Circle Dancing Evening

The Centre of our Circle

Last night we met in my favourite hall for a bit of circle dancing. If you have never done this before you really should give it a go. It has a lovely feel good factor, is great fun and surprisingly good exercise.

Very gentle with steps that are enough to engage the brain so that you don't get bored but not over complicated so that you get frustrated with it. The music is wonderful folky stuff from around the world and a real pleasure to listen to.

We were led by the very talented Sandy Gent who is a real treasure. A wonderful person and a very patient teacher who manages to get everyone going. I had brought along some white fairy lights so we had the main hall lights off and set a lovely atmosphere. Sandy always puts a lovely centre piece of flowers and a candle which is our focus for dance.

I don't think anyone had tried circle dancing before (except me) so I was really delighted that people came along and gave it a go. Admittedly there were only ten of us dancing but it seemed just right and was totally enjoyable.

We took a little break after forty minutes and had a cuppa and something nice to munch and then did a couple more songs before finishing with a moment of silence and blowing out the candle to send all the good feeling that we had built up during the dancing out into the world.

Well done to everyone who gave it a go. Thank you for an enjoyable evening.

Walk at Worth Matravers

Fabulous walk today! Windspit walk at Worth Matravers.

Dave said this morning that I would lose my duck today (??) Having had dry sunny weather for every walk we have been on, despite being surrounded by days of lashing rain. I held with the faith ..... it would be dry.... and also had an auxiliary plan of a nice coffee in Corfe Castle if we all met up and it was torrential! After all, we don't want to lose the enjoyment factor do we?

I knew Lisa was coming with us but did not know whether to expect anyone else. I think everyone was perhaps put off by the rather ominous looking sky in the morning. By the time 10.30am arrived the fierce wind had swept the dark clouds away and we were left with a beautiful morning! I will admit that the fierce wind decided to stay with us and the ground was a little muddy. But with plenty of gear on it was still such a joy to be out in it.

So Lisa, Dave, me and Buster the dog set out from the tranquillity of the ducks at Worth Matravers and headed towards the sea. It was wild, fresh and lovely. It felt like it was snowing with mad white spray and foam showering up the cliffs at us!

I feel so grateful to be able to walk to places like these. I just love the countryside around The Purbecks particularly. It was really stunning. We walked for an hour and a half and the wind carried us up the hill on the way back. We fortified ourselves with a nice coffee in The Square and Compass at the end.

Thank you thank you lovely Lisa for your company, thank you Dave for your steady and constant support and well done Buster for being a 'good boy'.

Dave trying not to get blown over the cliff edge!

 

 



 

The sea was madly excited with itself today!

 

 

 

Directions to East Burton Village Hall

Directions to East Burton Village Hall

 

 

The address for the hall is:

 

East Burton House
East Burton Road
Wool
Wareham
Dorset BH20 6HE

 

 

If you are coming from Wareham Direction:-

Head towards Wool and before crossing the railway line turn right heading towards The Seven Stars pub which is signposted. Approx half a mile along the road you turn left (before the Seven Stars - if you get to the pub you have gone too far so turn around and find the road on your right!!) and the hall is a couple of doors along on the left.

 

If you are coming from Dorchester Direction:-

On the roundabout that takes you to Winfrith Police Headquarters turn left and then immediately right, follow the road almost to the end and the hall is on your right.

 

The car park is tiny so please just park on the road, considerately for the people who live in the village - thanks.

Preview of Friday 9th Meeting!

Looking forward to the second meeting this coming Friday (9th) - hope to see lots of you there. We will be hearing from Russell Thompson from Cumulus Outdoor Events about Coasteering - which is the exciting 'sport' of scrambling around the coast, into the water and up the rocks! I am so looking forward to this as I am really keen to try it next year. Russell took me on my abseiling this year so if anyone can get me coasteering it will be him. He is very positive and encouraging but also allows you to push yourself to your own limits without forcing! I am working towards next years challenge by trying to strengthen my arms, using my pilates band everyday.

Our next speaker is the very lovely Nikki Harman who will be talking about the benefits of meditation. In this rather crazy and full on world that we live in, where we are constantly available and connected, it is vital that we take time to learn some meditation techniques. If we don't help ourselves to counter balance modern life then we will all be suffering from stress related illness before too long. I believe that stress is the single worst factor for building up the toxins that cause our health problems. So get meditating everyone!!

We will also be hearing from Lisa Arnold who is talking about Zumba. This is the wonderfully exciting dance exercise class with fantastic latin style music. I am looking forward to hearing about this. I think it may be a little to much of a challenge for me but I aspire to be fit enough to have a go sometime. I hear Lisa's class start up next door to my Qi Gong class just as we are finishing. I was then talking to a friend who attends the class and recommended Lisa as a fab positive enthusiastic teacher so I emailed her and she replied straight away. Really pleased she is coming to talk to us and looking forward to hearing about her classes.

Our final speaker is Aaron Ticehurst who is the Duty Manager at Purbeck Sports  Centre. Having spoken to a few friends who are members there they all said how encouraging the staff are and how nice it is to go to a gym without feeling intimidated! For some of us that is a huge issue. It is scary when you are just starting your fitness journey to think about going into a gym, we imagine it to be the mecca of fit people where we will stand out like a sore thumb. The gym is a useful place in the cold winter months when we can't get the enthusiasm to go outside and exercise! Why not stay in the warm with some good music instead and friendly gym staff to encourage you.

This should be a great evening which will really encourage and inspire. So make sure you get there! No excuses about cold wintery evenings and not feeling like coming out. The fitness journey can't stop just because the winter is here. This is the time we really need to hear from people ready to inspire us and keep us going.

See you Friday at 7.15pm.