You see... I've been pretty busy off-chain... living 💗

My eldest is off to High School after the summer and there are lots of things going on around that - from end-of-year parties in the park, the year 6 leavers' dance, school play, high school transition days, buying new school uniform... seemingly endless things going on lol.

I have also recently become a trustee for our local Playground Trust Charity which runs the local village playground and tuckshop outside our Primary school in conjunction with the local Parish council. It's a lovely space that includes a nice traditional playground, a grass football pitch, a MUGA (Multi-use games area) for football and basketball, a tennis court, and a tuck shop. The playground was at risk of closing down completely as the existing trustees have all resigned and they were struggling to find anyone to take it over. The Parish Council had already voiced that they were not interested in taking over responsibility for the playground and all associated areas and that if no new trustees stepped forward, it would all be returned to grassland 😱

Of course...there was nothing left to do... but to step up and be counted... for the sake of the children who love the park and playground, and for the parents who gather there daily to kick back and chill whilst the kids play - it is a thriving hub of community life and not something we could afford to lose.

So I am now the Grant Lead on the Trust which effectively means that I am responsible for applying for community, corporate, and local government grants to support the charity. I have a handover call next week from the existing trustee who manages it all. Should be interesting - let's hope that it isn't very time-consuming... I am told it's about 2-3 hours of work a month, which is perfectly doable. In addition to this, I volunteer in the Trust's playground tuckshop a few afternoons a week too.

My cover photo, taken by me on my phone, shows the football pitch (in need of a mow), the car park to the left, the village hall which incorporates the tuckshop, at the top left and then the playground at the end of the football pitch. The MUGA and tennis court lie behind the Village Hall and beyond the tree line behind the playground, lie the school buildings. To the right... beyond that tree line... the Thames river.

Some mornings I take a walk around that field... sometimes I even send messages on those walks😊