tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140Tue, 22 May 2012 11:24:00 +0000A blog of the activities going on at the St Madoc Centre.http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)Blogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-6148607883850133817Tue, 22 May 2012 11:22:00 +00002012-05-22T04:24:00.517-07:00 Time to breathe, finally. The busiest period of the St Madoc Centre’s year, the School Summer Term, has begun. Schools from all over Swansea will be visiting us over the next two months, and our staff will be entertaining the pupils with outdoor activities like beach scavenger hunts, wide games in the woods and shelter building. We’re currently two weeks into the Summer Term and http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2012/05/time-to-breathe-finally.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-8802680153617157505Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:53:00 +00002012-03-23T04:56:21.969-07:00A fantastic account of various different visits to the Centre made by Graham Nicholas over 40 years ago. In the summer of 2005 (or 4)! Four of us – Malcolm and Joan (nee Vaughan) Jones and my wife, Peggy (nee Phillips) and I, Graham Nicholas (known as Nick), decided to visit St. Madoc Christian Youth Camp. As we got to the top of the concrete lane we found a gate shut and a notice PRIVATE. As http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2012/03/experiences-at-st-madoc-christian-youth.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-3299567850560144898Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:52:00 +00002012-02-28T02:00:02.531-08:00During the winter months at the Centre, all is quiet and groups are not to be seen, just us folk who work the weekday shifts. Everyone is catching up on things they need to get done, and things slowly tick by. For me though, the deadline loomed, 5 weeks till the first group arrived on site, and I had a to do list of maintenance for the building as long as a novel (slight exaggeration) (it really http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2012/02/job-done-properly-is-job-well-done.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-1678475294073012811Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:11:00 +00002012-02-08T02:20:31.370-08:00After our busier summer period, during which there are always groups on site, the winter and early spring bring a break from those hectic warmer months. The slower season around Christmas allows our staff members a much needed cooling down period and a chance to catch up on any jobs that couldn’t be completed due to the constant stream of happy guests using our accommodation. For instance, Rob http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2012/02/well-someone-had-to-do-something.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-3151721791381659228Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +00002012-01-05T04:08:58.890-08:00In the chaos of New Year, people going on about the Euro and violent storms whipping across Britain, it's good to be reminded that the days will actually get longer, mornings will get lighter and I will no longer feel like a hedgehog searching for a pile of leaves to crawl under.We've just put in the first of our wildlife info boards by the pond. By summer the presently naked wood will be filled http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2012/01/taste-of-spring.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-4010805228881321385Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:33:00 +00002011-12-12T04:37:16.467-08:00It has, in fact, been aaaages since I wrote a new post for our Blog, even though I said I'd update more regularly. I shall blame absolutely anyone other than myself for this unforgivable lapse, the other members of the St Madoc Team shall get no Christmas bonus this year. To aid, what will hopefully be, more frequent posts I am attempting to rope more members of staff into writing posts on the http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2011/12/oof-talk-about-wait.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-318626992679577293Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:54:00 +00002011-09-29T08:00:37.185-07:00This guy has clearly hadsuccess with something...So, it's been aaages since my last post, I can't even say I've been too busy to update, since the School season, and the Summer are now over and things are nice and quiet now. Ah well, never mind, onwards and... well, on with the blog.Firstly, looking back to my last blog about why failure is awesome, I neglected to mention, or forgot at least, http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2011/09/about-time-too.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-1666055124566368399Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:18:00 +00002011-09-29T03:50:14.527-07:00 Why Failure is Awesome. This blog was going to be called the importance of failure, but then I might start a trend (since the previous blog was named ‘the importance of the outdoors’) and have to write about the importance of things forever and ever, and then I’d run out of things. Aaaanywho. Why Failure is Awesome. Failure, or losing, or not getting things right the first time is important,http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-failure-is-awesome.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-5665579380887754143Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:01:00 +00002011-09-29T03:13:07.859-07:00I was going to start this 'blog entry with something about how good I am to be posting another so soon after the previous one, only, upon checking, it's been nearly three weeks, which isn't so good. If this was a teacher's report it would say: 'should do better'. Anywho, on with the 'blog. Outside is important, and it's also important that we remember that it is important. I don't want http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2011/03/outside-is-important.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-4884417180379502667Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:22:00 +00002011-09-29T03:19:04.748-07:00From the very beginning of the St Madoc Centre's long history we have relied upon many different sources for survival; volunteers, our users and donations have all contributed to our continued existence, and our growth as an organisation. In my two years here I've helped put together several different applications for charitable donations, and seen others come and go through the office. These http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2011/02/were-getting-there-thanks-to-you.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-841657177715046541Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:58:00 +00002011-09-29T02:59:44.618-07:00The previous couple of months have brought with the snow and ice, causing country-wide travel issues, water to be cut-off and airports to be closed. We were very fortunate at the St Madoc Centre that we were saved from the worst of the weather, with not a single group having to miss out on there stay because of the snow. lots and lots of snow That being said, Winter was not an especially http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2011/01/winter-at-st-madoc-centre.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-5804448937617754246Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:27:00 +00002011-09-29T03:50:01.049-07:00Autumn brings with it a slight lull after our extremely hectic spring and summer seasons. This lull gives us an opportunity to catch up on our paperwork, maintenance and site management. We still have plenty of groups arriving and departing, but the majority will be creating their own programmes, rather than asking the St Madoc Staff to do so for them. We did still have some school groups on sitehttp://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2010/11/autumn-brings-with-it-slight-lull-after.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-4975515397031193862Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:49:00 +00002011-09-29T03:50:33.588-07:00Hi again! There has been a longer gap between the last blog update and this one than I had intended. This has been due to a couple of different reasons, which I'll go into now... The end of February saw us put on a saturday programme for a group of 20 or so church-going teenagers. The programme consisted of some orienteering (which is fast becoming a staple activity here, I suppose the variablehttp://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2010/03/hi-again-there-has-been-longer-gap.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-4809280769520258816Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:50:00 +00002010-02-15T07:53:40.896-08:00Yep, you've guessed it, the bottom section of the building is now finished! Well, mostly. As the builders promised the building was as finished as it could be on February the 12th, in fact, it was finished on the 11th - ahead of schedule! Giving us plenty of time to move just under 30 beds, mattresses, pillows, wooden boards and blankets down to the new dormitories. We managed, but moving that http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2010/02/yep-youve-guessed-it-bottom-section-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-5754622364239043705Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:10:00 +00002010-02-01T05:10:47.326-08:00So february is here, bringing with it a fairly slow month as far as visiting groups go. You'd have thought that meant we'd have plenty of time to get those little things done that get looked over during busier periods... unfortunately it seems to be the opposite. With our increased bookings from schools over the spring and summer, and the Sustain project needing more and more time spent on http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2010/02/february-at-st-madoc-centre.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5286226270260255140.post-5700096259348092001Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:31:00 +00002010-01-26T04:31:30.365-08:00This is the first of many, hopefully, blog entries that I shall be writing for the St Madoc Centre. The St Madoc Centre was created in 1945 when Mr and Mrs Burr gave 76 acres of land located on the Gower Peninsula to a board of trustees and charged them with creating a youth camp. The camp was designed as a place for 'exploration and growth', as well as a place of healing for those children http://stmadoccentre.blogspot.com/2010/01/first-of-many.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nathan Holland)0