Every week, we play a wide variety of sports including tag rugby, indoor football, tennis, hockey, basketball and some times I will combine them all and we play a mini-circuit of sports (which proves to be very popular)!!! We have played a tennis tournament, basketball tournament, tag rugby tournament…..and in the next few weeks, I will be putting together a mini Olympics session using a wide variety of sports and implementing the ABC’s of multi skills

This first block of The BEST Programme is 10 weeks, and we have only 3 weeks left!! It has gone really really well, and some sessions I even get the parents involved who actually enjoy it lots!!! Once this first block is finished with, I am going to spend another month doing some more publicity!! I have had a lot of leaflets made, which have been distributed around Brixham, which has generated a lot of interest for the programme!! Here is a link to my leaflet……………….. The BEST Leaflet

I have also built lots of links with organisations around Brixham, and have contacted some very important people in the community My next task is to build links with Paignton Sports College about using their hub, and having The BEST Programme as part of Torbay’s Holiday Sports Programme!

So in the next few weeks I have lots of networking to do as well as promoting the programme even more! I am also waiting to hear from some funding applications which I have put in for, which will help to offer more sports, and to offer training opportunities for the volunteers who help me Also, after the xmas break I am going to try and organise a regular sport for the Young Volunteers of YES to play sport, whether this is monthly or just when they want to play as the first session we did with them was a huge success

Anyway, thanks for reading my blog everyone!! Keep checking back to find out any new developments x x x

There were tables of newspapers (one of the oldest I saw was dated back to 1938…wow!!), there was a table with real machine gun on it, and the bullet!! There were screens of photos and even a video on our massive TV here at The Edge!

It was an extremely successful exhibition and The Brixham Battery Group would like to thanks everyone for their support, especially Chris who helped on Friday evening and Angela who supported them on Saturday

The day produced a lot of interest including items of memorabilia and veteran memories that have been recorded for their CD/DVD!!

If you would like to find out more about the execellent work that The Brixham Battery Heritage Centre Group do, then please check out their website at http://www.brixhambattery.org/

Thanks for reading the blog everyone speak to you all soon Rach x

Once again, the cafe was completely packed and very hectic for Mara and her volunteers (Dragan and Ashley)!

Loving the costume Will

We were luckily enough to have Harry Bower DJ for us in the evening he wasn’t overly impressed with the songs that I was requesting (but they were all pretty much Celine Dion or Glee….lol, which apparently not a lot of people like…hard to believe I think!) Anyway, ignoring my taste in music……Harry did get each and every one of us dancing which obvioculy was extremely funny even I got up to dance at one point…….but decided I was hungry again (what a surprise) so decided eating was a better option than dancing!

For the majority of the evening, we were all split up either in the cafe (eating) or in the main are (dancing and listening to cheesy music)! Lots of us were just taking the evening as an opportunity to chill out and catch up with our friends!

Monster Madness in the evening was thoroughly planned (as was the entire day), but it was so much more relaxed and everyone who was involved in the organisation of the event was able to relax and have a good time! Now in true spirit of a costume party, we had a mini fancy-dress competition. Even though everyone was not dressed up, we all still came together in the main area and the competition was judged by Sophie Bower, Millie Bower and Ben Williams. We had organised prizes and before we knew it, we had already organised ourselves into groups (based on age) and were starting to receive the prizes!

The next part of the evening were the bands! We were lucky enough to have MIU come and play for us (now in my opinion they were awesome, and I just wish that I could play the guitar like they did!)

MIU

Now even though this was a very difficult part of organising the event, we still had one band who were happy to play for at least 40 minutes. Although the main problem with this was getting everyone out of the cafe……..as you can see below there were lots and lots in the cafe!

The evening of Monster Madness was extremely successful and from what we could all see, everyone was having a fantastic time and as it was in the evening (therefore was dark outside), Ross had set up a spotlight outside, which could be seen all over Brixham – love it! Ross worked extremely hard to set up all the lighting and the music for our communtiy event….. A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO ROSS!!! We could not have done it without him, as I even struggle to change a light bulb…lol!

