Clare's Rebel Badge Blog

 I began collecting sew-on badges when I joined the Brownies, continued through Guides and Scouts and took up buying badges whenever I was visiting somewhere that sold them. This now includes festival wristbands too! The collection has grown fairly large over the years, and is all sewn onto an old woollen blanket. The big gap on one side will be ideal for Rebel badges! The blanket holds many memories.

This is another one that I have been working towards for several years as I took on my garden when it was an overgrown patch of brambles and sedges and have cultivated it to a nice garden. It is not neat and tidy as I abhor that in a garden, but has plenty of variety and wildlife is actively encouraged. ( Clause 1 ) The garden is tended regularly throughout the year, with considerably more attention spent on it when plants are actively growing. The lawn is usually mown a couple of times a month as I like dandelion flowers and daisies, the borders are weeded when needed (often) and every time I see a bit of bindweed (also often!). Pruning and dead-heading is done as required and potted plants get fed occasionally. Border plants are mulched when I have some! ( Clause 2 ) Annual plants are tricky as the slugs are fond of them, but I have so far germinated sunflowers, sweet peas and nasturtiums. I rarely bother with bedding plants as I consider them a waste of money. Slugs are also very pa...

 I have been keeping a diary regularly for the last year. It is not particularly traditional, and is a hotchpotch of many things that work for me. I use a large plain paper notebook, and each month has a weekly appointments section with 'to do' lists, a page for memories, what's in flower in the garden and any wildlife spotted, garden jobs completed, longer more traditional diary entries for big events, and anything else that seems like a good idea at the time! It is very loosely based on a bullet journal without all the faff!  This type of diary works really well for me as everything is in one place, and there is a pocket at the back that I can stuff concert programmes, invitations, tickets etc in once they've been used. The badge book says that this can definitely be backdated, therefore I shall claim it!

I felt somewhat overqualified for this badge as I have been running a Cipher and Codebreaking Club at my local secondary school for the last 5 years. I therefore felt justified in backdating most of the clauses. The clauses I chose were: : Learn Morse code . Trying to using  https://morse.withgoogle.com/learn/ 4: Research particular ciphers .   I have regularly used classic substitution, Caesar cipher, substitution (keyword and others), Vigenere cipher, and Playfair Cipher, and ran a masterclass on the Enigma code where students made working models using Pringles tubes! I researched the remaining ciphers in the list too. 5: Learn three practical ways to hide a message . I teach how to use many ciphers and codes, such as Pigpen Cipher, Railfence Cipher, and Substitution Ciphers. 6: Make a code wheel . I have made several Caesar Cipher code wheels over the years. 8: Learn about the history of codebreaking .  This comes up every year in the National Cipher Challenge run by ...