Beautiful Moth

While I was going to a job, as I stepped out of the van I spotted this beautiful moth sheltering on the wall. :-)

Aquaponic's Project @ College

If you’re fortunate to be visiting Carlisle College today check out the Plumbing Dept’s Sustainability Competition entry Aquaponic’s, a combination of aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (soil less plant culture).

The nutrient-rich water from raising fish provides a natural fertiliser for the growing plants. As the plants use the nutrients they help to purify the water for the fish and the cycle continues, a natural microbial process keeping fish and plants healthy creating a sustainable ecosystem where both can thrive.

Aquaponic’s could potentially provide high quality, locally-grown fresh food all year round.

We went along with Paul Cross,our Plumbing Technician and inspiration for our project, to visit MoffatCan, who are currently running Scotland’s 1^st Aquaponic’s Greenhouse successfully.

A big Thank You to Kerry for driving us, as you can see we were all a little windswept but it was a great place to visit and very inspirational.

Thank you Edward & Alice @ Moffat Can for your time and information about setting up the Aquaponic’s system at Moffat Can and the help for our Aquaponic’s project too.

Our visit to Moffat Can

We were also greatly helped by;

Nigel & Paul at Maidenhead Aquatics who donated a pump for our system, along with

Mike at Brampton Koi who also donated a pump.

The wonderful ladies at B&Q Customer services desk who gifted the lush herbs & plants 

Nick the Miller from Little Selkeld Watermill nr Penrith who generously donated the beautiful organic seed

And last but not least

Robbie for bravely donating his pet goldfish, Eenie Meenie Miney & Mo in the name of environmental research 

Collaborative Construction Competition

I've had a great day (28th Feb 2014) over at the Lakes College, West Cumbria taking part in the Collaborative Construction Competition. The competition covered the disciplines of Joinery, Painting & Decorating, Bricklaying, Electrician and of course Plumbing :-) which I competed in.

It was a great day and a brilliant experience, I came 3rd out of 4. I'm proud of what I've done, it was tough and to a high standard and I didn't complete the full task, but I'm glad I took part.

My sore knee's (need Knee Pads) and arms and shoulders though lol, I know welcome to the
real world of Plumbing lol, scrabbling around on the floor, struggling bending pipe,
solder that wont flow, doh! trying not to scorch the wall, Hard Hat and safety spec's that turned up the heat in an already sweltering college, and kept steaming up and sliding off my nose lol phew, thought I was gonna melt & Mega nerves, I'm such a stress head, lol.

All in all a really good day. Great meeting other students both from Carlisle College and other competing colleges too, Good work Guy's, I hope you all enjoyed the day as much as I, Hopefully I'll have some pic's to follow.

Today I'm chilling, nursing my aching bones and bruised knees lol :-)

Collaborative Construction Competition

Collaborative Construction Competition

Plumbing Course Going Well :-)

My plumbing course is going really well, my tutors are really helpful and supportive and my fellow students are a great bunch of lads. Being only 5"2' the lads do tower over me lol :-)

That's me nursing my new tools I'd just won as a prize for doing so well and catching up with everyone in theory and workshop.

I started 2 months later than the rest of the students in my group so I feel this is a great achievement. Both Scott (Hubby) & Danielle (Daughter) are very proud of me :-).

I have worked very hard to catch up but my success has also been aided by the acceptance and support of my fellow students,

Thanks Lads :-)

Going back to college :-)

Well I took the plunge back in November and finally decided to go back to college, :-), I have decided to re-train as a Plumber :-)

It may not make sense to some people but for me it was an obvious choice.



I love sewing and jewellery making and I aim to continue indulging my creative self, but without the pressure of having to earn a living from it. I thought that doing something I loved and making money at the same time would be bliss but sadly it turned out to be the opposite. But I have learnt a lot about myself, both good and bad, which is always a good thing :-),and I can now build on that.

The next question is why plumbing ? 

Well to be honest it started a few years back, I was always on to my husband to train as a plumber, he is already a fully trained carpenter sub-contractor, I thought adding plumbing to his repertoire would be very useful, but due to work commitments he was never able to attend college during the day and there are no evening courses available for pluming around here.

He then turned the tables round on me, "Why don't you go and train as a Plumber" he said, "You'll love it", well it got me thinking, and for a couple of years now the thought has been floating round my mind.

I had been finding it difficult to make an income from my creativity, hindered by overly committing and under valuing myself, Yep as in the words of Alice in Wonderland, "I give myself very good advice but I very seldom take it". I became disillusioned at work for lots of reasons which prompted me to re-assess my life and direction.

That was it !!!!!, I rang the college got myself an interview and was offered a place and started the course on 4th November 2013, and I glad I did :-)

For me my work persona and my creative persona need to be separate parts of my whole so to speak, very philosophical I know :-) I need a job I love and allows me to use my brain but I also need my creative space to be my expressive escape.

So time will tell but I will keep you updated on my progress.

As for the classes, I will be unable to run the sewing groups at Superior Sewing Centre and Greystone Community Centre, but I will still offer one to one tuition at my home, details of which I will upload soon.

I will still continue to Sew & make Jewellery and sell my creations on my Etsy shop and I will also share tips and creations on my blog, which has been sadly lacking this year :-( but 2014 is a New Year for a New Start Yeah :-)