Competition!

I promised more about the competition I was judging yesterday.  It was the final of the Rose Bowl competition for the Welsh WI Federations, each of whom had held a “county round” earlier in the year – or so I thought.  Chatting to competitors later, I discovered that there had been only one entry in Clwyd-Denbigh, so they came straight through without the benefit of first round advice.  Very impressive!

The theme was “Space” and the schedule went as follows:

“A free standing display on a SQUARE base measuring a maximum of 30” x 30” when covered, placed on a table and to be viewed from the front only.  The combined exhibit shall consist of 5 items to depict the theme, items to include:

• Produce   one item of preserved food/foods and one cooked item (no meat or fish)
• Craft     two items showing a variety of skills
• Floral Art     one exhibit”"

Marks to be awarded as follows: Each item 20 marks, Staging and display 20 marks and Interpretation 20 marks (total 140) “

I was responsible for the judging of the staging and interpretation and found 11 entries awaiting me.  Of course, I have no idea whose is whose at this stage, but here they are, in no particular order.

Great use of colour, don’t you think?

Sorry, my photo doesn’t show the detail in the darkness (there’s a rather lovely felted necklace in there)

A young boy’s dream of space?

A different interpretation of the theme.

This is how the exhibit was when I started my deliberations.

And this is how it was when the steward spotted the sticky fixers had given way and replaced the rocket

This entry attracted a great deal of attention.

Battery-powered lights are very popular with exhibitors these days.

The papier mache base was a great feature!

Clever to use those glass spheres, wasn’t it?

Another interpretation of Space – “My Space”.

And finally, an exhibit featuring a moon and stars.

The results?  The winner was the exhibit scoring the highest total of marks for craft, cookery, flowers, staging and interpretation. 

1st Sir Gâr/Carmarthenshire Federation     (the display with the papier mache base)

2nd Glamorgan Federation  (the one with the glass spheres)

3rd Gwent Federation (the young boy’s dream of space)

What a great competition!  Congratulations to the winners

Whatever the weather

I’ve been keeping an eye on the weather these last few days, with a couple of outdoor events in my diary.  Our friend James shared a brilliant new weather app with us which has proved remarkably accurate.  So, when we set out for Wales on Friday morning, where I was judging a competition in Glamorgan and saw what we were heading into, we took a deep breath.

Rain.  Lots of it.

Not that we needed an app to tell us about five minutes later!  I was glad my Hero had offered to drive, needless to say.

The thing is, when the time came to go home, we had to go back through it all again!   

Thankfully, on Saturday morning, the storm had passed through for the village festival which we’d all been looking forward to for so long.

Or had it?  We took refuge in the bar for a short time as the rain pelted down again.  Oh, don’t we love an English Summer?

Thankfully, it cleared enough for us to enjoy watching our friends on stage (they were on before Dick and Dom) and having had the forethought to bring our picnic chairs with us, we didn’t have to crouch!

And the cheese and leek toastie from Hobbs was the best!

You wouldn’t believe what time this traffic jam formed in Wales yesterday morning!  Sometime around 6.15am I was making my way to Llanelwedd for the Royal Welsh Show where at least the sun was shining.

The car park had wonderful views but was a little far from where I needed to be.  I spent a few minutes editing my kit, thinking it might be a good idea to take a smaller, single bag down with me, but better not forget anything!  As I did, the woman in the car parked next to mine was doing the same.  She had the added challenge of dressing the part too, for she was an equestrian judge and confirmed that yes, she judged classes where she needed to ride each horse herself as part of the judging process, as I’d seen them do at Moreton Show.  Oh my goodness, riding an unfamiliar horse in such a public arena must be tricky at times – at least I don’t have to prove my capabilities beyond applying my wit and wisdom to my comments!

Thankfully, just around the corner, I came across a chap in a pickup truck, providing a shuttle service to the showground, so I hitched up my skirt and hopped into a vehicle far better suited to jodphurs and wellies!  Never mind…diolch yn fawr!

I didn’t need to report in until 7.45am, so I had time to wander about and watch the goings on.  I love this time of the day, when there’s so much happening and yet the place is so quiet.

