Being part of the Skills Exchange is about helping each other.
I am sure you have read the journey of a Gem (top of this blog) giving you an idea how important it is to give that helping hand, and what a difference it makes.

My son sent me the link to the Kindness Boomerang video, puts what we are about into picture form. Keep doing good deeds and remember, if someone does a good deed for you, try and do one for someone else and keep the kindness flowing!

Hi Everyone,
First I would would like to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Mike F for the lovely hot stone massage I received as a treat for my birthday and to Catherin M for the efficient transporting of a desk from town to my home. It is great to know that there is someone that could help making tasks easier.

I also wonder if there is anyone who could help me with my printer please. The colours are not coming up clearly defined.

Kind regards to you all,

Martha

Please pass on my thanks for Michael for the Sushi making lesson - It was great fun and Noah really enjoyed it and Fiona is enjoying the Sushi as I'm typing.

Speak to you soon,

Alex

Since joining the skills exchange in the autumn, I have already been privileged to meet lots of lovely people who have been willing to trust me with their valuable computers/plumbing/paintings/trees...
It's a great pleasure to be able to help someone with a task that they don't have the equipment, skills or confidence to tackle themselves.

However, I've been under a bit of pressure recently to 'spend' some of the gems that I have earned, and I have been accused of hoarding them a bit. It's surprising how attached one can become to a handful of tiddly-winks in an old juice carton!

So when I saw Michael's offer of sushi, it was too tempting to pass over.
My partner Katie and I have been fans of Japanese food for years. She lived in Osaka for a while, and I have probably eaten my own weight in Yakisoba.
After a busy morning dashing around Ikea loading up our trolley with the many component parts of Snott and Drybble (or something similar), It was brilliant to be able to collect a box full of delicious fresh vegetarian sushi, which we ate with a bowl of miso soup for a relaxing, restorative lunch.
Even our 11 year old daughter tried a piece and declared it "sick", which is, I understand, an unlikely term to indicate great appreciation. High praise indeed from a child who has recently decided that carrots are too exotic and who will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid any contact with them. Well done Michael.

Now I've broken my duck, I'm really getting into the swing of cashless consumerism...
..I've been having some problems with my back over the last few weeks, and consequently our garden has been a bit neglected. This morning, David H came over and spent the morning raking leaves. He's a real dynamo, and in a couple of hours, had filled our green bin and half a dozen large bags full of leaves and other detritus. The garden looks great, and all I did was potter around watching him work (there's a risk that I could get used to this, and never do any work ever again). Big thanks to David.

I didn't get a photo of David at work (I don't think he stopped moving for long enough), but while he was working, I hung up a piece of ice and called it a sculpture (see attachment: I wouldn't have dared to publish a picture of the garden before David arrived had done his stuff).
Is it art, or just a way for an idle man to while away the hours as someone else labours on his behalf? I don't really know, but I'm delighted with the garden now, and can't wait until spring, when I intend to spend more gems to get other people to do the jobs that I keep putting off.

Many thanks. Simon

I would like to thank Monique for painstakingly weeding my allotment beds with a smile.

I would like to thank Nicola, Rodrigo, Graham, John B and Monique for helping me move the manure so quickly into my allotment. Also thank you for weeding my onion and garlic bed. With my bad back I wondered how I was going to manage, so with all your energy pulled together the muck was moved within an hour, e even had time to have a mug of freshly made spinach and rosemary soup and a cheese scone. I am so thankful and grateful for all you wonderful friends in the skills exchange.

I received 4 gems earlier that day from making beetroot, carrot and coriander and spinach soup, thank you for all of you who gave me the opportunity to shine.

I would like to thank Alex for upholstering 2 chairs for me whilst so quickly that I could barely make him a cup of tea.
Although he came to help with making some raised beds, he happened to have a fantastic staple gun to hold into place a piece of material just about large enough to cover the chairs and matching my other chairs. It looks really good, so thank you very much!

Yesterday a large amount of woodchip was dropped off. I was so pleased that David H had some time to come over and put it in the front garden. It looks and smells lovely ready for the new season ahead. Thank you David for helping me out.

Last year during the arctic temperatures, a pipe burst and due to the fact that the stop cock was in an awkward place and very stiff, it was not possible to close it easily. All is well now but wanted to make sure that this scenario would not happen again. I phoned Simon the plumber who told me about this switch that could be put in instead of the stopcock tap, SureStop

Yesterday Simon came and within the hour a new, easy to deal with switch was put in. For £36 and a gem I now have peace of mind. thank you Simon for the info as well as putting the gadget in for me.

"After days of shopping and preparing festive fayre for all the family over the New Year, it was a godsend to receive Lisa's SE offer to cook a vegetarian curry for four. The dishes were superb, using organically grown veg and the most delicious spices, they made a fabulous addition to the other dishes on display at my family buffet. What a tasty treat to start off the new year for us all. Thanks Lisa."

Kind regards,
Trish

31st December, the last day of 2011 which would probably have been the busiest of this week, if I had not had the offer from Lisa S to have my 'old year's' meal made for us.

It was only the day before that I received a group email from her offering to make a vegetarian curry. I jumped at the chance as we had a friend over for the evening, the boys were planning to relax and play Warhammer Games and I thought their idea of a relaxing evening was a good one and followed in their footsteps. Getting the rooms ready and cosy was a group effort, Mark made the fire and set up the gaming table, Michael made the salad and Thomas laid the table and made the house look festive. The only thing left for me to do was to make some naan bread and heat up Lisa's delicious Red cabbage with Bengali 5 spice, the yellow split pea daal and the basmati rice.

The food was lovely and a great way to spend the last day of a year. Thank you Lisa for giving me that time to prepare for 2012 and write down next year's goals and promises.

 

Today, I gave my boys an early Christmas present,Paul C. came to take photographs: a day in the life of the Wells household. Just every day activities that we do together. Warhammer painting and playing games with Mark, baking bread and making sushi with the boys. We had a wonderful time. The bread although made for the photoshoot was divine (As Tom after 18 years of practicing is better than his mother) and the same can be said for the wonderful sushi Michael made. I now have to admit I can learn from them rather than the other way around.

I would like to thank Paul for giving us his time and his expertise. He sent a sneek preview to whet our appetite. Can't wait to see the full series and share it with my boys.

