World Alzheimer's Month

I’ve written before about my late great, great, great Aunty Nansi. I loved hear dearly and was privileged to spend many happy summers holidaying at her house in Hereford when I was a child. Every summer we would pack up the car and set off from west Wales to stay at her house or caravan nearby, spending days playing in her summer house in the garden or racing our bikes along the country paths surrounding her home.

Being my great, great, great Aunty she was already in the later stages of her life when I was born and the only way I knew her apart from looking at old photos was with white hair and a face showing years of adventures and laughter. 

Whilst she may have already been considered a senior citizen when I was young she was in great health, apart from the odd ache and pain that comes from a lifetime of hard work, and had a great zest for life. What I loved most and remember ever so fondly of our time spent together was the amazing stories she shared with me from her lifetime - such as the days of hardship then  triumph during the war, her days in London working as a live in nanny and her daily adventures from then.

#BreakingBarriers - Bathing Solutions campaign to inspire seniors to learn new skills.

I've always been close to my elderly relatives and neighbours. I love spending time with the older generation and love their wealth of interesting stories of adventures and life over the years.

Of the older generation I know the ones who have thrived and been the most happy are the ones who have thrown the saying 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' out of the window and had the desire and drive to learn new skills, do what they want, have adventures and simply live life to the fullest.

With the number of people living longer increasing every year so that the senior generation makes up a large proportion of our population I find it sad that negative stereotypes about seniors are still commonly viewed as correct. Yes there will be some of seniors who fit into the stereotypes commonly connected old people but thanks to advances in mobility aids, innovations and progression in healthcare and improvements in the standards of living seniors seniors are being given an improved quality and length of life that enables them to live life to its fullest, do what they want and brush off the stereotypes of old grumpy people who do nothing and cannot learn any new skills.

Arthritis Care Week - Living and Sleeping with Arthritis eBook by Adjustamatic

This week has been Arthritis Care Week.

Over the past few days during Arthritis Care Week (14-21 May 2016) Arthritis Care, along with supportive companies and arthritis sufferers and loved ones, have been striving to raise awareness of what it is like to live with arthritis.

Sadly arthritis is a common condition in fact it is estimated that 10 million people in the UK are living with arthritis. Arthritis which can affect people of all ages, young and old, can be a very painful and exhausting condition to live with. The condition not only affects daily life and making certain tasks harder but it also affects a suffers sleep too.

Tackling the school run and the Churchill Lollipopper Fund - Providing a safeguard around our schools.

Unlike when I was a child and lived miles from our school and had to be driven to school, as we live relatively close to Bug's school everyday we complete the school run by walking to and from school. Whilst I enjoy walking Bug to and from school especially as we chat without having the stress of driving through the 'traffic jams of school run time' distracting me from hearing about his day and I get to babywear Jelly Bean, walking the school run can be a dangerous as we tackle road crossings and traffic.

As well as having to avoid perils such as busy roads with cars driving too quickly, hectic road crossings and copious amounts of dog mess that we do our best to not step in we also have to face an onslaught of parents abandoning their cars on the pavements as they rush to get to school on time and want to get as close to the school as possible even if that means mounting the pavement regardless of those walking along to school as we do. I have shockingly and worryingly witnessed cars racing up onto the pavement only inches away and without a second thought of safety for a walking family!

Sponsored video: Family friendly banking at Barclays put to the test by Mumsnetters.

Bug is my little sidekick as we have fun adventures together and as I go about day-to-day life doing household chores and dealing with family responsibilities. My little sidekick is a very good boy, helping me do household chores and having a lot of patience as we do the family food shop and go to various appointments. Whilst he is very good at helping me and on his best behaviour when we visit shop and go to various appointments one place that he does not have a lot of patience and enthusiasm for is the bank.

To be fair I can completely understand why Bug is not very enthusiastic about visits to the bank as I deal with our family finances, in my opinion most banks tend not to be very family friendly and are not that interesting or fun for children.

As I have had to content with a number of visits to the bank with a child who gets bored and frustrated waiting for me to deal with the family finances I very interested to hear that Barclays aim to make life easier for families with their family friendly products and bank branches that hopefully are more favourable for children as well as being convenient banking.

To celebrate their campaign to make banking more family friendly and put their family friendly products and branches to the test, Barclays invited a group of Mumsnetters and their children to test-drive a Barclays bank.

Are you on the organ donor register? - National Transplant Week.

Today is the last day of National Transplant Week.

This past week from the 7th to the 13th July 2014, National Transplant Week has been raising awareness of organ donation, saving lives and the Organ Donor Register.

