Falcon Reality Camp Easter 2007

Day 1

“It’s really only a matter of bring prepared”, I remarked to Fran the night before, mentally deciding that I could leave my personal packing to the morning of the OFF, having recognised that the weekend’s labours had not been in vain and that back at the office were boxed full of goodies ,equipment and games for the camp.
Only 12 hours later, this particular pigeon had come home to roost as I realised whilst driving up to Perth to collect the young people, that I had only the footwear I was wearing and could even see in my mind’s eye, the necessary acoutrements – a pair of stylish blue pre-war deck shoes with the remains of last year’s camp sea loch water eating away at the uppers - resting expectantly in the bottom of the wardrobe back at home. No holiday for them this Easter, no paddling off the bonny bonny banks of Loch Tay and too late to call up reserves or even the extra lovely Postman Pat to save the day. I was going to pay for this earlier arrogance.
Webster’s minibus was going like a train as I pulled into the back yard at Perth Academy less than 10 mins later than advertised to be greeted by a crowd of kids and their parents who couldn’t quite understand their offspring’s previously unknown eagerness at coming to school during the holiday – but were also very excited with the thought that home would be different without them for the next 5 days. Most of the team were assembled, their cars filled with everyone’s luggage and the minibus filled with young people and some significant team, all very jolly and all rarin’ to go. Which we did, collecting enroute from outside the toilets at Aberfeldy, Walter and his car load of 2 Pitlochry girls and at the same time losing Jamie and his Yaris from the convoy! It’s all about preparations- and yes, Emma finally found us despite GPS before sundown!!.

Arriving at Ardeonaig, it was quite evident that they knew the score – lunch, the welcome and introductions,unpacking, sorting out teams and into the carousel of the afternoon’s programme of team activities before you could really draw breath. It must have been the weather – sunny, sunny with light breezes freshening up as the afternoon drew in. Everyone was up for everything including the low ropes on the newly extended circuit, the bleep test and footie to see how fit we were (NOT), the team tasks and crofter’s challenges and the amazing first aid session and triangas (small stoves which seemingly are fool proof to light up and cook with – we shall see!!). And after such exercises, only time for showers and PST2 checkouts ( as well as the usual match making and opposite – storming : as in storming / norming / forming etc, which enabled us to see that our preparations had been NOT in vain , but lacking in a little – actually quite a depth – of appreciation of the mass of everyone’s individual complexities!!!! Our team of volunteers have been amazing in their awareness and quickwittedness of action and language – cool despite the pressure : obviously prepared by someone higher!

After dinner, beans served first,then mash and finally sausages followed by a wonderful mixture of ice cream, jelly and and peaches with a lighted candle, completed by matching coloured balloons, energetic speeches and abandoned community singing (happy birthday etc to this correspondent), we went into the TTI (Time To Imagine) session.
Being a first for many young people there, this was a well-received 30minutes of silly games, an ably presented illustrated chat and a monologue story telling time (Jonah, in a Welsh accent – Jonesy? ). Preparations – especially to make sure that the right illustrations are in place for the correct time : I must remember this in future!! On the other hand, the questions and subsequent conversations with the young people in the minibus were unpreprared and were very investigative.

The evening was more than rescued by the instructor who then took us away in our teams, in the middle of the night, in minibuses to arrive at the forestry place and thence to search out with maps, LED headlamps and wearing very sweaty waterproofs against the non-existent mountain breezes, the possible existence of forts, deserted villages and the like. Actually I think it was nothing less than a ruse to give us a night walk up a hill, through a series of self made woodland track so that we could sit near the top and drink home made chocolate and eat lapjacks, search the heavens through the treetops for the North Star like d-i-y magi and return to your bus exhilarated by the effort and success of our mission, only to be ambushed by another team. Brilliant.

Late night home-made drinking chocolate is great except when you want supposedly tired young people to get to sleep (the adults were of course knackered from keeping them going!!). Having banned showers (refreshingly awakening outcomes), most had made it by 12.30pm after a bed time call at 11.00pm, except dear Liam whom we know never sleeps. But it was the early morning singing that didn’t go down too well – the 3.00am dawn chorus it wasn’t - and after that, it was tricky to regain the momentum of regular bresthing, snores etc. Having agreed to call the leaders for a pre breakfast meeting and finding at least 60% of the young people awake, dressed and hanging out whilst the team were fumbling around in a daze, can be a trifle disconcerting ....(best laid plans etc....) The smell of the coffee did help some of the team in their prayers, but by this time the young folk were showered, gelled-up, changed for the third time in the space of 30 minutes and positively breaking each other up for breakfast. Not quite but you get the picture – and this is less than 24hours in.

Day 2

Porage and bacon rolls set you up for a good day whatever you do and whatever the weather. The breakfast scene started life like a Tarantino movie and ended like Disney as we moved from the organised food mayhem via the bank and the tuckshop (so soon!!) to the eager anticipation of the instructors’ arrival in the lounge. SO rewarding is the process of delayed gratification – well, at least 2 minutes – and then in our teams for briefing about the day’s activities – high ropes, gorge walking, sailing and canoeing.
It was amazing day – in the sailing underwater competition, adult James beat Daniel young person by 6 capsizes to 1.; Shaun found the RIB powerboat a great experience; Walter resumed his Ancient Mariner Ahab status captaining the boat after successfully completing the tree jump into the pool after the gorge walk – but that’s what happens when you have an ex-submariner on board (so to speak); the canoes battled in force 3-4 winds and everybody got wet as spray was the order of the day on the loch; strangely those on the high ropes were not really affected – it’s to do with 3 people standing on a pizza box on top of a pole about a million metres high (allowing for some slight mathematical overload). Back for lunch and d-i-y sandwiches , fruit etc all of which were devoured with the fanaticism of fanatics after a fast, before each team tired another afternoon activity. Exceedingly brilliant with returning folk spending minutes in the showers, leaving wet and dirty clothes all over their rooms and recounting endless stories to enyone who would listen about their heroic deeds of daring–do and the absolute rubbishing of everyone else’s attempts. You expected to find tattoed ‘kills’ of paddles or trees on their shoulder blades. Needless to say, after such exertions, everyone just chilled out with much playstation and dance mat stuff working its magic until dinner.

Dinner is an art form to excite the curious tastebuds, a love song to the palette and in this case, consisted of a lifegiving river of carrot and lentil soup on which you would consider bathing yourself in for a year long festival of pleasure ( which Jamie Smith endavoured to fulfill in 15 minutes), a home-made pizza with decently herbed potato wedges and veggies and concluding with apple crumble type sponge and custard which threatened to float out of the bowls into heaven itself (according to Allan Clyne’s 3 helpings (trinitarian?) theological perspective). Anyway the kids seemed to like it all – and were in a sufficiently sentiment agreeable (you can never find an accent when you need it most) – to take part in the opening evening activity – TTI

Today’s cryptic solutions could be traced back to the second frame of the Johari window, a frighteningly self – identifying acknowledgement series of admissions by some of the group to the problems of anger and anger management, the story of David and Saul from the Bible recounted badly in the tones of some phoney stereotyped mock UVF / IRA Irish accent (despite the last minute coaching from Claire) but without the typical geniality, a live song performance of an personalised version of Psalm 23 which some folk managed to join in with and the raising the possibilities of trust (all of which returned for signposting in later one-to-one conversations and relationship brokering exercises for some of the young people.)

After this brain bending operation, we all required some physical exertion to unclog the corpus – in the Sports Hall for some energetic activities which transmuted at a non-stop pace between handball, benchball, bucketball and netball with dodge ball chucked nthe middle for effect (rest). Quite knackering, raising the stakes in the ways people responded to each other (murderous intentions – see above story?) and so welcoming was supper and the first half of the Scooby Doo movie , to begin the long flightpath into the landing strip of bed. Actually, this worked well and despite the accusations from some girls, of allowing sweaty people to sleep in an unshowered state, the harmony of zzzzzzzzzzzzz’s were generally acheived quite satisfactorily by 11.50pm. As any Reality camp volunteer will tell you, 10minutes bed before midnight is worth about 40 minutes after! A great day together and a real sense that despite some usual dissension stirrd up by one or two individuals, everyone was beginning to catch the gist of making camp as great experience..... or everyone was just shattered.


