Category: Blog

Healthy Holidays Spring 2023 – ROC Centre Chelston

haf 2023

Dates

Monday 3rd – Thursday 6th April 2023

10am – 2pm

FAQs

The programme is free for children who receive free school meals & Ukrainian refugees (funded by Torbay Council as part of the Healthy Holidays Scheme)

For more details and booking, please use our sign-up form: https://forms.office.com/e/uRB8KJ1B0S


The Programme:

At the ROC centre, we will be getting stuck into some well-earned holiday fun, including active games, storytelling, and arts and crafts activities. This is a great opportunity for young people to connect with others, make new friends, and try new things in a supportive environment! Upstairs we also have a foosball tables, badminton and air hockey, which is always a hit with the kids.


About HAF

Taleblazers are proud to be a recognised provider of the Torbay Council’s Healthy Holidays (HAF) scheme. These free school holiday programmes are funded by Torbay Council and are targeted primarily at children who are in receipt of free school meals. They are designed to help children and young people enjoy their school breaks in a safe environment. All activities are run by qualified staff and aim to have a positive effect on the young person’s health and well-being, as well as helping them to develop new skills.   

Our Easter HAF project includes a healthy lunch, as well as some physical activity and storytelling as part of the fun!

All activities are aimed at children in Y3-6, but we will consider older and younger children, particularly if they are siblings of eligible children.


The Life-Changing Power of a Hobby

A stream running through a woodland

In the midst of January, like many others, we at Taleblazers started thinking about our hobbies; their power to change us and their impact on the course of our lives. We asked Kev, our resident storyteller and balladeer, if he could tell us more about a hobby that he feels has had a profound and positive impact on his life.

“When it comes to hobbies, I’d say I have a few; perhaps more than some people but probably a lot less than others – having a good hobby or two is essential to our well-being and social development, through them we can find a few hours away from the pressure of modern life, gain purpose, new skills, have events to look forward to and increase our circles of friendship. 

Of all my hobbies, the one I’m always most happy to talk about is Roleplaying. 

It started in secondary school. I was not a happy student, school was a daily battle against bullies and disappointed teachers – I was an undiagnosed Comorbid Dyspraxic with Attention Deficit Disorder – Learning difficulties didn’t really exist back then, so I was labelled as lazy, disruptive and because my likelihood of being an Ox/Bridge candidate was zero; completely useless in the eyes of a grammar school. 

There was one thing I did enjoy: The company. I made good friends, no, GREAT friends at TBGS. Not just one group either; I had friends that I enjoyed music with, friends I played football with (badly), computer friends, and most importantly, the friends who roleplayed with me. 

Roleplaying games had been around for a while; Dungeons and Dragons had been introduced in 1974 by Gary Gygax as a way of expanding on traditional tabletop wargames, rather than control a unit of cavalry or light infantry you would instead control a single character, using their skills and attributes along with other player characters to collectively tell a story, fight monsters and wield magic, the only limit was your imagination and the consequences of your actions were determined by rolling dice and the Dungeon Master – a non-player who sets the scene and describes what happens within the game. 

I don’t remember who suggested our first game but I remember it wasn’t D&D – we used the Warhammer universe instead. Citadel had released a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game and a futuristic space tabletop combat game, we liked both but were upset that you couldn’t roleplay the futuristic side (Warhammer 40.000). We didn’t have the money for official sourcebooks anyway so I set about writing the mechanics for running the 40K universe as a roleplaying game. 

I don’t think I’d ever written for fun before that point. I could be a pretty good Games Master when I put the effort in and ended up running most of the games at school although occasionally Rich or Gareth might have us doing something different like Rune Master, Call of Cthulhu, Middle Earth Roleplaying Game or my personal favourite; Paranoia. 

Outside of school I had a D&D group run by an older friend – he lived in Kingkerswell but drove to the Bay to pick us all up in his Devon Computers work van, four teenagers crammed in the back with no seatbelts, sliding across the floor of the van every time we took a corner at speed – it was the highlight of the week. 

