Oof, talk about a wait...

It has, in fact, been aaaages since I wrote a new post for our Blog, even though I said I'd update more regularly. I shall blame absolutely anyone other than myself for this unforgivable lapse, the other members of the St Madoc Team shall get no Christmas bonus this year.

To aid, what will hopefully be, more frequent posts I am attempting to rope more members of staff into writing posts on the Blog, who will post on a large variety of topics from conservation to... well... other things. Hopefully we will update about once a week, although probably not over Christmas, because eating and wassailing will be taking up most of our time.

About time too...

This guy has clearly had
success with something...

So, it's been aaages since my last post, I can't even say I've been too busy to update, since the School season, and the Summer are now over and things are nice and quiet now. Ah well, never mind, onwards and... well, on with the blog.

Firstly, looking back to my last blog about why failure is awesome, I neglected to mention, or forgot at least, that although we should all be allowed to fail, we should also be allowed to succeed ...allowed is probably the wrong word. Possibly the opportunity to succeed should be given to us. Something like that.

As important as learning to fail and learning to learn from failure are, succeeding is as important. If failure is all we are given or all we able to receive then failure is all we shall expect. Equally, if success handed to us over and over and over then success without trying is all we shall expect, and when, or if, we do not succeed (for whatever reason) then we would not know how to cope, or know how to build on that failure. So, there needs to be success and failure in life for someone to... succeed.

Thanks to Phil Goldney for pointing that out to me.

Events:

Right, so, events. Some of the following events are not yet set in stone, and I write about them here merely to raise awareness, rather than to put a date in diaries.

October 24th-28th: Volunteer Week. We aim to get as many volunteers at Camp as possible over this week, those over 18 can go tell the Orange Rock Corps what they've done and get £30 worth of gig tickets. (This is half-term week)

November 28th - December 4th: National Tree Planting Week. We have been donated plenty of trees to get planted, and anyone wishing to help is more than willing to do so, again the Orange Rock Corps can reward those over 18.

December 3rd: The Annual St Madoc Centre Craft Show and Carol Concert. Hot food, drink, live music and craft stalls. All are welcome, no charge - although donations are lovely and accepted.

No doubt I'll remember something else in a bit, but for now, ba-bye!

(also, oooh, look at the new blog design-stuff)

Random picture provided by Charlotte Holland, who happens to be my
wife, of our son wondering the headland at the St Madoc Centre

Why Failure is Awesome

Why Failure is Awesome.

This blog was going to be called the importance of failure, but then I might start a trend (since the previous blog was named ‘the importance of the outdoors’) and have to write about the importance of things forever and ever, and then I’d run out of things.

Aaaanywho.

Why Failure is Awesome.

Failure, or losing, or not getting things right the first time is important, or awesome, or both. Recently I have found that a lot of the opportunities for failure, or loss, are being taken away because someone somewhere has decided that losing hurts children, or the act of failing is unhealthy. That is what is unhealthy, taking away opportunities to fail is like taking away opportunities to learn, it’s teaching children that they never lose, it’s completely ridiculous.

Growing up I played for possibly the world’s worst youth football team, I mean, we were beaten by at least 5 goals every week, I loved it. That’s not to say I loved getting beaten, I loved playing football and I didn’t care if that meant I had to get beaten every week, I just enjoyed kicking a ball (and sometimes the opposition) around. As far as I know those 6 or 7 years I spent getting beaten in pretty much every game haven’t harmed me at all, in fact, I would definitely say they have done the opposite. I’m more used to losing now (I still don’t enjoy it though), I don’t get disheartened when the team I now play for goes a goal down, I just try and play better and motivate the team to do the same (this doesn’t always work, but I try). I’m sure if I hadn’t lost as often as I had back then I wouldn’t know how to cope with losing now, which is basically my point. (Yes, that's me playing football, I'm the one with the red arrow stuck in his head).

If we teach kids, and whoever else, without the opportunity to fail all we will eventually teach them is that they don’t fail, they won’t learn from their mistakes because they won’t know how to. This isn’t just about football, clearly, failure caused by pretty much anything is healthy and should be, if not sought out, then at least not avoided completely. Every failure is a building block to success, not just in the short term, but also for the future, well, provided we can learn and figure out why we failed in the first place.

For instance, bad grades at school, (considered by some a failure) coupled with a teacher’s notes and hints on why you failed, or got those bad grades, should mean that you can use those notes to improve that essay – or your next one – for the next assignment. If you had grown up without failure and hadn’t learn to cope with criticism then it’s quite possible that instead of building on those instructions you would instead become downhearted or angry and pretty much leave it alone, and not learn or build at all.

