Rebel Badge Club: Builder

The Builder badge was inspired by building blocks such as Lego, but covers all objects made from pre-made or pre-cut blocks or pieces. I didn’t actually use any Lego in my builds, though one of them was made with Nanoblocks (similar to Lego but a lot smaller). I’m not one of those Lego-obsessed people: I’m too impatient for it to be an enjoyable hobby for me, and I find all the tiny parts too fiddly and frustrating. Still, it was a change for me to make these and they all look nice on display.

I had to create four builds, each from a different category, and I chose the following:

A building or landmark – Halloween house

This house was the most time-consuming build: it took me about 7 hours. It’s super cute though, and will become a regular part of my Halloween decor in future years.

Halloween-themed house made of building blocks

A flower arrangement – Wild flower arrangement

This was also quite fiddly, taking me about 5 hours. The tiny pieces annoyed me, especially when they fell off – but it does look pretty in a vase.

Wild flowers in a vase made from building blocks

A scene, picture or landscape – Narnia book nook

This took me a couple of hours but was still fairly tricky – I had to glue the pieces into place to ensure they stayed put.

Narnia book nook made from wooden pieces

A vehicle – London Underground train

This was probably the least stressful build. It took a couple of hours but was fairly straightforward as long as I was careful to follow the instructions.

London Underground train made with building blocks

Date completed: 20 December 2023

Rebel Badge Club: Rebel Community

Screenshot of a post I made on the RBC Facebook group

Rebel Community is a new badge, released in advance of Book 3. Looking through the clauses, I realised I’d already completed most of them, and made a concerted push these last few months to finish off the badge.

Facebook Group

I’ve been an active member of the group since April 2022 when I first joined. In fact, these days I spend more time there than any other group on Facebook!

Local Rebellion

I’ve attended several local Rebellion meetups, playing board games, trying out axe throwing, and completing expeditions.

Meet Ups

I’ve attended several Big Rebel Meet Ups, the summer and winter Rebel Fests, and Rebel Summer Camp.

Rebel Cup

I’ve taken part in the Rebel Cup throughout 2023, as a member of Rosa Patrol. I’ve worked hard this year and gained over 200 points.

Other Rebel Groups

I’ve been an active member of the Rebel Council since the end of 2022.

Spread the Word

I’m always sharing Rebel activities on Instagram and every time I attend a random activity (foraging, survival, skating) I mention the group. To my knowledge no one has joined yet based on my recommendation, but I gave a copy of the book to a friend who’s shown interest.

Date completed: 15 December 2023

Rebel Badge Club: Advanced Crafter

I was looking forward to the Advanced Crafter badge as a real challenge: complete three advanced crafting projects, using different crafting mediums. I’ll admit I ignored the three month timescale, as the first project alone took me nine months!

First up, a cross stitch project. I completed the ‘Wonders of the Night Sky’ stitchalong by Climbing Goat Designs, which took me from January to September 2022. This was a complex and challenging project, and I’m really proud of it.

Cross stitch design showing the celestial skies (northern and southern hemispheres) on a black background

Secondly, I attended a workshop at the Fashion & Textile Museum to create an Embroidered French Pear Brooch, run by award-winning embroiderer Kate Pankhurst. I began the brooch in July 2022 and finally completed it in June 2023!

Finally, I decided on a crochet project. Now, to an experienced crocheter this probably looks pretty basic. However, I chose crochet for my skill for Bronze Maverick and really struggled with it. It took me about five months to be able to make a granny square. So for me, this Crochet Sunflower Granny Square Bag is a real achievement. In a way I feel prouder of this one than I do of the cross stitch and embroidery projects – as I never struggled with those two crafts in the same way.

Date completed: 5 December 2023

Rebel Fest! Winter Edition

Rosa Patrol meet up

After the excitement that was Rebel Fest in the summer, I was enthusiastic when another event was planned, this time for the winter. The second Rebel Fest took place over the first weekend in December, and was every bit as much fun as the first.

Admittedly, I didn’t join the general chat sessions arranged for the first thing in the morning on both Saturday and Sunday. I’m really not a morning person, but I did turn up for the morning exercise sessions, which were a great way to blow away the cobwebs and get set up for the rest of the day.