I knew where the kettle would already be boiling, too!

Fuelled by tea and ably assisted by excellent stewards, we worked our way through the entries and identified the winners.  It was a busy morning but so much fun working amongst friends, catching up with their news, sharing stories and admiring the marvellous work in front of us.  I’ll share more of that in another post, but for now, suffice to say I love what I do!

By lunchtime, I’d completed that part of my work and went out to enjoy the sunshine.  It was a glorious day and lovely to see so many people enjoying the show.

I always enjoy watching the livestock judging and hearing a few squeals coming from the small ring nearby, I walked over to see what was going on.  Shall we say the pigs were having fun?

Normally, the judging is a stately affair with beautiful animals being led calmly around the ring by their owners.  Today though, a few of the pigs had other ideas!  Once one decided to scamper off, then so did another…

It was only when seeing these very pigs on the BBC last night that I returned to my photographs to take a closer look and sure enough, yes, there is Kate Humble and the BBC crew filming the fun too.

After lunch (the most delicious roast Welsh lamb!) I went over to the DyfedPowys police stand (family connections there) and as I did, found myself walking alongside a heavily armed officer from the South Wales Police, looking rather out of place in such a countryside setting.  As we walked, I chatted to him about his role there, though actually I found it more interesting observing the reactions he provoked from the crowd.  Clearly many were uncomfortable at the sight of three such armed officers, some were upset and they provoked a few yobbish shouts and verbal aggression from a few.  I dislike seeing armed officers in such settings, however much I appreciate the work they do, so I thanked him and moved along, wondering what my father in law would have made of such a presence?

The trade stands were there in force but I can’t say there was a lot to interest me.

Though some of the visitors were wearing amusing T shirts.  Don’t you love rural humour?

Keeping an eye on my watch – I needed to return to the hall at 2.30 to chat with competitors who might want further information from me – I heard a cheer from the crowd by the main ring, so went over to see what was happening.  Surely, those sheep (however cute) were not the cause of such a reaction?

Hmmm…what was going on in that smaller ring though, to the left?

It was Lorenzo the Flying Frenchman, warming up his act for the main event at 1.30! 

Loud music, a full house in the grandstand and a real showman working up to sixteen horses at times, no wonder the crowd went wild!

It was time for me to return, though and having fulfilled all my obligations, I was ready for home.  As I went, I spotted these fun bits and pieces in Adra.  Not sure about the camping logo but I liked Barod am Antur!   No, I don’t speak Welsh but thankfully, I had a translator by my side

I went off in search of a man with a pickup truck then, passing a few competitors getting the final touches to their beauty treatment.

Actually, around the corner there was a bit of a salon!

The work goes on from dawn till dusk – though judging from the noise coming from the Young Farmers bar, it’s not all about work here!

Thankfully, I found the man and his pickup truck and returned to what must surely be the car park with the best view around.  What do you reckon?

Time for home.

What do you teach?

It’s a question I’m often asked, especially in relation to workshops like the one on Saturday.  I usually fudge some kind of an answer, because really, it’s not always easy to explain in a single word or phrase.  I have been known to teach all kinds of things (including children, who are not things at all!) but of late, most of my work with the WI centres on display skills.

What?

Depending on the scenario, it might be called “visual merchandising”, “window dressing”, “promotion”, “staging”, “exhibition skills” or simply, display.  It broadly involves putting together some kind of visual arrangement to tell a story or convey a message.  On Saturday, the workshop focused on promoting the WI, the Women’s Institute and a large number of enthusiastic women were eager to gather some new ideas to promote their own WI in their community, but also to increase their own skills and maybe feel inspired to learn more.

Because one of the few organisations still offering qualifications in “display skills” (or “Staging and Interpretation” is the WI.  Woohoo!  Last year, I worked with a professional colleague from the British Display Society to deliver a dozen or more workshops around the country, doing our best to inspire WI members to learn more and yesterday was a direct result of one of those days.

So, what is there to learn?

