skill – 40 things…

30th “thing” achieved: 21. Take Singing Lessons

Invest in earplugs!

Since a very young age, I’ve always enjoyed singing along to the radio or enthusiastically joining in to the songs at Church. However, despite a short stint in the choir when I was little I never had much in the way of actual tuition. I know I can carry a tune, but have always longed to have a voice that is strong enough to sing on my own.

I remember when I was in my late 20’s vowing to take singing lessons, and to be good enough to sing in front of a crowd before 30. Well that didn’t happen and when writing my list it was one of the first things I decided to actually do – and see it through this time.

I looked into instructors, although there is such an array of them and prices vary a lot. I made a few enquiries but seemed to be getting passed from pillar to post. Most instructors seemed to be a bit expensive, and I didn’t really know how to assess quality or have any idea if they were right for me.

Luck was on my side as a friend of mine, a professional singer, happened to be working part time in my company. Our annual Charity auction saw all staff pledging time or skills to the highest bidder and so I won 4 hours of singing lessons from the amazing Kim Hawthorn.

Singing teacher guildford — Kim Hawthorn

We began with a chat about my goals. My musical taste is pretty eclectic, I enjoy anything from cheesy pop to opera to country, and everything in between – I’m even happy listening to “The Organist Entertains” on Radio 2 of an evening! I explained to Kim that I wanted to learn some basic technique and strengthen my delivery and tone. Kim’s an opera singer so naturally we gravitated towards more classical singing styles rather than modern pop!

Image result for music styles — So many styles

We began each 30-minute session with some stretches, and ensuring a good posture. It has a major effect on your voice, apparently! We then did some warm-ups, making loads of seemingly random and odd sounds, to get my voice and lungs working. The key is correct breathing technique so we did a lot of work in trying to make sure I could project without affecting the clarity of the notes I was trying to produce!

Image result for singing breathing exercises — An example of technique

The next challenge was interesting. I can’t read music so I learn everything by ear. Looking at sheet music I kind of get the starting note and then go “up a bit, down a bit” and hope for the best! We worked on songs from musicals, which was great for me as I could go off and learn them, then work on the singing technique.

I learned “On My Own” from Les Miserables, then “Colours of the Wind” from Pocahontas, then “Feed the Birds” and “Spoonful of Sugar” from my favourite, Mary Poppins.

One thing I found really tricky was the switch between what Kim called my “chest voice” – the one that feels natural, like talking or most pop songs – and my “head voice” – the high, opera-ish notes. Most songs have a high bit and the trick is to know how and when to switch from one tone to the other. Eventually, with lots of practice and a few frustrations, I managed to get the hang of it. It’s really opened up a whole range of notes for me that I previously could have sworn I couldn’t reach!

We worked on how to sing first the notes, then add in the sounds, then finally the words. I learned how to start a line with a vowel (trying to get a clean opening rather than a breathy start or a harsh glottal sound).

The last thing we worked on was quality of notes. I tend to slide up and down a bit from one note to the next rather than keeping each note pure. I still haven’t mastered this one, but at least I am now aware of it, so I can work on perfecting it!

There were some times when I got frustrated, when I just wasn’t getting it. Kim was really encouraging and changed tactics when this happened. We started over-acting the songs and flitting round the room in some bizarre dance scenes to bring some fun and lightness back into it. Funnily enough, it was these times when I was least self-conscious and sometimes sang better as I wasn’t trying so hard!

I really enjoyed my singing lessons, and I do feel like I have improved. I’m probably not quite ready for a solo performance but I do feel a lot more confident in singing out loud!

It’s just like any other skill – practice and dedication can really make a lot of difference, along with a little helpful guidance from someone who knows what they are doing!

For more information, visit:

Kim Hawthorn

22nd “thing” achieved: 19. Learn Sign Language

I now know more signs than just the rude ones!

There are almost a million people in the UK with severe/profound deafness. If we included age-related hearing loss, this rises to over 11 million! That is one in 6 of the UK population!

When I was a kid, there was an old lady at my church who was deaf and blind. Her husband used to sit beside her in the services and translate the sermons using a version of the BSL (British Sign Language) alphabet which is drawn onto the other person’s hand. My brother, sister and I all learnt it so that we could communicate with Elsie, and I can still remember it to this day, but never really used the skill again after she passed away.

