Update CV

I really need to start updating my CV.

The last twelve months have been really busy. Coming up with ideas and moving forward.

Volunteering has kept me going and now I am slowly heading a direction I want to go in.

I have attended a few courses, taken online tests and attended various training and awareness sessions. This means certificates of what I have achieved will be put in the folder I have now set up and organised recently.

I just hope I can manage to pass my web design course. I just need to steady my nerves and get on with the assessment on the night.

One thing now is a blessing in that my swimming course does not clash with the web design assessment week which at one point they did. The reason for this is the swimming coaching course has been cancelled.

I will undertake the training later in the New Year hopefully once a place is booked for me.

I will have to update my CV in case any of the places I volunteer at require it and also it will do me good to adapt it with a sense of achievement rather than look back with nothing changed on it.

I am busier now than when I worked full time - hard to believe but it is true.

The advantage is I can still attend hospital appointments without letting anyone down as what I do is in the evening or early morning or happens at a weekend.

Above all else I count my blessings everyday.

Keep warm and keep well everyone.

Fee

Trying to Stay Positive

I dislike December and have done for many years now.

There seems to be so much commercial pressure on people.

I am lucky where we live that community spirit runs high. Our neighbours have been without a working boiler for over a week. So have no hot water.
Eventually they were given two fan heaters on Monday night.

This means we have company coming round, cheering me up as we sit and have hot drinks in our living room which we are lucky is cosy.

Yesterday we attended a funeral and this gave me really mixed emotions. I felt numb from the cold but also numb mentally not too sure why or how I am to come to terms with these feelings. I am just trying my best to move forward.

I am trying to stay focused on my hobbies and interests.

I am so lucky I have a cat as she is a complete stress buster.

Keep warm and keep well this cold spell.

Best wishes to everyone.

Where has this year gone?

I don't know if anyone else is feeling like this that the year has just flown by.

With December looming ever closer I am certainly very busy.

This week alone I have done one online assessment and passed Welcoming Disabled People. This is one sure way to ensure someone reads a book as there is a short test about it either online or by telephone and you only get two attempts to pass by a certain date.

I am still attending my website design course and slowly getting to grips with setting up templates but I must remember to create the site first then the pages DOH.

On Thursday night I was at Shrewsbury School for over 3 hours of training to become a Kelloggs Swim Champion. This training enables people to understand why certain groups don't or won't go swimming and then see if something can be done to help them. As Swimming After Surgery (SAS) has now launched I had a lot of knowledge of how to go about this but still felt a lack of confidence in how to broach the subject with other people. So I gained a lot from the course and am now classed as a Kelloggs Swim Champion.

This means I will have two more certificates to add to my collection.

I hope everyone keeps warm and well during this cold spell.

Best wishes

Fee

Coventry 2010

This time last year I had completed my first Rotary Disabled Sports Championship following this many opportunities opened up to me.

On Saturday I arrived at Coventry as far as we knew there would not be a full team but at least 6 others would turn up.

Apart from the rotarian who had organised the event from our counties,my husband and a coach no one else arrived from our team. This made an embarrassing situation. I was full of mixed emotions from being let down, embarrassed, angry and upset. After a while I decided to make a joke of it "Billy no team mates" came to mind.

http://www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/committee.asp?ClubCtteeID=9369&ClubID=356

As you will see from the links every team has a table where packed lunches are provided and is a safe area to leave sports kit etc.

The table next to ours was Warwickshire. As soon as they heard I was on my own they "adopted" me. This meant I could participate in some of the sports I had been entered into.

I was entered into the senior ladies swimming and relay event for Warwickshire and this meant a lot. I also felt humble as one of my swimming relay team mates was an 8 year old boy with no arms. I wondered how he would manage the event. His swimming teacher held him above the water as it was too deep for him to stand up in it.