In our third year, Rich decided that we should have a roleplaying convention at the school and went on to organise it. I’m pretty sure I helped a little bit but this was mainly Rich’s idea and one of the first times he showed exactly how good he was at doing this sort of thing. People came from far and wide; there were stalls and games and live roleplaying, it was quite an incredible achievement and it got us in the paper too!  Our success however drew us to the attention of another group. 

During the late 80s, a certain degree of controversy had sprung up around Roleplaying (specifically Dungeons and Dragons) – there was a very vocal contingent of Christian groups who believed that the game was a gateway to devil worship, they also had similar notions about heavy metal music. This is now referred to as “Satanic Panic”. Rich and I liked both of these things and as we each had long hair in our press photo, we must have set off some kind of emergency Christian fundamentalist beacon. 

Within the week we were called to the Deputy Head’s office (not an irregular event for me) and shown a letter from a “concerned” group who demanded that we attend a tea party to discuss the imminent danger to our immortal souls. 

We went, we met them, we laughed at the fact that they lived in Hobbit Road, we ate cakes, drank tea and we tried earnestly to explain that it was just pretending, it was harmless fantasy, and that generally you played heroes and heroines, slaying demons, not raising them. Yet they wouldn’t have any of it. We realised nothing would be resolved and before either party became too frustrated we went our separate ways our pockets filled with cheaply printed cartoon stories of D&D induced suicide and devil worship. 

Today Roleplaying games are more popular than ever with hundreds of Youtube channels, and millions of players. Very few people still believe that they imperil your soul; rather, their usefulness in treating depression, building confidence and awakening people’s imagination are finally being recognised. 

I still game every Thursday with my predominantly Exeter-based D&D group, there’s also a group at Kent’s Cavern I recently started playing with – they really are the things I most look forward to in the week”.

Will you be taking up a new hobby in January 2023? What’s a hobby that has changed your life for the better? Perhaps you might bring a new hobby with you into 2023; whether that’s something social and creative, a new sport, or a commitment to learning more about funghi. The world is your oyster!

National Poetry Day: Inchcape Bell

Rough seas washing over a rock in the ocean

To celebrate #NationalPoetryDay, we have a poem of wrongs and retribution, read by our very own storyteller and balladeer, Kev Johns. The poem is ‘Inchcape Rock’; a ballad originally written by Robert Southey in 1802.

The poem tells the story of a warning bell that was placed on Inchcape, a notorious hidden rock that posed a great danger to sailors in Scottish waters. The bell would ring to warn sailors of danger but was removed by a sea pirate. The bell removed, the not-so-savvy sea pirate later perished upon the rock, with his ship and his goods to boot 🏴‍☠️

Podcast

View on YouTube

Read a New Book Month

Have you Read a New Book this September?

Which is the latest book you read?

Did you learn anything new?

Have you shared your thoughts about the book with anyone?

Please see below a list of suggested books which I have found inspiring;

  • Happy Moments – How To Create Experiences You’ll Remember for a Lifetime by Meik Wiking
  • Wabi Sabi – Japanese Wisdom For A Perfectly Imperfect Life by Beth Kempton
  • Ikigai – The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles
  • The Mountain is You – Transforming Self-Sabotage into Self-Mastery by Brianna Wiest
  • To Listen is to Love – The Simple Path to Joy in All Your Relationships by Liz Scott  

“Our lives are not the days that have passed, but the days we will remember forever.”

Meik Wiking

John Muir Day: Hembury Woods

I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.

John Muir

Today is John Muir Day, marking Muir’s 184th birthday and commemorating his life and the Trust and Award set up in his name. Muir is known as the ‘father of national parks’ and is famous for his explorations of the American wilderness, having moved to America with his family at the age of 11 and spent most of the rest of his life exploring and writing about it. The story of Muir’s life is inspirational and his writings still carry a freshness about them, vivid descriptions that still have the power to pull you into the landscape. There is a lot of excellent writing about Muir’s life, not least in the hundreds or articles and books he produced in his life, so in this post I will talk about the John Muir Award and how Taleblazers are involved.