Day 3

Usually regarded as the mid or tipping point of camp, Wednesdays is full of comings and goings. Starting with the early morning chorus which thankfully arrived 3 hours later today at 6.00am, young people were persuaded not to go from their dorms by the arrivals of various team members in various shades and styles of nightwear with facial expressions to match. Their day started as usual at 7.30am with the team meeting, prayers and Bible briefing fortified by a liquid plantation of tea and coffee, or in the case of Allan, a cup of hot water au lait, being so “inclined” ( a real gag that which I have been waiting for at least 12 months to be able to direct!)

This was followed by the scramble for breakfast, not forgetting Ryan who had moved rooms in the night, the high levels of curiosity about the washing up rota and tidiest room awards, the consistent queues for the bank and tuckshop and the discovery of each team’s day’s programme with which instructor.
And so kitted out, fully briefed and with the maximum of encouragement form their team leaders, everyone piled out to waiting minibuses to begin another grand day out............or in the case of this correspondent, a quick trip to Aberfeldy to pick up an ointment for Ali’s bitten legs (which transposed into an afternoon health clinic visit) – plus a speedy return to await the arrival of Angela, who gratifyingly turned up in time for coffee – and the return of the saints from their labours for lunch.

Angela is from BBC Children in Need and as one of Reality’s major funders, had planned to spend a comfortable day checking out how a Reality Camp works – don’t laugh, you who know. So we chatted and got to know each other a little better, talked and learned about our respective work and went into lunch, where it turned out that Angela is a star!! Not content with the d-i-y sandwich routine, she went into overdrive with the food, the chat, the getting to know some of the yong people,the team and the centre. Brilliant. No stopping her now, after lunch it was a case of hand-me-down-some-waterproofs-I’m-going-sailing-with-you-guys. And so it came to pass ..............that she overcame her fears by facing the challenge in such a positive way, chatted up the wee lads in the team, went without a ciggie for at least 3 hours and had the time of her life. You couldn’t but help admiring her determination and involvement as she became like part of that team. (Me ? I returned to the Health Centre with 2 outpatients – Ali’s legs and Liam’s arm. The legs were diagnosed and prescribed proper mending gooey material; the arm – and its owner - was sent off for diagnostic X-ray, back home to Perth.

Back at base, the teams were returning with even greater tales of gallantry and endeavour – world records must have been smashed by such olympian efforts - and Angela found herself at least 2 more admirers. Sadly despite her best efforts, she could not persuade the one to eat anything from the entertaining dinner menu (soup to linger over, gazing with love into the depths of such beauty; spaghett bolognese which wiggled and tiggled and tickled inside you) but won through with the death-defying chocolate pudding..... Next time! Also sadly, she was not invited to assist the washing up team, but she gained a well-deserved and invaluable “Reality Rocks” sticker for recognition of her day’s exploits, which were not yet over.

Sometimes over dinner, one feels the hairs on the back of someone’s neck beginning to rise – and you are aware that your touchy feely response may have been appropriate as the signals have been raised to signify a greater internal disturbance in the life of some part of the group – something deep and threatening like gossip, bitchiness or body odour. Sure enough, the after dinner / before TTI session had small groups of folk discussing formally and informally together to make things up for better (of for worse). Although this was punctuated by the usual refuelled running and kicking off, high octane shouting and declarations of love, hate and words from languages from far-flung shores, there permeated a sense that this was what the team was there for – to help others make repairs, to assist in self discoveries, to become part of the re-fashioning of other’s and their own critical make-up. Brilliant. And possible even an epiphany for some; possibly even Angela who shirked at nothing that was presented to her. How cool is that?

The rest of the evening passed reasonably well. TTI lasted for almost an hour and contained an incredibly stupid game of numbers and adding up, a presentation around the theme of ‘envy’ and ‘hope’ complete with the story of Joseph in prison for at least 749 days, team discussions led by team members and all brilliantly held together and facilitated by LJ. Angela enjoyed it all and finally disappeared back down the lane under the trees back to Edinburgh (probably about 7 hours behind schedule), leaving behind a cohort of young people, ably taken charge of by Sam, in writing letters of thanks to her! The rest of us played playstations, did dance mats, mounted giant jenga competitions, made scoobies and hamas beads pictures and rounded off a very full day after supper with the final part of the Scooby Doo DVD. Everyone was asleep by 12.30pm when Walter and Liam returned for the Perth Hospital X ray unit with nothing broken to report!! Comings and goings – and waiting for hours in between!!


Day 4

Today is the ragged day. I must remember this and tell all our supporters and especially those addtional 25 or so, who receive the morning update email prayer bulletin. Walter is amazingly up and distributing medicines, tablets and wise words of advice eg “ get up no, you lazy person you!!” Not bad after 6 hours sleep on top of a 100+ mile late night round car ride. Liam is predictably up – the lion never sleeps, a-wimoweh. The young people have obviously made some effort to be up before the leaders although I feel that their last night’s planning for a 4 am liason which was nipped in the bud, may well take place tonight!!
Raggednessd is manifestly tiredness, affecting motivation, activity and thinking – today of all days’ when health and safety are paramount. Dear LORD....

Breakfast is ragged – eggy bread to have and to hold from this day forth...sandwich making for lunch isn’t easy for ADHD folk who have just had their bellies filled for the time being, sorting out the washing up rota, the bank and tuckshop queues are listless... listening to ideas and plans for day’s 4 expeditions is tricky with the result that there’s a raggedness about their preparations - in and out of the drying room, the bathrooms, the bedrooms and lots of waiting for others when everyone could be making their way to the kit room to get their clothing sorted for this full day out mixture of activities on land and water.

Finally, about 10.00am the last minibus has left the centre.
It’s been a quiet day at the Centre, getting loads done in terms of ‘officy stuff’ and links with parents and school support staff, talking with centre staff, sorting out the logistics for tomorrow and making arrangements for next Easter and the possibility of weekends in between.... and all the time having ears open for emergency calls to ‘come and collect’...........

Actually, by early afternoon it was evident as the Loch itself, having had the mist burned off the valley by the fabulous heatwave, that probably everything was happening to schedule and so the other activities of the evening could be addressed ie a flying visit into Aberfeldy to buy popcorn for the cinema tonight (and for those who are so interested, yes, it was my first visit to a barbershop for probably 15 years – delightful bloke called Dave from Leeds, apparently known to most of the population of the Tay Valley!!)

Back in time – so to speak – for the arrival of the teams who could only be described in the single word – acheivers. The teams had walked, sailed, powerboated and canoed round and across the Loch according to times without any real bother – all determined to succeed in the various tasks and had done it all!! Absolutely brilliant – shattering, hardly a quiet sense of satisfaction but a realisation that they had done all that they had been asked of.
Only one place to celebrate – showers, with cups of tea and ‘hangin’ out – ostensibly perceived by most of the young people as an opportunity to investigate each other’s rooms. However and fortunately, dinner soon arrived and further noises and scenes reminiscent of Genghis Khan’s arrival at the Gates of Kiev (?) became the feature of the early evening. It was the soup – blame it on the soup – a winning combination of tomato and lentil, a main course of macaroni cheese with garlic bread and roasted vegetables suitably herbed up and to crown such a day’s celebration of victories acheived – sticky toffee pudding. The word ‘seconds’ is inadequate in such circumstances and it was hard for the washing up team to get to grips with the task in hand for a while!!

