Just to update on the project front, there was good news, then more good news, then not quite so good news…

First, the good news. The latest from CCW was that there was a good chance of something working out, and that she’d get back to me asap about it. The coordinator guy also said I’d need another supervisor within the department, which was a minor problem.

Second, more good news. Today I emailed the lecturer in my department who’s into planty-type stuff, and who supervised my undergrad dissertation, to see if he’d be willing to be my uni-supervisor. He’d said last term that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to supervise anything, since he’d be away over the summer. He replied, and said he’d be happy to.

Third, the not-so-good news. I heard from my friend from CCW today (in reply to another email) and there’s no replies to anything she’s sent out yet. She asked did I have any back up options just in case, the answer to which is, well, no. So, not exactly bad news, but could be better. I just don’t know what else I’d do if this didn’t work. I really need it to, it would be such a good thing for me, not just for the course but for the future. A project with CCW. Please, God, if you’re listening, help? Ah well, I guess these things work out for the best.

If you have any extra prayers or good thoughts, send them in this direction, or send them to Him with my name in mind. Thank you.

This is the motto of The Woodcraft Folk, an educational organisation for children and young people, which I have been a member of since I was 4. The aims of the folk are to build a world of equality, justice and mutual respect, and to teach young people to live with their world and the people in it.

This incredibly important organisation has tought many hundreds of children and adults about the world around them and the other people who share it. We learn that even though people may live on the other side of the world, and may look and speak differently, they are children just like us, who have the same hopes and fears ans aspirations. We explore the outdoors, play co-operative games where no-one loses, and each person has a role to play. Personally, my time with the folk has produced a love of the outdoors (would I be a rambler otherwise?), a self-confidence that no amount of academic achievement can match, and also a number of good friends with similar ideals. I am fairly certain that without it I would not be who I am today.

So, why am I bombarding you with all this information? Well, recently, our grant from the Department for Education and Skills, which makes up a significant amount of our income, has been refused, for the first time in 40 years. As a voluntary organisation, the folk relies on grants such as this to provide important resources, adn cuts are already being made to individual groups. In this, the year of the volunteer, it is tragic that the government, at the same time as supposedly supporting the voluntary sector, should decide that the Woodcraft Folk is no longer an important part of that objective.

So, this is an appeal, to anyone who has ever been involved with the Folk, or knows anyone who has, to go to the website, find the appeal details, and write to your MP. We must make it clear that we won’t accept this decision, and that the folk plays a vital role in the development of many children across the country. And, if you’ve never heard of the Woodcraft Folk before, now you have, go and check out the website anyway.

We were asked this this morning in a special childrens service. ‘We know how it ends’ being the answer. We know that on Sunday we will be able to celebrate the rising of our Lord, the renewal of the hope promised. But because of this the reality of Good Friday can get lost, the horror of what happened, the loss experienced at His death, the desolation of those left behind. Because we know it all turns out right in the end. In some ways this can be a bad thing, because we fail to recognise the substance of what happened on that day on Calvary. But, as long as we acknowledge it, this strange hindsight can help to bring it together in a way it wouldn’t have done for the disciples that Friday. We know how it happened, but also why. And we know that He knew too. Pray that we could be so willing to consent to His will.

Take this cup away from me?

Yet not my will, but yours.

Amen.

I’ve been far too silent this week, the most important week of the year, on which my whole faith is based. Or something. Anyway, partly its because things have kind of got away from me this year during lent, and it all escaped me till a day or so ago. Partly, I just don’t know how to express properly what is in my head, in my heart. Again, forgive me for turning to the words others have set to song. I’m torn between two, but I suppose, this is more appropriate for today. The other may well follow.