Once the starter said "go" he launched himself backwards and kicked his legs as fast as he could. When it came to the relay he was exhausted yet he swam again. I was fortunate to be able to help him out of the pool once he had completed his swim.

On Sunday he was given a sandwich. I wondered if his mum would hold this for him. He was passed his sandwich and he held it in his toes quite happily.

He then played football and fell over. In his usual style he just picked himself up with no fuss whatsoever. I was completely humbled watching him and absolutely fascinated by his outlook on life.

We had a laugh on Sunday while practising for the wheelchair pitstop. We had borrowed a wheelchair with quick release wheels for the purpose. This had to be held by two lifters while two "mechanics" released the wheels and raced around the course then the wheels were put back on and the racer had to continue on with the rest of the course to prove the wheels had been put on properly.

This was a very fast race and the lifters and mechanics had to deal with three separate wheelchairs as there was one junior , one female senior and one male senior competitor.

This event was timed and the room was fascinated watching this event.

The next event was the wheelchair slalom. Unfortunately the wheelchair we had borrowed was too wide for this event so I had to use my usual wheelchair.

The course is laid out in such a way that the wheelchair has to go through two tram lines then, round some cones then into a block fowards and immediately reversed back into another block where the wheelchair had to go backwards to the block at the back without touching and had to ensure the whole wheelchair went over the line.

This takes some skill and if anyone didn't go all the way in time penalties were issued.

Luckily for me one of my teammates had turned up on Sunday for his events so we just had to borrow a junior from Warwickshire to be able to take part in these events. This event was appreciated by spectators and those taking part alike. For everyone that completed the course the whole room cheered.

It was an amazing weekend and one I will never forget.

At the end of the event there was a closing ceremoney where awards and trophies were given out. By this time my team mate had left and I was back to being "Billy no team mates".

Some of the teams took team photographs afterwards so I decided I would just head off home quietly. Someone noticed and called me back for the Warwickshire team photograph. I made some new friends and was invited to join three other teams next year if a team can't be put together next year.

I will just wait and see what happens.

Swimming After Surgery

I have finally got a launch date following a telephone call last Monday.

The day the free swimming lessons start is Wednesday 27th October at 6.30 pm - 7.30pm at Short Wood Primary School, Limekiln Lane, Wellington.

This means I have been busy preparing posters, leaflet dropping, liaising with various organisations to ask if posters can be put up.

I also did a recorded radio interview on Friday morning which was broadcast on Saturday morning on the Eric Smith show on BBC Radio Shropshire to promote this project.

I just hope everything goes well with this project.

Rotary Fun Day

Yesterday morning was a cold and chilly start. My husband and I had woken up at 6am as previously arranged. We were going to set off to Cheser at 7 am along with our neighbours.

Armed with directions from multimap and a satnav we were prepared. At 6.15 am the telephone rang it was the neighbours to say they were ready and would be round at our home shortly.

We arrived at our destinaton early. I explained to the neighbours that I prefer to arrive early rather than late as car parking can be problematic.

There were many rotary groups organising the event and so many volunteers.

We found the registration desk and eventually registered. We were given cards with all the events listed on them. I had stars against the events I was meant to take part in but that did not mean I couldn't attempt other activities. The main part of the day was to try new things and have fun.

Myself and our neighbours are very competitive so much so we all had a go at darts when we discovered one had beaten the other we aimed to beat that person. At one point all three of us were in a line of three dart boards my neighbours were standing up while iI was in the wheelchair aiming at the dart boards. I got 89, my female neighbour got 87 and her husband got 108 but I couldn't beat that score.

We then ventured off to Velcro darts this is soft balls with velcro on to aim at a large fabric target to which the balls should stick. There were five balls of various colours this also ended up very competitve and we each tried to beat the other.

Next we went to new age kurling this was held in the squash courts and was great fun. None of us had ever seen this game before but soon threw ourselves into it.

