New Group website

This blog is a personal record of the wonderful three years I led the Iffley Fields Elfins and hopefully a resource for other group leaders.

The group still runs and has its website on the main Woodcraft website at Iffley Fields Elfins.

Blue Skies

End of Term Party (2014-12-15)

We played a game of Octopus whilst people arrived and gave Debbie and I farewell cards.

We blew up balloons.

We held our News Circle: Oliver had a scented candle in his advent calendar; Daniel made a wreath at the Barracks Lane Community Garden; as did John; Ivo got his Christmas tree yesterday; Rafiq told us that Kike left his tee shirt whilst at his sleep over; Kike had his school nativity play; Raffa had a nice weekend at home; Jay gave his sister lego for her birthday today; Lena's dad setup the new television, which is new for Christmas, but didn't take it down again; Izzy is going to sing with her choir, in black and red, this evening after Elfins; Debbie went to see Snow Queen at the Pegasus which was funny and good; Millie showed us a stocking she was made by a friend and another by her mum, for her birthday; Imogen has learnt to tell the time; Joe's news was that this was his last news, self-referential as ever; Dylan had the same news; Emily also went to Wreath Making at the Community Gardens; Matilda went to athletics today; Jeff is going to London tomorrow; Natty will Rock You!; Isis, tried to get away with a 'no news news' but was persuaded to let us know that she was given the Fifa 11 football game which Dylan has beaten her at; Morrigan has sent her letter to Father Christmas (weeks ago); Tim, stupidly late, bought a lapel pin badge from the Woodcraft Shop, this led to a great conversation with another customer whilst waiting for wood at Powell's the wood merchant, once the natural confusion over woodwork and woodcraft had been cleared up it was great to talk about woodies: wear a badge and spread the word! Rana has been unwell but is better now and thanked all the woodies who have supported her; Rayan found a marble rock today; Yasmin told us (herself) that Rayan had been for a sleep over; Meriem cooked a great couscous today; Ayoub went to a toyshop and bought a toy and then went to the cafe.

Emily told us that we had raised £64.28 for Helen and Douglas House at the Green Party Fair.

Tegan and Rolly joined us.

We played another game of Leavers Octopus first with Mille, Joe and Dylan as the Octopi, then with Debbie and Tim.

Joe played piano.

We ate the party food.

Some played a game of balloon chase and Ivo had a tooth come out, but it was wrapped up and put in his pocket.

Debbie and Tim got lots of cards.

We were joined by parents and held a circle where Debbie and Tim were given a Woodcraft tea towel and tee shirt. We sang Freedom,

Bog Down in the Valley

AMighty Song of Peace

and Red River Valley

We held our Closing Circle.

Leaders: Tim, Debbie, Emily, Rana
Helpers: Raffa, Ximena, Meriam
Parents: Brian, Cathy, George, Jeff
Visitors: Tegan and Rolly
Elfins: 20
Woodchips: 1

Merrymoot (2014-12-08)

We played games whilst people arrived then held our News Circle: Joe had a Friends Christmas Lunch at the weekend; Dylan has his second rehearsal for the school play; Isis did card making at school; Ivo plays Dr Who in the play; Raffa had to stay at home with Mali who was ill; Ayoub fed the ducks yesterday; Oliver has a prize in Ice Hockey; Jay received a late birthday present of Lego animals; Natty played football and his team won; Morrigan went for a walk in the forest; Lena visited friends and her shoe broke; Izzy passed her piano prep test; Emily went to the Green Fair on Saturday (late news we raised £64.28 for Helen and Douglas House); Matilda's parents came to school and taught a lesson; John had the first rehearsal with the whole school; Theo learnt a card trick; Cathy went to the second Play Out in the street on Essex Street; Debbie had a stall at the Green Fair; Millie had her tenth birthday; Rafiq didn't open his advent calendar today; Daniel went to Shotover; Ximena had hot chocolate with friends; Luke brought in the Christmas tree; Morrigan got out the Christmas tree; Imogen had her first rehearsal for the school play; Polly is in the Christmas play; Kike has feet; Tim was at home as Flora was ill;

We spent some time thinking about Merrymoot acts or playing as Tim wrote down the running order.

The show was opened by Joe playing Living it up on piano.