The John Muir Award is an open award that anyone can take part in, centred around discovering, protecting and celebrating wild places. It has three levels – Discovery, Explorer and Conserver – each of which requires a greater depth of commitment and immersion in the natural environment. To achieve the award, you have to work towards four challenges: Discover, Explore, Conserve and Share. The award is quite open and can be adapted easily to fit individual needs, so it fits our 1-1 programmes really well. It gives a reason to be out and about in wild places and provides a context for the activities we do.

Kev and I ran our first John Muir Award many years ago, working with Bovey Tracey Guides at Broadhempston to complete the Discovery Award. We had a lot of fun running it and when we started Taleblazers one of the first things we did was to put together a John Muir programme to offer to individuals and schools. It suits our blend of environmental education and storytelling incredibly well, and as adaptable leaders we have a lot of fun delivering it.

I love the John Muir Award so much that I decided to work towards the Conserver level myself. There are a lot of places I love, but I decided to focus my award at Hembury Woods just outside Buckfast. The area has a fascinating history, with a Norman castle sitting on top of the earthworks of a hillfort, and a silver mine in the valley below. But it’s the natural beauty of the woods, sitting on the western wide of a twist of the river Dart, that I get most excited about. The wood is managed so there are areas of new growth and there is often some thinning taking place, but down by the river the woods are wonderful. Old oak and beech trees sit side by side on the river bank, watching the water tumble over short rapids and fan into quiet swimming spots. Birdsong is everywhere, wood ants busy themselves as only ant colonies can, and underfoot there are bluebells and bilberries.

I realised early on that there is so much I don’t know, so as part of my award I’ve been working on my wood lore. With the help of Steve from Basic Bushcraft I’ve been working on my tree identification, and although I’m no expert yet I can at least spot hazel, alder, larch, western hemlock and others. On each visit I spot a new mushroom or flower that I rush home to identify. It’s a fascinating and immersive process, knowledge gained by exploration and experience gradually getting to know every part of the wood. Every day brings new questions, and excitement in the search for answers.

However, my journey hasn’t just been one of learning. Influenced by the young people I have been working with as well as the environment, I have discovered an enjoyment of more creative activities: photography, sketching, writing, painting. I have sat quietly by the river with my students or by myself and just allowed time to pass. The benefits to my own mental health have been profound. Doing the John Muir Award has reminded me to take time out in nature myself, to open up to creativity and sometimes to just let the world go by.

I still have more to do before I finish. I haven’t visited the wood at dusk or dawn yet, looked for bats and kingfishers. I’d like to set up some NPMS squares to find out what plants live in different areas of the site and to track their abundance over the coming months and years. And I feel ready to start the Share phase of my award in greater earnest. This blog has been part of that process but, as a reward for getting to the end of it, I’d like to invite you to share it with me. On Saturday 30th April I will be leading an early morning walk at Hembury Woods. I’d like to show you around the woods and tell you the story of the hillfort and mine, introduce you to the river and some of the species that live on its banks. There is no charge, but I would appreciate donations to the John Muir Trust if you feel able to do so.

If you would like to come, booking is essential – please check the Eventbrite page for ticket availability.

A Rubbish History of Ilsham Valley #KeepBritainTidy

As it’s Keep Britain Tidy week, I wanted to explore a little of the history of our relationship with refuse and how our attitudes and practices towards waste have changed over the years, shining a spotlight on Torquay in particular.

 Now, rubbish isn’t a new thing by any means; as long as there have been humans there has been human refuse. First and foremost, there’s our biological waste… which is significant. 

 The average human produces 145 kilograms of poo (approximately a grown pandas worth) and 135 gallons of pee (two bathtubs full) per annum, so as you’d imagine, an efficient sewage system quickly became a necessity for our ancestors. Neolithic people dug shallow ditches to channel their waste away from their villages more than 12,000 years ago and by the time of the Roman Empire, underground sewers developed by the Etruscans became the template for cities across the world. 

 Yet humans produce more than just biological waste and bringing us straight up to the present we now produce staggering amount of rubbish as a society. This rubbish is taken away from us by various governmental or private firms; some (although not enough) is recycled, most ends in landfill and some is burned in specialised stations. This was not always so. 