My 20 year old son has had an accident and broken his elbow and 2 wrists. He is in hospital after a couple of operations, and will hopefully be home soon. He has to keep his arm elevated for part of the time. He has a sling which he will bring home, and at hospital they hook it onto a drip stand. This is what we need to find somethong to replace - and a coat stand, if pretty stable, might work. If anyone has any other ideas, we'd be pleased to hear them!

Hoping someone may be able to help us,

Carol and John


Thanks for the various offers - Catherine M has a device that sounds ideal, made by her clever husband, for a broken arm in their family. Carol

What a wonderful thing the skills exchange is! Within minutes of asking we have found Maureen who is kindly going to help look after the chickens. Thank you so much! Happy Christmas everyone! Debbie xx

A few weeks into term time I bought a pair of jeans. They were too long but I just could not be bothered to have them shortened. When I arrived at home for Christmas doing what I normally do (fold the hem over instead) mum commented on how untidy it looked.

I had seen the email that Helen had just joined an offered her sewing skills. She lives just up the road so I contacted her, dropped the trousers off and a few hours later they were returned to me all done. All that for a gem, it got mum off my back and I look ready for Christmas now.

Thank you Helen for turning my trousers up so well and speedily.

Tom

I just wanted to let you know that we have completed the decorating today. It looks amazing and was a little more work than I anticipated. Thankyou for helping to organise it, also so a Big thanks to Mark T for lending me his wallpaper tables, Diane B and Cath M for helping with painting, Simon C for putting my radiator back on the wall and a huge thanks to Alex B who spent over 9 hours over 3 days helping with hanging very difficult to manage thick thermo lining, painting, taking down and putting back up blinds and curtains and everythig else! Also thanks to Flora for volunteering but we finished without needing her.

Paul will return from working away this evening, I know he will love it and I am sure he will thank everyone himself when he finds out about it!

I am planning to do a similar decorating task in our sitting room in the new year at some point,we will contact everyone about that.

Oh and me and all my friends thouroughly enjoyed the pamper evening, we all had amazing treatments and had a great time mingling!

Thanks, Nicola.


From Myself

I wish to thank everyone who took the time to get involved with the painting and decorating of not just our bedroom but also the hallway. From Nicola's feedback I want to mirror the above thank you's. To be working away from home, and not have a clue that the skills exchange were beavering away to give me such an amazing welcome home gift. It is a real credit to the community spirit built within the SE. The rooms will put a smile on my face for a long time to come and I look forward to giving back to everyone in the future.

 

I have until recently been 'accused' of harbouring my gems. In the last few weeks I have had the opportunity to treat Nicola & her friends to some fantastic pamper experiences, I now have a fantastic new bedroom & hallway and have just taken delivery of some delicious truffles from Sally. I look forward to earning & spendng many more in the future.

A massive Thank you to all SE members

x Merry Christmas and a fabulous new Year x

I have never made a Christmas cake, as in my country this is not a custom and don't feel confident enough to make one for my best friend.
After tasting Sarah H's Christmas cake tasters at the Skills Exchange gathering the other week, I asked her if she was willing and able to make me a cake.

Wow, Wow, Wow! I know it is going to taste divine, but it looked out of this world.
I am so touched that now I can present my dear friend with a home made christmas cake that I know has 'Love' as an the extra ingredient.

thank you so much for not only the cake, but the mince meat that I got from you made over 60 mince pies, all devoured and commented on. Also thank you so much for the lovely Cranberry birdfeed, I am sure our birds will feel very Christmasy.

If I had not had my friends in the skills exchange yesterday would not have been half as successful.

Every year a group of us sing carols in the road around us in aid of the Friary drop in centre. This tradition is probably about 10 years old and more and more families are joining us in this fun and worthwhile activity. So yesterday was the day. Meet at our house at 5pm with some warm drink and mince pies afterwards

Sarah H made a large jar of delicious mince meat which I used to make some mini mince pies They were easy to make and extremely more'ish, as a matter of fact, I had to make another 24 as most were eaten before the Carol Singers arrived later in the afternoon. To my surpise 43 singers appeared filling every inch of our hall, so you can also imagine how pleased I was with the scrumptious home made mince pies Carol W dropped off earlier in the day.

A few days ago Lorraine sent me an email of the (extremely easy) butternut/carrot soup. I did not have the Chinese 5 spice that was required, so Lorraine on her way to a friend very kindly dropped it in. Boy was I pleased that I had loads of carrots, a butternut squash and the spice and that the soup was that easy to make. I managed to feed the lot without any trouble! I would not have been able to do this by myself in my wildest dreams and still enjoy the evening the way we did. I would like to thank everyone involved for making it all happen. Merry Christmas to you all!

All so exciting, Michael will be back from his time abroad and really look forward to picking him up from the airport. Slight hitch, it is from Birmingham and I find it really confusing driving back from there.

thank goodness for Alex, who very kindly drove Tom and I there. We had a nice chat, cup of coffee whilst waiting for my young man to appear through the door.

It was so wonderful to have the boys back together again, they were chatting all the way home, whilst I could relax and be in the knowledge that we would arrive in Nottingham and not London (as that is where I would have ended up if I had driven)

Thank you Alex for driving us there and back safely.

After the Skills exchange Christmas party, Sally was inundated by requests for her delicious truffles. People had a choice of a box of coffee, orange, champagne, cinnamon or a mixture there of. Well, I did not have a look in Sally's kitchen yesterday but it must have been like a chocolate factory as at the end of the evening she came and dropped off her boxes with goodies for 6 of our friends. Beautifully packaged with care and love.
Thank you Sal for these lovely creations.

Last week I had a surprise visit from Steve, who had made me a really lovely wooden bird feeder. It now hangs in the front garden and will hopefully entice the Bridgford birds.

Thomas had just come back from Uni and he too enjoys the look of our native birds, so after he had done a cleaning job for Catherine, he decided to use his two gems on Sally's truffels for one of his friends in Cambridge and another of Steve's beautifully made bird feeders.




Within 2 hours of the request, Steve was back an delivered the present. Thomas is over the moon and hopes lots of West Bridgford and Cambridge birds will come flocking to his house, so he can make an indepth study for his assignment. Steve did not want a gem, so Tom will be making him a carrot cake as that is one of many cakes Steve likes.

