Here is a list of what I have learnt:

• Finger spelling names and places
• Counting.
• Days of the week and months.
• Time.
• Feelings.
• Weather.
• Introductions.
• Family.
• Facial Expressions.
• Descriptions.

 I have learnt a lot in the last 5 weeks of attend the class. My tutor is deaf so signs all the time any way which makes it so much easier to pick up and she is a fantastic teacher.Along with all the serious stuff we have learned we have also picked up other random words like food, animals and my personal favourite is to sign drunk.

My first exam is on the 13th December. I am a little worried as everyone is when they are taking an exam but my tutor is so great I am sure I will be fine. I feel I have learnt so much all ready and have only had 5 lessons fingers crossed I can remember it all.

So wish me luck everyone, will keep you posted on how I get on.

Geocaching

My friend Natalie has been going on about this for ages, I personally had never heard of it before and thought she was just crazy looking for treasure that isn't there.

So many of you are probably still wondering what the hell it is so I will tell you a bit about it.

Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants us a  GPS or mobile device to hide and seek containers called geocaches or caches anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook where the geocacher enters the date they found it and sings it with their established code name. Larger containers can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little value.

Geocaching is often described as a "game of high-tech hide and seek" or "a treasure hunt" as Natalie calls it. They are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world. There are over 5 million geocachers worldwide.

Basically it's a massive treasure hunt.

For my first ever Geocache I wanted it to be easy so found one that was close by and with a really good clue. Mark and I went in the dark but still managed to find it. Once signing the log book we hid it again, sadly I forgot to take a picture that night so I went back the next day to do it. This one was a large box and had lots of stuff to trade in there.

Today we thought we would be a bit more adventurous and true a couple of harder ones. Firstly we went back to where we found our first one (so I could get a picture) then found another close by. This required Mark to climb up a tree. We then headed to Greenwich to complete the Gates of Greenwich Series. There are 11 in total but we only did up to 8. The only one we was unable to find was number 3 so we will be back another day to give it another go. From visiting the website I notice some people take along a mascot and get pictures of them with the caches so I thought I would take Danny Duck with me.

Once you have found the caches you need to log them on the geocache website. I have just done mine and I am now up to 9 in total. Have a long way to go yet to catch up to Natalie.

I am hoping to count this towards my Look Wider Out of Door Octant Phase 3. (will explain more about this another time.)

At first I thought this was a bit of a silly hobby and didn't fully understand it but after actually doing it you can learn a lot of History about the place you are visiting and they can also take you to places that you wouldn't normally go, for example I have never actually walk around the whole of Greenwich Park. It was great fun and I can't wait to do some more.

Madame Tussaud and The Aquarium

 Mark and I decided the other week to do a couple of the popular attractions in London. The two that we picked are included in our Merlin Annual Passes which is great as it meant we didn't need to spend a penny.

Our first stop was at Madame Tussauds. Here they have many different waxwork models of lot of celebrities. They had different rooms which had different themes. Here is a list of some of the room and the models I recognised the most.

Hollywood- Russel Brand, Daniel Ratcliffe, Robert Pattinson, J Lo and Julia Roberts.
Sports- David Beckham and Lewis Hamilton (I'm not really a sports person)
Royalty- Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Charles, The Queen and Diana.
Popstars- (now this one I knew loads) Cheryl Cole, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue.
World Leaders- Barack Obama, David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Tony Blair.
Film- Shrek, Captain Jack Sparrow, Spider Man, Wolverine and Sherlock Holmes.
Obviously there was lots more but I would be here all day trying to type them out.

Also inside there was a scarey bit with live actors jumping out on you, of course I didn't go in there. Along with a booth where you can audition for X Factor, interaction games, a chance to have your picture taken and have it made into artwork by a famous artist, you could make a waxwork of your hand, a history of London ride where the seats were taxis and a new 4D superhero movie which was probably the best part.