Several options were available for the evening’s activities which were all up there until the final moment, brought upon mainly by the needs to talk with individual’s – more PR brokering. A serious thought – does the lack of vision / any other perspective than their own - drive so many young people – male and female- to become ‘bitchy’ – and how does it get like that? Doesn’t having TV and MSN in your room only exascerbate the problems of friendship breakdowns?
But we made it to the final TTI ably led by Charis (where does that girl get the energy from ??). It started with a something between the discovery of treasure trove, a Time Team challenge and a resurrection of Jurassic Park as all the teams displayed their day’s findings – most of which consisted of actually beautiful twisted wood and bark and bits of deer and sheep bones and (dead) squirrels tails. Exciting stuff if you’re into CSI and a bit of a problem if you’re into hygienic disposal.
The there was a bit of a recap of previous TTI stuff, a game where the invicibility of the Master of Simon Says was again proved much to the lollipop pleasure of Jamie until the tables were turned and the Master went of at the first call to the HUGE delight of all the others, a bit of an interactive conversation about feeling and being amazing and / or crap, the reminiscences of a mock Wulfrunian (resident of Wolverhampton) beggar called Radar – accent only, the story is found in Luke 8; followed by a vid clip and a song – and darkness had set in. So roundersRus on the front lawn was postponed, a manic half hour in the sports hall was recognisably withdrawn by the yawns emenating from the floor, so it was settled – going to the movies with popcorn, soft drinks, scones for supper and yes, ‘School of Rock’ (again). Wonderful – noisy, Lorna’s choice – she knows the script backwards - with massive endorsement. Some young people apparently slept through it all (how? – c’mon, the final show and the songs – “get it on!!” - Charis). Some leaders were found to take other alternative therapies including discussing theology, gases and clothes and drinking tea non-stop.
All in all, a great way to draw down a very very full day – ragged yes, but just about sewn up as everyone seemd to be asleep by 12.30pm – including leaders!




Day 5

The struggle started... to reopen the eyes, to adjust from the dreams to the reality that the young people wanted to get into the showers before the leaders before breakfast – the first sign of their unwillingness to want to go home – whose ?
The final day is all about keeping to time – even more so that in previous days – and this is what being prepared and planning is all about. Let’s get it right ab initio. Food – variatons on a boiled egg with criossants, cereals etc and then making up sandwiches for lunch. Charis’ farewells as she zoomed off to run another camp this weekend at the Compass Centre (where does she get......you now the rest). Duty team on washing up. The rest trecking into the drying room to collect remaining kit; all getting the rest of spending money out from the bank and into the tuckshop – reflecting real life(?); then back upstairs to dorms to strip beds, ‘clean up’ rooms (ha ha!) and pack bags in such a way that there will be a set of dry everythings on top with a towel and a binliner.....
The actualite (what did I say about never finding an appropriate accent when you need it?) was that eventually the gang were pressed into washing up duties, the drying room became the locality of several small UFO type investigations of disappeared socks and tops, the rooms became Tracey Ermin’s canvasses of underwear and bags and several wee people required on the spot assistance by trained in loco parentes to rescue them from a torpor of weariness and indolence that had overtaken them in their search to find the missing instructions which they believed were inscribed on the underside of their eyelids.
Amazingly, however everything was in the right place and all assembled in the lounge for today’s briefing 3 minutes ahead of the instructors (who allowed us 15 minutes of grace). It was going to be THE wet day – a morning of water, a hour or so of revenge for the young people on their instructors and beloved leaders. (It was then I noticed that several team members were not going ahead with mass baptism in the loch, evidenced by a profusion of cameras, smart clothes and determined expressions.) As Walter succinctly put it, “this was a morning for the kids” although James was already relishing the challenge to go down with all guns blazing.
So it was that all were kitted up in waterproofs – a misnomer, surely ? - helmets and bouyancy aids; last minute requests were made to look after watches, money, scribbly bits of paper carrying email addresses of contacts and all things unnecessary for the next life. Into the minibus, including the papparazzi and away – smack on time.
It would be a simple operation – each team would build a raft out of left over plastic bins, wooden poles and decorating stuff all held together by pieces of string – step forward those mariners with knots. These craft would then be formally lauched and tested in the small bay, raced against each other and then it would be left to Madame Luck to work out what would happen next in the enactment of the Battle of Ardeonaig Water (orig, 1793, when the Picts and the Celts came together one fateful summer sunrise to decide upon the ownership of this vital piece of navigation. As she would have it, a white goose flew out of the sun and the Celts realised that this was a sign that the battle was theirs for the taking. They out manuovered the Picts to the sound of Marc Bolan’s greatest hits and so despite their lack of ornothological knowledge, theirs was the day and so it had been ever since. There are some parts of this legend which may require further examination.) But this morning, in the same tradition, and to the chanting of an ancient submariner singing “ The water is wide’ I cannot get over” the girls’ craft was prepared , lauched and sailed to the jetty like Cleopatra’s barge, before anyone else had not even discovered the difference between a granny and a gunwale. There it was beached as a sign for generations to come. Actually, they did it beautifully whilst for the others, barrel loosening and losing became the order of the day. The result was reminiscent of something out of Whisky Galore with people in the water, people making sure that others joined them and the photos of dolphins swimming with what resembled people were being snapped up.
I blame it on the sun. It wuz the Sun wot did it!! Wonderfully, childishly, energetically, genuinely entertainingly funny, refreshingly, last day of campingly .......amazing. What powerful memories we might all have to alleviate the colds and coughs.

Back at base, everything was prepared – showers steamed to “ON”, binliners individually labelled and cups of tea for leaders already brewing – all ready for the waves of returners. The first minibus appeared over the horizon, 7 minutes ahead of schedule and the team swung into action. Waterbearing bodies disappeared into rooms to dive into showers to return to dry clothes and back out again, with bags packed to go, sipping tea and together sitting in the morning sun, away from the dock of the bay – and reminding each other of good times, collecting autographed arms and promises of future meetings– EVEN as the second wave returned to do exactly the same.
After loading the cars with personal belongings, we all swept out on the terrazio for picnic lunches, juices, sweet sunbathing only disturbed by flying fir cones (most unusual at this time of year), the necessary evaluation conversations, the final handing of ‘”well done”” certificates to team members in thankful recognition of their stirling work , servant-like leadership and then their inevitable last group photo shoot at the main door in the blinding sunlight – the squinting faces will hide the tears that were welling up for some; then the hugs and embraces and dazed expressions that I can’t believe its all over AND into the bus with the scramble for places for all to sit next to everyone; the tooting of car horns and the shouting of thanks and goodbyes – and then peace once more settled on the tiny community (for about 30 minutes before the next group!!).

Typically, the journey home was disappointingly upsetting – no-one slept despite the sunlight and the breezes. There is an awful realisation that it is the end, school starts on Monday and life as we knew it, Jim - starts again in about 90 minutes time – and it could be hell. On the other hand, there were some of us who had high hopes that some of the magic –or as CS Lewis described it in the Narnia story, that the deeper magic could and would linger. It has been the best Easter camp ever.

And as you might stilll be asking about the matter of footwear............Jamie had purchased a bright white pair of Lidl’s cheapest – one size too large but about 3 sizes too thin. So, going to the highest bidder – unused.. what am I bid?

Reality Brings out the sunshine in Scotland!

What a weekend!! After a season of serious weather off Loch Linnie, the Reality weekend at the Abernethy Centre, Ardgour is bathed in sunshine, easy breezes and sunsets to gladden the heart of the most organic farmer this side of the Humbolt.

Friday night the pick up for Tony (can you fit your fist into your mouth - will you ?) and Kyle (thank you for carefully depositing your tea along the nearside of the car along the A82 at approx 29 mph!) from Grangemouth, battling the traffic to the Kincardin Bridge at rush hour and finding ourselves snooping round the ASDA carpark in Perth a wee while later, we found Danny Boy, our latest and brightest star in the volunteering sky - then the marathon journey to catch the Corran Ferry before it packed up for the season!

