Story written by Su Corcoran (Wise Owl), 4th Didsbury Brownies.
Roxanne and Otis were posted to Brown Owl, in charge of 4th Didsbury Brownies. Just after they arrived it snowed across the region and so they got to go out and see snow for the first time- but sadly the photograph didn’t turn out well of their time in the snow. It was very cold – winter had definitely arrived. Roxanne and Otis joined the Brownies for the last meeting of the year.
It was a Christingle service. At the Christingle, the children are given an orange, candle, a ribbon, for cocktail sticks, and sweets and dried fruits to stick on the sticks. With all of these bits they build a Christingle.
At this church, the girls were given glow sticks instead of candles. When the lights were switched off it looked really cool seeing all the sticks glowing in the dark.
Otis and Roxanne enjoyed joining in with the singing and the service.
They also helped the Brownies raise some money for their chosen charity.
At the end of the meeting Roxanne and Otis went home with S. They had a really fun week…the day after Brownies, S took them with her to a Christmas party.
There was a secret Santa (the presents had to be bought in a charity shop) and one of the recipients was given an owl. He was a much bigger owl than Otis, but he was very friendly.
At the weekend, S took Otis and Roxanne to Frosted by Magic, a dance show by the Tangled theatre company at Heaton Hall.
The dancers told the story of the greedy wizards and the good tailors who helped them overcome their greed and become better people. The dancing was beautiful.
After the show, they took the tram into Manchester city centre, where they enjoyed the Christmas markets, eating out…
… and the Family Carols service at Manchester Cathedral.
Otis decided that Hark the Herald Angels was his favourite carol, while Roxanne preferred listening to the choir singing the even older Christmas songs.
On Sunday, S packed their bags and the three of them jumped onto a train to Stoke-on-Trent….
… where they were picked up by T&M and driven all the way across the country to Norwich.
It was a really long journey, but they got to spend a lovely hour in Ely, looking at the amazing Cathedral and having coffee.
They had an early night before spending the day in Norwich with T&M, while S went to visit a school in another village.
Norwich Castle is amazing.
The sandstone, from France, is beautiful. The cathedral was similarly spectacular – the stonework on the pillars and ceiling made you realise the amount of work that went into constructing such an impressive building. It was also possible to still see some of the old wall paintings.
The following day everyone packed up the car to start the long journey to Wales, where T&M live. On the way they stopped at Kings Lynn for coffee. At one point in history, Kings Lynn was one of the most important town in England as it was the centre for international trade to Europe and wheat that was grown in the flat fields of Norfolk was exported by boats from the town (when America was discovered, and ports on the western coast of the UK grew, Kings Lynn declined). The old town area of Kings Lynn is full of buildings that lean over, and historic lanes and archways. The cathedral in particular is beautiful. Otis felt very small next to such a huge building.
It was a shame that they only stopped for coffee, because Otis and Roxanne would have liked to have spent more time exploring, but they had to jump back in the car for the long drive across the country (and the fish and chip supper at the other end).
Otis really enjoyed watching the scenery go by through the passenger door window. All the trees were like winter skeletons, silhouetted against the wide-open sky of flat Norfolk, and then later against the sunset, which was a spectacular shade of orange.
The part of Wales that they went to had lots of farmland and animals nearby, so Roxanne and Otis got to meet some different animals. 
The pigs were curious to meet an owl and a rhino, but were pretty smelly, so Roxanne and Otis made their escape quite quickly!
The geese were pretty angry about having a rhino in their field, but were quite happy to make friends with Otis, because he was another bird like them.
Roxanne made friends with a lama instead. Lamas are pretty chilled out creatures so they had a nice chat.
Not all birds were happy to meet Otis- the chickens refused to come out of the chicken pen to meet him!
Roxanne and Otis were exhausted after their adventures but had an amazing time exploring the different areas of the UK and meeting all of the brownies at 4th Didsbury Brownies. Thank you very much to Brown Owl, Wise Owl, S, T and M for making them so welcome and showing them around! Both Otis and Roxanne are really excited to see what their next adventures bring!
Photos shared with consent.
Out With Animals 