More than you’d think!  But as my WI had been invited to participate in a village event next month, here was a great opportunity to put something together for my demonstration which will be of real use.  So, after showing a few quick and easy ideas and one rather more elaborate design, I worked through my ideas for promoting Avening WI and put a tabletop display together.  This morning, I recreated the display on our kitchen table and photographed it so that my WI colleagues have something to refer to if I’m not there!

I began with our tablecloth.  We made it for a competition to celebrate the centenary of the WI in 2015 and it’s used at every meeting.  It’s just a panel of cloth which drapes over any size table and is the easiest means of identification.  It also gave me a colour palette to work with.

I was going to need some coloured paper for the backdrop so chose a few possibilities in the art shop last week.  Two of them were immediately rejected – the purple is too blue and not red enough, the yellowish green not yellowish enough.  So, I chose the blue-green sheet and used a Pritt stick to adhere it to a piece of foamcore board.

I use foamcore board a lot, because it’s cheap, easy to get from any art shop or Hobbycraft and being lightweight, it makes it simple to work with.  It cuts like butter with a knife, using a cutting mat and ruler and will stand straight and not bend.  What’s not to love!?

This was to be my backdrop then.  My apologies for the “real” backdrop of our kitchen wall which goes some way to illustrating the importance of having a backdrop to any arrangement.  The brain needs a visual clue to know where to stop; a kind of punctuation mark to set the limit of the arrangement and in my example, it’s this green board.

It’s held upright by means of two more pieces of foamcore with slots cut in them.

You know the kind of arrangement where two things slot together like this?  It works well and the whole thing is sturdy and won’t fall over in a breeze.

My next task is to design something to put on that background.  I’d normally choose a photograph; a close-up of something relevant, perhaps.  But on this occasion, I didn’t want to include a picture of someone recognisable and couldn’t quite decide what image would provide the best information about what Avening WI does.

I decided to make a “picture” from some words.  From a long list of words taken from our programme and website.  I decided it needed to be bigger than A4 though, so the challenge to print it began.  Though I could have taken it to the local print shop, time (and budget) was limited, so I decided to see what I could do about printing it in two parts.

Would it be acceptable?

Well, to tell the truth, I’m not sure.  For a quick demonstration/single use for an hour or so, perhaps.  But really, if I were going to use it over and again, I’d get it done properly. 

I printed it out at 50% opacity, so it wasn’t quite so dominant and used blutack to attach it to the backdrop.  I’d actually prefer to use sticky velcro pads to blutack, but knowing this arrangement would be taken down and repositioned, I didn’t want to risk damaging the paper and went for the “gentler” option.  It does need a good, hard press to keep the blutack in place though.

So far so good.

Oh yes, I’ve got a bit of spare foamcore to put over those supports to create a kind of shelf, which will also give me somewhere to add a bit of weight to hold the whole thing together.  I’ll cover it up later.

So, what story do I want to tell?  What important information about my WI might inspire women to come along and find out more?  Well, one thing about which we are very proud is that Avening WI was formed in 1930.  We have the minutes of the first meeting, too.  I decided that the minute book would prove a bit of a talking point and since there would be someone standing there the whole time, taking care of it, something precious like that was fine to include.  I added an old pair of specs as an accessory, but also as a visual clue to stop people turning the pages!

It fits nicely together and provides a bit of a starting point for the rest of the display.

What next?  A pink scarf not only covers up the foamcore “shelf”, but also draws the eye and links the backdrop to the front design on the tablecloth.

Maybe that’s where to continue the story and place a copy of our programme for the year? 

But how much information to include?  Should I add something about Gloucestershire Federation?  The many campaigns and opportunities for learning offered by our National Federation?  Something about Denman College?  At this point, I knew there was not room for everything, but perhaps there was a way around that?

All of that information is on our website of course, so I’ll simply include the address of that and print out an image of our header.

I was sure I could persuade our printer to print a long image if it was no wider than A4 but sadly, it resisted my efforts.  So, another join was needed.  Aaagh!  In my defence, I think it looked better in situ than it did in isolation.

Now, we were getting somewhere.  A bunch of pink tulips brought life to the arrangement and linked the colour, drawing the eye up from the tabletop to the web header image.  I added a WI centenary mug on the “shelf” and placed the programme alongside, thinking that it had obscured some of the label in the previous position.  I also added a small label backed with foamcore (of course) with the details of our next meeting, which provided a visual balance to the web header which was flying out to the left.

