Merrymoot and Rolly (2014-03-17)

We played a game of Octopus whilst people arrived (after a late start, sorry).

We held out News Circle: Connie has a cough; Natty missed out on face painting; Imogen's father brought her two dresses back from China, one of which she was wearing; Jude's Dad went to Ned's house; Rayan went for a sleep over;

Then Tegan arrived with Rolly. Everyone was very excited. Tegan's news was that Rolly is one monh and two days old. Rolly was too new for News.

Rana went for a picnic in the sunshine on Sunday; Nia found a special, dagger shaped, stick at school; Johnny went to the park; Debbie planted vegetables and manured her garden; Joe played tennis; Ivo is now on his eight times tables; Magnus went to a house near the Ridgeway and went on a bear hunt, had a competition to see who could keep their feet in a cold river the longest and then went on a walk on the Ridgeway; Iona celebrated her granny's birthday with her family; Tessa told us that a while ago, when in France, her Dad had cut himself; Dylan has been making Egyptian Pinch Pots at school; Pip has read fifty five (we counted them) of the eighty two Beast Quest novels; Rafiq showed us his Ultimate Cannonball; Jay watched Ben Ten; Millie-Maye might be going to the Unicorn school where Iona's sister Izzy goes and has a crutch because her toe hurts; Xanthe's family had friends over and they made her an account on the game that the mother had designed; Matti has four school weeks left before SATs; Izzy performed in Time at the Pegasus; Matilda played a game with a friend but now has eleven grazes; Molly watched The Voice instead of a story last night; Flora performed in the matinee and evening performances of Time at the Pegasus; Connie also danced in both performances and told us how they had seamlessly covered up for a slight mistake by one of the dancers.

We played a game of Four Corners to get the blood circulating and for those who wanted to rehearse.

Merrymoot

We started with Magnus leading the now traditional Who can shout Quanong the loudest?

Molly gave a fabulous puppet show The Case of the Missing Sweets using a theatre and puppets she had made for the show.

Rafiq and Jay put on a show of the Cannonball and Cat.

Pip, assisted by Dylan, did a Mime of being locked in a box which morphed into a dance routine.

Imogen showed use a Dance.

Tessa played Fur Elise on piano.

Xanthe played both parts of a Duet for flute.

Matilda and Izzy sang the Square Song.

Matti played piano.

Nia played Koombya on piano.

Natty and Imogen performed a Ball Game

We held our Closing Circle

and then had more time with Rolly.

Leaders: Debbie, Tim, Rana
Parents: Jeff, Patience, Zoe, Lisbeth
Visitors: Tegan, Rolly
Elfins: 21
Woodchips: 1
Pioneers: 1

Bronze Age Burial (2014-03-10)

Some played a self-organised game of Octopus whilst people arrived.

We held our News Circle: Millie brought in a pet caterpillar; Connie had a Japanese meal with sushi, chicken and sticky rice cooked by her brother; Magnus caught lots of newts which are endangered; Natty has a Hulk Blaster which sounds like a duck; Nia has finished the first Harry Potter book; Iona's best friend from London came to stay; Tessa went to a three and a half hour performance of a musical Once; Millie-Maye can make a variety of animal and other noises including chicks, she has also grown her nails as she has stopped chewing them; Xanthe made a chocolate cake with Flora on Friday and has the guinea pigs that she shares back at her house; Rafiq performed at his Bee's Knees concert and has more Skylander figures; Pip showed us his dance move; Jay's friend has a wobbly tooth which hurts; Ivo is now learning his seven times tables; Dylan told us that last night another cat, not his, came into the house and ate his cat's food; Joe was tongue tied; Lena's sister will be two years old in four days time; Matilda's mum's friend Miranda came to stay and they went out for a meal where she had loads of Pizza; Jeff played basket ball; Molly was wearing a Californian sweat shirt as she is half Californian; Debbie showed us some of the jute baskets she is crocheting for the Green Fair; Imogen went to her grandmother's house for lunch and painted her nails and toenails and Natty's; Tim pruned the willow dome at Hertford Street so we have willow for hostel and pruned his apple tree and pear tree; Flora is still waiting to hear the results of the art competition she has entered.

