A slightly soggy winter

After that lovely autumn we had, the weather has been a bit more challenging for the last month or so, but we have still had some nice Thursday mornings in West Bank Park, for example:

* Water-painting - an old favourite this. All you need is paintbrushes and pots of transparent 'magic paint' from your tap. You can paint tree trunks and they go a lovely dark colour. However, the cold drove us home early, and drove me to send out a reminder to everyone to wear twice as much clothing as they think necessary for our meetings over the winter!

* Moon and star mobiles: Take a long stick, some cardboard cut-out moons and stars, some used tin foil in silver and gold, and some bits of wool. Wrap the moons and stars in foil and hang them from the stick, along with pine cones etc if you like. It makes a lovely backdrop for a story, especially if hung in a tree.

* Advent wands: practically a tradition with us now in early December. We gathered long, stout sticks and lots of greenery (holly, bay, pine, etc) to twine around them. Tied it up with colourful pipe cleaners and ribbons. They do look lovely, and featured in a story about Santa Claus using his magic wand to cast a spell on poor old Granny's Christmas tree, with the help of some spiders, to make it sparkle with the very first tinsel.

* This week is our Christmas party. Another 'tradition' is to decorate a tree in the woods and sing carols to it. After doing that, we'll head over to Holgate Methodist Church and its nice warm hall, for some crafts and party food.