So, to conclude, failure is good, failure is healthy… provided you can learn from those failures and take what you have learnt with you.

Allow your kids to fail, don’t be afraid of failing.

Ooh, that last sentence has made me think of another point, sorry. Worrying about failure and allowing it to stop you from trying new things should be avoided, definitely. You should never allow any fear to stop you trying new things, and certainly not the fear of failure. If you want to try a new sport don’t worry about not being good at it, jump in and find out! How do you expect to get better at anything if you stop because you’re not as good as you hoped to be!? If you start school somewhere new, or start a new job, don’t not talk to people because you’re scared they won’t like you, or you’re scared you’ll make a fool of yourself – just do it, how do you expect to make friends and influence people if you can’t influence yourself to talk to them?

Yeah, so, again, that’ll do now.

To summarise. Failure is not not an option, it is indeed an option, and it’s healthy, honest.

Toodles!

Outside is Important

I was going to start this 'blog entry with something about how good I am to be posting another so soon after the previous one, only, upon checking, it's been nearly three weeks, which isn't so good. If this was a teacher's report it would say: 'should do better'.

Anywho, on with the 'blog.

Outside is important, and it's also important that we remember that it is important.

I don't want this entry to turn into a moan about how good things were in 'my day', I mean, I'm only 25, hopefully 'my day' is still happening. Having said that, when I was a little smaller than I am now things were very much different, you couldn't chat to your friends while attacking them with virtual spoons, or kill zombies in HD, in fact, there was no HD, there was only D, and the internet didn't happen as soon as you clicked on that Google Chrome icon, you had to wait for it to dial-up. Tough times. Tough times indeed. With the fantastic amount of technology that almost everyone now has at their fingertips and, if not in their pockets, then not far off, pretty much everyone can experience so much more without having to leave the comfort of their sofa or other chair of choice. This is fine, this is progress, and I'm not against it, but it's important to remember that outside is important. Pictures of forests do not beat actual forests*.

*although, they are pretty cool

And therein lies my point. Whilst it's amazing that we can see that picture of a Grey Seal surfacing, or the sun slicing through the canopy of a dense wood pretty much as soon as it's taken thanks to Facebook or Flikr or whatever, the pictures are no substitute for actual having experienced them. The pictures are impressive, no doubt, but there's no sound, no smell, and they are but a tiny, brief moment of what should've been a much larger, much more enveloping journey. This is also true for games. Computer games are awesome, I love 'em, recently I won the Champion's League with Dagenham and Redbridge on Fifa11, it was great. It was not as great as the camaraderie and exhilaration that comes from an actual football match, whether a kick-about or a competitive game. And that's without having even gone into fitness and all that stuff.

Learn about body-language, inter-personal skills, tracking, trekking, animal identification, wild-foods wilderness survival... all whilst getting a tan, or getting fit, or maybe both, see? Multi-tasking.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that it's important that we don't allow ourselves to get cooped up and absorbed by a computer, or the internet, or inside in general, experience the outdoors, don't just be the person who looks at the pictures and clicks 'like' before forgetting about it, be the person who gets to take the pictures, be the person who gets the first hand experience.

Do it! Or I'll tell my Mum on you.

We're getting there thanks to you.

From the very beginning of the St Madoc Centre's long history we have relied upon many different sources for survival; volunteers, our users and donations have all contributed to our continued existence, and our growth as an organisation. In my two years here I've helped put together several different applications for charitable donations, and seen others come and go through the office. These applications aren't always successful, many other organisations are competing for the same money we are, organisations that may well be more deserving of that money (good luck to them!). The applications that have recently been successful, and for which we are extremely grateful, have helped us make several big changes to our site, and will hopefully have a massive impact on our various visitors' stays on site, and their lives after they leave the St Madoc Centre.

The first funding application I had the (I don't know if this is the right word... ) pleasure to help with putting together was to an organisation called GwirVol. We applied for several thousand pounds for a project we dubbed 'Sustain'. Sustain's aim was to create new and more interesting volunteering opportunities for young people (those aged over 16, but under 25). These opportunities would include the creation of cob structures, the construction dry-stone-walls and woodland maintenance (see http://www.stmadoc.co.uk/faq/sustain-project-volunteer-at-st-madoc.php for more information). Sustain has been a long time in the works, having been running at the St Madoc Centre nearly as long as I have and our first cob structure is yet to be completed, although there have been many other successes; we've had around 150 new volunteers attend our various volunteer days, clearing woodland, assembling walls, maintaining our allotment and many other less glamorous activities. The difference these volunteers have made cannot be underestimated. Thankfully we will not have to see what the site is like had they not volunteered over the last year and a half, only what the site looks like thanks to their impact, but if we could see I'm sure the difference would be very dramatic, and not in a good way.

