SteveNewton.me.uk

Our annual invasion of the Isle of Wight (IOW) is always renowned for a fun, party atmosphere and this year’s camp would be just the same as we set off to take over the island for another 5 days over Easter.  I’d somehow been volunteered to drive the minibus – either someone picked me the short straw or I was drunk when I volunteered – so after picking it up in Boston at 7am we loaded up the main stack of camp kit and loaded the first batch of people into the van (Me, Daizy, Jack, Cat and Ben).  A few hours later we stopped to collect Jenny, followed by the last batch of people at Hatfield – Beaker, Claire and another Claire!

After 5 hours on the road we arrived at Southampton ferry terminal to find loads of other friends about to board the same ferry to the island – The invasion had begun!

Arriving at about 4pm to the campsite – right in the middle of the speedway stadium! – We found that, even though it was sunny, the site was already very muddy from the rain over the last week.  So, after carefully setting up camp, we headed off to Tesco’s to stock up on the all essential supplies!

The first party of the weekend was 80’s hip-hop, and as we had just arrived, we thought we would break ourselves in slowly to the fancy dress!

After a late night, Friday brought the rain and wind…obviously we had to get out and enjoy it so we headed off to the solent for a fast rib ride around the defensive WWII towers!  After getting extremely wet it was time for some archery, a drum workshop and then a massive dance mat competition!  Not a bad list of activities to start the camp off with!

Friday night was when we really started to dress up with a massive contingent of mime artists!

Saturday was a time to get out in the solent again and have a go at surfing, followed by an adventurous bike ride and then some climbing.  With the wet weather and the mud at the campsite we thought it best to head off to the heights for a Spa session!

Probably our best fancy dress was saved for Saturday as we all painted ourselves up for an 80’s UV party!  We had white paper suits that we could decorate with UV paint!

Sunday morning was a bit of a blur after the previous party but we headed off around lunchtime to the far side of the needles and a 9hole golf course.  Comedy value came from a 3 balls being lost on the first shot and a fantastic shot that saw the ball remain where it was but the turf make it to the hole!  The final activity of the camp is always the best – Headhunters!  Outdoor laser quest in a massive field with about 30 a side!  Obviously we took it seriously being the older people there – we dressed up in our UV white suits and marched up to the other base!

The last night’s party was a space disco with the team dressing up as ‘Men in Black’.

The camp was another fantastic event!  Thanks to all the management for inviting us down again!  See you in 2011!

Jo and Nat celebrated their birthday in style with a masquerade party at Tilt in Nottingham.  The evening of cocktails and even more cocktails went well with the girls really enjoying their party!

Over the weekend of 20^th/21^st March I helped run the regional paddlesports update weekend at Quorn, Leicestershire.

The weekend started with a key note address by Stuart Briggs from Canoe England before I formally launched the East Midlands Regional website (http://www.empaddlers.org).  After an open discussion forum we all broke for lunch, which involved a bellboat taxi service to Colin’s pub!

In the afternoon the attendees split into several workshops.  I led the Fundamentals workshop with Andy Oughton which was well received by all…hopefully they all learnt something!

On Sunday I assisted Andy running the unofficial 3* Coracle course at The Boat House pub in Barrow.  It was a fun session which was enjoyed by all…even if we did manage to get Jenny wet!!

After weeks of designing, testing and trailing empaddlers.org is finally live!

The aim of empaddlers.org is to bring together paddlers from all around the East Midlands.  It shows off paddlesports within the region and has a discussion forum for everyone to talk on!

If your interested in paddlesports then check it out!!!

On a nice warm Saturday I headed down to Rutland water to introduce David to Open Canoeing.

We managed to run through the 2 Star syllabus with ease as David seemed to master the basics of open canoeing with ease!  With the key skills achieved it was time for the “get wet” part of the course!

A thoroughly enjoyable morning on the water…and we even convinced Sam, David’s partner, to get in a boat!

Finally completed the bathroom the other day!  It was the major job I had to do to the house since buying it (I’m not a fan of ‘old lady’ style bathrooms!!)

The original Bathroom:

Taking my anger out on the walls:

Finished Bathroom!!

New Year in London with a good group of friends…luckily the camera wasn’t around as the evening wore on!

On a cold, snowy day I headed up to Matlock to run a 3 Star kayak assessment.