As that is the case, Tom will now spend a gem on a hotstone treatment with Mike as after a tough season of Rugby this would be a good way to end the year!


Thank you to all who allowed us to earn gems, so that we can spend them on other lovely items, treats and help. May what we do for you be as appreciated and joyful!

Has anyone got the skills to service my sewing machine? It has gone a little out of time and keeps chewing cotton up, it's not a very complicated machine, just zig zag and straight stitch.
If you can help, please contact me via email or phone: L. Walker
Many thanks

Thank God for elves!’

Now I know that you’ll be looking somewhat askance as you read that last sentence, so I had better explain.

You see the elves I am talking about have absolutely nothing to do with those airy fairy creatures who inhabit the pages of children’s story books. These are the local Bridgford elves who are much more practical. In fact they are a darned sight more useful than any small shoe repairing creature who works only at night and demands payment in milk and honey or is it gold.

I am sure that there is an economy somewhere in Europe that benefits hugely from such creatures, but we Brits obviously prefer to deal with our own kind and not Gnomes or Elves or, worse still damned Frogs!

But let’s forget all the hoo ha of the current economic crisis that is bedevilling Europe and focus on where things are real and productive – back here in Nottingham!

It all began some time ago when one of the toilets started to play up. First of all it would sometimes flush quite happily but now and then it would only attempt a half hearted flush and so you would have to repeat the process to make sure that everything was sent on its way to the great sewer system somewhere else!

As you may well know I am not the slightest bit technical or handy and as far as I am concerned the inner workings of toilets and sewage in general is something I am happy to remain ignorant about. However, as we all know, things never stay the same. Over time the flushing became a work of art. You had to know just how to push the handle in order to get the full effect or else the toilet just didn’t work as intended.

Then to make matters even worse the cistern would happily fill itself and carry on letting in water without stopping as it should. By now Da Boss was a tad unhappy with the whole situation and I was tasked with “Fixing it”

You can imagine my despondency at this ultimatum. I am quite happy to do almost anything that doesn’t involve actual work. If you want important topics to be discussed at length then I’m your man, but when it comes to minor practical matters like getting a new porch light that actually works then you really do need to look elsewhere.

Unless, of course, if you are Da Boss. In that case you simply make my life more and more uncomfortable until I can stand it no longer and set about trying to find someone who can do0 practical stuff.

I have tried doing it myself, but the results have been so painful to all that I am basically banned from quite a lot of things – especially anything that involves water!

This is where the elves came to the rescue and quite honestly I am absolutely delighted to find a particularly handy elf called Simon. He may well be a software engineer of the first class sort, but that is of no interest to me. It is his skill ability and sheer logical handiness that have impressed me to the nth degree!

He turned up to deal with the overflowing cistern having first had me go and purchase the right sort of replacement valve thingy. That was all sorted and made good within half an hour and he then asked me about the lack of syphon efficiency.

I stared at him because he was clearly speaking a language that I didn’t understand. Yes, I knew what individual words meant. It was just the particular combination and way he was using them that made absolutely NO SENSE AT ALL to me.

My rather stupefied and stunned look told Simon that he was asking questions well above my pay grade, so he took matters into his own hands and started twiddling and tweaking inside the cistern. Within two minutes he stepped back, gave the flush handle the tiniest of pushes and Voila – the darned thing worked perfectly.

No more would I have to pump away nine or ten times to get the most grudging of results flush-wise. Now even the tiniest of tots could simply wash away all evidence of their visit to the toilet. My life was suddenly much rosier and brighter than before.

I had not only solved the imminent water disaster but also the long standing flush problem with just one elf! Even better, Simon is coming back to fix that porch light I mentioned in passing. The back door will soon be a much more secure system once again, of this I am completely confident – Long live the Elves of West Bridgford.

And what do I have to do to benefit from these Elves? I simply have to rub a few people’s backs or necks or feet. Something I thoroughly enjoy doing and which is as rewarding to me as fixing a cistern is to my current tip top elf – Simon!

That's it for now

Mike

What a wonderful evening we had yesterday with the Pampering evening.

With so many of our friends rushing from schools, clubs, preparing food and looking after others, it was lovely how in the middle of an ordinary week, 18 of us were spoilt and pampered by 6 others in our group. Olive did a fabulous job on my (allotment) nails, they are looking very glam now. Cathy B gave people a relaxing reflexology treatment, Kathy A gave indian head and neck massages, Corina treated others with facials and back massages and Maureen came with her aromatherapy oils to gave wonderful facials and back massages in a calm and atmoshperic room. Mike did hand reading and hand massages. For those of you who did not manage to make it on the evening but would like to experience the joys of these treatments, feel free to contact these friends as I am sure they are willing to give you a pampering treatment too.



John was amazing too, he served the drinks and nibbles and made sure that we all had a steady stream of refreshments. For me it was a real joy to step back into the kitchen at the end of the evening and to find all washed up and tidied away. An hour after everyone had left the house looked a picture as if nothing had happened. (I know better though as it was a wonderful event and the memories will last long until the next event)

Thank you to all the pampered and the pampering for coming to our home as the energy was heartwarming and uplifting at the same time.

Karina

Hi everyone,
John B and Richard(on behalf of Magda) Came to help me with my garden last Saturday they did a lovely job and my garden is looking very nice now.So thankyou very much to you both.

Today my duaghter Sophia and me had a great time at the Skills Exchange Christmas get together. I even earned some gems with the jewellery I made. I hope all those who took anything enjoy them!
With the gems I earned I ordered some delicious chocolate truffles from Sally for christmas and a cashew nut loaf from Karina which sounds very tasty.

It was great to have the opppurtunity to chat with new and regular members of the skills exchange. Thank you to Karina and Mark for hosting the event.

Many Thanks

Martha

" Being new to the Skills Exchange, Sunday's Christmas gathering at Karina's house gave me the perfect opportunity to put a face to a few names I've seen on Email and the Google documents. It was wonderful to see so many different product and services being exchanged by like minded people. I picked up a christmas treats for the kids' stockings and a little something for my better half, too. I was also delighted to show people my family portrait photography and take a few bookings. For family portraits I'm offering a 1 hour photo shoot and all images on CD for 3 gems - bargain!! Or if you need any other photography for your business, website or anything else, get in touch. "



www.paulcarrollphoto.com
Kind Regards,
Paul C

Hi Skills Exchangers

First of all, I would like to thank Karina for organising the Christmas get together and congratulate her on its success. It was great to meet everyone today. I bought some lovely decorations for my tree and am looking forward to the cheesecake that Karina is making for me to share with my guests. My mother in law will also be delighted with Sally’s Ginger Truffles and I got some of Martha's beautiful ear rings for myself and my friend for Christmas.

