Butterflies and Growing Up

Hello everyone.

I’m very sorry this post is a day late. It’s been a little bit hectic this week with studying for a NAB and then a Prelim but things are pretty much back in order now (well, as ‘in order’ as they can be with ditsy me). Now I can begin to properly focus on this Saturday…

Scottish Island Mum (Fiona Doubleday) has given me a wonderful opportunity to be part of her Butterfly Tree Project this Saturday. The Butterfly Tree is a charity that supports rural communities in Zambia - they provide the necessities such as safe water, feeding programs and health and education for the people in Zambia.

To raise money for this charity (namely for malaria nets) Fiona has planned a variety of sub-projects including her workshop opening tea party this Saturday. Here people will hopefully donate to the charity and begin buying her delicate and beautiful hand-made butterflies which have mesh-like wings to signify the malaria nets they are raising money for.

As I am very interested in film and hope to go into film production in my future Fiona has kindly asked me to film the event. It will be wonderful experience for me and will hopefully compliment the hard-work put into this event. We have decided the most important point to get across is that just £5 can save a child’s life in buying a malaria net. The film will also feature some natural scenes from Arran and of course the cutting of the workshop’s ribbon and the tea party itself. All very exciting!

(These pictures are from The Butterfly Tree facebook page and belong to them.)

In other news, it is now beginning to hit me that I only have a few weeks left at school. Ahh. I don’t really know what to make of it. Part of me is really excited to have some freedom in my life and see where my gap year takes me but the other part of me is going to miss high school so much. The fact that I live on an island, everyone pretty much knows everyone in our school including the teachers so I will literally miss everyone. I’ve found myself beginning to appreciate the little funny moments that happen in our 6^th year common room and the friendships I’ve made a lot more knowing that we’ll all go our separate ways soon. I think my 6^th year at high school has really helped steer me towards what I want to do and who I want to be (cheese anyone?). I think I might talk about this in a separate blog post altogether because there is a lot to talk about and I feel this may turn into a very, very long blog post.

I hope you’ve had a lovely week so far and if you can please check out The Butterfly Tree’s website!

Mollie

♥

Finding Home

Hello again!

Firstly, thank you all for your support and lovely comments on my last post. It was so encouraging! And a big thank you to Fiona from Scottish Island Mum who encouraged me to start a blog in the first place.

I mentioned on my last update that I live on the lovely Isle of Arran and thought I’d share the story of how me and my family came to live here as I like to think it’s quite amazing.

I’ve lived on Arran since I was 7 years old; we were destined to live here as my parents have always loved Scotland and even eloped to get married here. They said that when they had a family, Scotland would be the place they’d like to live.

Fast-forward a few years and there are my two younger sisters (aged about 3 and 5) and me (about 6). Now that my parents had a family they began to think seriously about moving to Scotland.

Now around this time they decided to buy a new car for my mum (this is relevant I promise) and amazingly after buying the car they realised that the license plate included “ARR4N”. No. Really! They had been thinking about Arran as a place to live around that time so this was truly amazing.

A few months later and my parents, sisters and me all embarked on the long drive to Arran and loved it from the moment we stepped off the ferry-even my little 3 year old sister. I remember on this visit that we found a go-cart track and went cycling through Brodick-me and my dad on a tandem (with me just sitting on the back, my legs dangling above the pedals) and my mum cycling with my two sisters attached to her bike on a little cart. I was sold. I would have moved right there and then!

(From left: Me, Emily, Megan and Mum behind us)

(Us with dad)

On returning from our first visit we had already grown attached to this beautiful little island and going back to England didn’t feel like we were going “home”; it felt as though we were driving away from it.

A few more visits by my parents and they grew more and more in love with the island and more determined to move here and overcome any obstacles that might arise.

After visiting one of the island’s attractions my mum thought long and hard about our potential move and prayed about it asking "Is it the right thing to do?" as they pulled out of the car park. To her amazement when they began down the road a car drove past with the license plate including the word “YES”. Once again, not kidding! We seem to have a thing with taking advice from license plates.

After this miraculous happening things just fell into place. My dad who works as an IT Consultant managed to get permission to home-work from the island (after going through almost all the levels of management), my parents found our first house and despite the housing market at that time forcing properties to be sold up to 40% over the asking price, they managed to buy the one we wanted for less than the asking price. Another cool coincidence (or as we like to think, a nudge from God) was that as me and my sisters were only just beginning school we’d need to find a suitable one on the island and even though my parents visited one during the Easter holidays, the moment they arrived the Head Teacher walked out and so she could answer their questions there and then. This is the primary me and my sisters ended up attending and led us to find some really amazing friends who we’re still close to.

We like to think that us moving to Arran wasn’t just a coincidence or good timing, but that God intended for us to live here. And I’m so glad He did! 10 years on and I love the Island just as much as when I first saw that go-kart track. It’s strange to think that I’m now in my last year of high school and will soon be leaving here. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to live. One thing is for sure though, when birthdays and Christmas’ arrive I will have no hesitations in returning to this humble little beautiful island.

Mollie

♥

Nice To Meet You.

Hello all.

My name is Mollie and I am definitely new here.

Blogging is foreign territory to me but has always been something I've been desperate to try. I always feel that I’ll never have enough to say. Anyway, I have decided enough is enough and I must give it a go, after all that is going to be the motto for my gap year which I am about to begin.

 As a newbie to the blogging world I feel I should properly introduce myself so I shall do my best to fill you in with the essentials.

I am 17 years old, I have very red hair, a positive outlook on life and am in my last year of highschool (only two weeks left-eek). I live on the beautiful Isle of Arran on the west coast of Scotland and have done since I was 7 years old. As a teenager on an often quiet island it can be challenging finding things to fill your weekend with. Starved of Primark and MacDonald’s it can leave me thinking it would be great to live on the mainland sometimes, but really there is nowhere else I would rather be. As a budding film-maker it’s the perfect place to live. With its breath-taking views and changing landscape around every corner Arran certainly lives up to its name of “Scotland in miniature”.

I’m sure many of you will have heard of the Isle of Arran on the news recently due to our terrible power cuts. It has been quite a unique experience to put it one way and has inspired me to make a video about my experience of it for my YouTube channel to allow people to see the situation from and Arran-er’s point of view.

Film-production being a keen interest of mine and something I hope to pursue as a career I jumped at the chance to start my own YouTube channel and after a few first-video attempts Normollieee was born. I have loved filming since I was little and used to make sketches with my family and friends on the family camera and would pretend I was a professional by the age of 6. I've loved it ever since.

In the nine videos I have uploaded so far on my channel I have tried to experiment with different techniques and concepts including stopmotion, video in time with music, fast-cut reversed footage and a basic sit-down vlog. I’ve become very fond of my humble little channel and I hope it will grow and blossom as I learn more about editing and film. I have so many ideas and hopes for it’s future and cannot wait to make these ideas a reality in my coming gap year. I appreciate every single view and “thumbs up” I receive and can’t help but give a little squeak of joy when I see I have a new subscriber. It’s really exciting for me to know that I can dedicate my time and effort towards it this year and I would love if you joined me along the way!

I think this will do for a short introduction so far as I hope you will learn the rest through my future blogs. See you soon.

Mollie♥

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