No sweat - despite the aforementioned projectiling escapade, the non story descriptions of batterings (nothing to do with fish and chips) and having deep and meaningful conversations with Sally the Satnav, we arrived at Ardgour in time for a great welcome from Jon, lashings of spag bog, apple strudel and custard all lovingly prepared by Mark from Belfast - nothing damaged on the journey over and the promise of use of the FREE pool table for the weekend!!
Most excellent. And that's what we did on night one. Then we had supper, chatted about what we were going to do over the weekend and how we were hoping to get it all sorted and then went to bed. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Comfortable beds and early alarms don't always hit it off. Saturday was no exception - but the sun was up and as the team met for tea and briefing, the mist was clearing over the loch, the robin sunbathing was on the goal posts and the Bible story of the Palm Sunday learning experience seemed to make sense. Everyone was down for breakfast on time; choice of 4 cereals was followed by boiled eggs became squidged onto toast and into teacups or reinforced with soldiers. Bliss. AND Karen didn't even want to to help wash up!

Ally briefed us all on the day's possibilities then it was up to the equipment store for fitting for the canoeing gear. Man Mountain (Jamie) discovered the joys of sooper-size XXXXXL bouyancy aids and Tony realised hair gel could be quickly lost through trying on all the waterproof tops. Back into the minibus for the 20 minute drive to the banks of Loch Strontian (no travel sickness this time!!) and we were away. For Kyle and Danny, this was a first and they took to it like a duck to .......... forget it, that comes later; Jamie was paired with Tony and Ally partnered this L plated correspondent. It was just great - circles, backwards and forwards, to the left and to the right - all at the same time - nothing like what we were meant to be doing, but it worked well because in 10 minutes we were up the loch paddling at about 30 knots (give or take) and basking after 30 seconds effort in the incredible sunshine, the huge mountains and the wonderful light bouncing all around.

Games followed exercises, exercises followed games, drifting followed paddling and paddling - you get the idea. We did it all and that included Danny and Tony falling out and being rescued in mid loch (well, it seemed like it) and Ally doing heroics in refloating their canoe one handed whilst maintainin his balance ...on a flat surface. If only this had been the scenario for Titanic, we would have been spared................. So we got back to the slipway and immediately Kyle made his big decision and jumped into the water ... like a duck etc.... you know the rest. The rest of us declined the opportunity as Tony's chattering teeth implored the sun to warm him up whilst Danny was contentedly aware that his glasses were still on his face and not 29 leagues under!!
Back for a quick lunch like returning seafares from the Bay of Biscay - to find that the same pack ups made after breakfast to noises like 'I only need one sandwich' received instant attention with snuffling noises for at least 6 minutes before the decision to enjoy the sunshine and play footie on the lawn at the front. But but for long - back into the minibus to catch the Carron Ferry to get to Ben Nevis before sunset!

Arriving at the carpark at the foot of the Witches Trail on the Nevis Range, we were blinded by the light, our great expectations of mountain biking and the sight of Ally's legs in shorts. Following a short but comprehensive lesson about braking, skidding, gears and standing up on the pedals etc, we frantically made our way up the mountain, stopping at a height of about 10m to catch our breath and go downhill round a bend and mind the edge .......... too late!! Congrats to Kyle for being the first person off his bike in a spectacular ride off a 0.5m edge with circus-like somersaults and an engaging smile of relief that he hadn't died!! Now we realised the immensity of the task we faced as learners, we remounted and made our way slowly up the 'Lazy K' - so called because it was better to push than to pedal the squillions of kilometres needed to get any height, (that is unless your name was Ally who felt he had something to prove by taking us that route.) This correspondent fell off his machine at the top of a small pile opf stones with an amazing forward role, SAS style and the rest of the ascent (as they call it) culminated with a final push (lit) up to a place where the air was so thin that Tony was easily dissuaded from having a cigarette as a reward - we called it the last gasp - and we were all rewarded with a look at the back side of Ben Nevis (so called because the sun doesn't shine there). Actually it was pretty cool and we all appreciated the break ... from walking. Then the best bit - going down hill - all that we had been anticipating. Danny couldn't stop himself smiling, Jamie couldn't stop himself pedalling like mad and Tony couldn't stop himself..............So no change there......... although it was nice that Kyle managed to stop himself vomitting at such high speeds. Ally just looked cool in his shades - barely a sweat!

After that it all went downhill - how long have I been waiting to write that? The infamous RED track - forgotten the name - which we were guided through, some boards, some wee jumps and bumps, some steps and some verges - hello again Mr Grass and Mr Stones, welcome to my elbow and knees - and all very satisfactorily accomplished with smug smiles and recoiling eyes in sockets! We were then faced with the most obvious of choices - the BLACK trail which we knew that we would have to walk down some or the blue which we felt we could accomplish. The wussies won and we set off in search of the blue. Despite the acomplished navigation techniques of our wonderful leader and guide, we rode north until we met the Artic Circle and concluded that we had indeed missed the blue trail (was it the wee path about 5 metres on from the start of the black??) So we blagged our way down back to the minibus and took on water and a snooze in the sunshine burning into the back of the minibus, on the way home to Ardgour.
Knackered!

The ingredients of Revival are food and footie although not necessarily in that order, and for Tony a fag. The food was never ending... every TI in the place brought us more - carrots, broccoli, mash, chicken pie and gravy to get steamed up about. Wonderful. To be followed by home made sponge and yellow runny custard. Followed by coffee and a walk to the seashore to play skimmers and search for jellyfish (a niner and none). Kyle decided to try the search and rescue services but we found him by his white shirt in a muddy bog .......... and Tony was still talking as the sun went down.

Saturday evenings at Reality weekends have to have games - including some sort of a pool and table tennis competition - a TTI (time to imagine....and think wider time) session - supper and a good DVD. All were accomplished this time round with the mimimum of fuss, thanks to the skill and prayers of the team. Tony went on winning at pool; Kyle kept on playing TT; all joined in a great TTI session based on pictures and wondering if there is a GOD, where might GOD be in our picture - good involvement and a session which lasted the best part of 30 minutes but seemd like 10 and the final cinema session of the night which lasted FOREVER as the projector lamp reset button kept on cutting in every 20 minutes. However, a combination of Happy Gilmour and chocolate traybakes and flapjacks kept us there until bedtime - phew.......... and then we discovered that the clocks went forward and we would miss an hour's sleep......... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Sunday morning - first light - kidding, a real effort to shift ourslevs as leaders downstairs into the lounge for tea, tea, tea and prayers. And strangely enough, the lads felt that this morning they could do without showers - something to do with the smell of bcaon and eggs floating out of the kitchen. Amazing - with beans and EVERYONE decided it all had to fit on toast.... and the sun came out over Loch Linnie as we looked out from the conservatory where we were eating. Delightful - just needed the papers OR a better footie result from last night's match. I write as an englanderman.

But after the exertions of the previous day, Sunday was going to have certain more restful elements - letting the zip wire take the strain , so to speak. Gilding through the sunshine at a speed slightly less than 186000 miles per second, through the unmidged trees over the brook, through the clean air to the happy shouts of all making wild encouraging noises like 'man mountain, how did you get into a harness like that' and 'Tony, can you do this with yer mouth shut!!' and just to sit at the bottom of the wire and watch folk heavier than yourself hit the braking blocks with what seemd like hip wrenching swings - delightful. Just check the photos.

Only enought time to have a mid morning coffee, another game of footie - well someone has to be the spectator - and set up the archery before settling down to do the touristy thing of reading a magazine , sitting on the equivalent of the front porch, shading your eyes from the glare of the sunshine, whilst realizing that you wearing a Factor ZERO screen. The archery progressed. Danny - another first for him , showed great potential; Jamie was languidly putting away golds and reds; Tony had a brilliant start but faded away as the need for a ciggie grew ; Kyle enjoyed every minute of it, hitting the ground in front of him with steady regularity until he decided to look up as he was releasing the arrow; Ally unflustered as usual, got annoyed with himself if he got less than a white! The session degenerated somewhat with the arrival of this correspondent, who offered ridiculous prizes for even greater scores, incentives after incentives which encouraged the others to ask to be taken them to MacDonalds. STOP IT!!

