An interview with Bex Yates on making her fencing dream come true

What is your name and why did you enter the Bring it on awards?

Bex (Rebecca) Yates. I entered the Bring it on awards on behalf of the Sussex University Fencing Club. We had dreamt of going to America to visit a fellow fencer and I thought that the Bring it on awards might be able to make that happen!

How has the bursary helped you with your passion since the awards?

I have booked flights for 11 fencers from the club to fly out to Massachusetts in March next year for a week to fence against Mount Holyoke College and a few others in the same area.

What are your plans for the future?

We have big plans for the club this year, the tour to America, resurrecting the Brighton Open fencing competition, establishing a fencing club for teenagers at a number of local clubs alongside just having a great time!

What advice would you give to other people out there with passions who may be struggling to achieve them?

Things happen for a reason and if you imagine something to be possible you subconsciously act to make that thing happen! I entered the awards on a whim after hearing about it on the heart FM radio show at work. With the support of a group of brilliant friends saw us win!

If people want to find out more about your passion where should they go?

Check out the Sussex Uni Fencing Club Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Sussex-University-Fencing-Club/111137072280566

Any final thoughts on how you have found the whole experience?

The whole experience has been fantastic and everyone can’t wait to go on the tour, thanks to Bring it on Britain for making it happen!

Bring it on Brits: Pat Reeves of Ooh.com

Ooh.com is a website full of ideas for activities to try and things to around the UK. If you are looking to discover a new hobby, or want to fuel your enthusiasm for an existing one, then this is a great resource for all you Bring it on Brits to visit. As part of our inspirational Bring it on Brits interview series, we caught up with founder of ooh.com Pat Reeves to talk about what inspired him to get others sharing their passions and hobbies and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. If this has inspired you to achieve your dream, then tell us what your passion is and you could win up to £5000 to help fund it.

Buster Martin’s Age: 103.869

And he is still working!

Martin plans to continue working at a plumbers, and says he will “only give up when they put me in a wooden box.”

Bring it on Martin! you might have been born in France, but you’ve lived here for over 100 years and are well and truly a Brit to inspire us to get off our bums and get on with it. May gawd bless you!

woolly graffiti

Imagine the possibilities… any takers with big imaginations want to really bring this on? Lord Nelson could do with a long scarf this winter, it would need to be so bloomin long you’d need to start about now! any ideas?

WATCH THE FULL 3MINUTES at 4DOCS

8 year old wing walker

I too would do anything to avoid doing homework, but you have to be rather brave to do this!

extreme knitting… by miles!

We were just having a look at you Brits who knit, but don’t knit just any old thing… then we cam accross this!!

Those Aussies have knitted a 30km long scarf, that’s over 18,000 miles to you and me.

that's right, it just fits in a stadium!

Ok, we do have the world record for the biggest tea cosy (blogged earlier), but if anyone has anything amazing in yarn that really ‘Brings it on’… go do it and let us know!

enormous tea cosy... thanks to you Brits

Dags the Viking… Kelmarsh?

“Training good last night. Cancelled our guest attendance at Kelmarsh, group needs a rest.”

I guess all this full on fighting is a bit tiring… have a look at him and his buddies at a re-enactment in the vid below that was used in an ad. There’s loads about Dags on our TV Heroes page as well!

Kelmarsh sounds great, just had a look at it… 2000 years of British history re-enacted… it’s on this weekend!!

have a look, here’s the link

Go girls! UK ladies do the worlds biggest belly dance!

World record breaking mass belly dance by a bunch of ladies at the Nairn Newton Hotel! Now this is really Bring it on! The ‘Eastren Fusion’ girls have done us proud, thanls ladies 🙂

Worm ‘Twanging’

In this bizarre competition 100’s of competitors have 30mins to charm as many unwitting earthworms to the surface in the space allocated to them.

In their words:

The Worm Charming event was first devised by Mr John Bailey who was the deputy headmaster of Willaston County Primary School, Nantwich, Cheshire from 1961 to 1983.

It was designed as a fund raising event incorporated into our School Fete in 1980.

The Rules were compiled by John Bailey in 1980 but over the years the size of plots has been increased from three yards square to three metres square to bring us in line with EEC requirements.

We have also increased the number of squares from 100 to 144 to accommodate additional competitors who compete on behalf of various charities.

The first Worm Charming World Record was set in 1980 by Mr Tom Shufflebotham who raised 511 worms from a three yards square plot. This remained unbroken until 2009 when Miss S and Mr M Smith charmed an incredible 567 worms from their plot!

Competitors compete for a trophy in the shape of a golden rampant worm which is awarded to the person charming the most worms from their plot in thirty minutes. The title is held for one year.

The competitor charming the heaviest worm holds the silver worm trophy for one year. The heaviest worm recorded weighed 6.6grams and was charmed by Mr J. Overstall in 1987.

Rules are available in over thirty different languages and the organisers are always interested in adding to this total.

Because of fierce local competition and all year round training by worm charming fanatics, the trophy had never left the village of Willaston until, in 1996, father and son team Phil and David Williams from Wiltshire won the competition with a total of 157 worms. Willaston managed to forgive the Willliams team, however, when it was revealed that they had lived in Willaston for a number of years prior to winning the title and were still Willastonians at heart.

There had not been a tie-break situation at the end of the allotted 30-minute Charming time until 2003 when Richard and Rodney Windsor (Plot 131) and Lea Clark and Robert Oltram (Plot 134) each raised 167 worms from the ground. A further five minutes Charm Off was held in accordance with Rule 17 after which Richard and Rodney Windsor were declared Champions having raised a further 14 worms, beating their rivals by just one worm.

The most succesful method used so far is that of hand vibrating a four tyne garden fork inserted approximately 15cms into the turf, now known locally in South Cheshire as ‘twanging’.

Ok… to the extreme

This guy hates wheel clamping so much, he has donned a costume and has become ‘Anglegrinder Man’!

Naturally we couldn’t possibly condone such activity and you should park properly…. but it’s a damn good costume!