I have been somewhat remiss with putting feedback on the blog so here are some of the highlights from this year.

I have spent 9 months working really hard in my garden to make up for the last 11 years of doing very little. I do have to say I have learned more from Flora in this time than I have learned during my whole life !! Flora helped me with planning a large planted area, serious tree, bush and rose pruning and generally sorting my garden out. Karina also earned several gems helping clear severe overgrown areas out. I had Flora round last week for a final trim back and move a couple of trees and plants. I am hoping that next spring my garden will be looking a real treat. Flora did say that she was using last week’s gems for her facial and back massage. I would like to recommend Flora to anyone looking for a bit of technical help with their garden, allotment etc... She has probably forgotten more than I will ever know about gardening !!! I mainly earned my gems from sewing, lifts and repairing things. Between us, Mike and I can mend most things.

I am looking forward to the gift wrapping evening at Louise’s on Wednesday – I have a challenge for her – and then the week after I will be at Karinas treatment evening having a massage and facial.

I am pleased that Mark is happy with his Pool table or rather Marks children!! and John did tell me today that he is delighted with Marks chairs (which needed to move to make space for the impromptu arrival of the pooltable!) I dropped the wardrobe round to Louise who is delighted with it. Not sure how her father will feel about having to put it back together in her newly decorated spare room.

Finally I have a recycling story :-
The Life of a Ribbon

Last year Karina was donated end of line ribbon for the Melton Road Christmas fayre by Cole fabrics. The very same ribbon appeared wrapped around the truffles that Sally gave me and today I noticed that the ribbon that I used on my handmade cards was the very same ribbon that Sally was using. Hopefully the person who receives the Christmas card will realise that they can pull the decor off the front and reuse on a new card – A piece of ribbon that would probably have been thrown away by Cole fabrics has been reused 3 times and possibly 4.

After Karinas get together I now have 23 gems so will probably be looking for a bit of annual cleaning !!! and a few treatments to keep these gems circulating.

Best Wishes

Cath M



Ps. If anyone is interested in any glass items, please feel free to contact me as I have quite a bit of stock at home that I will happily show to you. I can do gems for several items.

After years of being able to roam the full garden and mess up all the flower beds, we decided to reign in our hens. All was well during the summer but recently their muddy pen looked a bit depressing, especially with wonderful green grass at the other side of the fence.

I decided that I wanted a chicken coop that was easy to store once not in use. I phoned Alex who immediately started investigating and thinking of practical ways on how to do this.
Paper models were made as prototypes, then materials were bought and within 4 hours a fantastic coop was designed and made for the three girls.

Alex did a great job, not only is it good for hens but I can imagine it is perfect for guinea pigs etc as well. See for yourselves:

Portrait Photography for 3 gems.
Professional photographer and SE member Paul C is offering portraits for Skills Exchange member for 3 gems. This includes a 1 hour portrait session, it could be a family/individual portrait for Christmas or a promotional portrait for a business and 2 hours for Paul to process the images. The portrait could be either at your home business or another agreed location and Paul would provide a selection of images from the session on CD. For more details see www.paulcarrollphoto.com


Paul

07719 413 354

The pampering evening; what will be in store?
Please fill in the spreadsheet if you wish to book a place.
Choose the therapy, the time and the therapist. put your name down. You can choose 2 slots no matter what treatment or therapist, just pick and mix.
If you want 4 slots, you will pay 2 gems.

Also, can you put your name down in the guest list?


Mike is offering Hand reading and hand and arm massage;
Hand reading is an extension of advanced reflexology. It is an additional aid to identifying health and well-being and spot any underlying areas that may want to be addressed. It is nothing to do with palmistry or fortune telling, but it does enable you to see how the past has had an impact on your current state of health and well-being. All consultations are completely confidential.

Aromatherapy hand and arm massage is a delightful way to discover how to relax and gain the benefits of both massage and the soothing effects of various blends of essential oils. The two processes work synergistically to give an amazing and lasting experience.

"My mobile phone has just died on me.

Would you by any chance have an older unlocked spare model in working order or know of anyone who has? I would be most grateful if I could borrow one from someone until I research in a new phone for me. If you don’t, would you mind kindly circulating this message to the group?"

Many thanks.

C.

Dear All

Thank you so much for your kindness and support and for coming to my rescue.

K- I collected the phone from your house later than I had anticipated as I had to work late. Thank you again for organising everything.

I had a rather busy day and just picked up my email messages. The support from the Skills Exchange and the offers of a spare phone have been awesome. I have received 7 offers so far!

What a great feeling of community/family we share. I feel very blessed to have been put in touch with the scheme, for I know that whatever the problem there will always be a kind and generous person willing to assist. This reassurance of support is priceless and I am very pleased to be part of it.
I am looking forward to trying the phone tomorrow.
Many blessings.

What a lovely evening we had!
The wonderful team of the Service Tree, Anne,Olive,Daphne, Sante,came to our house to give 12 members of the skills exchange and their friends a very special and relaxing evening.
John came and made sure that our wine and nibbles were replenished regularly giving an extra dimension to the pampering.
Facials, head and neck massages, manicures and hand and arm exfoliations were enjoyed by all who received it. Thank you so much to Anne for organising this.
I look forward to some more.


For more information about the Service Tree see website or contact Anne on 07870 704765
email: info@theservicetree.co.uk


We are hoping to organise another event in the weeks ahead and wondered if you are a therapist and would like to be part of it that you could let us know.

After some 'heavy' weeks out and about doing leaflet dropping, working in the allotments and organising the various local initiatives, I felt it was time for an hour of pampering.
The Gem I earned yesterday from making soup and scones was turned over fast as at 9am this morning I arrived at Corina's salon in Edwalton.
Welcomed by some soothing music and a happy smile from Corina, I went in the treatment room and the next hour and a half I was in heaven. I had a facial and advise on how to look after my skin(better) using some of her divine handmade oils.

