John Muir Award

Abbie - As part of the John Muir award we explored the sea using Surfing and Coasteering.
 For coasteering the equipement needed as well as a wetsuit are boyancyeds, helmets, gloves and boots. Surfing is easier equipement-wise because all you really need is a wetsuit. I already had the basic experience of surfing  before I started with coastal communties, and although we haven't done a lot of surfing during work, I've still progressed for the small amount of times we've been.
Surfing and coasteering are two very different activities with two very different environments needed. For surfing, you really need an offshore wind with clean peeling waves. For coasteering, it's better when the sea's a lot more choppy.
 My latest experience coasteering was at Tyninghame, it was a beautiful day in spring but the swell was pretty strong. It was only Stevie, Nick, Connor and I but we hadn't been in ages so I was being more cautious than usual. We explored different ways of grabbing onto the rocks when the current pushed us back and forward, it's all about the timing.
We also got taught about traversing, this is where you are climbing on the rocks just above sea level and trying to stay on without falling. Traversing is a lot harder than it looks, you need to find the right technique. We did more of this towards the end of the session.
 If you are interested about coasteering and want to know more about what it actually is, then just check it out on the Mobex East Lothian YouTube

John Muir Award

Gav- For the john muir award the wild place that i discovered was down in the trossachs at Loch Ard.

I liked this place because of how peaceful it was and that we were the only people there.   The scenery of loch Ard was also absolutely stunning being able to wake up and just look right across the loch. In the morning we took a jog and dip in the loch which added to the experience.

Nick- For the John Muir award the wilderness I explored was bivi bagging next to Loch Ard and camping at the top of Ben Laws mountain.

For getting to know the wild place of Loch Ard instead of camping in a tent we used bivi bags. Bivi bags are a large waterproof sleeping bag that you put your own sleeping bag into and you get to sleep under the stars. So you feel even closer to nature than you would in a tent. As nice as it is to sleep under the stars it does get very cold so you need to keep a lot of layers on during the night.

For getting to know the wild place of Ben Lawers we went camping in a tent at 800 meters. We then went out and climbed the rest of  the 400 meters using maps and compasses because it was very foggy so high up. It was a new experience being in a cloud at the top of Ben Lawers but it was also super windy and cold. which all added to the experience.

Connor - For the John Muir award as a group, the Coastal Communities carried out various tasks that the East Lothian countryside ranger asked. The kind of tasks we carried out included fencing, turfing, dry stone diking, path maintenance, drainage and bridge work. We also built a flood resistant path at longniddry and a boardwalk at Yellowcraigs. We have done lots of tool maintenance during the year. 

                                         Jaimie- This year I took part at the John Muir festival in Dunbar. We set up a stall

                                         and took kids for some sensory games in the woods.  We played observation                                               ally and night line, 15 minutes a game we had 8 sessions. After we finished, the                                             kids wrote there names on a big picture of John Muir and what they loved to do

                                        in their spare time.  

 18/03/14                                       Belhaven Hospital Gardens                               Abbie Duffy

Every Thursday & Friday we work with Dave Alcorn doing Tcv work. The past few Thursdays we've been working with the volunteers in the gardens of the Belhaven hospital. 
I really enjoy this work because it's really nice to interact with other people and it's good experience to have people skills and communication skills, it's also great for our confidence. Since the Belhaven hospital is a care home, I get such a good sense of accomplishment because of all the work we've done at the gardens. All of the volunteers are very enthusiastic and encouraging and help everyone to enjoy the work as a team.
 I'm leaving on the 28th March because I've got a job at working with PGL in East Sussex for 7 months, being a group leader/activity instructor. So I won't be doing the Tcv type of work down south, but I'll actually really miss working with the volunteers because they're such a delight and best people to work with. Although there's been many ups and downs to this job, but that happens everywhere and overall I wouldn't change any of it, if I hadn't been working here for the last 11 months I wouldn't have had enough experience and skills for PGL.  

Archery Qualification

Archery Qualification

 

 

For the past couple of months we have been training to be put forward for an Archery Qualification. We have been going to Fox Lake in Dunbar to practice. At the beginning I wasn't that great but after a couple of practices I can hit the BOSS(target) every time. We have been taught different parts of the bow and arrow. I'm really looking forward to completing the qualification on the Second, third and fourth of April.  

This month I have been working in Belhaven hospital laying paths with the T.C.V.

Just finding out that our time with the TCV has been extended to the end of our contract has been a relief for my collogues and myself.

Most of the worries were having too much time on our hands since our youth work has finished and we are now doing a archery instructor course, which seems only to be 1 day a week.

We rocked up to Belhaven hospital last week to help the other volunteers that have been working on this community garden for quite some time now. I was looking forward to getting my teeth into this job because I do love a bit of wood work and shifting gravel.

First off, we place wood shuttering along were we would like the path to sit. This wood is about ½ inch think so it bends and curves nicely. We hold this shuttering in place with wooden pegs, these pegs our beaten into the ground with a melee or lump hammer (depends on mood ;)

The shuttering (fascia boards) is then screwed into the pegs to hold it in place firmly.

Next we have volunteers digging and taking wheel barrows of type 1 (Big stones!) these our tipped in-between our shutters and leveled out evenly. Next up we dig some wind dust which is a finer stone and pour this on top of our type 1. the wind dust is then leveled out and can be compacted with a whacker plate to achieve the nicest finish.

Thanks.

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In the past month or two we have been working on a path in longniddry.

This job took a lot of work as you can see from the picture, it isn't small.  

I enjoyed this job because there was plenty of wood work to do, sometimes digging and shifting dirt can get mind numbing.

 

When you drive past this, you wont miss it!

Path building at Longniddry bents by Gavin McManus

The Coastal Communities spent most of November and December building a path that had a anti flood mechanism under it.

We started by collecting a lot of timber including railway sleepers, fence posts etc. we started by digging out a lot of the path that was already there so the path would be level. We then got the sleepers and put them in a straight line to see the level of what the path would be. Once we had decided the line of the path we put fence posts into the ground and drilled sleepers into them.

              We had to put a gap under the path so that when there was a flood it would flow under the path. This was a challenge as we had to saw through a sleeper multiple times to make the gap.
 Once the gap was made we brought in hardcore and levelled the path off.

              At one end of the path we had to cut and angle into a railway sleeper. Me and Nick got to use a circular saw to do this. I have never used one before so this was quite a challenge . When we had done this we put it at the end of the path and drilled them into the fence posts.
At the end of the project we brushed off the path with a layer of windust.