Trev and I have moved to Devon & it is great. In being here here I have fulfilled one of my ambitions (to live in Devon) and despite the damp it is wonderful. Exeter is temporarily our home while Trev is training to be a Secondary Science teacher at St Luke’s College (which is part of the University of Exeter).
Being a PGCE
student suits Trev down to the ground. On Tuesdays they get to learn and
play Science all day. His Wednesday mornings have been spent learning about
PSE (personal social education) and this morning he had his assessment. He
came home saying that he’d only got 2 out of 5 and I asked him if he was
a little disappointed, “yes” he said. Later on he gave me his assessment
sheet to read (to see if I did any better at deciphering the hand writing
of the Assessor) and on reading the key at the bottom I noticed the 2 is
in fact a very good mark (1 being the top mark! He feels a lot better now
- it was worth staying up till 1am finishing it after all!
Next term he’s off to play at teaching for real at Teignmouth Community College, where he has been 8 days this term, observing. Then after Easter he’s at another school. It is all good fun, and after Christmas it is the best bit, of applying for jobs, hooray!
Meanwhile
I have been learning to programme, in a language called Visual C++. It is
a bit boring and hard work teaching yourself, but every day I am learning
new things and again it is something I have always wanted to have a go at.
I finished as the SU Schools Worker for Eastbourne on 31st October.
It was bizarre leaving a job that I have thoroughly enjoyed and which has stretched me but it feels right to be having the break and doing something different for a bit. There are so many memories I have of Eastbourne and the people I knew and loved yet at the same time it seems very distant and no longer part of me.
This Monday I went up to the Schools Work HQ in Exeter for the prayer meeting they have (it is monthly for all the schools) and also I had a chat with Colin Piper (one of the Muller men as my mum used to call Colin and Chris), who is a Schools Worker with them. I have volunteered to help out after New Year. It is a huge set up and has expanded into other parts of Devon so Colin is now trying to co-ordinate the work over the whole area.
So what have Trev and I been up to this past year? Hmm? It all seems a bit of a blur (not the band you’ll understand). We started the year being small group leaders with our Church in Eastbourne. At that point Trev did not have a place on a PGCE course and we were not sure of our plans at all. At the end of January Trev and I spent a day at Ashburnham reflecting, studying and praying and both of us felt that whatever was to happen that the time was right for me to finish working for SUSWE at the end of the summer. I duly told the Chairman of my Charity, and they started thinking about the future. At the end of January I went to my Grandpa’s funeral in Salisbury. It was a lovely family gathering and a good opportunity to reflect back on his life; he had had fun until the very end! I know where my mum gets it from.
In February we had
two more House-parties for the school groups and we had a fab time. The older
ones were totally manic and the younger ones were lovely and mellow. Our
teaching theme was God’s love for us and our love for God and some of the
creative ideas they came up with were amazing. I did not crash any cars this
year!
March brought an interview for Trev at Sussex University but he didn’t like them and they did not like him! I trotted off to my last SU in Schools staff conference up near Leicester and had a refreshing time as usual catching up on methods, news and latest ideas for Schools Ministry. I had a room on my own for the first time and was a little disappointed; it wasn’t until the last day when chatting to someone else that had been in a room on their own that she too had wanted to share! Never mind. At the end off the month I organised an Easter Eggstravaganza. This was held out at Jevington (a village near Eastbourne) in a huge garden. The children had to hunt the hundreds of little paper eggs first of all and then there were lots of games, activities, a talk and a quiz, all finished off with a BBQ. That was a lovely afternoon, I will remember it for a very long time.
During April I became 27 years old. When Trevor hit 27 he declared that he was now really an adult rather than a young person . I am not sure. I still do not feel responsible enough to be an adult! My last SUSWE annual report meeting happened the same week and I had great fun getting people up to be involved during my slot. It seemed incredible that a whole year had gone by since Hope FM and our very own programme on the local radio station that Eastbourne had for a month. Cheryl (who worked with me for the year as a volunteer) and I had great fun choosing a clip to play that included Sue Relf saying that she talks too much! Our three white ducks were killed and eaten by a fox.