She gave me a hand massage, with a nice light hand cream (also handmade)and to top it all, she used her mineral make-up to give me a little make over. What an amazing way to start the day. she made me feel really cared for.

This would be a wonderful Christmas present to give to someone who likes pampering.
All this for 1 Gem and £5. Having said that, I will do this again, even without Christmas in sight.

With the Totally Locally Melton Road Christmas market in sight, I will need to get all hands on deck. Although some people may be willing and able to help out voluntarily others may want to earn gems for their contribution. I have therefore been very busy making soup and scones to earn my gems.

The day before yesterday I harvested a whole carrot bed, brought the wheelbarrow home and these organic beauties were turned into a curried carrot soup and made 36 cheese scones to go with it. I am pleased that they went down so well as now I can spend them on making christmas greenery for the Melton Road and have the leaflets distributed giving others a chance to earn some more gems.


"Hi Karina,
The soup and scones were absolutely delicious thankyou so much !
It was sooo nice to tuck into them when we got home after a hectic day . I have been feeling unwell lately , and I do find it hard to juggle the children when my husband is at work sometimes so I really appreciated your help today.

I would be happy to help with any preparations for the Market too. ( I do like creative activities !)
Have a lovely evening.
Love S"


Thank you to those who gave me a chance to make the soup and scones, and I am pleased you liked it.

Every year I pollard the lime trees around my house. Up until now I had help from my strong teenage sons. However, now they have flown the nest, it was up to me to tackle the job. I foresaw a two day job ahead, backache and blisters and thought of a better way. Why not contact the helpful friends of the skills exchange?

First thing in the morning, Simon came armed with hard hat, chainsaw, loppers and anything else you can imagine one needs for a job like this. We started and an hour later the first tree was 'bare', the Mark T turned up with his truck, he loaded it all up and drove it into my allotment so that it can be used for pea sticks, bean poles and edging.

Whilst having a meeting out the house these two guys worked like troopers and managed to give another tree a good hair cut too. Two hours later and everything looks tidy and beautiful.

I would like to thank Simon and Mark for their wonderful help.

Hi Karina
Here is a photo of some of the little skills exchangers after their pumpkin carving. Please could we say a really big thankyou to Alex for clearing our Guttering , it was lovely to meet him and we really appreciated his hard work and friendliness. AIex we will be in touch about the gutter repairs ! I would also like to say a very big thankyou to Anne who pampered my sister so wonderfully for 2 hours as a birthday treat. Anne really did go that extra mile and having talked to her about the work she does I feel very honoured to have met her. SH

Dear All,

I will be doing some christmas craft making (tree decorations,gift tags,cards etc) for the younger ones on Wednesday 30th November.

This is the day of the proposed teachers strike. Hubby reliably tells me this looks set to go ahead.

Therefore I will be doing 2 sessions :

11am - 1pm ( to include lunch ) for those that are off school that day.
3.30 - 5.30 ( to include tea ) for those that are at school.

If you are interested in your child attending please email me as soon as possible so that I can organise my materials. You wont need to confirm which session it will be for until nearer the time.

David and I are both CRB checked and have 2 small people of our own.

Kind regards,

Sarah

A word of caution: A friend told me that they were broken into whilst on holiday. It now transpired that the taxi driver had noticed that they were struggling with the alarm and that it was not set. Details were then handed to others who then proceeded to steal their car and possessions from them, putting a damper on their holiday.

Having so many wonderful friends in the Skills exchange who are willing to drive you to the airport/ station in the knowledge that they are trustworthy is a great relief.

I would like to thank Dave H. for the seamless taxi service he provided us this weekend, giving us peace of mind, that all will be well on arrival.

We also would like to say a big thank you to Alison, Catriona, Archie and Isla for looking after our hens whilst on holiday. They seemed nicely settled and tucked in when we came back late on Sunday evening. If it had not been for all those involved our little break would not have been half as wonderful as it was.

Thank you!

Hi

I am sending a big thank you to Diana M for the lovely work she did shortening my throusers. Am looking forward to wearing them this weekend!

Hope to see you soon
Martha

A big thank you to Audrey for making us the most delicious pumpkin pie.
It was Cristina who reminded me that Audrey's pies were out of this world, now the pumpkins are harvested it was a good reason to ask Audrey to turn them into something scumptious.

I had forgotten how wonderful they were.
thank you for taking the time to make one for me and my family

Just to let you know how 'the crew' did on Sunday shoveling the huge
mound of manure. They all worked so hard and I was so grateful for
their help and friendship. The children, Tom and Alexandria brought
their little spades as well and contributed to the removal of the manure in
one hour. Thanks so much.

A while ago I noticed some big cracks at the outside of our home. My heart sank as I thought we had some major subsidence. The insurance company came to have a look. As it happened there was an area behind the drains that over time the concrete had been washed away, making a hole behind the drains. For sometime apparently water from our washing up and washing machine had been going behind the drains, washing the soils away underneath the back of the house!
This had caused slight movement of this area which resulted in those cracks.

The advise: get someone to sort out the drains: within minutes Simon came to sort it out.
Also, I needed to keep an eye on the cracks over the summer to see if they would get any bigger. If not, they needed to be filled in as well.

So on Friday I called Brian C to see if he could do the repointing for me. He came yesterday and did a wonderful job.

The Insurance claim has been closed, no action taken on their behalf, saving me a lot of money on the excess and keeping my insurance bill lower.

A big thank you to Simon and Brian

Tuesday evening was meant to be quiet evening alone at home as my husband was away. I don't know about you, but on occassions like that, I tend to quickly fry and egg and can't be bothered to cook. Rather than going for that option, I decided to send out an invitation to the group for a 'come dine with me' evening. It is not like the TV show, it truly is and invitation to come dine with me. The guests arrived at 6.30 sharp, were welcomed to the candle lit dining room and the 6 of us sat down for the meal. We had a spinach cream soup with cheese scones for starters and as a main course; roasted vegetables with halloumi cheese in puff pastry parcels, with potatoes, carrots and peas. The salad was my 'famous' rocket, blue cheese, pear and walnut version that went down very well. At 7.30 the guests went their own separate ways. No thinking what to cook, good company and no washing up seems to have been a hit. For me, it was a joy to share my home grown food with others, earn a few gems and had great company at the same time.

