Some great shooting time this week on the practise range and in competition, after several weeks of nursing recovery and dealing with the behaviours of others, being forced to step away from a club for my own mental health, it has felt amazing!
lots arranged for the coming weeks from shooting to delivering to new and existing projects, judging and pretty much most things archery related.
safeguarding matters have been taking up time which I will always give but at the moment a lot of it seems to be simply about not being mindful of others, really no excuse for it, we don’t all have to be friends but we can just respect each other.
very busy with work and studying and I am enjoying some of it, maybe not all of it!
along with a couple of really interesting volunteer roles that have come my way and I love the idea of both, but in reality I have to spend some time planning my time to see if I could make anything work, I cannot do something and not give it my best.
Busy weekend coming up with some extra shifts to help out at work and some shooting planned. Whatever you are doing, enjoy it and have fun.
Not very much I can put in here for this week but I have been busy!
Safeguarding meetings, training and a bit of archery and catching up with friends whilst taking a young person to watch some competition ❤️🏹
I am completing my final classroom days of my Advanced Child Sexual Exploitation Practitioner course and so focusing on the assignments and preparing for my presentation on Thursday. I have completed the Safegaurding in a Digital World course with iNeqe as part of my course and this seems particularly fitting considering that today is safer internet day.
I have some dates in my judging calendar and that is making me smile! Very much looking forward to getting it all underway.
Some meetings this week to start making some plans for a couple of new projects that sound very exciting, small groups of people who think there’s no activity for them, restricted by different things, I do love sharing activity with them and seeing them enjoy it.
See you all soon, who knows I might even get the chance to ring my bow and shoot!
I always love the opportunity to shoot with my children, and I have received some great photos of Rose and I from our session with friends on Saturday 🥰🏹
I have spent the week planning, planning, planning. Some groups that stopped for the winter looking to restart in spring, I cannot wait to catch up with the people I haven’t seen for the winter months and hear how they all are. Added to that new groups that haven’t shot before – always exciting. Meetings to discuss new ideas for getting people active who think that sport is out of their reach, always gets me excited.
Now that I have been given the all clear to pick up my bow again, myself and a group of like minded friends we consider to be family have made long term plans to shoot regularly and we had a great time on Saturday. We were even joined by a surprise friend who was back at the field following a period of health issues, great to see him well and shooting.
I had a lovely night out with friends at AOR, always nice to have the chance to spend social time with archers and chat off the field.
This week has seen lots of support for Team Sharpe from friends across the county and beyond after several weeks of issues saw us, as a family, step down from a number of volunteer positions at a club, sad and certainly not how we had wanted things to turn out, but what will be, will be.
I have completed my Contextual Safeguarding- taking it forward course, with the Ivison Trust, another great session spent with like minded individuals who all have the same interests in keeping young people safe in today’s world.
Safeguarding – if you know me at all you know how very important this is to me. As a safeguarding officer I currently have 12 cases/complaints that I am dealing with, some are low level and the urge to bang heads together can be significant. However I have a significant case that I have been dealing with for several years, and there is light at the end of the tunnel, I can see things happening, if safeguarding guidance changes it might feel inconvenient but I know it’s due to change being needed and if you haven’t seen anything then be grateful for that, do not become part of the problem.
I have 2 dates in my judging calendar, both exciting and nervous at the same time but very much looking forward to them.
This coming weekend is my weekend for working so as you know I will not be able to reply to most things until Monday, next week is my last week of classroom days for the Advanced Child Sexual Exploitation Practitioners course and so will again restrict the amount of availability I have but I think you will understand why I think this it’s important.
Have a good week and I do love hearing what you are all getting up to ❤️🏹
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 🤷♀️
Tomorrow is week 134 but the next few days are crazy busy so instead of being late again I am doing this week a day early!
The last week has been crazy – classroom days for my Level 4 course, meetings with counties and officers who need support, with groups I work with to deliver archery, and 2 days at lilleshall with regions, home nations and archery GB. An incredibly productive week and now to mostly wait to see if we can keep the momentum going 🤞🏻
More than 1 person has asked me about the EMAS chair role, in all honesty I don’t want it, I don’t have the time! On Saturday at Telford I quoted “if you want something doing give it to a busy person” and I meant it. That room was full of people who wear multiple hats both in and outside of our sport. So I was asked to list what I do – here you go!