As much as I enjoyed myself there I felt it was very over crowded and would of work better if they had a limit on the amount of people in each room as everyone seemed to be fighting to get a picture with the waxworks. I also found out home much they charge an adult to get in and that is £28 which is a lot condisering you are only looking a models, I think we was lucky that we didn't have to pay and if we did I don't think this would have been something I would want to do. I am glad we went as it's was an experience and a chance to see the figures but I don't think I will be going again.

Next we went to the London Aquarium, this is the second time we have been this year and we love it.
The new feature was the penguins which I have to say is now probably the best part, sorry sharks. They were so cute and funny and I could of watched them all day, the only downside was that the room was very crowded but then again this is a new feature and they were so faisnating to watch. Obvisouly when you go to an aquarium there are some boring parts but what do you expect when you have come to look at fish, they aren't going to start singing and dancing!

I had a much better time here and would go again and again. Would recommend the Aquarium to anyone, it's fun for both children and adults.

Groombridge Place Gardens and Enchanted Forest

This was a fantastic outing with my girls and guys. Groombridge Place has a lot to offer so here are some of the things we go up to there.

Birds of Prey.
At set times they give a talk on the different types of birds they have at Groombridge and they have a flying display to show them all in action. The types of birds they have there are eagles, hawks, owls and falcons.

The Dark Walk.
This is like an assault course which is nearly a quarter of a mile in length. It offers a choice of walking or activites or challenges such as rope swings, scrambling nets, a swinging log walk, balancing rails, hanging tyres, tunnels and an aerial runway. The boys seemed to enjoy this more than the girls as we mostly did the walking unless the activity look like fun. =]

The Swing Walk.
Now these swings were really scarey and the went really high. They hung off of a branch of a really tall tree on a really long piece of rope. Even the smallest of pushes on them would send you sky high.

Unusual Animals.
Amongst many animals there we saw a Zeedonk which is a cross between a Zebra and a Donkey, he is one of the only two in Britian. there are also giant rabbits which as adults can grow up to 60cm in height and alpacas which look like sheep with long necks.

There are also lots of other things to see deep within the forest for example The Serpents Lair, The Mystic Pool and The Blue Pool, The Dinossaur and Dragon Valley and many others.

Away from the forest are beautiful gardens which is where Pride and Prejudice was filmed an a vineyard (where we just had to try some of the grapes)

I had such a fantastic day here not only is it great for children it is great for adults of any age to as there is so much varity to see and do. It is a really big place so to be able to see it all you would need to spend a whole day here so remember to bring a pic-nic.

The Big Gig 2011

On the 1st of October I went along with my Guide unit to my first ever Big Gig experience. The Big Gig is a concert just for Girlguiding and over the weekend over 31,000 girls attended the 3 performances.

The line up for the evening was....
Olly Murs, Pixie Lott, The Wanted, Eliza Doolittle, Dionne Bromfield, Ed Sheeran, Alexis Jordan, Cover Drive and Loick Essien.
After this concert I must of been deaf for about a week, if you can imagine a normal concert with all the noise and screaming which is normally a mix of girls and boys well this concert was just girls screaming so the noise was deafening.

It was a fantastic evening and this won't be my last Big Gig. So that's another badge for my camp blanket =]

Christmas Stocking

Just thought I would share with you what I brought the other day.

Personalised Christmas Stockings!!! 

I ordered them from a website called vista print. This site is fantastic for personalised items and most of their items are free! Although you do need to pay for postage and VAT but they do work out a lot cheaper compared to other photo and personalised websites.
The stockings worked out to be about £7 each (unfortunately they were not free) which included postage and VAT. They have a wide ranges of gifts including calendars, diaries, business cards, post it notes, mugs, mouse mats and the list goes on. So go and check it out they have some fab ideas for Christmas presents.

Innovate Brands Hatch 2011

Innovate is a residential event for Senior Section members. Here you get the chance to discuss various issues within Girlguiding, try out new activities, meet new people, enjoy evening activities, raise money for charity and eat lots of food (which I did) and stay in a nice hotel. Here is what I got up to.