Next time you are keen on being spoiled and have a meal for a gem, I will organise another Come dine with me event, you name the day and I do the cooking!

I just wanted everyone to know that if you need an extra clean sparkly car then John B is your man.

After Katherine had had a hot stone massage the other day I remembered what a good job John had done on my car earlier in the year and so arranged for a second helping of his skills.

The fact that we have had building works going on all round us for the last few months and the gas people had chosen to dig up everywhere meant that the car was in dire need of a super wash and brush up. Needless to say that when I collected the car from John's later on it was a different story. It wasn't until the next morning that I realised just how clean John can get a car - so if you need a "good as new" look then he's your man

Regards

Mike

I take the opportunity to SEND MANY HUGE THANKS to Sarah H for helping me with one hour of house cleaning. It was a real treat. also SEND MANY HUGE THANKS to Nick M for another great and inspiring maths lesson for Sofia. He is so good to teaching maths but also encourages Sofia to study it.

It is not difficult to make people happy..

With an abundance of vegetables and time on my hand as my boys have now flown the nest, it seemed a nice way of helping others who don't have the time and energy to make some food.
I enjoyed growing, harvesting and making the food but the icing on the cake are the little messages of appreciation. Thank you all for letting me know that my efforts have made a difference:

My mum is unwell, so all is very unsettled in our family
Dad and I were going to visit Mum this afternoon but Dad has said he doesn’t feel up to anything.. the promise of cheese scones really did cheer him up though.. thought you’d like to know. So I’ll visit Mum and then visit Dad with scones and some soup..
Thank you Karina. I may well ask again if you offer anything so gorgeous which I don’t have to do anything with just heat up!! love L

The soup was lovely! I shared it with my friend who came for lunch. my daughter
came home early from school & the soup was just what she needed before
taking to her bed. The salad & scones were great too!

Many thanks, A


Today I looked after my baby grandson and was too tired cook. Your meal deal sounded so nice so I was pleased to hear that you could make it for me. I ate it a few hours after you dropped it off.
I have just come back from holiday and had some fantastic meals, but this was better than anything I had during that week. Thank you. T

The soup and scones were a huge success - voted 10 out of 10. A

On wednesday morning early Lee came with his very well rotted horse manure and put a truck load in the drive. Whilst he did this, Dave arrived with barrow and shovel and started shifting the manure immediately, he worked like a trojan. As he said; "it is a better work out than going to the gym". Apart from that he did me a great favour as I would never have been able to move that pile and leave the front so neat and tidy in 2 hours.





John arrived after having dropped off the boys. He started in the back garden, weeded it, sorted out some beds so that they too could have a good dose of feeding.

The sun shone on us the whole morning, as if it was spring!
I spent my time cooking fresh tomato and basil soup, baking cheese scones, picking the rocket salad for others to pick up later that day.

Thank you all for helping me with shifting the manure as well as giving me a chance to earn the gems by cooking for you.

With an enormous amount of fresh organic tomatoes I decided to spend my time cooking fresh tomato soups, scones and rocket and pear salads, as this is what I can do best at this moment in time.

I made 6 litres of Tomato and 1 litre of beetroot soups, 42 cheese scones and 7 rocket salads and spent virtually all of them again on help with the shifting of a large amount of manure, mending of my apple picker, a lift to the city and in a couple of week's time a lift to the airport and back. I would like to say a big thank you to all of you who helped me with this.

It is also wonderful to hear that my soup went down very well:

Just wanted to say thank you for the delicious tomato soup, scones and salad we had tonight. The whole family enjoyed the soup and scones, especially one year old Becky!

Hi Karina

Just wanted to thank you for the plentiful tomatoes, I wasn't expecting so many! I kept enough to make myself some yellow tomato chutney and a large batch of smoked garlic and tomato soup, and brought the rest into work for my colleagues, EIGHT of whom took some home!

Thanks for inadvertently feeding so many! :)

As I have been so busy sorting out the Totally Locally West Bridgford launch, I have had lots of help with leaflet distribution, face painting, help on the stalls and the apple pressing. Some of these friends were fine on gems and did not want any others, this launch was a great opportunity to give back some time to the group and therefore received a gem for their hours' work.

As the community fund was running low, I have been making soups,scones and tomato salads for a gem. All organic and from my garden. I also made up some vegetable boxes for friends to enjoy with excess vegetables from the garden. We are having a great year with tomatoes, courgettes, beetroot, carrots, spinach, garlic and onion and ofcourse that bunch of flowers to cheer up the day. Sunflowers at the moment. I hope my friends get as much pleasure out of the food I have given them as I have receiving their help for the launch.

Today whilst cooking, baking and putting a vegetable box together, Alex came armed with drill, saw and wood to sort out my beloved broom and mend the chicken gate.
Both jobs have been put on hold until 'a later date, when it would be more convenient...' so I am sure I will give Mark a pleasant surprise when he comes home after a busy day at work and no chores are outstanding.


Hopefully Alex feels the same that after his DIY for me, he can enjoy the Beetroot soup and Michael's cheese scones and not having to think about cooking, and can enjoy some time with the family without having to wash up!

I would like to send a BIG THANK YOU to Samantha H for the hypnotherapy session I received yesterday afternoon. I have always wonder what hypnotherapy was about and now thanks to the SE I had the opportunity to try. I found it very relaxing. I find that there are many myths about hypnosis. it was a positive experience for me. Will do it again!

Love,

Martha.

Overwhelmed!

Yesterday afternoon I was given a box of 7000 leaflets to be distributed in West Bridgford.
All very exciting when Malcolm of local printers Milward Printing knocked on the door but very daunting to think that these needed to find a good home in the next week or so.

So, I sent an email out to our wonderful friends of the Skills exchange and found that many of them were willing to help. Some could do with earning some gems, others were happy to give some gems to the community fund as they were too busy themselves to do the work and others volunteered their time and did not want any gems.

Since there is an abundance of apples and pears in our area, my son and I went out picked them and then turned them into freshly squeezed juice. We thought it might be a nice and refreshing drink for all those hard workers.