Time for soup, filling in forms, loading the car, saying thank yous, completing the LAST pool game and catching the 2pm ferry back to the mainland. Castaways indeed!! The journey to Perth was uneventful as the lethal combination of full bellies, strong sunlight, fastish roads, slightly open windows and complete exhaustion brought about theat well known travel state called SLEEP. Danny was dropped off at home, tanks (petrol, water and Irn bru!!) replenished, arguments in the back restarted, memories successfully reminisced and in turn there were farewells as the sun was going down on what had been a truly wonderful weekend.

Madness and Mayhem: The First Reality Camp of 2007

Well, I (Lorna) was involved in my first camp the other weekend, which just happened to be the first Reality camp of 2007! I actually felt the pressure of making it a success so I packed my bags, put on my friendlist smile, said goodbye to my cats and headed to the Compass Christian Centre at Glenshee with two other volunteers and two young men....who shall not be named!

All in all I had a blast, and so did everyone else. I know this because there was lots of laughter and general merriment. Plus, the food was outstanding, the two boys ate like horses and I had to hold back on not having two helpings of apple strudel, which made me want to proposition Dougie into not emmigrating to Canada this year, but instead coming and cook for me! In return he would receive the use of my car and my extensive DVD collection. However, I didn't think he would appreciate such an offer so just settled with home made flap jacks and hot chocolate. The accommodation was also fab and very comfortable. Also, the staff and instructors were amazing!

The two boys really enjoyed the activities provided for them over the two days; low ropes course, rock climbing, orienteering and archery. Although I have to confess that Orienteering reminds me of my days back in secondary school when you had to wear shorts with long socks and trainers in the nastiest of weather, in order to use a random map with numbers all over it like a dot-to-dot puzzle it to find different tags in woodland areas, and for what I ask???? 'The experience' we were told by teachers. Not really a good enough answer in my opinion. Plus you had to run as fast as you could! What a nightmare! However, on this occasion I actually quite enjoyed it as there were no shorts or long socks in sight. Woo hoo!

The low ropes course was really good fun as once you had gone round it successfully, you had to do it blind folded or with a cup of water!! The two boys jumped at the chance to do this, and I took the role of 'buddy' for the one with the blindfold. He did extremely well and only fell off once, much to his dismay, but he got back on and tried again. I think the other young person only managed to spill a small amount of water from his cup, which in my opinion was a miracle as he had to negotiate himself over several difficult bits; rope swings, through a tractor tyre and on a tight rope. They both did extremely well and had a ball doing it.

We returned from camp on sunday and to be honest I was exhausted and all the cats wanted to do was play. I had a fab weekend, and I'm sure the young people did too, well they said in their evaluation sheets that they did so that should be indication enough! I'm really looking forward to the next one in a couple of weeks.

Reality News

Reality News

Don't
Stop
Me
Now.................................... 'cos I'm havin' a good time..............................

What a theme tune - sung non-stop in the bus on the way there and back with an energy, enthusiasm and abandonment which amazed us all and left us only wanting more .................breath!

How does it start? By an casual remark at the end of an alfresco lunch to close the summer term 2006 by Chris McNaught then, the Head of Services at Ballikinrain School to Richard Morrison. Something to the effect that there would also be a significant number of boys who would not leave the campus for the Christmas holiday because some parents would not be able to have them or want them at home otherwise it would spoil their own holiday plans. And Richard's similarly casual response 'Ah well, then we'd better run a New Year Houseparty for some of them instead!'

How is it taken on ? Midmorning on Thursday 28th December, the 17 seater minibus, already loaded up with an eager team of volunteers - Estelle, Laura, Esther, Jamie and Richard - complete with Christmas tree, decorations, presents and games, drove into Ballikinrain (the Church of Scotland residential school near Balfron) to collect 4 boys - Joe, Liam, Josh and Gerald with one very brave staff member, Damien. The weather was blustery and cold, the lads initially unsure of what to expect arrived with assorted bags and baggage and Damien rushed around like a sheepdog with a new field before settling into the school car - the new C Max. So we convoyed through the fog and rain to Perth railway station to pick up Edinburgh Willie, his guitar and juggling clubs (vital equipment) and out together for lunch .... at Bigmac's drive thru (lad's choice). Concoting countless stories enroute, we finally arrived at the correct affirmative answer to their non-stop repeated question 'are we there yet?'

The Coach House combined Excitement, Glee and Nosiness with more questions like, which room is yours ? which bed is mine ? which loo shall we use ? where's the tele ? when's lunch ?? Further explorations yielded Christmas boxes for the lads (convenient for storage) and a bit delayed gratification of a chocolate rush and while the minibus was unloaded, 2 teams were created with mascots (Reindeer and Beaver), a few simple rules set out, the rest of the day's programme outlined and everyone moved off to the glass porch. Orienteering seems to be something I once read about in Scouting for Boys or was it Winnie the Pooh (?) but at Compass, it is an art form which Joe the instructor endeavoured to translate into a language of practical usefulness. So in the falling light and amongst the tall pines around the house, markers were marked, paths were followed, papers were pricked and boundaries were reached - all to everyone's great satisfaction and relief. We were on a roll as we went into the Sports hall -football lasted about 10minutes which for some, was about 11 minutes too long. From a cupboard, the monstrous net was produced halving the hall - and everyone could join in. One volleyball game went into another and another and another : style combined with chance, skill with determination, experience with painful wrists. We needed a break only to plan out the activities for the evening before attention was diverted to the pool and tennis tables with table football as an aside and we had to dash out back to the glass porch to queue before dinner. Actually it was not a queue; queueing is a little known concept for Reality folk although waiting (the art of delayed gratification) is regarded as a strong informal skill to be acquired and comes with lots of other learning; in this case it was Joe's 'buddy' greetings / handshakes / body stuff from South Africa.

Dinner at Compass is a good, nay great reason to get there on time - and that is all this writer will say on the subject on this occasion (but have you read the previous blog?).. Everyone agreed is was a great meal - lots of it - and seconds - and everyone was stuffed!! (A simple but understated fact). This could only be followed by a semi energetic,and slightly unwilling-at-first walk down the lane - hardly in the moonlight - rather a pale freezing fog with a lighter wet covering on the road surface - which was the cause of Euan's car in the ditch halfway down to the main road, just round the slight left-hand bend. Arriving at the spot guarded by the Compass tractor, the lads were suitably impressed by Euan's escape, his apparent good humour and the perceived impossibility of getting the vehicle removed from such a position - all very serious and significant as we dawdled back.

TTI (Time To Imagine) was a 2 parter based roughly on the Bible story of the first Christmas stargazers. Part 1 was about the well-known magi who joined the dots, followed the star and discovered that GOD believed in them possibly more than they had believed in Him - all through a radio script, Jamie's true story,a game and a song. Amazing to think that 30 minutes could go so quickly and it seemed quite acceptable. This was followed by a d-i-y presentation (talent show) called 'You're a Star' which featured more music, McFly, 'guess who' type impersonations of things, juggling balls, clubs and rings and a few silly camp fire joke things which went down a treat. There was barely enough time to have a game of pool and table football before we went up to the lounge on the ladies' floor for supper.

Tasteful - a multi-meaning description of the lounge, with Christmas tree, lights, sprigs of holly, a ELC manger scene, a tableful of food including chocolate this and that, drinks and all to be eaten whilst lounging around on comfortable chairs or bean bags wearing blankets and duvets, and watching the wall projected DVD of 'Cheaper by the dozen - Part 2'. A great movie - the sound was good, the action good, the story line good and no-one fell asleep, even though I suspect that the majority of us may have seen it quite a number of times already. As it was getting on to 11pm, there was still time for the lads to have 2 more dorm-time activities in their beds - Uno the card game once known as Switch which for 2 lads was quite new and for the other two, a little restrained from the usual Marquis of Queensbury rules they had known. After a couple of rounds, Estelle came in and read aloud the Max Lucardo story 'You are special' which seemed to well sum up the day.