But I wanted something to tell of the 21st century WI, of capable and IT-literate women who embrace modern technology in style.  I also knew from my own experience that a “live” screen, however small, is a real eye catcher.  I retrieved an old mobile phone from the cupboard, accessed my WI website and took a screenshot of the most recent page.  I switched off the screensaver and, to make sure the battery would hold out, I plugged the phone into my little battery clutch bag.

Another change of plan with the mug and programme then, and the phone/battery bag were given centre stage on the shelf – actually the darkest spot of the arrangement, so a great place to put a light source.

Just a couple of finishing touches then – our national logo, an easy identifier and something we’d been chatting about the whole day.  I found the perfect place up there in the top corner.

The other thing was the usual invitation – important to include and a good means of balancing the arrangement too.

I didn’t include a copy of our monthly magazine (sent to members as part of the annual subscription) nor did I include our Avening WI newsheet (because that’s online to read, too).  I’m assuming that whoever stands by the table will have a ready supply of programmes to hand out and hope that any woman who visits the village tea party will feel tempted to find out more and maybe come along to a meeting.

Next one, “From Lamb to Loom” on June 8th at 7.30pm.   87 years later, the women of the village are still getting together on the second Thursday of the month in the Memorial Hall to enjoy an evening of fun and friendship!

North of the Border

We headed north last Thursday.  Throughout the last couple of years, I’ve been enjoying the privilege of working with Voluntary Arts in Wales, teaching workshops enabling people to share their creative skills.  An opportunity arose to do something similar in Scotland, so I packed up my flip chart and workshop toolkit, my hero grabbed his car keys and off we went.

A slight crisis just north of Stafford, when a sharp stone hit the windscreen and gave us a bit of a surprise, but we – and the windscreen – were able to soldier on, battlescarred but undefeated.

Of course I took a picture as we crossed the border!

It seemed to take no time at all to get to our first destination – Edinburgh.

Though actually, we were staying in Leith, at the rather windswept but perfectly comfortable Premier Inn!

Thanks to the recommendation of one of my Scottish colleagues, we ate very well indeed, too, at the excellent Sasso just across the road.

Why Leith, you’re probably wondering?  Well, my workshop on Saturday was to take place at the Botanic Garden Cottage, not 500 miles from here, (and if you haven’t already seen it, it’s as good a time as ever to encourage you to watch Sunshine on Leith!)

Anyway, the Botanic Garden Cottage turned out to be in the loveliest of settings and on this bright, late October day it’s hard to think of a better place to be – except for being outside in the garden, of course.

The story of this remarkable venue was told in an attractive set of panels on the wall of the room we were using.

Recently completed and finished to the highest of standards, I couldn’t wait to take a look around the cottage – once I’d had a closer look at how those panels had been cut from hardboard, that is!

Neat!  Laser cut I assume.

Anyway, we were working in the room through the doorway there, and this room was set up as a kind of breakout space or for small cooking groups.   We were told how community groups are encouraged to come here, to use the kitchen garden and to cook what they grow.

Just as I’m thinking what a fantastic resource this is, I step into the next room – the perfect gardening workshop!  This was set up for a potting workshop later in the day.

Upstairs was ”The Professor’s Room” , formerly a classroom but now a bright and airy lecture room, open for meetings and gatherings of all kinds.  I took a quick look but hey, wasn’t I here to teach a workshop?!

Well, yes, and a few closely covered flip chart sheets later into the afternoon, there was just time to admire this community quilt before it was time to leave.  Sadly, I’d had no time to explore the Botanic Gardens “proper” but next time….definitely next time!

We had a bit of a journey to drive, because on Saturday, I was teaching the same workshop in Glasgow…

This time, it was in more conventional surroundings.  None the worse for that, in fact, in many ways, it was easier.  Fewer distractions!  More space!  Tables to sit at!

Another bright piece of lively community art, too!

When all was done and my responsibilities fulfilled, we seized the chance to go out on the razz with our friend Nigel on Saturday night (!)  Well, not only is he working up there for a few weeks and has had time to suss out somewhere decent, it was his birthday too.  Any excuse, eh?

