Category: Katy’s day

On Monday we were meant to be going to a museum for a workshop on Egyptians, but we decided that we would be too tired after our circus trip, performance and then a birthday party ceilidh on the way home. We were right! The day was spent sleeping, recuperating and doing loads of washing.
On Tuesday we had planned to take J in to the station and then go to Gina’s for music lessons, but nobody had the energy or inclination to get up other than those who had to, so Bob took J in and the rest of us went to Gina’s once we’d surfaced and woken up. Piano for K, L and 6, flute for L and a bit of music theory round the edges filled the morning up and then we set off to ‘cello, via the Park and Ride where Fortune was soon to arrive on the bus from Oxford. Unfortunately the bus was a little late, which made for a rushed and slightly short ‘cello lesson for A before we had to leave K there and go on to violin. 6 had her lesson first and is doing really well. Christina says she should definitely carry on, as she is progressing very quickly already – so this is advance warning to you, Rémy and Guillemette, that she will need a next-size-up violin very soon (half size should do the trick) 😉 Then L had her lesson, which she loved as much as always – the worst thing about Kentwell for her is missing three weeks of violin lessons for it!
Brownies and gym in the evening, while A played with her beloved Fortune, and we were all well and truly ready for bed!

Sky Skills was for children aged 8 and over, so A was unable to come. Instead she swapped places with C and got a head start on our next adventure, while I took C to Sky Skills Studios.
Bob and M (and A) went over to Reymerston to set up tents and get established at the Circus Camp we were to attend there. When we eventually arrived (London traffic not great at rush hour!) Bob took J home and the rest of us settled down for a night under canvas. He and J spent the next few days getting J’s room sorted and tidy ready for his exchange student’s arrival next week and making sure homework was all caught up, including missed work from the band weekend. Fortuitously this meant that J’s ticket was available for 6, so she was able to come and do circus skills with K and L. A had opted to be a 3 – 6 and just have fun in the littlies area.
We’d missed the first session, but so had several others, so the second session was more or less a repeat: first of all a demonstration and then a chance to try a few different skills before deciding what specialism to take on. In the end 6 and C went for unicycling, while K and L opted for trapeze (with Em’s E too), all of them on the basis that these were things that would be harder to do elsewhere than juggling, diabolo, poi and so forth. Other possibilities included clowning, tightrope walking, hula hooping, stilts and slackrope walking (which they did in the evenings anyway). Specialisms chosen, they were then expected to focus on getting together a performance for the show on the final day. This meant working fairly solidly for two sessions a day – a total of five hours or more. You can imagine how tired they were by the end of each day! I was particularly impressed with C and 6’s dedication. Unicycling is hard! Lots of falling off, lots of bruises and lots of getting up and trying again. Eventually C decided she had too many bruises and needed to stop, which actually worked out well since Em’s R needed a poi partner, but meant that 6 was now on her own – and still picking herself up and carrying determinedly on. By the time of the performance she was able to travel a few metres by herself and about twice as far with a shoulder to lean on, which may not sound much but is an impressive achievement indeed. Several of the circus performers maintained that they had taken at least a week to get anywhere much on unicycle and the only way to get results is to do as 6 did and just keep trying. I’m told www.unicycles.com is the place to look…
In the evenings there were shorter sessions for the adults. On Thursday Em and I tried hula hooping and both earned ourselves some impressive bruises between thumb and fingers, then on Saturday M and I braved the trapeze, which was hard but fun. It’s now several days later and I can still feel the effects on my arm muscles and have bruises on the backs of my knees! It gave us some appreciation of what the children were doing 🙂
It seemed silly to be so close to where my aunt lives and not visit, so once I’d recovered from dangling upside down on a trapeze we set off, to find that my cousin, his partner and their children were there too, so we had a lovely family time together – dashing back just in time for A to take part in the talent show as part of a (very small) human pyramid.
Sunday, the last day, was spent by the children practising final routines, by A playing with friends and by me striking camp. It all (just!) fitted into one car, which meant Bob didn’t need to come and help 🙂 Much as he’d have liked to have seen the performance, it would have been a long way to come just for that and a few bits of tent!
After lunch was the big moment: the show. It was great! So much effort had gone into each act and nothing went unrewarded. Obviously with only a few days of practice many of the acts were far from impressive, objectively speaking, but each performer was applauded for what they had achieved and those who dropped more balls than they juggled got no less enthusiasm than those who had clearly spent their time taking skills they already had to a higher level. We all loved all of it 🙂
We’re looking forward to next year already!

