Chloe's Leavers Blog - finally :)

Brittany is our guest blogger this week...

I warn you now, this blog is in two parts, and is thus going to be quite long…I apologise I simply do not do things by half.  But moving on, this week I had the pleasure of attending the Games Day, along with 10 other members.  Even though we were a small group we were big in energy (except me at some points, the removal of coffee from my diet and the thrill of Dexter are getting to me I tell you) and I for one had an awesome day.  Highlights included my first experience of Ratchet Screwdriver (a game at which I am terrible despite my well-known aggressive tendencies), a thrilling murder-mystery-style Situation Wink Murder and my brother’s removal to a ‘puddle’ for clapping too loud (it is the single most annoying clap I have ever heard and he deserved every second in the ‘puddle’).  My favourite part of the day was also meeting new people.  I am sadly a slave to Sainsbury’s so often don’t get to attend as many Yew Tree events or sessions as I would like, and so being able to go to a session like this and meet new people is always a thrill (after the initial panic), so I’m thankful for Wednesday in the respect.  Another thing I am thankful for is Georgia.  Because this games day brought about an unexpected problem: that of cracking the super difficult code to get into Sarah’s party, which took a few rounds and then around a day of guessing over the power of Facebook messenger until Georgia thankfully saved us from our misery, and I for one am thankful that it was cracked, it is rather strange how such a little thing can inhabit your mind for so long…

But once again moving on, I hope it is obvious how much I enjoyed this Games Day and recommend such a thing to everyone when it comes around again, but I must now move onto the second half of this blog: the farewell half.  For people who do not have regular contact with me you may not know that come September I am moving 2 hours away to the University of Birmingham…just writing that has made me feel a little sick so I am instead going to discuss the place of Yew Tree over these past years and ignore my future path (which ironically is concerned with the past but that is absolutely beside the point at this present moment).  My Yew Tree journey began (I’m pretty sure) on the 27^th of February 2012.  I can be this exact because Yew Tree began as simply a way to fulfil the Skills section of my Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award, and so I have it recorded in my little log book.  I turned up on that evening all shy with my friend called Emma, walked into that room and can gladly say I never looked back.  Emma did however, and didn’t return (wasn’t her thing apparently…crazy girl…) so I arrived the next week all alone.  It took a few weeks for me to settle in, until a fateful conversation about the Avengers threw me full force into Yew Tree friends.  Fast forward a few months and I brought my brother along (the aforementioned horrific clapper) just in time for Aladdin.  So if you can do that maths that shows how my YTYT life has been a little shorter than others, at a meagre 2 years, but there have been plenty of highlights I assure you. 
However, I would first like to talk a little seriously about what Yew Tree has meant to me.  If you saw the girl who stood in Cathedral High School reception 2 years ago you probably wouldn’t recognise her.  I know that’s mostly down to a much needed change in friends, but I also know a large part of that is due to the confidence Yew Tree has given me.  Yew Tree has a lasting impact on every single member, empowering them to be the best version of themselves.  I can prove that as I have gradually become the occasionally confident, always loud person I am now proud to be, and I believe had it not been for Yew Tree and its opportunities I would not be this way.  After all, it takes a Genie to make a Brittany. 
Which brings me onto my favourite Yew Tree highlight and one of my proudest ever moments: becoming The Genie in Aladdin.  I think this will always be my favourite role simply because of how much fun we were able to have with it, and how my fellow Genies and I worked together to create the posse.  I still can’t listen to It’s A Kind Of Magic without needing to dance for 16 counts, pose and pout, and that is a sign of pure magnificence in a role I’m sure.
Another YTYT highlight happened a couple of days after my 18^th birthday this year, a late birthday present from the ever wonderful bestie Tiff.  A flashmob.  To my favourite film’s title track.  A Footloose Flashmob.  Although I’m sure it was 99% down to Tiff, I know that had it not been for the backbone of Yew Tree this amazing thing would not have happened.  I’ve gradually learnt of the rehearsal space provided, obviously all the Yew Tree members involved and basically the involvement of all things Yew Tree.  And that’s something I love about Yew Tree, how they are willing to take a crazy-awesome idea and turn it into something, shown every year in the Christmas plays (particularly the crazy things Sapphire get up to), and nurture creativity in everything they do.  Go Yew Tree.
Finally I would just like to point to the lasting impact I shall have on YTYT, as I, Brittany Dore, am the creator of #yewtreefrolics.  Yes, I wrote that on a status describing how I had ripped my jeans in a particularly rigorous Bean Game, and it has grown from there.  Here lies my legacy.  *proud face*
I could list a million highlights here, but to be honest every week has brought a new highlight, from a hilarious best/worse, to a failed attempt at a game or a witty one liner in a devised piece, the always delightful Sapphire company has been the highlight of my week for a little over two years now, and I will be sad to see the back of it, and everything Yew Tree related.  But I shall return.  If only for the Games Day 2015.  Try not to miss me too much.  Brittany xxxxxxxxxxx
(A final apology for the sheer length of this blog, I was always the one a few hundred over their word limit when doing coursework…I hope you still enjoyed it…)