.....And just when we thought, the day was settled, there was the usual discovery of their apparent inability to fall asleep but this was only amongst the lads as the adults drifted away.............................


Don't
Stop
Me
Now....................................

It was Damien's choice. He would wake up the lads. Sensible and appropriate. For the lads to be confronted by a team full of bonhommie and urgency, sweet singing and sound exhortations would have sounded like a the Final Call. So the rest of us met upstairs, hairdrying, exploring the remedial effects of tea and coffee, time to pray, plan and gaze vacantly at one another until the overwhelming need to assist Damien on the floor below overtook us. (Nice play on words, ambiguity of meaning and terrible writing). First thing in the morning, still asleep, 20 minutes before breakfast, lightly raining outside and you're called into action to test the showers - who would be a 10 year old ??
It worked - and we all assembled for breakfast in the main house unaware of the efforts of the catering which preceeded us. There arose the usual philosophical rather than ethical questions, viz how many sausages can be fitted into a bap, should they be covered with ketchup or chocolate spread and is it possible to eat it all without resorting to knife and fork? Should porage / porrige / porridge preceed or follow the meat course? Does Joe the Instructor really put orange juice on his All Bran? Is Joe the lad a hunter-gatherer, roaming the length and breadth of the dining area? How many sandwiches will I need to make now when I am feeling stuffed, for lunch in 4 hours time?

Refreshed, tanked up and ready to rumble, we moved off in formation to the climbing wall, for the best ever climbing session I've been to. Four instructors, ropes, belays, equipment all in position; the lads and team kitted up, warmed up and no waiting sir. It lasted about an hour; everyone was moving around the walls, the floors, the instructors - coming off one pitch onto another, repeats welcome to get to the top faster, more efficiently, along harder routes. You return to earth and find yourself getting your breath back whilst another is hooking you up for your next attempt. And all the time, the climbing hall echoes to shouts of encouragement, instruction and conversations. All the lads succeeded. It was wonderful. All the team did what they wanted to. Brilliant. Everyone appeared in someone's photos!!

After the high.... well... we had to be a bit more realistic and insist that everyone needed to join the fashion parade of outdoor waterproof apparel - in this year's colours : a fetching red, blue and green. The result was that Willie became a human Christmas tree, Estelle a strawberry and Euan, being an instructor emeritus, wore Spiderman trousers! Then like bedraggled refugees from a rain carnival, with assorted backpacks, torches, sweets and maps, we piled into the bus and drove to Enochdhru, abut 10 miles away, the other side of Kirkmichael. Outside, the rain suddenly got worse. Not too cold. Just more wet. Everywhere.

And so it was that we arrived. 'Eager' would be a tad strong to describe the bounding emotion in our hearts as we splashed out into the carpark at the bottom of the trail. 'Enthusiastic' might describe the first step along the path, but not the second ... and by the time we had walked the first 100metres, a gap had developed in the ranks - between the walkers and the ...um ... and the ... strollers, no - wrong word; dawdlers - too harsh; and those interested in every wayside opportunity to stop and explore.... Only another 8 miles to go!!

Actually, it became a great walk. True, it got muddier; true, the gap widened and the walking stopped to allow catch-up time; true, lunch seemed like a mirage. (Spot the inane metaphor). But as the walk progressed, more and more objects became significant, conversations developed and relationships were deepened. Euan had been this way before and seemed to know everything from how sheep get curly-wurly horns to spotting that crows are not buzzards, that trying to walk along stacks of chopped timber is a H & S no-no, and having survival stories which would put Mears to the test. He can also walk in the coldest rain without gloves but that may be his showpiece physiological strength!! Through his leadership, we discovered ourselves in a universal treasure hunt (GOstash/cache ???) all played with websites, Global Navigational Systems, plastic boxes and the rain! We found two boxes, along the trail, checked out the treasure, added nothing to the contents but recorded our find and replaced the boxes - just as we had found them!! We also found a deer's head complete with teeth but without antlers; a distinctive stone in the middle of the drover's path we were taking, covered with fossilised vegetation about a squillion years old and discovered that the plantation of pine we were walking through was 20 years old and might require a further 20 -40 years of growth before being ready for the chop (whereas in RSA, they would be now mature enough.) It's the Scottish light on development!! We bounded heather, crossed braes, ascended over giant stiles and dragged ourselves along the muddying track as the rain closed in on us. For about an hour,we looked out for the lunch spot until hunger cut us down - to making a stop to put up a non-inflatable shelter. It was then we discovered that the planned stop was just down the hill, up the next slope and round the next bend into a sheltered hollow. Just shows what a fold in a map can do.
There it was in all it's splendour - the high lunch stop, said to have been specially constructed for Queen Victoria for such a purpose as she cantered her way between Enochdhu and Spittal of Glenshee last week....Wooden throughout, candle-lit, no toilets, cold and cold running fresh outside. Bliss (in the non-nirvana, non-chocolate, non DFS sense). Sandwiches retrieved, tea and hot juice flasks out, sitting down together on timber forms in front of a huge table in a flickering light, sharing out food and good, relaxed laughs with a sense of acheivement. You could have almost made it another Last Supper, Michael.
At this point, this writer had to leave to return the 6 miles back down the trail to collect the bus whilst the others had only 2 more miles to go to their destination ....................in the unrelenting rain, the icy blasts, the loneliness of the long distance runner, the opportunity to converse satisfactorily with oneself, to pray for all those who came to mind, to stop for breath without consideration of others.... yes!! The rest of the party saw a herd of of reindeer, playing football like Santa's B team, in the near distance and came to the end of the trail with a piece of sliding down the grassy trail for 5o metres, so I am told.
Retrieving the bus, having completed the return journey in less than 50% of the time to get there, if you follow, only one incident stands out. The puddle across the road outside Kirkmichael had on my return grown to a flood or at least, a ford dimension. When confronted by a single vehicular headlamp from the opposite direction, I decided to let this obviously disadvantaged vehicle proceed first. The convoy of 3 black superbikes driven by muscular demi-gods in leather, complete with huge, stylish, brightly painted sidecars completed with similarly clad companions of the female variety slowly and triumphantly cruised across the waters. Did I spot any anxiety in their faces as the sidecars appeared to float a little? Not at all - the curl of their bow waves matched the confidence of the concentration in their faces as they didn't even register my presence or my drooling expression at their craft. As I said earlier, it's a question of the Scottish light!

Rejoining the rest of the safari in the carpark of the hotel at Spittal, we damply drove, steamingly back to Compass - a bit muted possibly ... or dreaming of the layovers in the showers to come.

Reinforced by tea and dry clothes, we were still up for it, as they say. Back to the Games Room for the Giant Jenga Championship - a competition with all the gravity of a chess tournament, with the eager wished-for participation of the audience as in 'try this one here' and the aerobic exchange of breathlessness as the brick is slowly drawn out and placed on top of the ascending structure. It lasted until dinner - two games - no one left the arena - and the collapse in both cases was excellent.

Dinner passed as in a feeding frenzy reminiscient of a shark attack. Nothing was left to chance. Everything was attempted. It worked. How it worked,mmmmmmmmmmmmh!

Now we all knew how to make it happen. Back for TTI - Stargazers Part 2, the story of the shepherd who lost his fear of the dark as the celestial beings switched on all the lights for the LIGHT of the World, plus Estelle's personal story, a wee song and then on to the arty project for the night. This was a chance to paint - well, splatter paint across paper in some sort of pre-determined manner, or to use felt-tips or crayons, to make something to remind each of us of something special of this day. Food was not attempted but the minibus was; the metaphors of light
were out as were the deer and the rain. Everything produced a WOW response and the completed items were later taken home. A couple of the lads found it to be NOT their thing whilst all the adults loved the chance to be kids again!

Back to the lounge for supper and the DVD as last night. Warm, comfortable, filling, sleepy-ish, with 'Elf', funny, good aaaaah factor. No time for a game of Uno, just Laura reading the bedtime story and ......................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz4ALL. I wonder why?

