F+S Cork | Making cars | 12 October

Today its cars! Making cars out of bottles, bottle tops, old CDs and pencils! Pat had everything ready - large number of 2 and 1.5 litre plastic bottles, umpteen milk carton scew-on caps, about 100 old CDs elastic bands, cocktail sticks, pencils, and tools! Blades for cutting access holes in the bottles, glue guns and glue sticks brought by the Dads and more. Pat gathered everyone around the island table and gave an oral tutorial on how a car can be made from all of these parts. Wow! Everyone was imagining the great cars they were going to build. Pat fielded the questions form the boys. Then Pat added the rider, "I never built one of these myself!" So the boys were going to be the pioneers in the room! They and their Dads got to work immediately and with great excitement.

 Just as people were getting into the flow and then some late arrivals! A few father and son pairings thought the start time was 3.30pm and so Pat gave his class again! By this stage, there were some crude prototype cars already coming together. So the class was a little easier. But these late comers were behind, and couldn't wait to get started! There were constant tutoring and revision of the design and assembly plans, and experimentation going on with the Dads and boys testing designs. The glue was very strong which amazed people. It was also very hot coming out of the glue-gun and sometimes drops fell on fingers, giving rise to some squeals. But fortunately no burns. First fully assembled cars were soon ready. But then some engineering bugs came to like on test runs, like the front wheels sticking, or front or back axels a little crooked, off line so the cars veered off to the left or the right. Back to the bench for running adjustments. Some repairs where hubcaps popped off because of defective gluing! You had to be more careful and more patient when applying the glue. Soon a good car appeared. It ran straight. Excitement. They saw they could get it right, so soon more good cars began to appear.

 Castles of cups were assembled and the cars powered up with the elastic bands and let off crashing into the castles and dramatically sending cups in every direction to huge delight and cheers. Still some had uncorrected design flaws soon seen as those cars veered off left or right missing the big castles! More adjustments. And back to the test track. The elastic powered 'motors' were wound up again and again, and the cars let go across floors, crashing into other cars and into the paper cup castles. One Dad had thought out an improved design variation - four-wheel drive cars! They naturally performed amazingly better: it was a great innovation and impressed everyone. His boys and others became excited over the new design.

 Somewhere in the middle of all this mayhem, Pat called everyone to order and to go into the sitting room for a talk on 'little things' - a talk which was quite interactive on the part of the boys, and them making contributions to the questions Pat posed! And then food. Lots of it, though it was still difficult to draw some of the boys away from working and testing the cars. Another successful F+S event in Cork!

F+S Cork | Fishing Trip in Killarney

Great day in spite of barely getting near the trout! We met in Denagh’s cottage just inside the entrance into Killarney Park. We quickly realised we had lots to learn as we were total beginners at wet-fly fishing ... Ger was the teacher. He first taught the Dads who then passed it on to the boys. He got the boys to make choices of the two wet flies they each were going use, identify them from a large catalogue, register the names of the flies in a log book and got them to set up the traces each with two flies & a bubble float on each, with special loops and knots and all without getting their fingers caught on the hooks!

Then into the cars and a beautiful drive up to the Gap of Dunloe. Stopping at Keating’s Cottage, where, in the sitting room, out of the strong wind howling down through the gap of Dunloe we set the rods out and connected the traces. All ready we headed for our fishing spot —crossing down through rocks and undergrowth into the valley below the road, over, under, through high sheep wire fencing and over streams including underground streams, being very careful where you put your foot, one step after another, eventually reaching a sheltered spot across the valley out of the wind and rain. Time: 2pm, so lunch first! Eating & drinking we watched the heavy sheet-rain before us blowing down from the gap. Next: the job of untangling all the rods, and hooks -which all happened trying to cross The Valley-, not easy! And entanglement would happen again and again. Pablo became the most proficient at untangling! And warning: we had to be careful all the time to avoid getting hooked ourselves.

Eventually some actual fishing! Or rather, learning to do some casting!! Liam, Oliver, Joseph & Louis taking up one position- a little exposed but in this weather everywhere was. Eamonn, Oran an, Tomás & Ger further downstream were joined by Pablo, Alvaro and Javier. But they had to return to the shelter with their rods all entangled after about 10 mins to try and un-entangled them. All part of a great learning experience, and no one prepared to give up.

The boys were determined, the dads determined! Finally some good casts made. However it seems the brown trout just smiled and looked the other way!