The session on Saturday was Drum and Bounce with Emma, who also led a session at the first Big Rebel Meet Up in Reading. I knew what to expect, but it was still great fun. Next we had a talk about dinosaurs from Dr Joseph Bonsor. This was fascinating and made me want to start my Palaeontology badge! After that, we had another fun sign language lesson from Penny and Karen of Vision Signing Choir, this time learning to sign Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas’.

After a break for lunch, we had a science experiment session with Ruth Amos. I didn’t get a chance to gather all the ingredients, but I made notes and will definitely be giving these a go in the future. Experiments included chocolate welding, drawing robots and celebration cannons and seemed like loads of fun.

Next, we had a Patrol break out session, in which we had to try and make the face of our Patrol leader out of whatever we had to hand. I had a go at making Rosa Parks’ face out of acrylic earrings, which didn’t really go that well! Following this, we had a wreath-making session with Charly. I managed to get a wire frame for this but ran out of time to get everything else, so I improvised with some green ribbon and a selection of festive brooches.

After a break, we had a talk by Paralympian athlete Claire Cashmore, who was a brilliant speaker and incredibly inspiring. After a Bronze Maverick presentation, we had another cocktail making session with Tom and Crystal, followed by a chat room to end the day.

Sunday began with a Rock Fit session hosted by Carli. This certainly helped to energise me for the rest of the day, even if I couldn’t quite manage all the moves! We then had a talk on beekeeping from Colin. I had no idea just how fascinating bees are.

The third class of the day was a baking session with Allegra, who ran a successful Challah bread class in the last Rebel Fest. This session involved the creation of an Apple & Cinnamon Cake, which I didn’t make (again I ran out of time to buy the necessary ingredients) but I definitely plan to in the future, as it looked yummy.

After lunch, we had a talk from Sarah Graham, author of the book Rebel Bodies. I haven’t yet read the book, but it sounds fascinating, judging by Sarah’s talk. I missed the breakout room session which came next, as I hadn’t read the book, opting to carry on with my crochet project instead.

I joined in once again for the next session, Laughter Yoga with Alison. Honestly, I don’t know if laughter yoga is my thing but it was good to try something new and all respect to Alison for encouraging us.

After another break, we had a ‘bakeineering’ talk from Bake Off’s Andrew Smyth, who discussed his great loves, baking and engineering, and how he likes to combine them. The talk was fascinating and included the making of honeycomb – again I didn’t manage to get the ingredients in advance, but I will definitely be trying this later!

Finally, we had a pub quiz with Toby. It was great fun, but incredibly hard – I was pleased with my score, though it was nowhere near the highest achieved!

A final chat followed to round off the weekend, and then I went to bed – exhausted, but having enjoyed another brilliant Rebel Fest.

Rebel Badge Club: Inventor

I was both excited and apprehensive about this badge. Excited, because it looked like fun; apprehensive, because I’ve never done anything like this before and I haven’t done science since school. I really enjoyed working on this badge, however.

Learn about Rube Goldberg machines. Try your hand at creating one and film it in action.

A Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption designed to perform a simple task in a(n overly) complicated way. They are named after the American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, whose drawings often featured such machines. In the UK, such machines are often known as “Heath Robinson contraptions” after the illustrator of that name, whose work actually predated Goldberg’s.

My brain was full of complicated ideas about how I might go about creating such a machine. However, once I began I found that it was incredibly difficult. I kept having to simplify the design so that it would work, and my final successful contraption was very basic indeed! I am full of admiration for those that can create massive and complex machines.

Choose an invention that you admire. Research its origin story.

I’ve always said that the person who invented contact lenses should have a statue dedicated to them. I researched the history of contact lenses and it seems that several people over the years have had a hand in their creation.

Read or listen to a book about innovation.

I read How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley. I really enjoyed it, particularly its central idea that innovation does not happen in a vacuum or on the spur of the moment, but through persistence, trial and error, and the sharing of ideas.

Listen to at least three podcasts, or watch at least three documentaries, about how popular inventions or innovative products were created.

I’ve been listening to the Patented: History of Inventions podcast, which is very interesting. Some of my favourite episodes are those about condoms, the number zero, and coffee.

Brainstorm ideas of inventions which might improve your life.

I found this clause quite tricky, as I don’t really have an innovation mindset. However, I managed to come up with some ideas.

