VlogStar Challenge Semi Finalist 2019

life

Back in March earlier this year I was invited to an workshop all about The Art of Vlogging in London. The workshop was ran by the Media Trust I was invited to the workshop by Riding for the Disabled as everyone attending this workshop was involved in the RDA in some way. During the day we made our own 1 minute video which we then could enter into a competition to become an semi finalist in this years VlogStar Competition.

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to attended the VlogStar Challenge 2019 as a semi finalist. I was chosen to be one of the very lucky 150 semi finalist of this years VlogStar which had over 1,500 participants. I attended a day of workshops at YouTube’s offices inside Google HQ. ( To find out more about The VlogStar Challenge visit https://www.vlogstarchallenge.com)

During the day we had lots of different workshops lead by different people who worked for YouTube. During the day I learnt a lot we were given workshops in lots of different areas of how to make videos as well as how to connect yourselves with your viewers and how to make them feel as part of your YouTube community/ family.

I found the day very inspiring I came up with a few more video ideas for my channel as well as seeing how YouTube can be used as a positive platform to share your experiences and life stories about life. It was was fantastic to be around other young creatives who are using their voices on the internet to make positive changes through vlogging and making video content.

One of the workshops was called #iamremarkable during this workshop we had to think about what makes us remarkable however big the reason was. I really enjoyed doing this as it helped me to remember how I have got past obstacles I have faced and it didn’t matter how big or small it was. We then had the opportunity to share what made us remarkable if we wanted. ( To find out more about #iamremarkable visit https://iamremarkable.withgoogle.com)

Towards the end of the day we got to have Q&A panel with Grace Victory, Lucy Moon, London Hacks, Abraham and hosted by Ria Hebden. It was great to ask them our questions and to get their advice and top tips as well as hearing all about their unique YouTube journeys!

All in all an amazing day full of unique stories waiting to be let out in video content.

You can checkout my YouTube Channel at https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCjLzWg0723lk8w5TeFlNPBA?view_as=subscriber

Bryony Bakes: Scones

Other

Recently I have been baking scones and I thought I would share with you my favourite really easy, simple and quick scones recipe.

Makes 12-15. Oven Temperature 200C or 180 Fan.

Ingredients

85g Unsalted Butter

350g Self-raising Flour

1/4tsp Salt

1 and a half tsp Baking Powder

2 tbsp Caster Sugar

200ml warm full fat milk

1 tsp Fresh lemon juice

Clotted Cream

Jam of your choice

Method

1. Dice and rub the unsalted butter into the 350g self raising flour.

2. Stir in the salt, baking powder and the 2 tbsp of caster sugar.

3. Use a knife to stir in the milk and the lemon juice. Don’t over mix just combine ingredients.

4. Turn onto lightly floured surface and mix together lightly.

5. Pat down to 2cm thickness. Cut out 5cm rounds using a glass or cookie cutter.

6. Brush with milk or dust with flour.

7. Bake on a lined baking tray for 10-15 minutes until risen and golden.

8. Wait to cool, then serve with clotted cream and a jam of your choice.

How Music Helped Me Through Bullying

mental health

For many years during my time at primary and secondary school I was bullied by lots of different groups of people. The bullying however got a lot worse when I entered second school. At secondary school it didn’t even start on the first day but on my induction day. I was so upset and scared I didn’t want to go to that school in September, I remember coming home in floods of tears just crying on the sofa.

For a while in my first couple of years at secondary school I thought the people in the group I hangout out with were my friends. Turned out I was only in their group so they could pick on me. To begin with I didn’t see it as bullying I just wanted to fit in but then it got a lot worse. They would bully me for many reasons for example being disabled, not wearing fashionable clothes and having curly hair they would throw drinks at me and in my hair at break and at at lunch.

The bullying started to escalate with older and young years bullying me too hitting and punching me. Other people in my year would laugh at me during class I got told several times to kill myself.

The bullying I was experiencing made me feel very sducidal I just wanted the pain to stop. When I tried to tell teachers what was going on they would dismiss it telling me to except it or to feel sorry for the people bullying me.

Over time I started to retreat into myself not wanting to be with anyone or socialise I spent a lot of time in my room as I felt safe in my bedroom when I went out I thought everyone was looking, talking and laughing at me.

I found it extremely difficult to express how I was feeling and what was going on to my parents. And that’s when I found out that when I listened to my music the lyrics would just speak to me and I felt that I wasn’t alone in how I felt. I found that music could express how I was feeling to the outside world as I found it super difficult to try and express my thoughts and feelings to the outside world. I found that music also helped me to keep going as a lot of the time when I came back from school I would be crying sometimes I cried myself to sleep wishing I wouldn’t wake up.

