Annual visitation.

WOW! Has it really been almost a year since my last post!?

Like most of you, a lot of things have changed since March 2012!

I got a new job in the beginning of the year - I finished my contract at the sword place after 3 months - a shame, but I did what I was employed to do and it was time to move on.

Now I work in the yard at AVS Fencing, which is an interesting job - very physical but there are some great guys who work there who make the job entertaining.

Dave the yard Foreman (left) and I

Andy

I get to drive a forklift and sometimes the transit van for deliveries - all very exciting!

Lewes Boccia is still growing with new people coming along and boosting our numbers.

Boccia is a fantastic inclusive sport for disabled and able people and one very close to my heart as my son (seen front of photo with his new pro ramp and a massive cheesey grin) also plays - and to a good standard.

We have many good players and still hope, one day, to enter a competition...maybe this year will be the year!

It's been a bad year for our chickens, losing all but two, a Purple Haze hen and the male I reared from an egg - Star.

I' going to work on the coops and runs this year so future chickens(?) will be safer and better than they are now.

Well, that's all for now - hopefully see you all again before next year eh!?

Stiggy

Lewes Boccia club update

Since I started Lewes Boccia there have been some changes.

I always envisaged the club to be open to everyone without limitations, but to start with I had to narrow the field down for what was specifically needed at the time which was a club tailored to my son Zak's needs.

Since running the taster sessions and the multisports sessions at Wave Leisure centre, the club has at last totally opened up to all ages and all disabilities.

On the 11th June, Zak and I (and Jo and Kane!) went to Northease Manor school, which isn't far from where we live, to promote Lewes Boccia. We arrived to find two long tables placed for us, and we set about putting our information out - plus our balloon bunting! 

We had photographs of our sessions, information packs, Lewes Boccia stickers, tee shirts and various equipment to show people what Boccia is all about. 

Here we are behind our promotion table. I thought of taking our big garden umbrella and stand as it looked like rain - good job we did as it threw it down for about 10 minutes!

It's not a particularly big fete, but it was our first time of promoting our club. We met a surprising amount of people when they visited our stall to see what Lewes Boccia was, and we were able to give out our information packs and a LOAD of stickers!

It was great to meet everyone that day, and we even met one lad who came from Zak's school! Overall it was a good day, and is something we shall definitely do again when we get the chance!

Back to basics

You may have noticed my lack of regular blog over the last year, this is because I have been concentrating on my other projects.

     The first one is the Kingston News, a village newsletter that goes out every month. It was failing as far as funding goes, and the treasurer was starting to get concerned over costs and longevity of the paper. When I took over, the previous editor didn't like asking for money for submissions, and after only two months I had implemented a pricing tariff for articles and adverts. Now, after almost a full year, the Kingston News is thriving, with people sending me the correct money, and happy to do so as they realise I have the villages best interests in mind.

     I have also turned it around so much that I we are able to sponsor a literacy award to Keystage 1 and 2 at my youngest son's school in the village. We are providing two wooden, engraved trophies for the kids - better than a book token I feel, as they get to keep them forever. 

     I have also created a website for the paper, www.kingston-news.co.uk which I keep updated with stories and photographs from the village.

The other thing that has been taking my time up this year is Lewes Boccia. You can read more about this on my other post, but briefly, my son couldn't find anywhere to play the paralympic sport Boccia, so we created a club ourselves! 

     It was the 14th January that was the defining moment of the club, it was after a meeting with the local leisure centre manager that I realised I had to start the club. Up to then it was just an idea floating around.

     We have helped the leisure centre run some multisport activities involving Boccia for young disabled kids, and also run two taster sessions for our own club. Our first proper club session was last week and it went very well indeed, with all participants enjoying themselves.

     I also created the website for Lewes Boccia, www.lewesboccia.co.uk and it will evolve and be updated as much as it needs to.

I have been busy with Zak as well. We have been making ramps for him and the club, going into the shed for hours at a time on the weekends!

     Our last time in the shed was spent designing and cutting to size materials for a table type raised bed.

The raised bed I made previously in our vegetable patch wasn't high enough for Zak, so the only other solution was to build something off the floor. Most of the parts are ready to put together, and we should be able to finish it this coming weekend.

In between everything else, it's the Easter holidays, Kane is home for two weeks. We've spent some of the nicer days playing outside throwing his frisbee and firing rockets up to 400ft up in the air with his stompy air toy.

     We've had some real laughs outside as the frisbee and rockets sometimes go in some strange places and hit bits of the body we'd rather not mention!

     Kane has also been sitting on my lap driving 'The Rig' (my ride on lawn mower) around the garden, flattening the mole runs and helping me cut and move some low hanging branches.

The soil for the raised beds arrived this morning, dropped off by an old work colleague from a firm I used to work for, which means I have more work to do!

     

Lewes Boccia club is here!

A couple of months ago, Zak asked me to find somewhere for him to play Boccia. For those of you who don't know what Boccia is, it's a paralympic sport, created for athletes with cerebral palsy, and other impairments. You have to play it sitting in a chair, and it's similar to bowls - you have a white 'jack' ball, and you have to get your own coloured balls nearest to it to win.

     After a few weeks of looking for a Boccia club in our county, I found that most of the 'clubs' available were either within schools or residential places. I did find one locally, but it was for people 60+! That was in a residential home anyway. 

     Unable to find anywhere for Zak to play, I threw a flippant remark at him, saying maybe we should start up our own club, since there was nothing about. Zak agreed, in fact he seemed really impressed by the idea. 

     As I'd never done anything like this before it was difficult to know where to start, but I phoned the governing body of Boccia in the UK, and they thought it was a great idea. They in turn gave my email address to a couple of people. One person who called was a trustee of the local leisure centre group, and someone who knew about Boccia - what a result! She put me in touch with the manager of our local centre, and a meeting was booked for the 14th January.