I have often watched the late night shows with the little translator in the corner, especially in my Student days, and I always fancied giving sign language a go. The Deaf/Blind alphabet is all very well, but I never met anyone else that was deaf/blind and the alphabet, whilst similar, is different enough that it doesn’t quite translate to BSL. So I popped it on the list and started to research courses.

BBC-Breakfast-News-British-Sign-Language-news — Typical late night telly with sign language

As the skill can be considered a transferable skill I asked my employer if they would be willing to assist in funding the course. I wrote a justification as to how I thought it could enhance our company’s offering and was delighted to learn that the company would make a contribution towards the cost.

I began my research by looking into an Adult Learning evening course. There was one at Surrey Uni for £252, but they were one term in to a year’s course and they felt it would be a big jump to catch up. I then found a private company (Dot Sign Language) who offered a 20 week course in BSL Level 1 for £350 (plus assessment fees). Unfortunately I missed the sign up deadline, and the next term didn’t start until October, so I enquired about private tuition instead.

Amazingly, the Director, Kathleen Grehan, was more than happy to offer one-to-one sessions at a cost of just £30 an hour. She even agreed to meet me at my workplace during my lunchbreak, so that I could fit it into my working day! We agreed a 10 week course, and we would take a view as to whether I would be able to complete a qualification or not, depending on how quickly I picked it up.

When arranging to meet, I discovered that Kathleen is deaf and that we would be communicating by pad/paper or typing onto a laptop; or sign language. I was a little nervous before we met, but luckily Kathleen was absolutely fantastic; very friendly and non-intimidating.

Our learning objectives were:

Understand and communicate basic conversations when meeting Deaf people
Know basic numbers
Know different weather conditions
Know range of transport modes
Communication a range of directions

I spent my first lesson learning greetings, the alphabet, how to offer tea and coffee, basic numbers, and number contexts such as time, money, age, 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc., and questions such as who, what, where, why, how. Kathleen followed up after each session by emailing me with a copy of the notes from our session along with a video clip so that I could practice.

The rest of the 10 sessions went as follows:

Week 2 – We discussed the news, election, political parties, colours, numbers
Week 3 – Days of the week, today, tomorrow etc, and general weather topics such as sun, rain, cloud, hot, cold etc. We then moved on to directions, and different types of transport.
Week 4 – We practised, as I had my first assessment the following week!
Week 5 – First Assessment
Week 6 – Family, background, home, describing people, ages, jobs
Week 7 – Hobbies, dancing, holidays and my 40 things.
Week 8 – Second Assessment
Week 9 – Job role, insurance, directions,
Week 10 – Final Assessment.

The assessments took place by setting up a video camera and then having a conversation around a set topic. Kathleen then sent off the videos for external verification.

A few weeks later, I received confirmation that I had passed! Whilst not the greatest mark, I achieved 60% so I was fairly OK with that – had to remind myself that’s a 2:1 in degree terms!

The certificate arrived today and I have promised myself that I will keep practising and I hope to tackle level 2 at some point!

20170907_180200 — Got my certificate! #proudface

I really enjoyed learning BSL, and it is such a great skill to have. There are so many people who can be isolated from the hearing world and I am keen to do my part in including them. Anyone can learn, and it doesn’t have to be a classroom environment. You could probably get a few of you together and share the cost too!

For more information:

13th “thing” achieved: 27. Learn dressmaking/alterations

I can sew!

Since ditching Home Economics at the earliest opportunity, I forgot about sewing until my late 20’s when I suddenly discovered a talent for making fancy dress costumes.

My technique consists of “have a guess and hope it’s OK” but I wanted to learn some fundamental skills. In particular, how to follow a pattern, and how to alter clothes so that they fit me properly.

I undertook a search online and found Alex who teaches all sorts of sewing skills, and arranged a series of classes. She charged us £40 for two hours for up to 4 people. Due to other commitments, we were only able to get a group of 3 together – me, Natalie and Jo.