So when they arrived on our doorstep to pick up the leaflets, we packed them off with their bottle of juice, a Totally Locally West Bridgford shopping bag (printed by the kind people of South Notts College) and the leaflets. Young and old(er) turned up.

It trully was a hive of activity on our front door. See them all come and go....

Volunteer your time BEFORE you join the Skills Exchange. This is what Alex did. Via a friend he heard about the group, contacted me and told me that he was a handy man.
Only minutes before I was hunting around to make a frame for my bee hive. No wood, no tools and it was too windy to go out to get the wood. I asked Alex if he could help and he said he would. Today after dropping the children off at school, we met up, Alex with a frame in hand. Just the job and much better and faster than I could have done!
I then signed Alex up, handed his wallet with gems and cycled off together to harvest some apples of a tree that had been damaged by the storm. All in all a lovely morning with a new friend.

After a day of apple and pear picking I needed to turn the not so good ones into juice.
Rather than doing this alone, I decided to let the group know that if anyone wanted an hour of entertainment and learning a new skill, they could come and help with the pressing.

A few hours later, 4 of us turned a wheel barrow of apples and pears into some delicious juice.
Radmilla showed me how to pasturize the juice and make sure that it would keep for many months. Hope she is right so we can have this nectar in the winter months.

SE apple pressing

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Bitten off a bit too much than I could chew!

Today I noticed that a few houses down the road, an apple tree was being cut down. I asked the tree surgeon if I could have the wood. He said he would happily cut it in manageable bits and drop it off at my place. I was delighted! I put some freshly squeezed apple juice and some of my cordials in the front porch for him to enjoy.

He dropped it off later that afternoon, whilst I had my afternoon nap. When I woke up, I thought I had a night mare. The whole drive was covered with huge logs of eucalyptus and apple trees. So much so that I did not know how and where to store it.

So as you do, I sent an email out to the skills exchange and within an hour 5 people had responded to my SOS.

I would like to thank, Andy and Monika, Steve, Reinhart and his son, and Hannah and her partner for sorting out this pile of wood! I hope it will bring them lots of warmth.



Karina

I am grateful for Richard who dropped off 4 bins of firewood. A lot of hard work went into cutting and chopping them. It should keep us warm on these cold winter evenings. Many Thanks

I would like to thank John B, Josie P, Martha C, James P, Michael W for helping me out at the Melton Road Market this week. I had two stalls promoting Totally Locally and The Abundance project.
Although the market itself was not that busy, we must have had over 50 people wanting to taste the freshly squeezed apple juice and spoke with as many if not more about the projects.
The general concensus was that they loved the idea of clumber Road off licence being the re-distribution point for The Abundnance project and liked the Totally locally message.
thank you also for those who donated a gem into the community fund as all these people have now been able to earn a gem or two.

At 5.15am on Saturday morning David knocked on our door to take us to the airport.
We thought that due to the bankholiday it would have been really busy, so we left plenty of time to get us there. 20 minutes later after a very smooth journey we arrived and walked straight through passport control, had our breakfast and arrived in Holland to join the rest of the family only an hour later. We had a great few days and being welcomed by David on the way back, without having the hassle of waiting for the bus, was a real treat.

At the end we talked about our hens and their ducks. As we have never had duck eggs before David gave us some to try, so we did a swap with our eggs and some fresh tomatoes.

Many thanks to David and Sarah for helping us out. Hope they too will get something special for their gems.

After several trips to IKEA I realised that I had forgotten a very small item, not worth much financially and certainly not worth driving all the way to IKEA for.

However, it is the only place to get it from, so I decided to ask the group if there were any friends going in the following days.

Within no time 3 people contacted me that they were planning to go anyway and that they were very happy to pick up the curtain wire. The next day, Jo B very kindly dropped in the wire and was happy to receive the gem to replennish her gems, after the successful Christening party.

Thank you so much to all of you being so helpful and caring!

At 10am sharp there was a knock on the door and there was Julie, bright and beautiful.
She came all the way from the Midlands, already did her workout in the swimming pool before she set off to sunny Cambridge in time for some tea and Fitzbilly's pastries.

It was trully amazing to see how this little mini outshone any large removal van and delivered a room full of stuff into Thomas' house.

We would like to thank Julie very much for this wonderful service. You made our day!

We have recently joined Skills Exchange and wanted to say a big Thank You to two lovely ladies, Gill and Averil, who helped us massively by making sandwiches for the reception following our youngest, Rebecca's christening last Sunday. They arrived as we were leaving for the church and made a vast number of delicious sandwiches. By the time we returned from church, there was a beautiful spread and they were just leaving. They'd even boiled the kettle! Certainly reduced the stress levels on the day.

Take care

Jo & Andrew

Thomas is moving into his new accommodation in Cambridge on Sunday so we are off with a large car full of stuff. Unfortunately, the car is not large enough to take the comfy chair, henry the hoover, 4 collapsable chairs, A large crate of crockery and kitchen utensils, lamps and lights... We would have to do a special trip or order a van for the day

Then last week, Julie D came to pick up her vegetable box and heard about the dilemma. Without even asking, she offered to help and drive it all to Cambridge for us and she will be combining it to seeing a family member for lunch that day.

You probably have a picture in your mind of a man with a van removal service, but no, Julie does everything in style, our removal 'van' is a mini and it all fits!


I am so thankful for Julie's kind offer as it will make the whole trip much easier.

Today we had a skills exchange frenzy.

Today it looked like I had won the jackpot. First thing in the morning John B, came to have a look at the hedge that he was going to cut for me as I had done my back in and am not in a state to cut it myself. Then I dropped of Mark's car to Andrew who cleaned it for me.
Came back home, washed my hair in time for Loreen to cut it. Had a wonderful relaxing haircut and the result was great, felt like a different woman, minutes after that went off to a Totally locally meeting. Whilst I was there, John had cut the hedge, the car was ready for collection and John also managed to drop some friends of mine off at the station.
He found out they were on their way to Paris, the town in which he was a tourguide in his 'former life', so not only did they get a lift to the station but also John's top 5 tips to see Paris,

Many many thanks to Loreen, John and Andrew for making my day so eventful and giving me time to rest my back.