     It all seemed to happen so fast after that. I had the meeting with the manager and a young man who's title was Disability Co-ordinator, it is a new post there, but it basically means it's his job to get the disabled into the   centre. It was only after that meeting that the club was officially formed. What happened next was a blur in my eyes.

     Within three weeks, I had a club name, a bank account, flyers, posters, designs for pin badges and stickers, and a website. I had also designed banners (4' x 2' for promotion purposes), tee shirts, not to mention I was able to take part in a official Boccia England training course!

     Part of the meeting at the leisure centre was to do with what they were already setting up for disabled young people. They were putting on some multisport activities, such as wheelchair basketball, or table cricket, wall climbing and other such sports. I was asked if I would be able to an introduction to Boccia on their taster days, so I jumped at the chance. I decided the best option was to be able to take Zak, so Friday evenings 5pm - 6pm were organised. The first one is on March 4th.

     The next logical action was to book my own taster days and so Jo accompanied me to the centre and I booked a month of Sundays to see if this idea/club would be viable. Paul the manager was so keen to get our club there, he gave us two hours in the sports hall free to use as our own taster sessions to introduce people to Boccia and our club.

     Now we have a website, email address and are even on Facebook!

All the contact details are on our website with information on our taster sessions;

www.lewesboccia.co.uk

Find us on Facebook

Zak is very pleased, as he has the membership number 001. He has his own laminated membership photo ID and a cool lanyard we bought him from Barcelona this week.

I also received a message from Boccia England asking me to contact a woman about 30 miles away, which I did straight away. It turns out that she used to play on the national Boccia team, and has been looking for such a club for years! I was pleased to be able to tell her all about the club, show her our website and facebook page, and she seemed very excited.

It proved to me that this club is exactly what some wheelchair users have been waiting for - they start to play the game within their schools or placements, and then once they leave, there is nowhere for them to go to play. More importantly, it somewhere for people who have been or still are wrapped up in their 'bubble' to get out, and meet new people in a similar situation.

There is a sad lack of social occasions for wheelchair users in this area, but hopefully that is about to change.

Fingers crossed all will go well on our taster days, and we start to form a regular membership!

 

Has it really been THAT long!? (updated - photo added)

WOW! Doesn't time fly by quick!

It's a whole new year and this is my first post!

A lot happened the end of last year - at least, this was the last thing on my mind if I'm being honest.

I hope to get back into regular posting, as there is so much going on now.

Kane is now 8 years old! It doesn't seem that long ago that I was holding him after he had just been born. He looked up to me with one eye as if to say "you'll do" then closed it again.

My wife has started running arty crafty courses, Kane is doing really well at school, Zak is adjusting to
semi-independent life and has a new interest which he is sharing with me, called Boccia. I'll do another post detailing exactly what has been going on there, but what started as a flippant remark to Zak, has turned into something far more - Lewes Boccia club!

My Birthday was on the 16th Feb, and I had a lovely day - got some nice presents, and some cash to pay for a private Soo Bahk Do lesson!

Jo and I celebrated Valentines Day by giving each other cards and then having lunch at the restaurant we went to for our first meal together. The Chef there has worked at a few restaurants including the Fat Duck owned by Heston Bloomenthal, and produced some very nice food indeed.

Also we lost three of the chicks we originally hatched, losing the silkie with smooth feathers quite recently. The good news is that the first one to hatch has turned into a very handsome cockerel called Star. You can see the silkie in him though with the 'brillo pad' on his head instead of a vertical comb. It's nice to see him climb the pecking order too - it will be nice to see him up the top some day! You can see a photo of him at the top of the post.

There is more news, but I'll write about those after they've happened (obviously!).

If you're reading this I'd like to say Happy New Year to you, as I missed doing it on the 1st Jan, and I wish you all the best for the coming year!

Santa visits Kingston Pre-school!

You'd never guess who came to town on Friday...

...only Santa!

Admittedly, I had some insight seeing as it was ME!

Last year I was asked if I was able to be Santa for the local Pre-school. It was something I jumped at, as I love kids and the pre-school is a fantastic place, in which Kane had a great few years at.

The problem was, that last year it snowed very heavily, so much in fact the pre-school was closed and my services were no longer needed, so instead of getting dressed up and seeing the kids... I dressed up and walked about in the snow in our garden and fed the chickens!

There are some photos of last years outfit here.

I said goodbye to Jo after getting changed, and off I set to the pre-school.

Santa de-icing the windows.

A surprised looking Santa!

One can only blame the mince pies!

When I arrived I gently knocked on the door and Claire, the lady in charge, gave me one minute while she got the kids sitting down and quiet - then it was my grand entrance. I rang a set of sleigh bells outside the door and Claire asked the children if they could here anything - I was amazed at how many kids shouted out;

"SANTA'S SLEIGH BELLS!"

So with the door now open I walked in and did my "HO HO HO!". Claire guided me to a chair and the kids sat in front, looking up at me with excited eyes, and big grins.

Luckily, I happen to know some of the kids as their older siblings go to Kane's school - and it was amazing to see their little faces light up when I spoke to them by name and gave them a present wrapped and given by their parents to the pre-school previously.

One of the highlights was a little tiny speck of a girl who came up to me and said;

"I put a carrot out for your reindeer last year"

to which I replied;

"yes I know, and it gave my reindeer extra power so I was able to put all the children's' presents under the trees"

She went away grinning from ear to ear!

It was time to go once I had given out all the presents, and I was thanked by one parent who was holding a tiny baby dressed in red, with a Santa hat on - so cute! (I did remember to ask him if he'd been a good boy this year!)

It was a great experience, and you know what was the icing on the cake?


..... I've already been booked in for next years event as well!!