Don't
Stop
Me
Now.............................................................................................................

Saturday morning - just 10 hours to go; will we keep up the momentum? Can Bob fixit ? Is Homer Simpson married? Will Beckham ever play for West Ham ?
Damien is a hero. Gets the gang out of bed, steers then towards the showers, redirects them to their clothes, moves them from a semi-somnabulistic state to a near-life experience, out of the bedroom to breakfast. The rest of us nod approvingly and with gratitude. Whose prayers are being answered?
Cue the music. Seated at the dining table, expectant looks all round. Yes, it's the waffles. Oh, can there be a better after-life ? AND after the porage! 20 minutes later, sprawled bodies round the tables of shared and scattered plates, the equivalent of drunken faces replete from cream, soft fruit, cream, biscuit base, cream .........
Back to work. Pack up your bags, clear up your rooms, fold up the dirty linen. It's a grim start. The low ropes a bit of a hit and miss. It must be about a degree of tiredness that has set in or it might be the start of a cold. Richard is sorting and loading the bus. It's archery. No, it's bows and arrers in the sports hall - golds and reds all round. Climbing the extra tall tree by the path. Hit the hooter at the top and be in suspended animation as you descend. Then it's volleyball for all. We're getting there. The weather has lightened. It's beautiful here. The staff are preparing to receive more guests for the New Year at Compass, but we have had the best time ever. Everyone is having a good time.

Lunch already - the soup has gone, even the seconds. Sandwich making - we're Masters now; got all the combinations, even eating the crusts, fruit and biscuits. Can we get enough fuel on board until we get back to Ballikinrain ? Is there enough time for a final game of volleyball? So much to do and so little time.

STOP - a time to make the most of the leaving of Compass. All upstairs into the games room. A quiet sit down in a circle for talking it over and completing the evaluation forms, a round of thanks and appreciations to all, handing out of certificates for skills developed and for team spirit demonstrated and then the final surprise. Two team members who couldn't be with us have donated presents for each lad, beautifully wrapped - a token of their feelings for these lads which capture all that those present in the team have been wanting to give and show. Top drawer biscuits for nourishment, selection packs of chocs for enjoyment and an MR3/CD player for the journey. Stay with us and we'll listen together. The last team photos - the beaver and the reindeer mascots. Everyone smiles. Everyone.

The bus is crowded with bags and beginning to steam. The road winds away from the handshakes and goodbyes and thanks with the Compass staff. Willie catches his homeward train to Edinburgh. In my mind is a picture and sounds of Simon and Garfunkel. We take off through the Perth traffic. Still no-one has fallen asleep and no-one has been travel sick. The sun screams a last goodbye on the drive south to Stirling. It's dark through the Forth Valley but the singing is just as fervent . Speculation as to whether Damein has overtaken us already. Cheers as we advance up the Ballikinrain drive. We have made it!! BIG thanks as Daniem appears with flowers and chocs for the team. See you soon. Enjoy your break. Keep in touch. We will.

Don't

stop

me

now

Reality News

Reality News
A gourmet weekend in Glenshee

Last weekend of the year for Reality at Compass Centre in Glenshee. Dave and Lyndsey Roberton from Edinburgh and I took Jamie , Jordan and Stephen for a windswept and rainy weekend - and it was great. OK - so we got there an hour of so later than planned, but it was only because of the Friday night traffic from Kilmarnock, the sheeting rain while we put on the topbox (more in the box than in the carpark), the need to stop for someone at Big Macs, the arrival in Edinburgh to realise that (typically) the multimapped meeting place was lying somewhere on my desk back in Lenzie and I was like the Englishman in New York !! - but we made it, regaled by stories of the most extreme horror movies the lads had seen, gross smells from the back seat (see Big Macs reference above) and amazing conversations about the nature of GOD, dreams, prayers, evil and fate!!
The centre of course welcomed us like we were ....Time Lords - wonderfully warm rooms, supper served in our rooms and such expressions of friendship that everyone was left looking forward to the programme for the weekend.
OK - so getting to sleep is normallyvery difficult on the first night - but by 12.30am, I was able to leave their door closed to the sound of happy snores and snuffling.
Saturday morning everyone made it for breakfast at 8.30am without regrets. Stephen ate so much (minus the crusts) that he had to visit the serving table 3 times for extras; Jamie discovered the delights again of sausage rolls with sauce we felt he might start rolling over; Jordan hit the coffee pot and Dave and Lindsey discovered that the other group at Compass for the weekend was the youth group from her old church at Banchory, led by the minister who had married them 6 months earlier !!
Suitably refreshed and with the leaders suitably weatherproofed in matching suits (wimps!!), we went out to the ropes course which each lad completed twice - with the second time recording a substanially lower fall-off rate !! (Jamie did 2 sections blindfolded : the leaders .....supported everyone!!). Then after a short comfort break (with last night's leftovers supper bits) we went indoors to the sports hall for archery. Here the leaders came into their own, even though all the boys had tried this already elsewhere. High scores were made by everyone especially in the 'holidays' round after Richard had offered chocolate to each winning team ........... and strangely enough his team won twice !! But the best bit was when Stephen realising that he was on the winning team - probably for the first time n his life - just had to hug and dance with me to celebrate. You would have walked 500 miles to see his face light up - the first of quite a number of times this weekend!!
Time for lunch - and once again Compass were determined to fill us full of goodies. One lad, his plate of sandwiches so high it was in danger of spilling over, just averted the crisis by eating it all in less than 4 minutes; another discovered that it was possible to, put away 5 penguin biscuits and 2 bags of crisps in one 2minute visit to the serving table - but was discovered to have deep pockets....
So it was outside in the darkening afternoon for the challenge course which we all did together - NO PROBLEM!! Max scores for the Spiders Web, max scores for the Sacred Mole Tree (a joy for the leaders to realise that it would work !!) and max points for the crates and planks exercise across the white shark infested seas .... It was Joe the instructor's fertile capetown background that made it real. After the compulsory tea break, we found ourselves at the bottom of a HUGE tree - massive - hit the lowering sky - pine thingy - all dressed up in sumo slings and crash-hats. First up was Jamie the Catweasel - hit the hooter at the top and descended just as gracefully; wee Stephen followed but suffered from an absence of places to find his feet and hands halfway up, choosing to fly down like Spiderman rewind; Dave pretended it was like the escaltors in Jenners and tried to find the roof; Lindsey hit her target at the halfway stage; I kept sitting on the knee I wanted to move up from - imagine it's like trying to leave the egg you want lay; and Jordan ascended like a stunt man out of a James Bond movie. Just after 4pm and darkness fell so it HAD to be time for another massive session of tea and bix, soccer in the sports hall and pool ,table tennis and table football in the games room - so laid back, so easy to have so much fun, so great to engage with each other in a non-threatening way.

So what shall I say about dinner? Sweet and sour pork, vegetarian ricey stuff - Jamie tried it all and said it was OK; the other guys hit it with avengeance and the leaders murmured comfortably all the way through. If that wasn't enough, Douggie in the kitchen then bribed us to stay another day with a dessert which crossed the boundaries of civilisation, cream, tangerines, biscuit base and chocolate sauce dribbled over it all. Nothing else for it - we shared the tangerines, some had the choc, some had the base and everyone had the cream - seconds and thirds. We initiated a toast to the pudding !!
Had to go out for a walk to shake the whole lot down - in the rain, in the wind, in the full moon and the clouds - sheep spotting, shadow chasing, talking about were-wolves and persuading that the end of the lane was just around the bend.
40 mins later it was TTI - time to imagine (previously known as Time Out / the GOD slot / oh no not again). We all joined in the story cards game, learned to ask loads of questions and got the final story of the lad who woke up with a pig in his bed (or rather , the pig that woke up with a lad in his bed - its OK , it's in the Bible) - and then 20 minutes of almost silence as we painted pictures of things to remind us of something special about our time so far - magic : come up and see my etchings.
Time to break out for 20 minutes of footie in the sports hall and then back to the lads' room for ..... supper kindly served by Douggie and accompanied by the DVD ' Cheaper by the dozen - 2'. Sadly I wasn't up to speed with the volume settings of the laptop, so we all had to sit very very quietly munching sweets and cake for 90 minutes to follow the plot. Stephen went to his bed and fell asleep and Lindsey just closed her eyes for 5 minutes which stretched for an additional 60 minutes !! Strangely enough, when it came time for bed, Stephen woke up, the boys wanted to be silly and the previous night's routine was followed unbtil ... the same time.