We decided to play a game to get the blood flowing again after sitting so long and that we should play a couple of rounds of Dead Ants before the main activity led by Jeff, Matilda's father.

Jeff told us about bronze being made from copper and tin and asked lots of questions about grave goods. He mentioned the most important bronze age find on Dartmoor has just been announced. We talked about the sort of thing that was buried with people and which ones lasted and so could be found by archaeologists.

We split into groups and drew around a person on paper to have a life sized skeleton.

We drew grave goods around each person.

Jeff brought pictures of Bronze Age grave goods which have been found.

We lined all our graves up in a cemetry.

We had just enough time for Magnus to show us his enormous flint which he found at hostel last year, near the bronze age fort on the Ridgeway.

We held our Closing Circle.

Activity leader: Jeff
Leaders: Debbie, Tim
Helpers: Lisbeth, Patience
Elfins: 20

Games and Songs (2014-03-03)

I had mistakenly announced that this session would be on The Iron Age, but that is next week, so apologies to Magnus who brought a fantastic flint to show.

Both Millie and Rayan were sick, so neither Debbie nor Rana could come, but happily Ellen and Lizbeth were able to stay and help.

The session started with wild play in the dark, when we had all arrived we held our News Circle: Imogen was very tired; Natty has a new series of Beast Quest; Xanthe went swimming with a four year old familiy friend Zeezee; Millie-Maye found a pair of magnetic best friends necklaces for her and Xanthe; Iona went to Woburn at half term; Tessa went to Edinburgh by train and climbed the old volcano known as Arthur's Seat with her dad; Magnus went ice skating and fell over; Nia is going to dress up as Hermione Grainger for World Book Day; Dylan's team came 10th in athletics; Joe's sister is hogging the new 3D TV; Ivo and Isis are going to start doing karate twice a week; Rafiq has performed a song called Naughty at Bee's Knees; Connie rode her new bike on Sunday; Flora is waiting for the results of an art competition she has entered on Friday; Lena went ice skating on Sunday; Izzy is going as Little Red Riding Hood for world Book Day; Matilda went to Oliver's house and played with his big sister and had Oreo ice cream; Jay is going to World Book Day as T. Rex; Tim told everyone Tegan's news: she has a baby boy called Roland Joseph Bennett Lewis.

We decided to play Parachute Games: Shark Attack and Washing Machine.

We played Four Corners, with Xanthe blind folded and Joe was the survivor.

We played a session of Dead Ants.

We had a game with the Bat Detector where the bat ran around shaking keys and people used the detector to find where the bat was.

We sang songs: Back of the Bus, Axes, Tim sang Joe Hill, everyone was very nice about it, then we sang Red River Valley to recover, and though we were over time we sang Charlie was a Pigeon before our Closing Circle Song.

Leader: Tim
Helpers: Ellen, Lizbeth
Elfins: 18
Woodchip: 1

Animals from scrap (2014-02-24)

We played Octopus whilst people arrived and Tim collected signatures and money for Hostel.

We held our Circle News: Xanthe and Iona went to Harry Potter World; Imogen has tattoos on her feet; Natty has a new topic at school: Here and There with there being Inda; Molly has started a new topic: Icarus and Daedalus; Flora went to see Wendy and Peter Pan at Stratford and has a Syrian hamster called Bonnie; Millie is going to get a Chinese hamster; Magnus bounced on a trampoline and went swimming; Nia went to the Natural History Museum and has a plush wolf called Lupinette; Pip showed a craft he had made out of Lego; Dylan did something in Skylander; Lena went ice scating for the first time; Rafiq has an Air Lego App; Jo had an ear infection; Ivo also did something in Skylander; Izzy and Matilda went swimming; Matilda's teacher brought back bracelets from Africa; Yasmine was with us but too shy to say her news; Rayan went ice skating and has a watch from Brasil; Rana went on a First Aid Course; Debbie has been making things for the Green Winter Fair on her sewing machine; Millie-Maye swallowed an ice cube; Tim went on the First Aid course too.

