It’s hard to believe that it’s over 6 weeks since my last post.  Many of you know that I have been away in the UK for a month, visiting friends and family – most importantly my Mum who still lives in England and who I miss so much.

One of the absolutely fantastic things though, is that for the very first time, I got to meet in person some of English members of my facebook group “Laini’s Beach Shack” (which is open to all of my newsletter subscribers) – see the photos below: top left With Vince Nicoll, top right Andrew Hotston, bottom left with Ginny Salmon and Martin Hill, and bottom right with Mike and Helen Gould.

The Beach Shack has been a huge part of my life for over 3 years now – I have made some wonderful friends, have had a lot of fun and it really feels as though we have developed a community who have started to get to know each other and support each other.

The time away though gave me time to think about my direction in the coming weeks and months.

I knew before my trip to the UK that I needed a break.  Life has definitely changed over the past 6 months – my support role for my Husband, Peter, has increased (as his feet have been slow to heal following his accident in 2017), living back on the boat is definitely more challenging than in the house we rented during the first 12 months of his recovery; and, in addition, trying to keep up with all my music activities as well as my admin work for Peter’s business has been leaving little time for anything else and starting to take it’s toll on my health.

One of the main things I realised is that I needed to consolidate my online social media presence and reduce my regular ‘daily’ activities to give me more breathing space.

And so, it was with a huge amount of sadness that I came to the conclusion that I could no longer administrate and run the Beach Shack.

It’s funny though, how you can go on, knowing how important something has become for you, but not realising how important it has become for others too.  I knew that the Beach Shack had become more than just another facebook group for me, but a family, but I was both amazed and moved when The Shackers (as the members like to call themselves ?) started to tell me that it had become the same for them too and that they did not want to see it close.

And so, The Shackers have spoken and the Beach Shack lives on, but this is where it is really exciting – it is now being run by the members themselves for the members!

This is absolutely fantastic!  It has breathed fresh life into the group and it feels like an exciting new beginning.  It’s taken the pressure off me to organise all the daily activities and discussions, although I am very much a part of it, and I think it has given the group as a whole more a sense of collaborative ownership.

Special thanks, however, have to go to Vince Nicoll for taking on the Activity Co-ordinator role and also to Mike Raine who has taken on a joint Administrative role with Vince, whilst I continue to approve and welcome new members.

So, if you are not a member already, then please do consider joining.  It really is a fun place where you can participate as much or as little as you like.  It is a place where we get to know each other, where we have fun and where we talk all things music and non-music.

Here is the link once again.  Just click on the JOIN button once you reach the page and put in your best e-mail address for receiving my newsletters.