Some time ago I found a list of free trips for schools, one of which was to Sky Skills Studios. I asked a few friends if they thought it sounded interesting (they did) and then emailed to ask if the sessions were open to HEors as well as to schools. The response I got was very positive – not only were they happy to welcome HE groups but they’d be very grateful to have the word put out that this was the case 🙂
We ended up with a group of 28 children, mostly HE but a few ex-HE or friends/family of HE, which was just about the right number and gave us a nice balanced 7 in each group (oh! the pain of making groups! I agonised for hours to make sure everyone knew someone and each group had people who’d chosen different skills and… it all seemed to work in the end, anyway 🙂 ). We’d been told that 6 adults could go in too, but in the end all the adults who had come were invited to go on the tour and then given a token for tea or coffee and the choice of using the token or staying with the children for the studios part. HH and I decided we’d better stay, while everyone else went off to enjoy some corporate hospitality (and didn’t even bring us a cup of tea – sob!).
It was fab! The tour was interesting – and our group got to brush past Parkinson in the corridor! Sadly I was so busy counting heads and checking we had everyone that I didn’t realise until too late that it was him, but I’m told it definitely was 😉 We saw where programmes are made, including weird spongy rocks, designed to be able to be rolled up and carried from place to place for instant studio dressing, admired a £300k camera, peeked into rooms where editors were busy doing their thing and other rooms where people get to watch sport all day, checking for transmission quality. The highlight of the trip, though, was the work the children did in the studios. We’d chosen Natural Disasters as the topic, so the aim was to produce a report which the groups would write, present, film and edit in four sections. These would then be put together to make one report, a copy of which would be put onto USB drive wristbands for each child to take home and keep. The first group had the task of introducing the topic, the second did a slightly wider report, the third had on-the-spot reporting and interviews with eye-witnesses and the fourth wrapped it up with a discussion of what could be done in future. They were all fab and it was really interesting to see how the different groups worked together and the results they had according to the different approaches the tutors took with them and the dynamics of the groups. Definitely something worth doing again, perhaps in a year or so and with a different topic 🙂

Monday was quiet – lots of catching up on sleep, some catching up on jobs, a fair bit of music practice, quite a lot of unpacking and a small amount of repacking. J was returned to us at about 10 in the evening (thank you, Michelle), ravenously hungry (this seems to be a fairly permanent state just now!) so was fed and sent to bed forthwith.
Tuesday was much the same, but with a little added gym for 6 – the waiting list for normal lessons was too long, but holiday sessions are easier to arrange. Fortunately L’s spare leotard, on the big side for her, proved a good fit. I’m sure 6 has grown since she arrived; there is more of a height difference between them now than there was.

Thursday was a Gina day, but we were so far behind in preparing to go away for an early weekend that Bob took the girls and K and I stayed at home to get on with jobs.
They picked J up after school and then came back here, where we loaded the car up and finally managed to leave. The journey was long but fairly uneventful – traffic slow but not overly heavy – and we made it to Uppermill and found the church which was to be J’s home for the next few days, as he joined the National Methodist Youth Brass Band for the Whit Friday marches, with added reunion concert and a couple of services.
J safely delivered, with his trombone, lyre, two mutes, sleeping bag, uniform and all other necessities, we went on from there to the Off The Path Party in the Field, where we were the first to arrive. It’s always lovely to spend time with good friends 😀

After such a busy Tuesday it was time for a morning at home and we made the most of it by sleeping in and starting late. Normals happened, plus ‘cello lessons for K and A, delayed from yesterday, then choir (girls in yet another new place – St Edward’s – which was beautiful. A had Rainbows, which she loves.

On Tuesday K’s friend B was going to go to Science ALive, partly on our recommendation. His mum very kindly offered to take any of ours who wanted to go, and even to drop J off at school on the way past. Accordingly, A, K and 6 went along with them, leaving L with me as she had a writing workshop booked.
Their theme was light and sound, and they each made various things to find out about how light and sound work: a kaleidoscope or a periscope, a spectroscope, a spinner (elastic band stretched across a piece of card which made sound when whirled around on the end of a string) and a buzzer (lolly sticks with paper between to buzz when blown) which they proudly showed me when they got home. Apparently it was a good day 🙂
L also had a good day: she was enthused by the workshop and enjoyed a full violin lesson, using 6’s time as well as her own 😉
J had a slightly less day, although a detention rather than cricket club did at least mean he was finished at just the right time to be collected by those returning from Science…
They even got back (just) in time for gym and Brownies – bonus!

Recently there have been visits arranged by members of our local HE group to different places of worship. Unfortunately we’ve not been able to make most of them, so i was very pleased when one came up that we cold do, to a synagogue which was not the one the children and I visited last year. Unfortunately we had been told that younger siblings would not be allowed to attend and that the minimum age was seven, which meant that neither A nor S could go in, and therefore I could not either. Since I trust my children to behave without me this was not a problem for them, but it was disappointing for me and means I can’t now tell you what happened there. I might see if I can get the children to blog what they remember though 😉
What was particularly frustrating was that when we dropped the older ones off A, s and I were invited in by the speaker, only to be warned off by the HE organiser in a way which frightened the children enough that they didn’t dare take up the invitation, so we sat in the foyer and played I Spy instead.
Lots ofscootering on the way back to the car and by the time we got there everyone was starving so we grabbed a packet of biscuits to share and made our way back for toast whilst watching Animal Heroes – I was assured it was educational enough to merit watching and actually it was quite good 🙂
Home for music practices and such, while Bob collected J since he was out for a coffee afternoon anyway – sounds very civilised but in fact a group of ex-colleagues meeting fortnightly to see how the job-hunting is going.