It was on a Friday morning that they took me from the cell
and I saw they had a carpenter to crucify as well
You can blame it on to Pilate
You can blame it on the Jews
You can blame it on the Devil
Its God I accuse
Its God they ought to crucify instead of you and me
I said to the carpenter, a-hanging on the tree

You can blame it on to Adam
You can blame it on to Eve
You can blame it on the apple,
but that I can’t believe
It was God that made the Devil
And the woman and the man
And there wouldn’t be an apple
If it wasn’t in the plan
Its God they ought to crucify instead of you and me
I said to the carpenter, a-hanging on the tree

Now Barabbas was a killer
And they let Barabbas go
But you are being crucified
For nothing that I know
And your God is up in Heaven
and He doesn’t do a thing
With a million angels watching
and they never move a wing
Its God they ought to crucify instead of you and me
I said to the carpenter, a-hanging on the tree

To hell with Jehova
To the carpenter I said
I wish that a carpenter
had made the world instead
Goodbye and good luck to you
our ways will soon divide
Remember me tomorrow
The man you hung beside
Its God they ought to crucify instead of you and me
I said to the carpenter, a-hanging on the tree

Sydney Carter

Well, that was it, the last lecture I’m going to have in a long while. How odd? Doesn’t really feel as final as it ought to. Hmm. Ah well, the beginning of another new chapter in this life of mine, lets see what this one turns out like.

There are other things to report on the project/work experience front, but that will have to wait, as right now I have another piece of work to finish on the exciting topic of prey location in the marine environment. Oh yes! And how useful is this going to be to an aspiring botanist? Hmm. Indeed.

I’ll be back, maybe later today, with the rest of this update. I just thought that was a milestone which shouldn’t go unmarked!

Well, possibly as I know it, at least.

This week is my last week of lectures. I never thought the day would come, when I was suffering and struggling all last term, and I knew I’d have to do it all over again. Well, come this Friday, I will be free from timetables, lectures and coursework!!!

I’m not saying forever, as that’s a huge assumption, but its nice to know that for the foreseeable future these things will be behind me. No more piles of work that isn’t relevant, no more annoying course coordinators (or not so much of them!), no more coursework deadlines, no more exams (after April). Phew, relief! And then for the next few months all I will have to worry about is my project. Not a small undertaking by any means, but just the one thing will be a nice change. Aside from the minor glitch that I don’t actually have a project title yet (I know, don’t say anything!), I’m looking forward to it, in principle at least. I’m determined that it will be something I can get my teeth into, and so right now I’m looking forward to spending the next few months doing something I really enjoy, whatever that turns out to be. Watch this space!!!

So there you have it, another milestone overcome, and (almost) ready to face the next one. Ok, world, what are you going to throw at me next??? (I’m going to regret saying that…)

Alfred Wainwright, if you haven’t heard of him, was probably just that. He loved the hills, especially those of the Lake District, which he knew probably better than the back of his hand. He wrote his famous (in hillwalking circles) pictorial guides to the area describing every intimate detail of his beloved fells. A man after my own heart!!! His favourite spot was beside Inominate Tarn, which nestles high above the Buttermere valley in the crags of Haystacks. It is a quiet place, perched high up above Buttermere and Ennerdale, overlooking Great Gable, and is definately deserving of such praise. It is here that his ashes were scattered after his death in 1991.

However, a recent article in the Manchester Evening News (I say recent, the end of February, but its not easily found in Swansea and so articles of interest find their way here in the post!) highlights suggestions that have been made to rename this beasutifull place Wainwrights Tarn. Undoubtedly this would leave old Alfred turning in his grave! Part of the history of these fells and tarns is their names, which are nothing if not unique! And, apart from anything else, if the name was changed, then the very guides that Wainwright produced himself would be outdated. This has to be the best reason to keep the Inominate Tarn ‘nameless’ that there is.

…and though I will be gone from here, we will never be apart”

From one of my fave Fairport songs written by annA rydeR about Cropredy, but it just seems to sum up the whole experience, of the festival and concerts generally. The feeling that its just one night, and then you have to go back to the real world, and its all over. But its not, cos when music, and the feeling it creates, touches you the way this does, you take it with you wherever you go. And as long as you have that feeling, and those memories, you never lose it.

This may not be the same for everyone, and certainly isn’t the same for all music (!), but last night I felt it again. The people you feel you know even though you’ve never spoken apart from the odd word or two at signings. Five men who bring people together from all across the country by their music. But not just the music, the atmosphere created by their and our love for it. Its unbeatable. No matter what else is happening, difficult situations, piles of work, worries about the future, it all goes away when those chords begin to play. There aren’t many things that can do that for me, not completely, things are always in the back of my mind. But not then, not last night, and it will be the same again in the evening of Saturday 13th August, in the middle of a field in Oxfordshire. If anyone is thinking of coming, I’ll see you there!

