The Bluetits Bag Lady Reveals All
Back in the summer, a group of people swam by me while I was dipping in Fishguard harbour. I got chatting… no one was in a hurry… and found this was the North Pembrokeshire Bluetits so I joined up. Since then there have been times when 50 folks and attendant seals were out there in the water. Sometimes it’s a few less, but these days, there is rarely a high tide that does not have a flock of Bluetits going into or coming out of the water on the slipway… and what an interesting bunch with so many stories to tell…
Anyway, when these gorgeous waterproof bags started to turn up I had a chat with their creator, Julie Sliz, a woman of many talents and a driving force behind our ‘chapter’, and asked her to tell me something about herself and their creation. She told me that she really thinks about the person when she is making one of her bags and, Bluetits being Bluetits, each person names their special bag and posts pics of it at work. It’s become quite the thing don’t you know. Over to JULIE SLIZ…
I don’t know what your wildest dreams are – mine certainly didn’t include cold water swimming and running a small business, yet that is exactly what I am doing. Just a few short years ago I was living in Birmingham and teaching vocational skills to teenagers.
What happened? I changed my life by moving to Pembrokeshire.
Julie in storytelling mood
Swimming in the sea all year without a wetsuit certainly gives me respect for cold water. Listening to how my body tells me I’m getting cold and should stop, and knowing how to cope with ‘afterdrop’ are lessons learned. It was a Bluetit Summer Challenge task that led me to the business I now find myself running.
Be creative and try some crafting – a simple enough challenge. I needed a bag to put all my swimming stuff in; dressing quickly is easier if you can keep everything where you can find it (I have a lot of stuff). So I made a bag with many pockets and a waterproof lining. There it is, there you have it! The Anemone Bag was born. After having many, many enquiries about where I got it from, I decided to start making and selling them.
An Anemone Bag
I make each bag specifically for the person who has ordered it; it is personal and unique, no one else will ever have one the same. I am now on Anemone 19 with a very healthy order book and a new business name and Facebook page, Crefftau Cain.
What the next few years hold I don’t know. All I know is that making the most of each opportunity is my key to a happy life, not always an easy one or one free from struggle, but one that is uniquely mine.
Another Anemone Bag
To see the bags and contact Julie go to Facebook page: Crefftau Cain.
To join the Bluetits go to The Bluetits Chill Swimmers – The Bluetits Chill Swimmers – Challenging Our Limits Together
If you live in Goodwick, look out at hIgh tide for a noisy bunch of men and women turning blue in the harbour.
