All the best places are hard to get to. This is because all the best places are a little bit wild. The Arctic, the heart of Borneo and deepest darkest Pembrokeshire. I was invited down to Haverford West earlier this year to join in a great project set up by the Darwin Centre. This is a fantastic organisation that enables virtually all of the school children in Pembrokeshire to get out and about exploring the world around them and learning about science. Photos of the event I was involved with below show some of the range of activities they were all involved with.

The title of my talk may seem a little extreme for primary school children but really they love it. If it can mash you, bite you, sting you or crush you - they want to hear about it!

Science is a real passion of mine and I love reading about it, watching documentaries about it and talking to people about it. Life on this planet is simply astounding from the world of bacteria to creatures like the blue whale.

I was given another opportunity to wax lyrical about my adventures at ‘Nature Exchange Day’ in another part of the county just last week. The group organising this day was ‘Planed’ (pronounced “Plan Ed”) which assists lots of volunteer groups around the county with an emphasis on the environment and biodiversity. It was a great event highlighting just what an amazing amount is being done by volunteer groups all over this area. 

As it takes 4 hours to get to Pembrokeshire I decided to stay down a little longer this time and explore a bit more of this amazing county. We were blessed with fantastic weather for October and manage to launch the canoe on the Estuary and Coastline. It was only a taster of what’s on offer and I’m definitely going to be back soon.

Those of you who have never had a run-in with the Women’s Institute may have the wrong idea about the organisation. The picture above may help you rethink the image of ‘Jam and Jerusalem’. Don’t get me wrong you will find exceedingly good cake to rival the well known poet (actually far surpassing the mass produced cardboardy confectionary) but it’s not what the WI is all about. At it’s heart it’s a well organised body of intelligent outgoing women. They like a laugh and make you feel very welcome.

I am currently ‘on the circuit’. I started a couple of years back speaking at the Shropshire WI annual council’s meeting and that started the ball rolling. Since then I have attended similar events for Staffordshire, Cheshire, Warwickshire, Suffolk West and Derbyshire with Worcestershire and East Sussex booked for next year.

For a speaker the WI are the perfect audience. They are an engaged, interested bunch with a wicked sense of humour. The only downside is that they have many fine speakers amongst their own numbers who can turn the annual budget into a paragraph packed with gags.

The other side of WI that has appeared to me is the muscle. This is a huge organisation (I nearly wrote ‘manned’ for a second)... womanned by well motivated efficient volunteers so when they think that something needs doing they get the bit between their teeth and start making a difference. Raising money, awareness and campaigning is second nature and they get the job done.

The WI is still growing and changing and new groups are starting up all the time. Anyone out there who has been approached to speak or join a meeting should certainly give it a whirl. And if you’ve got knees like mine - wear shorts!

The time has come to say goodbye and thank you to the tash. It’s been great fun and a very clever way of raising awareness for Men’s Health issues such as Prostate Cancer. I may have to take part again next year.




To view the video in YouTube CLICK HERE