Friday.
Everyone started arriving from about 6pm. We checked into our rooms and sorted out forms and name tags. Some people were lucky enough to get their own room and I was one of them (only because my room mate couldn't make the event). Dinner was a great opportunity to sit down with other people and make new friends and also hear about their guiding experiences. There was also a lot of cheesecake for desert which was very tasty. After dinner we went to the evening entertainment which was a Mad Hatters Tea Party. We was put into small groups and moved around the room to the different activities. The activities included pin the smile on the Cheshire Cat, croquet with hedgehog bag and flamingo mallet, making origami roses, tea tasting, finding the door mouse, making towers out of cards and many more. These were a great way to get everyone to start talking to each other and a nice way to start the weekend.

Saturday.
After breakfast we split up into our APW groups for the first session. These workshops are used to discuss issues relevant to Girlguiding UK and to come up with ideas and opinions which will then go back to CHQ. I took part in the WAGGGS Stop The Violence campaign where we discussed ideas of ways to get all sections in guiding involved and aware of the campaign. I found this very interesting and we all had some great points to put across.

 After lunch we went off to do our first Why Don't You (YDU) session which gives you a chance to try new activities that you wouldn't normally choose or get to do. I chose to do Zumba as I have tried it once before but wanted to give it another go. Zumba is a great way to excerise, the routines are fun and easy to pick up and you do feel like you are getting a really good work out. After a quick break and shower it was off to the next YDU session which was backwards cooking. This involves cooking on an open fire without using any utensils. We made sausages which you wrap in tin foil with a bit of oil and put on the fire, baked beans which you only need to take the paper off and open the tin and then put them on the fire to cook and lastly we made chocolate cake in an orange skin, that one tasted the best.

Later after some free time we all got dressed into our childhood themed outfits for dinner which was a lovely three course meal. I went as Dorothy Gale from The Wizard Of Oz and even brought along Toto. Once dinner had finished we moved on to the evening entertainment which was based around the film Narnia. The room had been decorated with Christmas trees and even the famous street lamp. The evening consisted of a disco, a silent auction and professional photos which all proceeds went to the charity Action For Children, making conker friends and toffee apples and a chance to watch old favourites like The Clangers in the tv room.

Sunday.
Again in the morning we split off into our groups again (Stop The Violence). In this session we focused on creating activities for each section in guiding on this topic to raise awareness and get them involved in the campaign, these would later be put in the guiding magazine in April 2012 hopefully ad of course we had to suggest a badge. After working hard all morning we had lunch and moved on to the Fringe which was where we could find out about all the different opportunities there is for Senior Section and a chance to get some help and advice. The Chief Guide, Gill Slocombe also made an appearance and had a chat to us about what she wants to do for guiding. After the farewell presentation it was time to say goodbye.

I had such a great weekend and made lots of new friends of whom I hope to stay in contact with. I would like to thank the planning team for all their hard work which defiantly paid off.

So that's Element 4 for Service to Guiding for my Queens Guide completed and another badge for my camp blanket!

My Queens Guide

The Queens Guide Award is the highest award members can work towards in guiding. It gives you the chance to develop your own skills while contributing to guiding and your local community at an impressive level. It's open to members ages 16 to 25 and must be completed within 3 years or before your 26th birthday, whichever is sooner.
Within the award you are expect to complete different elements. Here is a run through of them and what I have done so far.

Service in Guiding.
Element 1.
This has to be done over 12 months and is probably the easiest part of the award. Service in guiding has to mount up to 60 hours, for this you could use your weekly meeting and any trips or meetings you attend. In them 60 hours 20 of them has to be on something specific, for example taking part in a task and finish group or organising an event. I haven't done my 20 hours yet but I am hoping to take part in a task and finish group on Senior Section in November.

Element 2.
For this you need to attend a residential guiding event and accept a responsibility that furthers your guiding experience. I went away with the new unit I am with to complete this element, I went away not only for the first time as a leader but also as the camps first aided. This was a new experience for me as although I have always been first aid trained for work I have never had to use it on a larger scale. Luckily there was no major accidents but I did have to put up a first aid tent, manage health forms and medicine and keep the camp clean and safe.