The Schottische Restaurant at Babbity Bowster fitted the bill perfectly.  When we stepped inside, we thought we were in Dublin, because in the corner, a bunch of pals were playing fiddle.  The atmosphere was great and though the restaurant upstairs was a bit quieter, it did mean we could hear well enough to have a sensible conversation!

On Sunday morning, the geese were flying south and we were heading that way too.

It had been a short but sweet stay and at least we’d had the benefit of an extra hour in bed!

The next socks are underway, too.  To answer a couple of questions from the comments of my last post, my hero agrees that wearing hand knitted socks is like flying business class: once you’ve experienced the comfort, it’s hard to go back!  I find knitting in circles simple and rather therapeutic, plus the needles are short and bendy enough to fit in my handbag, so although the knitting mojo leaves me for a while now and again, I usually have a pair on the go.  As for the Froelich wool, Marianne, I’ve bought it in the Co-op in Zürich amongst other places.  Yes, it still has a card of matching reinforcement or darning yarn tucked in the band, too.  I googled it and found a couple of online sources for it.  Next time we’re heading for Switzerland (in the Spring, I think) I’ll give you a nudge!

Anyway, after another day on the M6/M5 we were pleased when the signposts began to show the South West.

Happier still to drive through Cranham Woods after such a long drive.

Happiest of all though, to be home!

Just one day

Reorganisation and general upheaval at my salaried work prompted a reassessment of priorities.  What is it that I really enjoy?  What would I miss?  What might I do instead?

As always, I apply the elegant sufficiency principle.  What does “enough” look like?  I’m still mulling that one over but in the meantime, my annual Local Government pension statement made a timely appearance in the post this morning.  Being one of the WASPI generation, my pension age was suddenly recalculated and I have a few years to wait until I can claim my bus pass and anything else pension-age related.  The statement confirmed that date and the amount payable is, unsurprisingly, neither elegant nor sufficient!

But a long time ago, I was a teacher.

My first job when I qualified was on the Isle of Wight, which is where I was working when I met (and became engaged to) my Hero, who was successfully climbing the professional ladder at the time.  When we were both invited to a smart business “do” then, my heart sank when I realised it was on the first day of the January term.  What should I do?  I decided to apply for a day’s unpaid leave, which any teacher will know, was quite a serious business.  After much communication it was granted, I accepted and looked forward to dinner with the great and the good and most of all, to being at my Hero’s side on a rather important occasion.

So what’s that to do with the price of fish? (as we say in Hull)

Well, the arrival of the pension statement this morning prompted me to think that I must have a teacher’s pension somewhere?  As usual, the answer is probably online so I went to the Teachers Pension website (of course) completed my details and logged in to find it all there: A complete record of my teaching career and confirmation of another tiny pension to be paid when I reach the magic age.  The amusing thing is that my employment record shows the total number of days worked – minus one!  Yes, the Isle of Wight County Council recorded my day’s absence, in spite of subsequent events.

Because life is never simple nor straightforward, is it?

Forgive me if I’ve shared the story before, but on that January day, in 1979, it snowed heavily in Hull, which meant the dinner I’d been looking forward to was cancelled.  Not wanting me to drive back to the IOW ferry alone in such treacherous conditions, Daddy decided he’d come with me as far as Portsmouth and then return to Hull by train, which is exactly what he did.  Except that he was already home in Hull when I was still trying to reach the Island – I’d spent more than an hour on the (then, open deck)  Portsmouth-Ryde car ferry with waves crashing over the sides before they decided to turn back and instruct us all to go to Southampton.  After another couple of hours, I finally reached dry land in Cowes and made it back to Newport where my flatmate was surprised to see me.  School had been cancelled for a few days because of the weather!

Who’d have thought that day would affect my pension?! 

I know I’m not the only one reassessing life-work balance right now but I recognise how fortunate I am to be able to make choices.  If I had to rely solely on the sums of money quoted in those pension statements, the decisions would be far more difficult to make. 

I might not even be in a position to have a choice at all.

I count my blessings.