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For those of you that weren't at the club meeting last night, here is an update on the meeting we held.

Firstly we decided that we would be starting up the workshops again. We have taken a bit of a break over the summer, but they will be back for the Autumn and Winter. If you have a skill you would like to teach or have a skill that you would like to learn, please let one of the committee members know and we will try to arrange something in the coming weeks. We already have an offer of a clowning workshop with Pete, poi and hoop workshops with Lynne, devilstick with Stephen, beginners contact ball with Andy, Card tricks with Daniel M, beginner unicycle with Glen & Cath, and Stilts with Dave & Cath.

We also chatted about how we wanted to celebrate Christmas and Halloween. No decisions were made about Christmas, but those that attended last night have chosen to have a party at the hall with games and bring a plate of food for Halloween. Instead of pumpkin carving competitions, it was suggested that we have a competition to see who could come up with the most inventive vegetable/fruit based circus prop. We will play silly games, such as apple bobbing, and have a best costume fashion strut and if anyone fancies doing a routine for us we'd be happy to watch.

Some of you might have noticed I posted a list on our Facebook Page of lots of circus events that are going on in the UK. You, like I, might have noticed that there are a couple of months on the list that have nothing going on, and I asked the group if they would like to work on setting up an event of our own. People thought it was a good idea. We decided that starting small with a one day event would be best. We also chatted about where we should hold the event and despite wanting to set it up in Pontardawe, we came to the conclusion that if we wanted to draw in people from further afield, such as Bristol, we needed to be somewhere with good transport links, so it is probably going to be best if we organise it in Swansea. I'm envisioning it to be something like the Bath Upchuck, of a day full of workshops and games late in the afternoon, followed by a show in the evening, but we are open to ideas and plan to discuss this again soon, so that we can get working on making it happen. This IS going to take quite a bit of effort and work to make this happen, so think we will have to set up an events organising group. If you would like to volunteer to be part of that group let me know.

Don't forget that the Bianco show from No Fit State Circus is running in Brecon for the next week. Some on the ENI members were planning on going to see it Thursday 12th. You can arrange car shares here. You can get  20% off tickets on Wednesdays and Thursdays by using the discount code 'LittleFlower' when booking on-line or by phone. To get your tickets call 0333 222 9000 or visit www.nofitstate.org.

We also have the show Flown by Pirates of the Carabina to look forward to in November in Neath. It will be at the Gwyn Hall on 21st November 2013 7.30pm. You an purchase tickets (£12) on the Gwyn Hall Website.

See you next week!

Up Coming Workshops and Focus Sessions

Poi Spinning Last Night.

Over the last couple of months we have been adding focus sessions/workshops to club nights, which seem to be popular and increasing all of out skills and we have decided to keep them going. So far we have been taught basic flower/devilsticks by Stephen, Contact Juggling for beginners by Hairy Daniel, Hat Tricks by Peter D and An Introduction to Poi by Lynne. We also had a great evening of "Speed Ball Dating" (we really need to rename this game) where we split into 2 groups and, like speed dating, we had 4 minutes to teach one member of the other group a juggling ball pattern before a bell rang and everyone moved to another person. Much laughing and learning went on. At the end we each picked one thing we learned to show the rest of the group. From beginner to the more experience jugglers we all learned something and taught someone else something.

In the coming weeks we have several more of these sessions planned. I have added them to the calendar on the site, so you can check there, at any time, for the ones you are interested in participating in.

Next week is Valentines day, so we will be having a cake eating session. If you wish to bake a cake and bring it along that's all good. If baking is not your thing and your speciality is eating cake, you are still welcome to join in. We will hopefully be celebrating the safe arrival of a new Elephants Not Included family member *fingers crossed*. Sending out calming, pushing vibes to Zena and Stephen.

On the 21st February  Peter D will be teaching us how to manipulate Cigar Boxes. If his hat manipulation workshop is anything to go by, it will involve a lot of people jumping for joy when they nail a new trick, as well as a lot of post it notes to celebrate that fact. Bid on how many points you will be awarded during the workshop and see if, by the end of the workshop you have amassed more than you thought you would. I think everyone got many more points than they expected in the Hat workshop.

The 28th February is Multicoloured Prop Swap night. "What's that?" I hear you cry. It will be along the same lines as speed dating, but this time each person can pick any prop they like to teach the other person. You will be given 4 minutes to fire up another club members passion to learn a new prop. It is up to each person to decide which prop and how they inspire the other club member into wanting to become the worlds best (insert prop name here) performer. If you are feeling very ambitious, you can even pick a prop you have never used yourself... but be prepared to have the uphill battle of trying to enthuse another persons passion in a prop you cannot demonstrate.

We have 2 weeks in the middle here with nothing set in place yet. Do you have something you are itching to teach?

On the 21th March Daniel M will be asking you "What can you Juggle?" I'm informed that it will be a workshop on learning to juggle different and interesting objects together. In other words it will be a walk away from picking up identical props to throw and catch in a controlled way, to the world of juggling a golf ball, a club and a slightly soft banana, or a ring, hat and overpoweringly smelly trainer. Bring along one random item with you (no live animals*, animal products^, electrical appliances, anything run on petrol/diesel  or anything you would cry over if it got broken) and challenge everyone to juggle with it.

If you have anything you would like to learn or teach please do contact Lynne or Stephen, so that we can try to make it happen.

Key
* or dead ones
^ yes humans are animals, so NO! We don't want a bag full of your toenail clippings