* I am me, that takes a lot of time! Full of quirks and issues – PTSD and Disabilty and a dark sense of humour! But trying to make the world a better place!
* I am a mother of 2 – a 15 year old and a 19 year old. They are amazing and we are a team, taking care of each other.
* I am an archer, blessed to be able to shoot for the county and an amazing squad.
* Integr8archery Club – chair and 1 of the 2 Safegaurding and welfare officers.
* Wellingborough Open Archery Club – safeguarding and welfare officer, second seat currently vacant
* Ebbsfleet Academy Archery Club – safeguarding and welfare officer
* Archus Archery Club – safeguarding and welfare officer
* East Midlands Archery Society (EMAS) – safeguarding and welfare officer
* EMAS representative (1 of 2) for Archery England
* Administrator of English Federation Cross Awards for Archery England
* Stepped up to become a Candidate Judge with EMAS
* Interim Safeguarding and welfare officer with Nottinghamshire Archery Society
* Integr8archery CIC – director/owner – 2 and a half year and bows in the hands of 4691 people!
* Northamptonshire Federation of Disability Sport – vice chair
* Senior Residential Support Worker in children’s residential care for Northampton Children’s Trust – including EDI officer
* Warhammer Hobbyist
If you think I have time to take on anything else then I will have to politely disagree with you! I might even sugggest that you become a volunteer 🙂
This coming week? I had my latest meeting with the Sports Welfare Officers, discussing what I want to achieve and their support. I have a meeting with NFDS, visit with a friend who has left the sport and wants helping selling their kit, a day of celebration for a friend with some awesome plans to make the day special, privileged to be asked to join him, a day shadowing judges at competition. Work, lots of work 😉
I will answer emails etc when I can but I have a big week ahead and I love what I do so look at the list of what that is, but please do not be asking me to add more roles because a line does have to be drawn somewhere 🫣😘
This week has been busy, busy, my weekend of working followed by a week of classroom studying for my level 4 Advanced Child Sexual Exploitation Practioner! Hard work and intense as you would expect with a course of this level and the topic, but at the beginning of 2023 I set out to complete courses that would give me qualifications to support my skills, knowledge and experience. The group of cohorts on my course and the fantastic tutors leading it definitely make it a fantastic learning experience.
I have had a couple of meetings for county and region to discuss ongoing issues and again, always a pleasure to catch up with fellow safeguarding/welfare officers and chairs.
Not much shooting done again! Not great news considering that I have a competition on Sunday! 🫣 but I have had some issues with my back so I am just going to go, shoot and enjoy seeing friends and let the arrows do whatever they do.
The next 2 days will see me at lilleshall standing in for the region so I won’t be about much. I think all of the emails and messages have been answered except a couple which are asking for dates as we all pull together our calendars and arrange events.
Stay safe, enjoy your shooting and see you on a range soon.
Schools are mostly restarting archery next week, which is a lovely slow start to the new year for everyone. A couple of community groups were due back this week but the weather has gotten in the way there, always better to be safe and warm than risk anything.
This doesn’t mean I have had nothing to do, I have had a number of meetings around safeguarding and with new groups that we are starting over late winter and spring. Lots to be excited about and it’s given me chance to get lots of admin done, let’s be honest that’s the bit none of us really enjoy 😉
I received a call on Tuesday from BBC Radio Northampton that a gift had been left at the desk for me following the last interview in December, I love it and it’s a very amazing surprise, I do always wonder who might be listening and it’s mind blowing that people that I have never met thought enough to make me a gift.
Thank you to Bill and Kevin at https://www.northamptoncommunitysheds.org and I am now looking forward to going to meet them in a few weeks and catching up with them to see what they are working on.
Next week will be a little slow on the archery front for me as I have a week in the classroom for my Level 4 course: Advanced Child Sexual Exploitation Practitioners Course (ACSEP) so I will be trying to fit in some walking and shooting my own arrows but no delivery of sessions for me next week.
Thank you to everyone for keeping me up to date with what they are doing, I love seeing everyone’s news and you are all doing so well.
So, with that I shall see you soon on a range hopefully 🤗
So here it is the last day of 2024, what does that mean? Well we all have to get used to writing down a new date! 😂 that’s literally all it means, along with I now have to stop saying next year for anything in 2025 because it will be this year!