Matilda played Make way for the King

Izzy played a duet with Emily

Theo showed us the card trick he has learnt

Ayoub did a dance

Morrigan showed us the soft toys she has made

Rafiq sang and acted out Dumb Ways to Die

Lena, Izzy, Yasmine and Matilda performed the Christmas story

Tim, yet again, played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on his Chalumeau.

Natty did a performance, John told a joke

Imogen and Polly sang a song

Jay performed the Dance of the Zombie Spider

Joe played us out with Cheaky Chappie and Come on and Party.

We all sang Charlie was a Pigeon.

We held our Closing Circle.

Leaders: Emily, Debbie, Tim
Helpers: Raffa, Ximena, Miriem, Cathy
Elfins: 21
Woodchips: 1

Lantern Making (2014-12-01)

As people arrived they played Tag and then Octopus.

We held our News Circle: Jay had his birthday party yesterday; Rayan will soon have her birthday and had friends down from London at the weekend; Lena went to Matilda's Teddy Bear party; Amber has finished writing her book; Morrigan went to her grandpa's and had ice cream and raspberries; Imogen has new trainers; Polly made a shaker today; John is going to be a narrator in his school nativity play; Raffa was not well over the weekend but is better now; Kique is also going to be in the nativity play; Rafiq opened his advent calendar to find a chocolate; Luke found two snails on the way to the session; Ximena has finished reading Winnie the Pooh and House at Pooh Corner with Luke; Joe was in a traffic jam; Oliver is expecting a trophy in ice hockey; Daniel is narrating in the nativity play; Milly has ten days until her tenth birthday; Debbie just saw a Charles Street standoff between a taxi and another car; Theo is going to play a Mule in the Nativity; Natty has a sticky mouth; Tim cleaned out the African Land Snails.

Millie wasn't well but still came!

We all very quickly made lanterns, lots of people knew how to do it already, as each was finished we lit a candle and put it in the central circle. Those who had finished played chase for a while.

As the grown ups cleared up those who had finished decided to play a game of Wink Murder, without any input from the adults.

We decided to play another round of Wink Murder in the Dark.

We had a discussion as to what we should do next and Lena suggested Serial Stories, she explained that the game went around the circle in turn with each person adding one sentence to the story, this was such a good idea that we decided to do this. Debbie started us off, this is what I can remember of the story:

Once upon a time in the dark forest there was a boy alone in a house. A zombie approached the house. The microwave made a ping. The boy was making baked beans. The Zombie was actually how Father Christmas had disguised himself. The police arrived and arrested the zombie. Father Christmas had dropped his toy sack. To prove who he was Father Christmas told the policeman where his toy sack was. The policeman left Father Christmas in the cells and went to find the toy sack. The policeman liked the idea of a magic toy sack and thought he would keep it to himself. Father Christmas, who has the magical ability to be everywhere at once got his toy sack back. There was some problems with zombies who fell into a volcano but there was so much white tissue paper in the sack that the volcano rained down white fluff and there was a White Christmas everywhere.

We sang Charlie was a Pigeon and then held our Closing Circle.

Leaders: Debbie, Tim
Helpers: Raffa, Ximena, Amber
Elfins: 16

Christmas Cards (2014-11-24)

We started by playing games, helped by two visiting Venturers Beth and Rosie.

We held out News Circle: Dylan will grade for his second stripe blue karate belt next weekend; Kique has gums and feet; Ivo fought with his friend Anton at break; Rafiq slept over at William's; Ximena saw brilliant dancing in the rain on Saturday outside the Natural History museum; Luke found an orange snail; Morrigan went swimming with her grandma; Isis told us that Dylan had pinched her in the eye in the car to the session; John had the biggest breakfast ever at OxFork; Emily went to the Beetroot Cafe on the Cowley Road; Theo, eventually, remembered he had a new game on his dad's iPad; Joe went to Insomnia, a gaming get together; Raffa has been helping someone write a story; Oliver had Kique come over for tea this evening; Natty is a Gummy Bear; Polly has a new plush rabbit from a cake sale; Jay made pizza at cookery club; Beth has joined us from Venturers to help with the session; Izzy has her piano test coming up; Imogen got new boots at the weekend; Rosie, also a venturer, was impressed with how quick and to the point our news is; Lena watched Madagascar at the weekend; Matilda told us that it was Thanksgiving last Thursday, but that her family had celebrated it on Saturday; Tim had his nephew staying Saturday night and went to watch Flora dance with the Ark T Dance group outside the Natural History Museum.

