Skateboarding session at The Space

26/11/13                                                                                                                      

Today, it was too frosty for longboarding or cycling, so Sally took us to an indoor skatepark in North Berwick, The Space. Nick and Graham were bmxing, while Gav, Connor, Sally & I were skating. I've been really unlucky with skateboarding and people sometimes ask why I carry on but every time I go I enjoy it more than the time before. Today was the first time I'd been since I dislocated my elbow months ago. I was really nervous and cautious to begin with, but I made sure I had a helmet, wrist guards, elbow and knee pads on (which helped with my confidence). After a few hours I felt a lot more confidence and my balance on the board was pretty much back to normal. I'm going to start going more often but take it really easy and pace myself, need to warm up before jumping in at the deep end. I am glad I went with Sally & the guys from work because we all know what level we're at and give each other advice on what could be improved. The reason I like it so much is because It's fun and everybody has a laugh, we also don't take it too seriously.

Foxlake sessions with Innerwick Primary School - By Nick Galloway

For the past 8 weeks we have been working with East Linton Primary and Innerwick Primary at foxlake and playing different games with them and teaching them different things to do with the outdoors. 

For my week with Innerwick we were learning about the our 5 senses (sight, smell, touch, hearing, taste) so we played three games and one big group game to do with different senses. 

The three games we played were colour pallet, camera game and night line with a stealth game as the big group game. Colour pallet- The kids all got given a small bit of paper with double sided sticky tape on it and had to search the forest floor to find loads of different colours and different shades of those colours and stick them to there paper neatly. Camera game- For the camera the kids all paired up, one being the camera and the other the photographer, and the camera had to close their eyes and was only allowed to open them when the photographer tapped the top of the kids head. The camera would open their eyes for 5 seconds at the spot where the photographer pointed their head and had to remember all the picture they seen. Night line- For night line we tied ropes around trees at different lengths and heights, over different types of terrain. The kids all had blindfolds on and had to follow the rope around until the end. Making sure they all had one hand on the rope and the other on the person in fronts shoulder. The stealth game at the end was very like "whats the time mr wolf" but you had to hide behind trees and piles of wood or bushes when ever the person that was it turned round. 

Overall the session went really well and the kids all enjoyed themselves and learned a lot from the session.    

Foxlake session with East Linton Primary - by Gavin McManus

It was the 2nd of October and I was given the first day of leading the Foxlake sessions with  East Linton primary school. I was incredibly nervous about having too do this especially having to go first. Throughout September we had run many practice sessions but a big part of me still thought i was going to mess up.
            Once the bus had arrived i greeted the kids of the bus and Stevie took a slight introduction then it was my time to step up. I firstly spoke about all the safety precautions that had too be taken in the woods and then learnt everyone's names as well as we could. I also discussed with the kids how the session was based around there five senses. I split up the primary school kids into even groups and sent them to the games with there 2 leaders.
            The three small games that were played were;
Observation alley- a game for using the element of sight and to try find all 20 objects in a roped of area
Meet a tree- All about using the touch sense, one participant would lead a blindfolded participant too a tree lead them back to the center and make the blindfolded person try and find there tree
Sound maps- all about using your hearing, all the members would find an area to sit by themselves and listen to the surrounding and draw what they could hear.
            I rounded the session off with roasting marshmallows around a fire and then playing a game of bat and moth which is about using three senses (touch, hearing and sight). The rules of bat and moth is that there would be one blindfolded person and another without a blindfold, they would be in a circle of people. the blindfolded person would call out bat and the non blindfolded person would call out moth. The aim of the game is for the "bat" to capture the "moth".

Fox Lake Session - East Linton Primary School - Connor Kelly

For my week of the fox lake session, We had a variety of games that included Bingo, Colour Pallet, Photograph game and Night Line . Bingo - To play this game you need a bucket, you then go and collect different items with different textures that we have noted down, these textures included rough, smooth, dry, spiky etc. Colour pallet - To play this game we have a small square of card with double sided sticky tape, we then ask the children to collect difference shades of colours and stick them on the card. Photograph game - To play this game, you need two kids to pair up, one kid guides the other who has his eyes shut, when the kids who is guiding finds something interesting he taps the other kids head, he then opens his eyes for five seconds then shuts his eyes again. Night line - To play this game you have a group of trees together and you tie rope round them at different heights and different lengths. you then blindfold the kid and guide them round the rope. At the end we had hot chocolate and reviewed the session.

Foxlake Session

I led a group of kids from Innerwick Primary School and learned them the basics of survival and living in the outdoors. We did three activities which we're Shelter Building, Creating a fire and Water Filters. I really enjoyed leading the group however I could have improved on more interaction with the kids and my communication skills with them. Overall I enjoyed trying to lead a group. To create our shelter we used sticks and leafs for the main side of the shelter we sent the kids off to collect large and long sticks with the fire myself and my other colleague went with the kids to collect fire wood for the fire but we made it clear that we didn't use green wood or anything that was wet or damp. For the Water Filters we used a milk bottle and a sock for the filter with some sticks and grass.