We missed the ducks so much that we decided to get some ducklings and hand rear them. They were so sweet! One didn’t grow as fast as the others and was squashed by them so we separated them. This little one was nick named Baby Duck Spice (BDS) and lives in a rabbit hutch as its legs were damaged when it was still small and we’d been told that the duck wouldn’t last long so didn’t think it was worth taking it to the vet. She is still here nearly seven months later though and she has become quite a good flier! When we leave her outside without supervision she goes in the guinea-pigs run with them! Trev had an interview at Exeter and loved it straight away.
The highlight
off June has to be going to Wembley Stadium for the day for a Christian Concert.
It was superb. I went with Trev and about six young people plus Cheryl and
loads of others. It had been torrential rain for days beforehand and the
whole of the area around Wembley had rain throughout the day but the Stadium
itself stayed dried and cool. It was perfect weather. 50,000+ people attended
the conference and the atmosphere was really buzzing. I met a young man called
Dan who recognised me from my days at Redland Parish Church! There were others
we met there that we hadn’t seen for while as well. It was most strange!
Trev was offered a place at Exeter to do his PGCE.
Trev spent much of July rebuilding and installing new computers at St Bede’s. It took up so much of his time, I was amazed. In our spare time started researching for this computer programme that we are writing (well say we but it will mostly fall on my shoulders). It was very interesting learning about steam turbines and heating systems!
Stoneleigh happened
at the beginning of August. Trev and I had not planned to go so we volunteered
to drive the truck full of everyone’s camping gear up to Coventry. It was
a 7500kg truck and Trev had great fun driving it. We decided that in order
to move our furniture we could hire one of these rather than pay vast quantities
of money to some one else ( for the cost of storing our furniture etc for
one month we could hire this truck Saturday and Sunday). In August we also
found someone to rent our house for the year.
September arrived and Trev left St Bede’s. He did two weeks observing two schools in Eastbourne, a primary and a secondary. He found both experiences rewarding. We did the first of four Craft Fairs selling Trev’s photos which were fun but not particularly successful sales wise! We met some very interesting people. I had to cope with being a lone Schools Worker! That was peculiar. A young man called Mark was doing 12 hours a week Schools Work so I spent quite a bit of time showing him the ropes. At the end of the month I took some young people on an over night coach trip to Alton Towers with a load of other Crusader groups from the Brighton area. That was what you call tiring but I had a thoroughly enjoyable time and slept it off on the Sunday.
In October our furniture moved. That was a relatively easy process. Matty (my little sister) came to help and drive down with us and escort me while driving back. Cheryl and Allen helped out too. Trev and I had been packing things for a fortnight before hand and so were fairly organised. The lorry got a lot fuller than we had anticipated but with a lot of rope tying things in we filled it up and set off for my parents garage in South Devon. Having been up since 7.15am we were sitting down drinking tea having completed the job (including a six and a half hour drive) at 11.45pm. Trev’s lectures started on the 6th and I finished my last few weeks in Eastbourne staying with some folk from our church and e-mailing Trev frequently.
Kings Church Eastbourne celebrated the opening of their new building on the first weekend in November. It was a great time and great to be in such a comfortable and airy building after the school hall which the church had used for longer than Trev and I had been around. Having celebrated with them we left Eastbourne for Exeter. The church we have been to a few times, and where we are very happy already, meets in a small cramped Village Hall (do I have a sense of deja vue?). We have volunteered to get involved with the teenager as they try and get a youth group started and have made enquiries about joining a house group.
And now it is December. Christmas is nearly here! We are staying with a family who have a sixteen year old daughter called Sarah. It is fun though a bit noisy at times (especially since the dad, John, is building a loo upstairs at the moment). I get to do the evening meal two nights a week which keeps me on my toes and means that poor John has to eat vege food two nights a week at least! Christmas will be upon us before we know it and we’ll be off down to Eastbourne and Hove to visit people before landing at my parents for the 25th and a few days after.
Well there we are then. I hope you found that interesting! Here’s wishing you a very happy New Year!
With love from Harri and Trev.
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