This week we went to the local Hobbycraft and did some crafts. For those of you who don't know, Hobbycraft is a craft shop here in the UK. We buy a lot of our craft material from here (or just wander round and get ideas for crafts!) and they are very interested in getting involved with the local community. They run sessions for groups, providing the materials for whatever you want to do and instructing the girls. It's only £1 per girl and the money raised goes to various charities. We went last year and the girls thoroughly enjoyed it so we did it again this year.
This year we did decoupage boxes, clay pots and bracelets. The girls were split into three groups initially and started on one of the three activities and then could move onto a different one whenever they had finished. Each activity was run by a Hobbycraft employee so all us leaders had to do was make sure no one had any arguments and escort them to the toilets. I spent a lot of the evening going up and down the stairs as we were doing the activities on the ground floor and the toilets were on the first floor. As there were members of the public in the shop too we didn't want to send them upstairs on their own (and the doors were quite heavy) so a leader had to always be with them, and it ended up being me. I'm not really complaining though, it was quite a good workout amd it gave me some one on one time with a few of the girl too!
I then spent the rest of the time keeping an eye on the few girls who'd finished first - they hadn't rushed, they're just quicker than the others. The first girl to finish was our newest member (so new she's not even made her Promise yet!) and the two of us walked around the shop looking for a bouncy ball as all girls were allowed to bring money and that was what she wanted to buy with hers. Unfortunately, after asking an employee, we found out they didn't sell any so I helped her look for something else. It was really nice to get to talk to her as her older sister has just left us but they're completely different. I like that you can get two siblings who are so different as it reminds me that, just because girls are related, doesn't mean they will be identical (and it reminds me of my sister and me!). A few other girls then joined us and I was keeping an eye on them while the other leaders helped the others finish and started helping to tidy up. It is quite hard to keep track of 25 girls in a shop the size of Hobbycraft as there are so many different aisles they could be down and it's really easy to lose track of them. Our main focus was just that they were not allowed to leave the shop; at least that way we knew they were inside somewhere and not too far away. At one point they found the princess aisle and we had a couple of them with crowns and hats on and two others having a mock sword fight with some foam swords! I didn't interrupt except to tell them to be careful with the swords or they'd have to pay for them (they weren't actually making contact but I just thought I should warn them) and it was quite entertaining to watch!
All in all it was a very enjoyable evening, as it was last year. The girls all seemed to be having fun and we didn't lose any of them! The only comment we had about it was that there wasn't much for the ones who'd finished to do - we would have given them something to colour or a wordsearch if we were in our meeting place - and it's quite hard for a single leader to keep track of lots of girls in the shop.
I apologise if these posts are later than usual; I am in the middle of my A level exams so don't have as much time to sit down and write a post but I will try my best to keep them coming as regularly as possible over the next 3 weeks.
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