Emily explained that we were going to make Christmas Cards to sell at the Winter Fair in support of Helen and Douglas house, where Isis, Ivo and Dylan's dad works and where very sick children get extra care.

We had card, cutters and sparkly glue.

When the cards were finished the Venturers led a great game of Stick in the Mud followed by Dead Ants.

We had a quick circle, in which we decided to sing Charlie was a Pigeon after we had sung our Closing Circle Song but sadly we could not overcome tradition and the session ended at the end of the song. Next Week we will sing it before!

Leaders: Emily, Tim
Helpers: Ximena, Raffa
Venturers: Beth, Rosie
Elfins: 20

Flutes with Mr Finch (2014-11-17)

We started by playing Dead Ants.

We held our News Circle: Isis scratched her thumb at play time; Kique played with two Japanese boys at Dance Camp; Oliver had Kique around; Daniel also went to the Dance Camp party on Saturday; Rayan went to Snakes and Ladders with Lena; Ivo had issues at after school club; Rafiq found a mini torch; Natty is going to his cousin's house; Morrigan is playing a new penguin game; Imogen a lego set; Polly went to the beach at her Grandmother's house; Raffa went to the Dance Camp party with the Japanese dancers; Luke has new shoes today; Ximena went to the gym and has been tired all week; Jay has been planning his party at which there will be a showing of How to Train Your Dragon II; Ester, who joined us for the session, found a stop watch with Milly; Milly created a Natural Spa with Ester; Debbie is going to the Oxfam Fair Trade Fair; Dylan has had auditions for the Christmas play; Joe went bowling on Saturday; Emily went to Stroud with Tanja and other leaders to attend the Area Network meeting; it is Mr Finch's second session with us, he came three years ago and made Scrap Instruments, and this session he is going to show us how to make flutes; Matilda went to her piano teacher's performance and had a sleepover; Lena went to a friends house and made a Vomit Pool; Izzy showed us the new Nick Cope CD which has her singing on it.

Only six children at a time could make flutes, so the rest of us organised ourselves

to play Wink Murder.

In groups we

all

made

flutes!

Leaders: Debbie, Emily, Tim
Helpers: Ximena, Mr Finch
Elfins: 21

Games and Songs (2014-11-10)

Both Rana and Tim have had operations this week, but we had Raffa to help.

We started by playing Octopus.

We then held our News Circle: I have had surgery on my nasal passages and so asked everyone to be a bit gentle; Isis had a wobbly tooth which came out when she ate an apple; Kique went to two parties with Dance Camp friends; John went to his friend Milo's party and fireworks; Jay learnt a song at school which he taught us; Debbie is fostering a kitten called Toby; Millie has made a den in her bedroom; Chimena went to the South Park fireworks; Luke held a cockroach at the Natural History museum; Emily planted onions at her allotment; Jasmine and Rayan had a sleep over at Rayan's house; Izzy went to Rayan's to play; Matilda's wobbly tooth came out; Ivo went to the South Park fireworks; Raffa has two new kittens Slipper and Juno; Rafiq got some bubblegum from Tesco's; Polly has a pet mouse; Morrigan got some hair lights from the fireworks; Imogen held a hissing cockroach; Natty learnt how to make paper snowflakes; Theo went to Cornwall; Oliver went to an Ice Hockey match and will go to Greece next summer; Jo has his birthday next Wednesday; Daniel played tennis at Florence Park; Dylan has been playing on his Raspberry Pi.

We got the parachute out and played Popcorn.

Everyone had a go in the Washing Machine.

And finished with a game of Sharks and Lifeguards.

We then sang songs, with them being recorded on Tim's phone. The quality of the recording is not great!
Morningtown Ride
Blue Lake and Rocky Shore
I like the Daffodils
We are the Woodcraft Folk
Link Your Hands Together

Leaders: Debbie, Emily, Tim
Helper: Raffa
Elfins: 22