A more recent application was to the Ernest Cook Trust. Ernest Cook are a trust committed to enabling children to learn outside of the classroom and get their hands dirty, experiencing the outdoors. This aim sits brilliantly with those of the St Madoc Centre, the money we received from these very kind people will allow us to make our allotment far more child friendly and increase the educational benefits massively. Our aim is that each child will be able to plant and pick their own supper, collect the eggs they will then cook and eat, and learn about how food reaches their table. This knowledge and experience will go with each child as they grow up, so they don't take this world for granted, and will be more likely to start their own allotment or growing space. We hope to make a big difference in many children's lives in this way.

We have also received a grant from the Swansea Youth Bank, also funded by GwirVol. With this grant we created a separate organisation, known as the St Madoc Sports Improvement Program (SIP). Having noticed the lack of sporting facilities around this area of South Wales we sought to create such facilities. We began with the planning for an outdoor archery area on the grounds of the St Madoc Centre, purchasing the equipment and getting members of the SIP trained to a GNAS Archery Leader's standard. We're working hard on getting our archery set up and ready for our busy Spring season, and all is looking good, at present. The vast majority of the work on the archery area has been done by volunteers, another of the SIP's aims. The SIP plans to use volunteer labour to get our new sporting facilities ready, and, once the work is complete, allow the volunteers to use the facilities at no cost. This cost and reward is working well currently, and we hope it will continue with a new project once the archery location is completed.

Lastly, but not leastly (if that's a word, the spell checker says it isn't, but it can't know everything), we received funds for a whole lot of brand new sports equipment from the James Williams Trust. Whilst this equipment has not seen a huge amount of use over our least busy season, come the Spring and Summer it's durability will be tested by nigh-on constant use, and I'm positive that the children (and adults) who use the equipment will enjoy it immensely.

Charitable donations though, do not only come from large organisations, and they do not only come in the form of money. Volunteers from all walks of life give us their very valuable time and energy. Many times over the past years we have been rescued from situations that would have cost us a whole lot of time and money by the timely intervention of a well-skilled volunteer. Even those volunteers without a trade-skills can be a massive boon, our 76 acres of site needs a lot of looking after!

Anywho, scrolling back up I notice I have waffled on for ages and ages, so I'll leave it there, well, soon.

I'll sign off by saying thank you to all the very many volunteers we've had at the St Madoc Centre over the years, and to all those volunteers who haven't started here yet.

Until next time!

Winter at the St Madoc Centre

The previous couple of months have brought with the snow and ice, causing country-wide travel issues, water to be cut-off and airports to be closed. We were very fortunate at the St Madoc Centre that we were saved from the worst of the weather, with not a single group having to miss out on there stay because of the snow.

lots and lots of snow

That being said, Winter was not an especially busy time at the St Madoc Centre, with significantly fewer groups staying on site than during the warmer periods of the year. This does mean that we can begin some much needed maintenance on areas of the site where it is not possible during busier times, and also allows us to catch up on other areas of work, like lesson plans, woodland management and tree-planting. These are tasks that are important to the ethos and work of the St Madoc Centre, but are also areas that can tend to get over-looked during busier times of the year.

At the St Madoc Centre we are working towards having as little carbon-imprint as possible, this may take us some time to achieve, but a large step toward this goal will be the planting of around four hundred saplings on site and the forming of a new woodland area. Whilst this will not totally off-set our carbon-footprint it will help us on our way.

Over the last year or two we have managed to clear our woodland of a lot of the more invasive species of plants and reinstate footpaths and walk ways throughout our 5 acres of woodland. Over the Summer these species have begun to sneak back on-site and to stop the work of the last year being wasted it is important we keep on top of our woodland management plan and keep the area maintained, in order to keep our woodland useful and well looked after.

With Spring getting closer and closer, and our School season coming with it, lesson and activity plans are being written, and re-written in preparation for several hundred children arriving, ready to be entertained. The School season is, without a doubt, my favourite time of the year at the St Madoc Centre. Seeing the joy on children's faces as they figure out the solution to a particular game or activity, or as they get to soak their favourite teacher with a water-bomb is one of the best things about my job here, and makes the hard-work we put in before their visits very much worthwhile.