Our Lovely Ross

We all decided that it was an excellent time to crack the ‘sparklers’ out! Now I do not like sparklers, and before I knew it, I was surrounded by lots of people holding sparklers……it was definitely time for me to go inside (probably time for some more food…he he he!) Even though it was raining, everyone had a wonderful time playing with the sparklers and listening to even more cheesy music!

It was now getting rather late (considering I had been up since about 6am) and it was now 9.30pm, everyone started to wind down and I began cleaning and tidying up The Edge. Lots of the young people had decided to stay for a sleepover at The Edge – although the majority of us went home to our comfy beds!!

I would like to say thank you to everyone who helped with the organising of Monster Madness, I hope you all enjoyed the day, and there will definitely be plans for another big event next year (2012)…..thanks again everyone!!

Happy blogging….Rach x

The above photo shows an example of what it was like on that day……and I believe this was very early on (so you can imagine what the rest of the day was like!) We had pumpkin carving, cake decorating, apple bobbing as some of the activities, as well as lots of yummy food!!!!

Throughout the day, I (Rach) was wondering around with a megaphone!! At one point I was standing outside the building and was bringing a lot of attention to The Edge and what was going on here  I also decided to talk to EVERYONE using the megaphone…..even if they were stood next to me

In the main area, it was used as a space for parents to relax and watch their children run around everywhere (high on sugar I might add) and listen/dance to the music which we had put on for them We also had a variety of activities which included a skeleton relay, pumpkin ring toss and fun drama games put on by Jade and Abigail Campbell of ‘Juicy Theatre’.

Throughout the day, all of the games and activities had prizes which we were constantly giving out! They ranged from bags of sweets (more sugar) and scary toys to glow sticks and little games that they all decided to open and play here One of the best parts of the day was the ‘Fancy Dress Competition’ where we had about 40 children in total competing in the variety of age categories! The prizes were very exciting, and everyone who took part received a bag of sweets too (even more sugar)!

awwwww, they’re so cute

In the middle of all this ‘Monster Madness’ we even had the room upstairs packed out too! We had a local artist come and do face painting for everyone (she did not stop from 12noon until about 8pm) and everywhere we looked someone had their face painted….thank you Elizabeth, you were awesome! We also had a creepy colouring corner which was very popular whilst waiting in the queue to have their face painted!

 

The day was such a huge success, with so many people coming through the doors, including the berserkers who were dressed in awesome costumes! Lots of young people were here to support YES throughout the day and many parents were telling us how positive the event was in bringing the community together!

 

As a closing statement to this blog, I would like to express my appreciation to all of those who helped throughout the day! A very big shout out to all the young volunteers who gave their time (all day) to help manage the day, you are all such a valuable asset to YES and we are so very proud of you! I would like to say a massive thank you to Chris, Angela, Mara, Jeff, Ross, Sean and so many others who helped the day run perfectly

Me and Sarah enjoyed the day so much, and by the end of it we were so proud to be part of (or organising) such a big community event for YES! We both really enjoyed the day and would definitely do it all again next year

Sarah and Rach

Thank you all for reading the blog and once again a massive thank you to everyone who helped throughout the day!! Happy Blogging!! Rach x x

Please find attached a copy of Brixham Battery’s latest newsletter………………….

Brixham Battery Summer 2011 Newsletter

Make sure you click on the link above to read their newsletter

Don’t forget about their WW2 Memories Day Event on Sunday 6th November!!

Happy blogging everyone!! x x

Everyone is welcome to this FREE EVENT – please bring along a friend/family member/personal World War 2 memory!

Throughout the day, volunteer stewards will record your memory for future generations and photos, documents, memorabilia will be photocopied/scanned and added to the memory. The recordings will be  made on CD/DVD for circulation to local schools, colleges, libraries etc.

All information collected will be exhibited in Brixham next year!

Permission will be sought from all the donors before public exhibition/circulation of material!

Refreshments will be served throughout the day!