There was an event called pedal power this was various bicycles suitable for disabled people to try. Due to the fact I had had a hip operation this year I was unable to use a foot powered cycle so was able to use a hand powered bicyle. This was a wonderful experience and made me realise that despite my legs don't work properly I could still use a bicyle by hand if I waned to in the future.

There were several bicycles on the track at one point and I felt a bit nervous luckily I had listened to how to slow down or speed up with the bicycle I was on. I had to brake a few times due to others speeding and racing each other with enthusiasm.

After this I attempted cricket from the wheelchair. I had heard my coach in stafford talking about the cricket group he had set up and I felt it was not for me. Litte did I realise how much I would enjoy it.

There were several of us in wheelchairs playing cricket and it was a fantastc feeling to be able to catch and hit a cricket ball. There were many smiling faces showing signs of enjoyment and achievement.

On each of the cards activities were scored or signed off.

I attempted carpet bowls and enjoyed this very much. My neighbours also took part in this sport and competed against each other.

There were some sports we were good at and some we weren't so good at.

At 3pm the events were packed away. At 3.15 there was a medal ceremony everyone who took part was given a medal. Prior to the medals being given out the highest scorers were awarded certificates.

Our group was at the back of the ceremony listening to what was going on and being supportive. Several certificates were given out.

The next thing we heard was my name being called, my neighbours took my bags off me so that we could manoevre the wheelchair through the crowd. Eventually I got to where I was meant to be and was presented with a certificate for carpet bowls.

This is the second time I have attended a Rotary fun day this year thanks to the disability sport club I attend in Stafford. Last time I won a trophy for being the top wheelchair contestant (this is currently on the mantlepiece).

Our neighbours enjoyed themselves and had no idea what sports were available to them until yesterday now they seem interested in doing lots more.

During the winter months we still train at Stafford no matter what the weather there is only a week when the club doesn't meet and that is Christmas week.

Last Thursday evening was interesting as I was in Stafford training with javelin throwing when a thunderstorm hit. We were prepared for the rain with waterproofs and umbrellas but the lightning and thunder was just a bit much. I was throwing pretty well despite the rain when the thunder came I jumped out of my skin and went white. My coach knew I didn't like storms as I had explained this to him before the session. I battled on and the storm seemed to ebb away slightly. This gave me time to have some more throws and then the storm returned with a vengence. This meant end of training while we had to shelter indoors. I had no idea how many athletes actually attended the track until that moment when we were all in the same room. When out on track or field it doesn't appear that many.

The main thing that the coaches instill in us is enjoying sport far more than anything else.

Life is Like Buses

I had set my heart on a web design course and finally plucked up the courage to enrol on one.

I was apprehensive when I attended the local college on Wednesday evening to do the course. I know how to turn on a computer but web design seemed beyond me.

I needn't have worried the tutor asked how many of us could use Word answer was all of us. We were then informed that this meant we could cope with the course.

Well here goes. First lecture over and completed. The package used is dreamweaver. From a student perspective this is a good package but to purchase a copy to use at home is going to be very expensive.

So why is my life like buses. I have been attempting to set up Swimming After Surgery with the help of the local authority. Finally they now have funding and have allocated swimming pool time. You've guessed it, Wednesday evenings have been picked for this project.

Oh well, I will have to miss one lecture to help with this project and then return to the web design course. It can't be helped and I can't split myself in two no matter how much I would love to.

In the meantime I have been plodding along with my usual hobbies, writing, helping out at the swimming club and disability sports.

Unfortunately I won't be able to attend the Wellington Festival as yet again I have a prior engagement.

This year seems to be full of double booking or things I would love to do but have already confirmed a position somewhere else.

I have managed to keep a promise to my husband which was the bungalow would be painted, furniture arranged and carpet in, within 3 months and we have achieved that.

This was why I was determined to enrol on a web design course and move forward with my life.

Now onwards and upwards to see what else I can achieve. Who knows where the rest of the year will take me.