A question was posed about where I had been as apparently people have been discussing not seeing me. I mean I am unsure why they would and if they wanted me, there are many ways to contact me and people do so, daily with great success.
However to answer the question I decided to look at a month ish, and it will give you an idea of where I have been and what I have been doing, my weekly blogs do give a bit of a clue anyhow.
24/12/24 – 2/2/25 = almost 5 weeks
24/12 – 28/12 work, longest shift amongst that was 26 hours. Also some pockets of time with my children to open our Christmas presents and on Boxing Day eating a lovely roast at home thanks to Paul who cooked it for us since I had my Christmas lunch at work.
29/12 – a day to chill with my children at home
30/12 – Nottingham and Mario’s funeral, a day of laughter and tears amongst our archery family as we tried to support those he left behind – his family.
31/12 – shooting with friends at WOAC and an evening of food and drinks with family.
1/1/25 – a day with family
2/1/25 – shooting with a friend at Glen then some time with Jack and paints
3/1 – work
4/1 & 5/1 – rest days taken up with emails, phone calls, some work on my assignments for my level 3 course and some painting to relax.
6/1 – work
7/1 – Safegaurding meeting
8/1 – work, followed by a shift at a second home where I sometimes pick up work to help them out.
9/1 to 12/1 – work, ending with a visit to the hospital where I was asked to not pick up a bow for 2 weeks and rest to aid recovery.
13/1 to 16/1 – classroom days for my level 4 course, Advanced Child Sexual Exploitation Practitioners Course. With 2 of these evenings seeing me at meetings
17/1 & 18/1 – Lilleshall for the AGB, Home Nations and Regional meeting
19/1 – competition at AOR, had to stop due to back and shoulder but I stayed the day and caught up with friends and also dealt with a variety of emails, calls and texts in person at the venue instead.
20/1 – meeting with the sports welfare officers followed by work
21/1 – work followed by a meeting for Northampton Federation for Disability Sports
22/1 – work
23/1 – visit with friend and then home for some family time
24/1 – a day in London attending a ceremony for my friend who was being granted the freedom of the City of London
25/1 – family breakfast date followed by a meeting
26/1 – shadowing judges at LAOFAC where I signed up as a candidate judge and caught up with some people to update on some issues that I am dealing with. Followed by an overnight stay with mum.
27/1 – start the day with mum, visit my aunt and uncle, then off to my other mum and dad, take a call regarding an issue at WOAC, speak with county safeguarding officer and ensure club covered before resigning my post with the club and then drive home, have a cuppa with my children before going to bed and FaceTiming a friend until around 1am.
28/1 – meet a friend for breakfast and take 2 calls from others and reply to amazing messages of support.
29/1 – help Jack with something for his work, then off to my work, come home and write this blog at 23:30 in response to questions!
30/1 – English federation cross awards admin, paint a little and work
31/1 – work, study for my level 4, paint and as I am on standby – maybe take calls from work, maybe go in, maybe not.
1/2 – shoot with friends at WOAC (ongoing arrangement that we had created earlier this year), study for a couple of hours, dinner with members of AOR
2/2 – morning at Kestrels AC to see and support friends and the amazing group representing Ebbsfleet and Arcus both clubs that I am safeguarding/welfare officer at. Then over to LBAC to shoot with my friend – time where we breathe.
Across all of this I take calls, answers messages across various platforms about many things from Safegaurding to supporting friends and arranging sessions for integr8archery CIC to deliver archery to those who think there is no place in our sport for them, I also pop into spaces where I know there will be archers to say hello and check they are ok, often on a whim if I have a chance as I take safeguarding very seriously and I know that being contactable and available is key.
Throughout all of this I work to stay connected with home and family, and manage my PTSD and anxiety and the night terrors ( which whilst always possible have certainly raised their head this week). I have been dealing with these issues since 1996 and I am grateful to have a core group of amazing friends who support me and, when I need her my therapist who I call upon if needed but has been part of my team since 2018, because it took me a very long time to allow anyone to help me at all.
Anyhow I hope that gives you an idea of where my time goes 🤷♀️