We decided we wanted to learn the following:

Making clothes from a pattern
Altering trousers (hems – mostly for Nat and Jo)
Altering dresses (particularly nipping in at the waist and keeping room up top)

Alterations are a big deal for me. Every part of me is a different size so if I fit my top, clothes hang off me round the middle; if I fit my waist, the cloth bulges and stretches horribly around my bum, and so on. I bought a dress once which I paid to have altered and it was amazing. But I can’t afford to shell out £40 extra every time I get a new outfit! Alternatively, I can shop in Pepperberry which caters to curvy ladies, but they are fairly expensive and it does limit my choice somewhat.

We arranged to hold four sessions at Nat’s house, as she has a nice big table and lots of space. The first week we covered taking up trousers and repairing hems invisibly. No more WonderWeb for me! We learned about different types of material, thread, machines, needles, pins and much more – Alex was a fount of information!

20170401_171241 — Week 1: Intro to sewing, and how to hem trousers

The second week I learned the proper way to repair a skirt that I ripped (I walked about with a super high split up my skirt all day due to an extra large step on the train). Nat began work on a dress pattern, whilst Jo started to make some shorts for her children from an old dress.

20170415_161901 — Week 2: Nat’s shuffling pattern pieces, I’m repairing my dress whilst Jo cuts out the shorts

The third week I learned that the reason some of my dresses appear too big is because they are too long in the back, causing the material to bunch up. The dress I worked on had to lose about an inch in the shoulder, I shifted it all up a bit and sewed the sleeve back in. When finished, the dress fitted perfectly!

The final week I learned the bit I really wanted to know – how to make dresses more shapely around my curves. I’d picked up 2 good quality dresses from a charity shop for £4.50 each (per una and Coast) that fit my largest measurement but were loose everywhere else. Alex showed me how to pin, mark and create darts to make the clothes fit.

I managed to sort one, whilst the other now needs some material taking out of the back (like the previous week’s project). It’s a bit more tricky as there’s no room at the shoulder so I’ll have to take it down into the waistband, fiddly with an invisible zip. That one’s still a work in progress, but the other looks great and I’ve already had people comment on how nice it is!

Overall, I think I’ve made a really good start on the sewing. To truly grasp the nuances of the art would take many years but I feel I have enough skill to do what I set out to do – alter my own clothes to fit and repair those annoying little niggles.

All 3 of us have agreed that we have learned some useful skills and want to have more lessons. However we have other commitments (I have a lot on in the next 3 months!) so this may be something I come back to after my birthday.

I’ve got a pattern that I’m working on, I’ll be having a go on my own and then if/when I get stuck I’ll be calling Alex for some more lessons!

Alex teaches at Surrey Adult Learning, or you can book private lessons here.

It’s something I think we can all benefit from and Alex is the perfect teacher to get you on the right track!

10th “thing” achieved: 20. Learn to do 40’s hair

Vintage hair skills

I’ve always loved vintage style, and in particular I love the elegant hairstyles of the 1940’s with the Victory rolls and flawless looks.

I’ve had a vintage makeover before and loved it, but never managed to replicate the look for myself. Natalie and I met Lucy at a Vintage fair last year and hired her to do our hair for a friend’s wedding, so when we decided to learn how to do it ourselves, she was our first choice.

Lucy offered us the choice of going to her place, or coming to us – we chose for her to come to us, and met on a Saturday morning. She supplied all of the equipment, although she also brought a shopping list so that we could go buy they stuff for ourselves afterwards. She demo’d it on a model head first, it took about 10 minutes and looked really easy so I thought this one would be a cinch!

20170529_145831 — Lucy made it look easy

We started by curling one side of our hair in sections, then backcombing it. We thought we looked like the Who’s out of The Grinch!

20170529_145931 — Part one – crazy hair stage

We then smoothed out the outside, and twisted into a roll. This was my absolute nemesis and I ended up getting quite emotional when I couldn’t do it! It turns out my brain is not able to reverse the images I see in a mirror so I kept twisting the hair the wrong way and I got more and more frustrated.

In the end I had to abandon it and start again on the other side, which was much better, then go back to the original side to make a second roll. I finally managed to do something, it was quite messy but kind of in the right shape.

20170529_150311 — Part two – the finished articles! All thanks to Lucy (ignore my slightly swollen post-tears eyes)

I went out and bought all the gear and then a few days later I had another go. It actually turned out alright!