How can you get 3 tired lads up on a Sunday morning before 8 o'clock ? It was not easy, no animals were hurt in the clearout, Jamie tried to have a shower with his clothes and trainers on, the beds were also stripped at the same time and Jordan went through an atheist stage in 3 minutes. But breakfast was the reward : if the porage wasn't perfect - and it was, just ask Stephen '3 bowls' Woods - then the ultimate - and to our shared knowledge, this only happens at Compass - treat were the woffles, poured over with softfruits in their syrup and lovingly PLASTERED with cream. THIS is breakfast. Heaven is obviously round the corner.
Becoming alive and fortified for the day meant we started with packing up the rooms, football in the sportshall and orienteering in the grounds. The bottom fields were flooded so we thought we might have to try sheep rescueing but instead completed the 3 courses without problems. Following Simon's (the instructor) insistence, we had a tea break before the final activity of our stay - crate climbing in the sportshall. It's about pretending to be the hunchback of Notre Dame with this artificial hunch making harness, making a statement about personal worth and confidence on top of a stack of beat-up milk crates which you have assembled under you whilst trying to keep on top of the business, daring suspended like a mannequin from the Cirque Rondo routine. Easy to describe - bordering on the torture end of having fun scale. Jordan won with 11 crates; Dave flew off with 9 or 10 (same as Jamie) - something about having a height advantage; Jordan found his feet couldn't easily fit; sorry, but cannot actually recall Lindsey's attempts and I was excused on medical grounds!! The biggest kick - when you fall off and kick the crates away - all over the hall - whilst dangling like a spider descending on its victim - most excellent.

Lunch - that peculiar mixture of d-i-y sandwiches which for some reason invites the lads to invent the 'how-many-layers-of-filling-can-you-get-in-yours?' games which resulted in loads of leftover crusts. cheese bits all over and under the table ... but which couldn't detract from the serious intentions of the soup lovers of this world. Lentil with spices. The words themselves begin the droll to form (as Yoda said). Dave and Lyndesy did 1 each, Jordan managed 4 and the sad person scripting this epistle was left alone at the table at the end of the meal, reflectively and lovingly swirlingthe contents of bowl 7 round his gums like a hackneyed wine buff at the end of a date with his destiny.

The final hour blurred into football, rooms cleaning (loose trainer spotting), car packing and the round table talk to discover how much we had really all enjoyed being together (a group hug without the histrionics). Then Dave folded himself in the very back seat of the Zaphira, Lindsey found herself keeping the peace between the lads in the middle bench and we were gone -returning Compass to its natural state of peace and quiet - and the odd sock left in the shower.

Reality News

Reality News

One of those exceptional days away - a mixture of a treat to clear away from the office and a return when the only factor is 'my head is buzzin' - and it was nothing to do with the diet, the late night travel or the company!!
I went to Viney Hill, an outdoor pursuits centre belonging to the Diocese of Gloucester on the egde of the Forest of Dean overlooking the River Severn before it becomes an estuary.
The village had a community centre, a pub and about a couple of dozen houses. It is about 10 miles south west of Gloucester and just off the Lidney road.
The centre was built round an old vicarage with various outbuildings including a chapel in a pre-fab garage, a playing field with fixed equipment eg low ropes courses, climbing frames around the side, a campfire area and the beautiful woods off the back fence.
This would be a 2 day course on 'facilitation' run by Bill Krowell, the research trainer and expeditor from www.dare2.org and Mike Berners-Lee who has been around the Outward Bound business and Hollowford Centre, Sheffield and all to do with Outdoor Management Development stuff.
There were 13 of us, mainly from the South Coast but with a friendly face from my old neck of the woods, Graffham Water in Cambridgeshire, probably aged between 25 and 60 and we were a mixture of instructors, senior instrcutors and programme directors from centres. Most worked with young people from P6 up, a good number included Prince's Trust folk and one even ran parties and barmitzvahs (allegedly!). They would usually conduct sessions ranging from 2 hours to 5 weeks (see world-challenge.co.uk). As far as I could tell, I was the only one from Scotland, that dealt with young people but without a centre and (apart from Bill) had a Christian perspective to their work but that was fine as there was so much we had in common from our experiences and understanding.
The course was 90% experiential learning with the rest from a couple of mini-sessions on theories (which some of us appreciated). As the weather was very mixed, we only went outside a couple of times but made good use of the other buildings for small-group work. The main point of the curse was to help us to become better facilitators ie helping people to discover more about themselves, each other and the processes by which we could make it better. The wee notebooks we were given were soon filled with ideas (the toolbox stuff) and especially with our own reflections which we were able to work through in formal groups and informal conversations over meals, numerous cups of tea but strangely enough, not much in the evening relation activities! Sure, we played a few serious games (exercises) including the team ski walk, the straws building project, the red / blue points accumulator team games and the music and dance representation (well received by all outdoors instructors !!) and numerous 'pub games'. We examined and worked through such models of reviewing as Kolb, Decey and Ryan and Will Schutz and models of facilitation as John Heron and the well known Johari Window.
It all sounds dead posh - or possibly a little 'heavy'. It was certainly the latter but as we all contributed, it made sense, it was real and in keeping with the dare2 philosophy, our discoveries and contributions added to our individual development and learning. It was cool - and that's what got my head buzzin'.
Now I have not only a certificate of attendance, a couple of good booklets which incorporate alot of the material, my own notebook of quotes, eg from Mike, an ex soldier from Wales whow used to work with 'disadvantaged 'young people, who said "there's only a certain number of times you can beat your head against a brick wall, before you go brain dead!!" - but also a publication of Bill's which has boosted my self awarenss and status! I have read it, understood it and recognise that there's more to learn . It is published through the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning and is entitled 'Outdoor Management Develoment : a critical introduction for an intelligent practitioner.' Says it all - watch out campers !!

Dinner talk

We had a great Volunteers Reunion Dinner at the Glazert Country Hotel in Lennoxtown last Wednesday evening, 18th Oct. 17 folk managed to make it for 3 hours of good food, great conversations, good laughs and 'most excellent' company.

Stats : a 4 course meal well served - it ended up as a straight contest between the apple crumble versus the strawberry pavlovas; a double-sided U shaped table so we could play non-musical chairs after each course - its about logistics, the quiet background muzak and the desire to speak to as many folk as possible without giving the impression it was another speed-dating event : it wasn't (to the best of my knowledge!!) - and wonderfully mixed by a very lively group of amazing people with their own memories of their times at camp over summer - the good, the bad and ....

We were a well travelled bunch - Doug and Bronwyn, our latest newly marrieds had the fastest car but were the last to arrive from Perth; the carload from Edinburgh arrived before the Reality staff (something about lean and hungry looks), the Glasgow contingent had to use the SatNavs and Henry is to be forever congratulated for driving up the previous day from his home town in south England (Cheltenham) to stay with friends at Durham and made it on time !!

And so what did we talk about ? Well, a little about summer camps and perosnal holidays; more about what's happening in our lives now - jobs, church life, social activities, shopping, cars - and some heavy conversations including theology, aspects of Kirsty's R & D paper and future hopes and dreams, plans and promises. Basically, it was an excuse for a bit of a blether over a table full of goodies. Sadly we forgot to take pics and were far too polite to use our mobiles!

Big thanks to all who came and made it a great time for all. There's the thought that this should / could be repeated - let me know.
Richard
201006