 As a guide at Kents Cavern, more than 15 years ago, I was on the crew helping to clear the woodland area around and to the side of the caves. The woodland trail was created to give a bit more value to the average cave visit and includes displays and replicas of the beasts that once roamed Ilsham Valley. 

 The area was professionally prepared; several trees were taken down and a circular, levelled path was cut throughout. Kents Cavern staff then headed in to tidy up. We quickly discovered that beneath the leaf-litter, ivy and soil there lurked a rather unpleasant surprise: years and years of trade waste and litter from the Caves! 

 See, when the caves came into the ownership of Francis Powe in 1903, there were no regular bin collections in Torbay and in fact, even up to the 1970s, local businesses had to manage much of their own waste. The most cost-effective solution that that time was incineration and at the top of the woodlands there is a kiosk (and a Cave Bear – it’s not easy to miss), this was the site of the incinerator, everything that could burn was burnt – sink a spade into the earth here and you will reveal layer upon layer of ash-streaked soil, striations of red earth, black, white and grey, like a slice of particularly unappealing Walls Vienetta. 

What could not be incinerated was dumped, over time this formed the very basis of the wood itself and so under every patch of soil hid forgotten discarded relics of the past. There were broken bits of Kents Cavern pottery, cans of popular soft drinks (including Quatro, hands down one of the best carbonated beverages of all time), bent clothes hangers, a few horse and cow bones (one of which is still used today in the Stone Age Trail display) and innumerable crisp packets, glass bottles and plastics.

 It quickly became obvious that the further we dug the more we would find and so the executive decision was made to just stop digging – we covered up what we could and left nature to swallow our shameful secret refuse. To be fair she’s done a pretty amazing job. The woodlands look great today and when I’m taking school groups round watching them excitedly track down all the stations on the Stone Age Trail it is very easy to forget that this once was just a secluded space to dump rubbish in. 

Back for its seventh year, the 2022 Great British Spring Clean takes place 25 March – 10 April. This year the message is simple. Join the #BigBagChallenge and pledge to pick up as much litter as you can during the campaign.

Our Geology course at Torre Abbey

Our very own geology expert, Rich, is delivering a short tailored Geology Course which includes four workshops. Exploring geological concepts on a different theme each month; Rocks, Time, Life and Structures – linking back to the geology of the English Riviera UNESCO Global Geopark.

Time – dating objects

The second session in January focussed on the theme; time. We learnt how we can date rocks using relative dating by comparing the rock to other rocks in order to decide if it is older or younger. Another method we learnt was ‘absolute dating’ where we measure the physical properties such as radioactive isotopes (radiocarbon dating, K-Ar, uranium) of the object itself and use these measurements to calculate it’s age. If you want to read into this more please visit; https://archaeology.ncdcr.gov/blog/2021-04-14/relative-absolute-dating

Below you can watch one of the videos from the session, which will take you through time by showing you the movements of the plate tectonics from 540Ma to the Modern time.

Life – Charles Darwin’s Finches

Last weekend the focus was on ‘life’ and with enthusiasm, Rich talked about Charles Darwin’s Finches. Charles didn’t realize it at the time, but the most important specimens that he brought back from the Galapagos were finches. Once back in England ornithologists John Gould examined the finches and discovered that Charles had brought back 13 different species of finch, and they were all unique to the Galapagos. This realization played a significant role in Darwin’s formulation of his theory of evolution. The most important differences between the finches were their beaks – some were small whilst others were large. The common theme was the availability to catch food. Their distinctive beaks being an adaptation to distinct natural habitats or environmental niches.

If you are intrigued and want to find out more about Charles Darwin’s Finches, why don’t you head over to this website to read some more; https://www.princeton.edu/news/2017/11/27/study-darwins-finches-reveals-new-species-can-develop-little-two-generations

https://twitter.com/taleblazersuk/status/1493205793696632834?s=21

If you are interested and would like to find out more about our course, please visit our website below.

Taleblazers website