Car Booting

Up bright and early Saturday morning with Sam's transit loaded up with a fraction of the Bits & Bobs that has been donated to Ben for his World Jamboree fundraising.

The weather wasn't supposed to be too good - but the sun shone and the crowds arrived to maraud our stall - Julian was very controlled and didn't swear at or hit any body who offered tuppence for 10 DVDs "just to help us out and get shot of them".

We came home with a lighter load and £156 in cash - good mornings work.

We reloaded the transit Saturday evening with the hope of a repeat performance - but sadly the weather was against us and peeping out of the curtains at 6.15am all we saw was grey skies and drizzle.

So now we have to unload the van today, fill up our spare room again - because we need the van to collect Sam from respite tomorrow morning. 

Must find another spare Saturday/Sunday when the weather is good to do it all again.

Battle Of The Bands

Tonight was "Battle of the Bands" at Taverham High School.  Sam was at respite so we bought 2 tickets to watch Ben play in his band "I.O.I."  Insanity of Influence

They did well playing  Nirvana "Smells Like Team Spirit" and Lady Gaga "Poker Face".

Ben played bass for "Smells like Team Spirit" and backing vocals for "Poker Face"

Here's a snippet of their version of Poker Face - and you will then realise why backing vocals are in italics.

The boys did well but didn't win - roll on next year !

22nd World Scout Jamboree - Sweden

Ben has been very lucky to have been selected to go to the World Scout Jamboree in Sweden July 2011.

He will be going with the Norfolk contingent which will be 36 Explorer Scouts & 4 Leaders - all he has to do now is raise £2,000 !

This is Ben's schedule :-

February 13th 2010:- First deposit of £250 to payed by this date

23rd – 25th April 2010:- Next training camp, Herringfleet, Suffolk.

16th July 2010:- 2nd payment of £400 due by this date

17th – 19th September 2010 :- Next Training camp Venue to be booked

22nd September County AGM, Group photo, display and raffle.

15th October 2010:- 3rd Payment £500 due by this date

Early December 2010 :- 4th payment of £500 due by this date

March 6th 2011:- Social event  Venue unknown at present.

17th March 2011 :- Balance of the Jamboree fee due (leaders will advise how much you owe)

13th-15th May 2011:- Last training camp Venue to be booked

19th June 2011:- Final Meeting of unit members and parents/guardians for final details, location unknown.

We found out in January  - so since then he has been saving half his wages (which isn't very much, but better than nothing !), he has also put in a couple of late Christmas presents of the cash variety and a few other bits & pieces that I can't remember.  So yesterday there was about £120 in the pot.

Last night we held a quiz & chips at our local scout hut and we had an unbelievable turnout of 95 people - friends, scouting friends, guiding friends and friends of friends.  We had ten rounds of questions, a table round, raffle and a heads/tails game and we manage to raise £540 - So a big THANKYOU to everybody who came along, especially to Harry& Janet who helped with the marking and selling of raffle tickets.

We are going to start having some car boot sales and maybe even a garage sale at home as we have been inundated with books & items to sell - so roll out the fine weather.

If anyone reading this has any ideas on how Ben can raise his money please let me know :)

Spring Is Here :)

The New Chicken Pen

Following my post on 14th Dec "Our Garden is Ruined"  - the chickens have a new enclosure - since putting them in there we have had to clip their wings (twice), and then add the extra trellis to make it even higher - the final job now is to put some netting on the trellis because Marmite is still escaping !!!

They have completely destroyed all the grass/vegetaion in there - but the are now eating the cabbage leaves etc that I put out for them (before they wouldn't touch them - obviously our plants were much more tasty !)

Gazebo

Our wooden gazebo has has a revamp and now has a proper roof - thanks to our friend Ian.  We will now be able to sit outside and J will be sheltered from the sun - and if it rains we wont get wet :)

Cake Baking at Youth Club ...

... and guess who was the messiest

He had to be hoovered before he went to bed :)

Abbotts Delivery

Someone's got a job to do before Sam can go to bed tonight.  And this is only 2 days since we had a 12 week supply of nappies delivered !

Our Garden is Ruined

We have had the chickens for just under a year and they have destroyed our garden.  After Christmas our friend Ian will be building an enclosure for them at the bottom of the garden so we can try and reclaimed our lawn.

R.I.P. Brian

Today Ben discovered that Brian, one of his Giant African landsnails had passed away .................

So Sophie is now all alone in her tank.

Happy 100th Birthday

Girlguiding is 100 years old this weekend - the parties have started for our year long celebrations.

For more information please visit this website :-

http://www.girlguiding100years.org.uk/default.aspx

I Must Find Some Time To Update My Blog ..

I have taken loads of photos - I just never seem to have the time to get it done.

Watch this space......

I.CAN.DO London

Today we set off at 6am to London with 37 Guides & 7 Leaders. We were on our way to Girlguiding UK headquarters on Buckingham Palace Road. We arrived just before 9.45am. We had a quick drink and then left our lunch in a safe place and set off on a walk round London following clues and counting objects, discussing what we saw and getting vital photos of the Guides at certain points - ie. in front of Buckingham palace with a unicorn in the photo, with Nelson's Column & the London Eye in the same photo and at the Ritz.

The weather was hot, the girls were tired after an early start so the enthusiasm started to wane half way round - it would have instantly revived if we said they could just go shopping !! A quick stop at a tourist shop on the Haymarket and we set off again via Whitehall back to the ICANDO centre.

There we had lunch and then the girls continued with some more activities at the centre before we let them loose in the Girlguiding shop and the souvenir shop next door.

We all had a great day.

Grandad Came To Visit....

.... and we went to Bramerton to feed the ducks and geese.

We're Off To Wembley

Ben & I went down to Wembley Stadium today with 12,210 other people to watch Glossop North End play Whitley Bay in the FA Vase.

I know most people reading this will never have heard of Glossop North End - but they are the football team from my home town who play in the NWCFL Premier Division, and they have had a fantastic season in FA Vase competition. They had a nail biting semi final 2nd leg where they finally won 6-5 on penalties !!

A fantastic day even though Glossop lost 2-0 - never mind - there is always next year - VIVA GNE !!!