I liked listening to music as it helped me to try and make sense of all the thoughts in my head that would race around in my head at 100 miles an hour. I found it extremely difficult and confusing to try and think why people treated me the way I did for along time at school. Because I had been bullied for a long time before I started secondary school I thought of it as a new start so when I was getting bullied more and more at secondary school I started to think their was something wrong with me. And that I deserved to be treated the way I did because I started to believe I was a bad person and that everyone’s lives would be better if I wasn’t here.

Listening to music helped me a lot in not feeling alone and that maybe others felt similar to me as lots of people made me feel like I was a freak. I also found that music helped me to face the upcoming days going to school as sometimes a certain lyric made me feel empowered and that maybe I could get through the day a little bit better.

I remember at the time my favourite band JLS helped me massively, I felt I could relate to them as I found out that one of them had experienced bullying and another member of the group was a young career helping to look after his mum during his childhood. As my sister was a young career for me.

I still love listening to music now but throughout my difficult time at school music played a big part in trying to just get through one day at a time feeling that others interpreted the songs lyrics in a similar way to me! The bullying still affects me to this day as I was diagnosed with PTSD because of the bullying that happened to me.

Down On The Farm: My Time At The Farm

life

Today was my last day volunteering at the farm. I have had an amazing time and made friends human and animal along the way. Spending time at the farm has taught me not only how to care for a variety of different animals but also built up my skills on how to work well in a team.

I would definitely recommend doing volunteering work as it not only gives you a chance to see what’s it like to work in a certain industry and the day to day jobs you would be doing and of course you can put your volunteer experience on your CV.

Through doing volunteering work at the farm I have learnt a lot more than I thought I would and I have been able to push myself in a supportive environment achieving things I thought I would never be able to do. For example I can now carry out health checks independently on a range of different animals for example chickens, rats, hamsters and guinea pigs.

I have learnt a lot about introducing new animals into the different groups at the farm and all about the different responses the animals may have. Some may get on straight away others may take a while longer. I have learnt about how to break down the introducing steps to make shy or worried animals feel safe before putting them in with others straight away. For example you may separate the new animal with the others in the group but have it in the field next to them so that the animals get used to each other but from a little distance.

As well as this I have also learnt about if an animal has something like a problem with their fur or skin you may only use one brush just for them only for grooming as you don’t want to pass on any germs to the other animals in their group.

I have learnt a lot about all different the animals diets and what they can and cannot eat as well as what they love. Erik the goat loves eating oranges! Pigs cannot eat onion or anything in the onion family and if you mix alpaca feed and goat feed together it becomes toxic to the animals.

Feeding Erik the goat

On the farm I have learnt about how to care for injuries the small animals such as hamsters or guinea pigs may get from animals such as wild rats that manage to get into their cages.

A big thing at the farm I have learnt about is how to care for a variety of different reptiles such as geckos, snakes, water dragons , bearded dragons, spiders and skinks.

Fat Tailed Gecko

I have loved my time at the farm and would highly recommend volunteering with animals to gain experience for anyone who loves animals!

Riding for the Disabled Association: Helping To Train Duke

Riding for the Disabled Association

Recently at the stables we have had a new resident join our RDA family. A very lovely and friendly pony called Duke. I have been helping to train him in some of my riding lessons.

At the moment when the weathers not too hot and we are not going for hacks around the woods enjoying the sunshine and keeping cool. I am doing a lot of work with him going round corners and doing things like circles as he loves to lean onto my helper and ask for hugs and kisses all the time.

When riding Duke I notice I tend to go over to the left side more so we’ve been working a lot on straightness. This has really helped me to stay in the middle of the saddle and I find he responds better to me when walking straight compared to when we do work in the school involving doing circles or going in and out of cones.

I have found that if I do some pole work with him trying to make sure he is straight and not drifting this can really help him to make sure he picks up his legs and doesn’t trip or lose his balance as much. He finds balancing quite hard but we’re working on it.

What’s really lovely about him is that he always wants to try his best and wants to learn.

Due to the hot weather recently I have not been doing work with him in the school but going out for hacks in the woods instead. Going out in the woods I have found has really helped him to stay more straight and not drift so much. This has helped me a lot with keeping in the middle and not sitting to one side. As well as this when we go on hacks sometimes the horses and ponies might see something they are not used to like a ladder. So when gong out I have been able to show Duke things he might not have seen before whilst giving me lots of positive reinsurance .

I have found helping to train Duke very interesting as I also helped to train Billy when he first joined. It’s interesting how even though Duke is slightly older than Billy I need to work with him more on tasks Billy found more easy in the beginning when he first joined such as not drifting towards the helper or staying on the track.

I really enjoy riding Duke he’s so gentle and friendly and I can’t wait to see all the amazing things he will achieve in the years to come!