Hmm, have gone all sentimental now, that wasn’t where I thought I was going with this. Ah well. T’was a good night anyway, and much fun was had by all. Especially a slightly drunken Dave Pegg.

Yes, most definately. Tomorrow we’re off to Aberdare to see Fairport Convention on their winter tour!

There’s a grand total of 9 of us this year, which, from a university campus is quite impressive considering the conventional (ha ha! sorry) music tastes of most students! So, at 6 tomorrow evening, we shall be on our way. There’s something special about fairport events, like getting together with good friends you haven’t seen in a while, but being able to pick up where you left off. Its comforting, and amazingly uplifting at the same time. But enough, I will gush about it afterwards, so best not go on too much now!!!

And also, the last two days we’ve been honoured with Jo’s presence as she continues her marathon tour of the UK’s universities! Thanks for coming and joining the madness Jo, it was nice to have you here, even briefly! Say hello to all the other chaplaincies along the way!

Ok, so all this excitement is a little much for this folkie, so I must go so that I’m awake for tomorrow night!

An actual update, which I think I have been meaning to write for at least a week. Though because its been sitting in my head for that long, it may be more of a random (long) list of events.

Well, first I guess should be SCM weekend, last weekend. Um, what to say? So many things, so glad I went, so much to take in (still am doing). Workshops which made me think, knowing that even though you are only one person you can make a difference, worship which was thought-provoking and relaxing. Learning, in a different way from the routine of lectures and coursework, learning about the world and its people, and God’s plans for them. And people, so many people, most of whom I’d never met but felt I knew by the time I left, embodying the saying that strangers are friends we don’t know yet! The amazing feeling of being able to walk into a room, with any group of people, and know you can join in a conversation, or start another, without worrying about being accepted or included. Rare, and therefore so much more valuable. And so hard to come down from that atmosphere, that feeling of community, to the real, everyday world where lectures and timetables dictate what and when.

And then, this week. Hmm. The coordination (or lack of) saga continues. This week the list of project titles came out, which I (we) have been waiting for with baited breath. Well, there were lots of possibilites. If you’re interested in small mammals, jellyfish or computer modelling (I don’t think that one’s particularly popular!!!). However, very little, or none in fact, which are in any way related to plants. Hmm. I don’t know if I’m being picky, but I was certain that biology as a discipline was made up of a combination of zoology and botany. And, since this is an environmental biology degree, it wouldn’t be too much to ask a reasonable choice of both subjects for the project that’s worth about a third of the degree. Would it?

Sorry for ranting. This has annoyed me just a little. But, on the positive side, I have been talking to a nice lady from the Coutryside Council for Wales who’s lecturing us at the moment and may be able to help me. I’m going to talk to her tomorrow and see what she’s found out. And there are other options. So, despite the fact that the department is hopeless I will manage this anyway. I’m not going to let them tell me that I can’t do it, there must be a way. Any spare prayers and good thoughts in this direction would be appreciated while I’m trying to sort this out.

This Friday we had a visit to the Environment Centre in Swansea. This is an amazing place which runs and hosts all sorts of environmental groups and forums, and has its own fairtrade shop! Its heaven! And I found out about all the projects they run/are involved in, and I’m getting really excited about all the things I can get involved in when I have a bit more time. This is my plan for ‘after I finish being a student’, to get a fair bit of voluntary work under my belt as experience for jobs. And it would be great fun too! Who knows, some time soon I may achieve my ambition, to have a job that I enjoy, and can look forward to going to without spending every day wishing for the weekend.

We now have two weeks of term left. That’s just two weeks of structured, timetabled study with lectures and coursework. Ever. Or if not for ever, at least for the foreseable future (if I can help it!). After the Easter break, and exams, we start the project (fingers crossed), which will be nice to work to my own schedule and plan my own time. And do something I enjoy. In these two weeks though, I have a fair amount of work to do. So I may be either not posting much, or posting lots as avoidance tactics/stress relief! We shall see. For now though, I think I have rambled enough even for a ramblin’ folkie! And that said, I shall leave you in peace x