Element 3.
You need to take an active part in the planning of an event that involves at least two units. I haven't done this part yet but I am hoping to plan something for thinking day next year for the district.

Element 4.
For this you need to actively participate in a working group or committee run by Girlguiding UK or your county or region or get involved in a association issue. I recently attend Innovate for a weekend and helped work on the Stop The Violence campaign. More information on this will be on another blog.

Outdoor challenge.
The aim is to develop leadership and teamwork skills in an outdoor environment.

Element 1.
You need to complete the first 6 modules of the camp and holiday scheme. I will be doing this hopefully next summer with the Senior Section.

Element 2.
You need to participate in an exploration or expedition lasting 4 days (3 nights) accompanied by your peers. Again I will be doing this next summer and I think I want to do an exploration in Bath as I have never been there and there is a lot to see and do.

Community Action.
Over a 12 month period, undertake two projects on a chosen topic. One of these should be of a practical nature and the other should be research based. For this part I have chosen to do child abuse so I am looking to volunteer for the NSPCC ChildLine. At the end of the year I will need to gather research on the matter at a local, regional and national level and present it to my unit. I am finding this part the most challenging as there is a lot of steps you have to take before you can volunteer for ChildLine. At the moment I have done all the interview stages and I am now waiting for my training dates.

Personal Skill.
For this you need to develop a skill over a 12 month period. For this I have chosen to do sign language. I have always wanted to do it and this now gives me a reason. At the end of the classes I have to take a test so fingers crossed I will pass.

Residential Experience.
You need to participate in a residential experience run by Girlguiding UK orbit another agency lasting no fewer than 3 days (2 nights) and where the majority of the participants are unknown to you. For this part I attended the Cuham Centenary Camp as a member of staff also known as a pinkie. This camp had over 500 girls camping and it was my job to look after a sub camp. It was such a fantastic week and a great way to celebrate the centenary.

And that is everything so far. I hope that t wasn't too long and I hope it gives girls doing their Queens Guide some ideas or encourages others to start theirs. Will keep you updated on how I am getting on.

About Me

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog.

I thought I would start off with a bit about myself. My name is Jayne, I live in London and I am currently 21. I have been involved in Guides since the age of 7 so you can do the maths on how many years that is.
I wanted to start this blog as I recently made a new Guide friend at an Innovate weekend (I will explain what this is a bit later) and she inspried me to do it. She already does one all about her guiding and experiences so I thought I would do the same but also add other things I have been up to past and present. I just hope people find it interesting and will read it.

Anyway as you have probably guessed I started at Brownies when I was 7 and attended a unit that was run by my next door neighbour. As a unit we didn't do much in terms of trips and outings but we did a lot of badge work and work on our hand book. We did also play games and do the odd craft. I do remember going on one brownie pack holiday in my brownie life and this was with another unit. I remember being very scared as I didn't know many people there but I had a great time and made new friends which I later on met again at secondary school.

I moved to guides when I was 11 and straight away had my name down to go on their big trip to Italy. This would be the first time being away from my parents and home for a week. I was very nervous and did miss them but I had a fantastic time and every time the opportunity came up to go away again I made sure I had my name down. We got to visit many countries like Italy, Germany, Austria, and Croatia. These trips were a fantastic chance to go countries that my family wouldn't normally visit.

When I got to 14 and had done my Baden Powell I moved on to being a young leader. Up until I was 18 we never had a proper leader who would help us plan a programme so we did our own thing which was mostly sewing our camp blankets and eating pot noodles. Once I turned 18 me and my friend who I had known since I started brownies decided to do our ALQ and become warranted senior section leaders. From then we planned meetings and organised trips until early 2011 all our girls left due to college or uni or just not wanting to attend so I am now where I am today with a new unit just up the road and I love it there. I am currently doing my Queens Guide and I am about half way through both time wise and challenge wise.

So that is my journey do far.