Rana led us in making Animals from scrap, bringing three she had made to show.

We held our Closing Circle.

Leaders: Rana, Debbie, Tim
Elfins: 20

First Aid Training (2014-02-23)

Rana, Rayan and I attended a First Aid training course organised for the District by Sue and given by Janice. Janice is an ex-nurse and really knew her stuff.

We practised CPR and learnt a lot of things I hope never to need.

Janice has given us a list of what should be in our first Aid kit and a certificate each.

Tin Can Cooking (2014-02-10)

Whilst people arrived Debbie led a game of Dead ants and then Octopus whilst Tim showed carers the Health Forms printed out for Hostel.

Our allocation for Hostel is twenty places, we currently have applications for twenty nine. Fortunately we can hope to be given some of Woodstock's allocation.

We held a flash News Circle: Ivo has played table tennis; Joe couldn't think of any news in the time provided; Dylan's police badge was broken and kicked at school; Lena and Rayan are having a sleep over; Rayan is having a friend over; Matilda has been swimming; Izzy has a wobbly tooth; Magnus was wacked by someone; Jay played football and has annoying boots; Nia bough a raccoon in town; Molly did papier maché at school; Rafiq upgraded skylander; Pip has one more audition for his new school; Imogen's mum is having a baby; Natty has an extending, scrolled paper stick from a party; Millie-Maye's guinea pig Mr Pinkie may have a kidney problem; Xanthe has had a haircut; Connie went to London for her cousin's eighteenth birthday party; Iona went swimming;Tim has updated the group registration system.

Tim explained the dangers of hot oil and candles, telling those with long hair to tie it back and should anyone get burnt to run to the water bucket first then to scream.

Iona suggested, and led, a game of Four Corners whilst the food was prepared.

We divided into groups of three or four and each had a plate of chopped carrots, parsnip, peppers and bread. Everyone cooked and ate their food.

We held our Closing Circle.

Leaders: Tim, Debbie, Ranna
Elfins: 19

Chinese New Year (2014-02-03)

We played Octopus whilst people arrived.

We held our News Circle: Molly's knee is better but she has had a bike accident; Dylan has gained a stripe in Karate; Rafiq has hurt his leg; Joe has gained an Orange in tennis; Ivo has composed a drum solo called Drum King; Pip's car is being repaired; Xanthe has started at Pegasus; Millie-Maye is godmother to baby Juno; Matilda went to a friend's house after German on Sunday; Lena performed at the Pegasus; Rayan went to a friend's house on Sunday; Debbie performed in the Pegasus Family Project; Tessa had her first guitar lesson and then was bought a guitar; Iona had visitors from Kenya where she is going on holiday for three weeks; Rana has not been well but is better now; Imogen and Natty are both six now; Jay tells us that it is Meow's eight birthday; Magnus went walking in the woods with new boots and got a blister; Nia did a report at school; it is Connie's birthday tomorrow; Millie performed nine times at Pegasus; Flora went to London with her grandma to watch the Royal Ballet; Tim went to the Island Farm Donkey Sanctuary.

Tim explained that we had a few activities planned, but thought we should play a game first. We chose Dead Ants.

We held another circle and discovered everyone's Chinese birth symbol. Many Monkeys. Then we all opened Chinese Fortune Cookies and read them out in turn.

Finally we divided into those who knew the story of the Chinese year names and those who did not. The tellers performed the story whilst the listeners sat on a big crash mat.

The story is that all the animals were squabbling over who should have a year named after them. The King and Princess told them to have a race to determine it. The Ox would have won as the race was across a river and he was a strong swimmer, however he did not notice the Rat on his back, who pipped him to the winning post by climbing over his head. The Princess declared that whilst the rat was the winner it was not fair and so all the animals had a year named after them.

We had just enough time to hold our Closing Circle where we first sang Happy Birthday to Connie, accompanied by Tessa on the piano.

Leaders: Tim, Debbie, Rana
Elfins: 21