Simon, having used some of my gems for lifts (which he really appreciated) is now hoping to earn some gems back for me. He can offer drum lessons, maybe as a taster for someone who is interested in taking up drumming, or wants to get started, or to progress if they drum already. He is going to Uni this autumn to study popular music, with drums as his instrument, and has successfully completed a BTEC National Diploma in Music (Merit grades) and has achieved a merit in Grade 5 drumming. Obviously he cannot offer long term teaching, as he will be going away mid September, but has a good month at home before then.

If you are interested, for yourself or children, please get in touch

Carol Williams

Kate inspired me to type a few lines for the blogosphere to show my appreciation for the skills exchange over the last 3 months!!
This is pretty much a big list of thank you's, sorry it's a bit long - but here goes...

My birthday party in May went with a bang mainly because of lovely SE's who offered friends accommodation (thank you thank you - I was delighted with the response). Cath M gets a special mention for housing, feeding and looking after 2 toddlers and transporting a friends bed for me and babysitting!!!

Karina cooked delightful veggie fare and tarts and sushi and was extremely kind showing my guests from the US their amazing warhammer cavern.

Many thanks go also to Dianne who taught me how to make window seat covers, she showed unceasing patience and aptitude and I have a lovely window seat now - she has also altered clothes for me and a friend who desperately needed one for an important wedding and she did a marvellous job! She borrowed my steam cleaner which sorted her carpet stain out so we were all happy (as I'd never used it and felt very guilty).

Thank you to Simon C who put in a great new shower room and did a fantastic job and fixed a leaking pipe with no fuss and great speed.

Big thank you for Anne P generosity, she has secret wood-working skills and made signs in her wood-working class for the JG garden. Thank you also to Steve M who is making lovely sensory garden signs for the school garden and has used his wonderful creativity to make beautiful candle holders and a unique and personalised present for good friends who have just had a baby. Note he's a bit gemmed out but extremely partial to nice pieces of wood and tasty cakes :-). The candle holders were made from an old tree that was taken down by debbie Welch's partner who did a great job and even chopped it into even manageable chunks for me!

Thank you to Mike F who helped my teacher friend in terrible back pain and eleviated it so she could do the last week of work (I made him truffles and pizzas for his friend).

So all in all a very busy and productive few months - I believe the value of the gem is beyond any monetary value as many of these things were done with great expertise, kindness and love and that is truely priceless !!!!!
THANK YOU
Sally T.

Dulip had an AMAZING take-away Turkish food - very tasty- he had the vegetarian option and it was LOVELY...
Many, many thanks to Mary's husband, Halit ( he is a Chef so it's not surprising it was DELICIOUS).
I would recommend that you all try it for one gem and cost of ingredients (£3 vege, £4 meat),
Love,
Sal and Dulip x

Just to say thanks for the organic veg/fruit box. Halit made a lovely Turkish veggie casserole and must say even he says you can really taste the diffference - miuch better home grown!

Lots of love

Maryx

In recent weeks and months the Skills Exchange has been invaluable. Starting with a request I put out in April to ask if anyone could lend me number-shaped cake tins so I could make my husband a surprise birthday cake, and finishing with John Buttfield kindly watering my garden these past couple of weeks whilst we were on holiday, and including Thomas Wells - based in Cambridge - buying and posting to me some perfume for my niece's birthday present - everyone has been very helpful and every gem I've spent has been well worth it. I'm very pleased to be earning back some gems in a couple of weeks by helping Lisa out with her animals whilst they're away. I've also benefitted from the Abundance project by helping myself to some of Karina's plums and now have 5 jars of lovely plum jam sitting in my kitchen, with some plum and ginger compote on the stove top bubbling away. The Book Group goes from strength to strength (next meeting on 24 Aug 7.30 our house) with one new member at the last meeting, and two new members hoping to make it in August or, if not, in September. Thank you to everyone in the SE for being so friendly and helpful, and to Karina for doing so much to keep everything going.



Love
Kate x

Just want to report one of the many successes for the system.

Earlier this month I was working in a Nottingham school with two teachers from a South African township. They'd brought with them messages from their pupils on mini DVD disks, but couldn't find a DVD machine that could play them.

It took half an hour for the Exchange to come up with someone in WB who had a camera disk recorder which could do the job, which she kindly lent me for the duration of their stay. My thanks, and the thanks of two happy South African visitors and the many children for whom the film was made, go out to everyone involved

Ed

After months of painful walking, Andrew came to the rescue. He is a qualified chiropodist and came to my house today to sort out what turned out to be a corn underneath my foot. I received a wonderful foot treatment, he sorted the problem and now I feel I am walking on air! He changed my life in just one hour of his time.

Many thanks to Andrew, I and can highly recommend him.
Thea

HI all

I would just like to say a big thank you for all the lovely comments/feedback about my husbands Turkish takeaway!! I was short of gems and trying to find ways to earn some. The Turkish come dine with me didnt happen (unfortunately only one person could come! -maybe you are all busy on a Monday night!). But the takeaway idea was a success and Halitand I are really happy that those who did try it gave hubby a chance to share his skills. I know for a lot of the people who tried the takeaway it was your first time to Turkish cuisine. So we are really pleased you gave "it a go!" and enjoyed it. Also thanks to John B for thinking about me when low on gems and allowing me to help his boys make mothers day cards and treating his wife to a pilates session.


Mary

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I’m a fashion designer, so aesthetics are something I have a real passion for. I am offering a service to suit whatever your requirements maybe in relation to your image and styling. It might be you need someone to overhaul your wardrobe with a fresh pair of eyes. Maybe you need someone to accompany you on a shopping trip for that special “key piece”. Perhaps it’s advise on a few accessories that are needed to revive items you already have.

With spring nearly around the corner it’s a great time for change and that inner bloom to burst through and shine!!!”

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Julie

Before:



















I would like to thank Simon for putting in my outside tap and sorting out my drains.
It is a weight of my mind, what was relatively easy for Simon was a daunting task for me. So many many thanks for your time and expertise.

After 18 years of using my bike trailer the yellow top looked grey and dirty.
I contacted people in the Skills Exchange and two gems of ladies came to have a look to see if they could help. Jane would have done it but her sewing machine was not up to the job. Then Cath M. came and said she would give it a go. She bought the material, came for a measure up and at the end of the day: Voila a fantastic bright yellow trailer cover. It looks like new and will no doubt extend the life of the trailer for many more years. Thanks you to Cath who did such a wonderful job.
Karina