Well you know the old saying, “when one door closes another opens”. That is whats happening to me this March with my play opportunities.
Last September I was very lucky to be successful in gaining a place on a playwork study tour to Copenhagen, Denmark, investigating adventure playground, afterschool clubs and forest school settings with 7 other playwork professionals from around the UK. It was a very busy, but an exciting week with over 25 play settings visit and 350 photographs taken, were I had specific duties of using social media to record our playwork journey. Here is the web link for the mobility trip journal, I took of our amazing time in Copenhagen:
http://www.mobilytrip.com/user/sylvanadventures
One of the conditions of attending the study tour, was too attend the 12th National Play conference in Eastbourne, which of course I was happy to attend. But I didnt have any real duties to perform, because of doing the social media stuff on the tour or so I thought. Well I really enjoyed the study tour and still reflecting on what I saw and heard there, but didn’t expect anything else to come of it so you could say the door closed.
Well another door opened in February, when Dr Mel McCree (whom I met on the Danish study tour), had to cancel giving her presentation due to ill health. However she suggested I deliver the work on “Could play workers benefit from Forest School training?”, which of course I was delighted to deliver, so another door opened.

Whilst at the play conference on the 4 and 5th March, another workshop was cancelled. This time whittling, one of my favourite past times so I offered to deliver for it. Such an amazing opportunity with about 30 adults joining me and a friend (thanks Jem Collins for your help) for a one hour whittling session. Now that door has closed, two more have opened both involving me giving presentation on play and adventure playgrounds, one is happen on 28th March as part of the Somerset Play Forum . The other presentation is happening on 2nd April in Totnes, with the aim of raising the awareness of the benefits adventure playgrounds to the community.

Come and join me and some of my fellow playwork travellers, as we speak about our playwork discoveries from the study tours, on 2nd April.