The reflecting can be good, it can also be harmful so you choose if you want to reflect and on what?
I am proud of integr8archery and what has been achieved, I like to take this as another opportunity to thank anyone who has helped me provide archery to anyone, anywhere.
That’s really it, short and sweet, I look forward to seeing as many of you as I can soon.
Stay safe in yet another storm with crazy winds 🫣😱🌬️
My calendar is crazy for the next 10 months with family, my archery and integr8archery plus my day job, but always ask, I will always try my best for whatever you want 🙂
That weird spell between Christmas and New Year will always see a half year anniversary for my “little business”. So make yourself a nice warm brew and let’s catch up with my numbers to date. Dad was so proud and excited of the 6 months in 2022 and I will be forever thankful that he got to see that after the support he gave me when I was setting up. Now I share because it’s important to be able to see what I am doing for perspective on the tough days, doing things alone can be hard work at times.
For anyone who wants to read previous anniversary stats here are a few links –
So here we are are, (yes it’s 4 days late – day job😉) 24th December 2024 = 2 years and 6 months
The last 3 months have seen –
Education – made up of 14 secondary schools, 4 primary schools and 2 colleges = 183 people
SEN and Disability groups – 27 people
Seniors – 41 people
Children in Care – 18 people
Activity Groups – 53 people
These are all new hands holding bows, some of these have stayed shooting and joined our sustainable groups, some shot for a few weeks and some tried just once, the most important thing is that everyone enjoyed it!
1st year totals – 2061
2nd year totals – 1873
3rd year, half way point – 757
= 2 and a half years = 4691 individuals with bows in their hands – not at all bad in my opinion!
Thank you as always to every coach or helper that I have had, and to those who have trusted me to introduce them to the sport that I love, it’s a pleasure to see you go from anxious anticipation to relaxing and smiling and believing in yourself.
I give a lot of hours to this and they are all unpaid, Integr8archery CIC is not for profit, some of the work undertaken by coaches is paid but in return they offer me free hours too because we all believe in getting sport into places where people think it is not within their reach.
I have been successful in claiming some time back for myself and my own shooting which has seen this last 4 months become really enjoyable and some of those hours have just been moved to other existing volunteer roles, particularly safeguarding. My average hours for Integr8archery CIC are 21 per week, so I dropped over a third in the last 2 years, no small achievement. Yes there is a correlation between hours given and numbers, that’s clearly seen but I am ok with that, show me another non for profit company run by 1 person who is achieving more than I am, I will congratulate them but balance is important for my own health and I am stronger now and more settled. Thank you to everyone who believed in me in the summer of 2022 because I didn’t, and you gave me the courage that I had lost 🥰
See you all in 2025 – and remember if you stand next to me for long enough, you will no doubt find a bow in your hands 😂
1 more week until the 2 and a half years anniversary! I genuinely don’t know where the time has gone 😱
It will be a stats up date and it does make me a mix of excited and sad as it reminds me that dad was so supportive of “my little business” and in those last few days we had with him he was so pleased with my 6 months stats. So I am proud of what I have achieved with Integr8archery CIC but a little sad that I can’t share this with dad.
Many of the groups that we deliver for or support held their last session in the week as they break for Christmas, a few have more arrows to shoot before the end of the year, I love that this sport that I love, which made them nervous is now part of their Christmas fun.
Meetings to prepare for the new year have been good, looking forward to some new groups picking up bows, I get very excited putting bows in new hands. 2025 looks set to be fun and I am looking forward to it.
I did get to introduce one of the amazing young people that I work with in the day job to one of the fantastic clubs that I shoot at, still anxious about having a go but very excited about the idea of watching again as they are definitely interested in a place that gave such a very warm welcome.
I hope whatever your plans for the next couple of weeks are you and those who matter to you are happy and healthy and you enjoy whatever you do, and of course if you are shooting I hope that your arrows fly strong ❤️🏹
Myself? I am celebrating a big birthday, followed by working 24/12 – 29/12/24 inclusive and, as is my annual tradition I shall be reading The Hobbit and The Hogfather 🎅🏻🎄 I have attended an early winter festival and made my charm and wish for 2025 which was cast into the fire 🔥 so let’s hope the wish comes true