Graeme Minski

Leading Innerwick Primary   by Abbie Duffy

After 4 weeks of working with a group of primary 4's from East Linton primary, we'd all had enough experience to pick it up a step and start leading a session ourselves. Before the group from Innerwick arrived, I made sure I was fully prepared since it was the first session with them and didn't want to make a bad impression.  They were primary 5's and definitely seemed a lot more enthusiastic than the primary 4's from East Linton. Before the session with Innerwick had started I was beginning to get really nervous. Thankfully the day before we met the children, Sally gave us 15 minutes to prepare a 2 minute talk and perform it to all the guys, it definitely helped to ease my nerves a bit. On the day I just tried to be myself and relax but obviously the first time I was going to be slightly nervous. It went more smoothly than I'd hoped. After the introduction I felt a lot more confident and didn't have any nerves whatsoever of the review. Two instructors were with about 2-3 children each, we played observation alley, sound maps, meet a tree and bat and moth as a big group game. For the review we had marshmallows around the fire with everybody and got plenty of interesting feedback from the primary 5's. I now feel a lot more relaxed and confident about working with the schools now, and looking forward to getting more experience which will improve my skills further. 

Sea buckthorn by Jaimie C

In the last couple of weeks, me and the team have been cutting back sea buckthorn in longniddry.

out of all the job we do, i find this one of the must challenging. Sea buckthorn has a very big root system and it is very hard to pull out. Removing the roots requires a few tools, a matic, bow saw and a fork.

I got a chance to use a new tool last week, the tool was called a pole saw. Basically it is a big saw on the end of a pole and it very handy for reaching tall  branches.  

After the last few weeks i feel we have done a great job and i think the local dog walkers will appreciate the paths being wider and free of spiky branches!

Residential trip by Gavin McManus

In October 2013 the coastal communities went on a residential trip up to strathyre. Over the trip we took part in various different activities from bivvy bagging to a morning swim in a loch.
            I feel like my boundaries were pushed too a full potential through out this trip. Mainly because i was extremely apprehensive about sleeping in a bivvy bag.
             A bivvy bag is an extremely small, lightweight, waterproof shelter, it is basically a lightweight tent perfect for any trip where packing light is a must. 
                  I was nervous about staying in the bivvy bag because the thought of having to seal myself in a tight bag over night was just vile. It took a few hours but i eventually just fell asleep and all my worries were gone.
                  Also in the trip we climbed a mini mountain called ben ann and also took part in a morning swim in loch ard and too say the least it was freezing!



 

Sea Buckthorn Maintenance with David Alcorn

Sea Buckthorn Maintenance by Connor Kelly

For the last couple of months we have been doing allot of sea buckthorn maintenance in Aberlady and Longniddry. In Aberlady we have been maintaining one major patch that is highly overgrown at the nature reserve. In Longniddry we have been making sure that the John Muir signs are visible as the Buckthorn was overgrown past the sign and onto the car parks. We were also maintaining the paths as there was allot of overhanging buckthorn. Once we had cut it out, we cut it up at burnt it at a camping spot. I feel really proud as we have cut out a major chunk of  buckthorn at longniddry and people can see that the car park and surrounding paths are allot cleaner and you can actually walk through without worrying about being caught up in buckthorn.

Conference

In October we attended a conference in Longstone which had  similar organisations to TCV and Mobex East Lothian. When we arrived at the conference we had to sign up to three activities and these activities were ran by some of the organisations that attended the conference. I really enjoyed attending the conference because it gave me an eye-opener into what I want to do after the year. The three activities I did was ten minute fire, cooking outside and outdoor games.

Graeme Minski

Expedition in Strathyre and Aberfoyle by Connor Kelly

On Monday the 14th of October Coastal Communities went on a expedition up north. We left Prestonpans at about ten o clock in the morning and made our way to Strathyre Outdoor Centre.

 When we got there we unpacked our stuff then packed our bags for biving and wetsuits for swimming in Loch Ard the next morning.

We left to make our way to Loch Ard, when we got out the van it was about a hour and a half walk until we found a comfortable camping spot. We had to make a fire because it was getting very dark very quick. Once we had our fire going we had something to eat then set up our tarps and bivi bags. We then tried to go to sleep but it didn't quite go to plan, it was a wonderful night and all the stars were out.

 We all got up at about eight O clock in the morning and we got changed into our wetsuits and went swimming in the loch, we swam to a little island. the island had steps up to a overhanging rock that we were jumping off. We stayed for about half an hour then left to go back to our camp site. 

We all got changed then began our journey back to the van. We left all our stuff in the van then we drove to the bottom of Ben A'an. We didn't have a ruck sack or any kit, we only had a water bottle. We then began to walk to the top of Ben A'an. Whilst walking up we came across a stream and we got fresh water. When we got to the top. the scenery was amazing, as we saw lots of surrounding mountains and over Aberfoyle.

 We walked back to the van and went back to the centre. We went into callender and had a well deserved chippy, afterwards we went back to the centre as we were going home early the next again morning.