Don Hale Blog

  South African puzzle book author Val Crowson publishes a fascinating new SEARCH FOR THE WORDS book...  And a special note from the author's daughter in law Mariska Crowson... Coast and Country online magazine promotion. 🧩  Can you say these WORDS really fast?     🐺  Wolf Flow   😴  Sleep Peels   🚚  Deliver Reviled   🏌️‍♂️  Flog Golf   🏆  Drawer Reward   🍰  Stressed Dessert   ⚔️  Raw War   ☕  Faced Decaf   🎨  Decal Laced   They might twist your tongue but in Val Crowson’s new wordsearch puzzle book, you can take your time to find them!  😉   Search for the Words is a fun and challenging wordsearch book created by South African author Val Crowson, designed to test your mind, improve your focus, and bring a smile while you play.     🧠  Perfect for puzzle lovers, teachers, book club readers, or anyone who enjoys a good brain workout!  ...

  South African puzzle book author Val Crowson publishes a fascinating new SEARCH FOR THE WORDS book... And a special note from the author's daughter in law Mariska Crowson... Coast and Country online magazine promotion. What do many retired teachers do when they finally have time for themselves? Some rest. Some travel. Mine? She wrote a book and not just any book.   💛 Meet Val Crowson , my mum, a lifelong teacher who turned her love for learning into something extraordinary: with her brand-new puzzle book called Search for the Words , now live on Amazon.   🧩  Inside are 200 unique wordsearch puzzles that do more than pass time, they train your mind, test your focus, and reveal a hidden answer once you have found every word.   Each puzzle has a secret waiting to be discovered... if you are curious enough to look.  😉  It’s such a beautiful reminder that creativity doesn’t retire, it evolves.  And Val has just proven it. 🌼   📚   Now a...

Val Crowson publishes a fascinating new SEARCH FOR THE WORDS book... Coast and Country - a North Wales online magazine  promotion.  donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2025 The author of this brand new  Search for the Words  puzzle book is Val Crowson , a retired teacher, who previously used word searches in the classroom to help promote the learning of topics and vocabulary extension.  Val lives in South Africa and she is married with three children and six grandchildren, and now retired, she has collated and created several new wordsearches with the idea of publishing them within this exciting new book.  NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON:   https://amzn.to/4qH1IqC   ABOUT THE NEW SEARCH FOR THE WORDS BOOK by Val Crowson. A collection of 200 distinctive and individually created wordsearches just for you to enjoy! Words can be found horizontally, vertically or backwards, but not diagonally.  The letters that make up these words can be used more than once and can ...

*Swansea Harrier and Welsh  Master Ifan Lloyd ran the Comrades Marathon. Welsh Master endurance athlete  Ifan Lloyd tackled the famous Comrades Marathon in South Africa, and success for WMAL duo at the Masters Match half-marathon at Swansea. Introduction by Don Hale. Story forwarded courtesy of David Gibson. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk Swansea Harrier and Welsh Master Athletics veteran Ifan Lloyd tells of his recent gruelling and dramatic experiences of running the famous Comrades Marathon on 8th June 2025. This year was the down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, some 56.32 miles distance, with an overall drop of over 800metres, on a hot and stifling day. Just about managed to finish in one piece to earn a back-to-back medal for completing the race on two consecutive years.  To be honest I had no right to start the race given the hamstring tendinopathy, and even less of a right to finish.  I had done no decent training ses...

*Pictured above - Welsh Master and Swansea Harrier Ifan Lloyd. Great performance by Welsh Master Ifan Lloyd in the South African Comrades Ultra-Marathon... Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Welsh Master and Swansea Harrier Ifan Lloyd bravely completed the gruelling Comrades Ultra-Marathon in South Africa last month, which is said to be one of the world’s largest and oldest ultra-marathon events. This year, and described as an ‘up-run,’ this prestigious annual race was held in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa and started in waves from 5.30am by the City Hall in Durban, and eventually finished 88kms (55 miles), away in  Pietermaritzburg. The organisers claimed it is ‘ The Ultimate Human Challenge ,’ and said it’s the ‘ Unofficial World Championships of ultra-running. ’ Ifan was one of about 22,522 entrants with some 17,304 finishers and amazingly, he completed his own epic performance in a superb time of just 8 hours...