20170529_150541 — The finished article, quite proud!

Still need some practice, and when Natalie and I go to the Nostalgia festival next week we won’t have the luxury of curling tongs – but overall I feel like I might be able to pull it off without shaming myself!

I’d definitely recommend that if you fancy this, give Lucy a shout. She is absolutely brilliant, patient and encouraging, and she really knows her stuff. Or if you just want the ‘do without the hassle, get Lucy to do it for you, she is a hair genius!

Lucy’s contact details:
Website: Hair that Turns Heads

5th “thing” achieved: 9. Learn Calligraphy

I can write fancy now

I’ve always admired beautiful writing, and when I was about 12 someone gave me a little framed picture with a bible verse on it. The writing was lovely and it inspired me to try calligraphy. Of course what I actually did was get a slanty pen and write neatly. But the seed was sown: it’s been on my list of things to learn for ages.

Finally I did something about it. I searched for local courses and found a lady called Judy Broad who ran courses and signed myself up.

I arrived at a lovely venue and settled in to what looked like a little shed, but was perfectly decked out inside, and thus began our writing adventure. Joining me were a few graphic designers wanting to expand their repertoire, a lady who got it for a 70th birthday gift with her daughter, a bride to be who wanted to save money on her wedding stationery, a couple who recently married and discovered a love for typography whilst writing their own signs etc, and two friends who were on a mission to experience as many “adventures” as possible.

20170204_163549 — Our workshop was in that little shed

We began by setting up our pens and ink (kindly supplied) and practicing basic pen strokes. Who knew straight lines and ovals could cause so much trouble?

We then went on to practice the alphabet and finally actually write some words. After a break for coffee and cake Judy showed us some examples of flourishing, and of course we all gasped in admiration as she effortlessly wrote and embellished her words beautifully.

We watched in amazement

She is so skilled!

After a couple of hours of intense concentration, I finally managed to come up with some acceptable work.

Judy was so helpful and her open relaxed style really created a great atmosphere, and our little group were friendly, with everyone encouraging and complimenting each other. When one of the guys suggested holding my pen further away from the nib, it helped no end!

Overall a lovely afternoon and I feel like I have gained a skill. I still have more to learn and I will definitely be taking another class in the future!

To find out more about Judy’s workshops, visit her website here.

2nd “thing” achieved: 14. Knit something (not a scarf)

A brief yarn about making stuff

I love making things. It’s exciting when you start out, brimming with plans (most of which are completely beyond your skill level), going crazy in the shops buying all the gear, the challenge of making the thing, and the sense of achievement.

I’ve been able to knit since I was a kid, and I had those little plastic starter needles. But I never got past knit and purl. I’ve made countless scarves but increasing/decreasing, counting stitches, following patterns, turning corners… all of this was totally beyond me. So was born the challenge; to push myself.

I bought a couple of books but the sum of all patterns for people who only know 2 stitches was… well, a scarf. Or a headband. Or a knitted belt…. you get the picture, something straight and scarf-like. The next step up seemed to be a full on jumper with fancy bobbly bits and patterns and stuff.

So I decided to buy a pre-made kit, you know with all the wool, the instructions etc. But couldn’t find one anywhere! I was just about to resign myself to a trip to deepest and darkest Woking in search of a Hobbycraft store when I finally found a magazine with the stuff I needed and cracked on.

It took a total of 3 evenings but required a fair amount of concentration, and I may have mentioned before that I am easily distracted. Not to mention all of the new skills – counting stitches and rows, trying to keep it neat and even, interpreting the abbreviations, googling how to pick up stitches along an edge, how to change wool without just tying a knot, and all that good stuff.

Starting out

Still knitting

Almost done

It kind of looks OK?

To be honest, I think I prefer baking or sewing, but knitting and crochet require so little specialist equipment and it’s easy to do in front of the telly of an evening.

Why don’t you try pushing yourself outside your comfort zone and try making something you thought was a bit beyond your skill level? If nothing else, it keeps you busy and you might get something useful out of it! Best of all is that smug feeling of accomplishment when you finally finish it and it kind of looks OK!

It looks like the picture!

Ideal for tiny presents 🙂

I’m going to try making fingerless gloves next, so wish me luck!