Brainstorm of invention ideas

Choose one of your ideas and create a blueprint of it. Make a basic prototype of one of your inventions.

Inspired by my wild swimming this summer, I decided to prototype my idea of a tow float with a tripod attached meaning that you can take pictures and record while in the water. I’m not the best at art, but I hope my blueprint conveys what I want to get across. I made a prototype from my existing tow float and small portable tripod – in real life I think it would be better made with the doughnut type of float, but I made use of what I had.

Blueprint of tow float with tripod

 

A tow float with a phone tripod attached

Make at least three inventions (from list)

I decided to challenge myself by making inventions selected from the list that involved no or little cost. I chose an amplifier, made of cardboard; a compass, made with a (magnetised) needle in a bowl of water; and a potato clock, made with a kit I picked up from the swaps table at Stockport.

Find instructions to make an invention not listed above. Follow the instructions and make your own version.

At the National Archives exhibition, Spirit of Invention, I followed the instructions to make a Social Media Hat – I even wrote ‘Rebel Badge Club’ on it!

 

Date completed: 1 December 2023

Rebel Badge Club: Science Fair

I was looking forward to the November monthly badge: Science Fair. I haven’t done any science since school, but it looked fun: pick a project, work on it, and create a poster about it.

I did a ‘Gold Rosette’ project to create a Rube Goldberg machine, mainly so that I could use it as part of my Inventor badge. The machine proved much harder than I’d expected: it was far more complicated in my head, and in the end I had to create a very basic machine. It doesn’t look like it, but it took me all afternoon to construct it!

Still, I had fun, which is what counts.

Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur – Natural History Museum

Entrance to the Titanosaur exhibition

I had some days off work to use up before Christmas and decided to pay a visit to the new Natural History Museum exhibition, Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur. Who doesn’t love dinosaurs, right? The exhibition had lots aimed at children, including an interactive game where you had to try and keep baby titanosaurs alive, but even as an adult it was hugely informative and fun.

The exhibition is all about the huge titanosaur Patagotitan mayorum. It was first discovered in 2010 when an Argentinian farmer spotted a large bone sticking out of the ground. Scientists descended on Patagonia, aiming to discover more, and as they dug nearby they found more bones from other titanosaurs: hundreds were found over a period of two years, from at least six individuals. By piecing these bones together, scientists have been able to recreate one nearly complete skeleton.

Thigh bone of the Titanosaur

Scientists have examined these bones to learn more about the titanosaur, and have modelled their skulls based on Sarmientosaurus, a close relative. Their peg-shaped teeth show that they bit leaves and swallowed them whole: usually conifer, horsetail and tree ferns. They had lots of space for jaw muscles, suggesting a strong grip. Their eyes and nostrils were placed far back to prevent twigs poking them as they explored trees for food.

A whole section of the exhibition explores the childhood of the titanosaur. Only one in one hundred babies survived to adulthood, as parents would lay eggs and then just leave them. The babies were tiny versions of adults from the very start, and only took two months to grow ten times their hatchling weight. Scientists can look at their bones to see how they grew: one ring equals one year of growth.

The exhibition also looks at how the titanosaur coped with being so huge, and why it might have grown so big in the first place. Patagotitan absorbed oxygen when it breathed in AND when it breathed out, helping it to function. It had light bones, with air sacs to make them even lighter, and wide hips for support, with a long tail for balance. They may have been able to keep warm by trapping heat in their body, generated by their guts and muscles. Their long legs also enabled them to walk huge distances in search of food. Their large size made it harder for them to get eaten.

With their rapid growth, long neck, sturdy legs and efficient lungs, they are the heaviest animals to ever walk the earth. The skeleton on display at the end of the exhibition makes you realise just how massive they were. I thoroughly enjoyed this fascinating exhibition.

Model of the Titanosaur skeleton

Big Rebel Meet Up – Stockport, November 2023

I couldn’t make it to the Stockport meet up last year, but I was finally able to get to this one, the last Big Rebel Meet Up of 2023. I didn’t have to get up quite as early as I did to get to Bromsgrove, but it was still a pretty early start, and then a short walk to the venue.

I was Patrol Leader of Greta Patrol this time. Our first session was Self Defence with Mike. This was really interesting and incredibly useful, allowing us to try some handy self-defence tricks that don’t rely on fitness or strength. It was also great fun getting to punch things!