If anyone would like to help the please contact Phil on hightres@tiscali.co.uk or phone 01803-752239 or you could visit the website on www.brixhambattery.org

'Brixham Battery's 200 year history' event

We hope to see you all on Sunday Thanks for reading my blog everyone x x

We have a new addition to our little Brixham YES family – his name is Matthew! He is 14 years old and is the eldest son of Sean (our very hard working volunteer)! Over the last few days, Matthew has really come into the light and has been showing everyone here how awesome he is on the guitar!!!!

He even holds it the correct way up unlike the rest of us

Matthew spent about 5 minutes on Monday evening, attempting to teach me (Rach) how to play the electric guitar! However after several failed attempts on my behalf, I decided to just turn the amp up to FULL VOLUME and make loads of noise!!!!! Unluckily though there were only a few people listening to me

Today, Matthew has been fixing each and every one of the guitars (which was clearly the problem when I was trying to play…..lol!!) Matthew has also been teaching his Dad (Sean) how to play the guitar!! Which I think probably was a lot more successful than with me!

Awwww isn't this just the best photo

Anyway, thanks for reading the blog everyone Hopefully Matthew and his little brother Daniel will come and visit us here again x x

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Juicy-Theatre/120376691399652?sk=wall

Remember to ‘Like’ the page and to keep checking the page for regular updates!

Also Saturday 22nd October, Juicy Theatre will not be running because Jade and Victoria (workshop leaders) have been given the opportunity to partake in a devising workshop in London, with a very experienced and professional drama practitioner called David Farmer – WOW!!! That sounds awesome Well Done Jade and Victoria

The workshop will give Juicy Theatre so much inspiration and energy……….. we’ll see you back at The Edge on Saturday 29th October 2011, from 10am – 11am.

Also on Saturday 29th October, YES is holding a ‘Monster Madness’ party which Juicy Theatre are running a spooky workshop, so if you are interested then definitely contact Jade or Victoria via their Facebook page!

Thanks for reading the blog everyone

Happy blogging x x

‘At Douglas House, Becky, Morgan and Leanne (who are all volunteers here) are organising fun, new exciting activities for Service Users in the ‘Day Care’ facility we have here at Douglas House.

Morgan, Leanne and Becky planning activities

This involves using the funding money we have been given to buy such things as new crafts materials, new Wii games, specialised cooking equipment and much more.

Leanne doing crafts with a service user

This enables us to organise fun afternoon’s for the Service Users allowing them to try new things and have a good time. We are arranging activities such as bingo, cookery club, Wii playing club and craft afternoons related to the event or season that we are in.

Leanne painting nails with a service user

Becky painting nails with a service user

We are hoping we will be able to extend the amount of activities available for Service Users here to do.

Becky and Morgan enjoying a joke with a service user

We will let you all know how we are getting on sometime in the near future!’

Here is a poster which has been made……….. Leonard Cheshire Storyboard Click on the link to see an excellent design

Thanks for reading the blog everyone Keeping checking back for any updates x x

Sophie and Millie

‘Millie and Me’  held their first event ‘Swing into Summer’ which was a huge success and gave them the confidence to book The Edge for two nights in December and offer Christmas Party Nights. They have already started taking bookings and are having fun planning menus and Festive decorations!

Before the Christmas Festivities take place, they are hosting an ‘old school’ Disco in the Scala Hall on the 12^th November. Harry who’s own ‘DJ Outreach’ NESTA project  is going from strength to strength and will be keeping everyone on the dance floor with some great disco tunes and there will be a licensed bar and lovely food for sale. Tickets are available from Sophie on 07738592919.

One of the things they have enjoyed most about the challenge has been the opportunity to work with other projects. Over the next few months they are looking forward to providing refreshments for a drama workshop in October and for PERFORM when they put on their next show in Brixham Theatre. They are also excited about an event they are planning with Laura and Ntembe from The Tiffin Box but you’ll have to wait for more details about that!

Millie and Me Logo

If you would like to find out more then please go to their website Thanks for reading this everyone….happy blogging x x