After lunch and our group photo, it was time for our planetarium session with Annette. We had a lovely, relaxing session inside the mobile planetarium and it was captivating – I am glad, however, that I didn’t fall asleep during the session as it was so soothing!

Following this, we had a candle-making session which I really loved. We had a choice of scents (I chose gingerbread) and were able to decorate our containers with cute stickers.

a white candle in a white container decorated with bronze stars

A session on First Aid Scenarios followed, delivered by Allan who had given a talk at Rebel Fest. This was really handy as we got to practice using defibrillators on mannequins of different sizes and shapes. We also got to practice first aid on dummies who had suffered a variety of horrific accidents, which was somewhat traumatising, but as Allan pointed out, if we can deal with the worst-case scenario, we can deal with anything.

Our final session of the day was scrapbooking. A calming and relaxing session, it was much needed after stressful first aid! I made a collage inspired by RBC and by Christmas.

A collage decorated with Christmas symbols and with the words 'Merry Rebel Christmas'

After a Maverick presentation, we did the hokey cokey and then it was time for cake – which I ate on the way to the station to make sure I caught my train.

Beverley Knight at the London Palladium

The London Palladium

I’ve been vaguely aware of Beverley Knight for years, but she really came to my attention when she started to perform in musicals about a decade ago. I thought she was brilliant in Memphis, The Drifters Girl and Sylvia, and when the chance came to go and see her on her 50th birthday celebration tour, I had to take it.

Beverley was full of energy from the moment she came on stage and was still singing as she walked off at the end. I had hoped that she would sing some of the songs she performed so brilliantly in musicals. She didn’t – but she put on such a good show that in the end I didn’t mind.

Beverley Knight on stage

The concert began with Greatest Day, followed by Made It Back: classic songs which set the tone for the evening to come. Beverley performed a number of songs from her new album, The Fifth Chapter (which I have now put on my wishlist), as well as some deeply moving ballads (including Fallen Soldier, a moving tribute to Stephen Lawrence). Towards the end of the night, Beverley treated us to her most memorable and popular songs, inluding Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda and the pop-infused Come As You Are. Arriving back on stage for a triumphant encore, she sang Chaka Khan’s I’m Every Woman and Prince’s I Wanna Be Your Lover, ending with Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.

If anything, Beverley sounds even better live than she does on CD. She’s a superb performer and comes across as a lovely person. I’m so glad I got the chance to attend her gig.

Setlist

  • Greatest Day
  • Made It Back ’99
  • Systematic Overload
  • A Little More Love
  • Not Prepared For You
  • Flavour of the Old School / Moving On Up (On the Right Side) / Get Up!
  • Keep This Fire Burning
  • Gold
  • Cold World
  • Fallen Soldier
  • Sista Sista
  • The Need of You
  • I’m On Fire
  • Shoulda Woulda Coulda
  • Someone Else’s Problem
  • Last One On My Mind
  • Come as You Are

Encore

  • I’m Every Woman
  • I Wanna Be Your Lover
  • Everything’s Gonna be Alright

Fantasy: Realms of Imagination – British Library

On Saturday morning I attended the exhibition Fantasy: Realms of Imagination at the British Library. I went along with a couple of friends and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Fantasy isn’t my favourite genre, however the exhibition left me with a long reading list and a new appreciation for its history. The exhibition began with an exploration of fairy and folk tales, the foundation of modern fantasy. These began as oral folklore and over the years have been written down over and over, adapted to the needs of contemporary audiences, and constantly reinvented. Many are dark, especially the original versions, unsanitised for children.

The next section looks at epics and quests, another ancient form of literature. Some of the best known works are the Epic of Gilgamesh and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Another section, on the weird and uncanny, follows, which was probably my favourite since it is most closely linked with horror. The final section looks at portals and worlds, which are particularly popular in the modern age. Some fantastical worlds, such as Wonderland, are reached via a portal; others are entirely separate from our own.

The overarching themes of the exhibition are the timelessness of fantasy storytelling and the ways in which it has been updated and reinvented to ensure its relevance to each generation. It’s a thorough, comprehensive exhibition with plenty of treasures on display, including a glorious fantasy map, the manuscript of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, and a room inspired by American series Twin Peaks. It’s definitely worth seeing, and you will come out with a new appreciation of the genre.