Let's Grow Wild! #GrowWild

I have always loved spending my time outdoors in nature and since having Bug my love of being outdoors has been rekindled thanks to the many moments we have had together exploring and playing outdoors.  We love the great outdoors and love nothing more than enjoying time together as a family having fun outdoors come rain or shine, relishing in the wonder of Mother Nature. 

I have many fond memories of our time spent together in the great outdoors such as the time we had a rainy day adventure at the beach where we were the only ones mad enough to brave the beach in the rain, the bank holiday when Bug was a muddy mess as he played in the mud during a lovely walk in the countryside and when Bug loved getting green fingered and having fun getting into a mucky mess as he took part in a Kids Grow Wild challenge.

Whilst I love being outdoors regardless of the weather or time of year, and appreciate all of the seasons and all types of weather for their own unique, special reasons there is something enchanting about spring and summer when flowers are emerging and blossoming into beautiful blooms.  I love walking in the countryside, appreciating the wildlife and admiring wild flowers that attract insects, beautiful buzzing bumble bee’s collecting pollen and fluttering butterflies.

5 reasons granny pants are the best - #NationalBVDay

Believe it or not, granny pants are going through a bit of a revival. What was that? A collective sigh of relief from the female population? Probably. But it is true, in fact the latest figures show sales of high cut, full coverage briefs doubled in 2013, and that trend is expected to continue this year too.

Forget Bridget Jones, you don’t need to be curvy, single or incredibly klutzy to enjoy the pleasures of the full coverage pantie. There really are lots of reasons we should all be investing in granny pants right now. Here are just five of those reasons to start your conversion to the world of big pants.

1. No inadvertent wedgies.

Whilst there may be some ladies out there who truly do love their thong, how many of us actually find them to be a pain in the butt – literally? That terrible sinking feeling when you’re in a very public place and the back of your thong disappears between your cheeks can be no more, thanks to the granny pant. Designed to stay where you put them, this is one piece of underwear guaranteed to come with no nasty surprises.

2. Comfy cotton.

Some days we feel like a bit of luxurious lace, others some slinky satin. But when it comes down to it, nothing feels quite a soft, cool and comfortable as plain old 100% cotton underwear, a speciality of the granny pant. And because of this, there is less chance of developing conditions such as thrush or bacterial vaginosis (BV). Put simply, BV is an imbalance in your pH levels caused by everyday things like excessive washing, perfumed products, antibiotics, your period and even semen. BV is a vaginal condition which can make your nether regions smell like a fish market, and is made worse by wearing underwear with unbreathable materials such as polyester and nylon.

Bacterial Vaginosis advice video with Dr Dawn Harper - #NationalBVDay

To help raise awareness and learn more about Bacterial Vaginosis on #NationalBVDay take a look at this BV advice video with TV's Dr Dawn Harper and Amanda Butler.

Talk about #NationalBVDay and get #BOGOFBV products from Balance Active!

Let's talk about Bacterial Vaginosis and raise awareness of intimate women's health issues for #NationalBVDay

 Something to talk about!

#BOGOFBV products from Balance Active to celebrate #NationalBVDay!

On Wednesday 16th April 2014, Balance Activ will be encouraging women all over the world to talk to their friends and family and talk to Balance Activ about Bacterial Vaginosis and intimate women’s health issues for National BV Day.

Organised by Balance Activ, a female intimate health brand, National BV Day was created to encourage women to put aside their uncertainties and to openly discuss intimate issues, particularly about Bacterial Vaginosis (BV), a little known vaginal condition which affects millions of women and is twice as common as Thrush. 

Bacterial Vaginosis Awareness - April 16th #NationalBVDay

Bacterial Vaginosis and Pregnancy #NationalBVDay

Have you heard of Bacterial Vaginosis (BV)?  Would you recognise the symptoms?  Don’t worry, you’re not alone if you haven’t heard of BV.  

One in three women will suffer from BV, making it the UK’s most common vaginal condition and yet a surprising 61% of women have never heard of or are unsure of the symptoms of BV according to a recent online survey and 2 out of 3 women misdiagnose BV as Thrush.

Bacterial Vaginosis…. do you know the facts? #NationalBVDay

It’s not something women often talk about; anything to do with downstairs is often a top secret topic... And yet, all women have a vagina.  That’s right, we said it, vagina.

It would seem that women’s intimate health is a secretive topic with over a third of women admitting they would feel more comfortable getting health advice online and a fifth saying they were too embarrassed to speak to a GP. 

So, have you ever heard of BV?  Or, more to the point, have you ever had Bacterial Vaginosis?  Don’t worry – you’re not alone.  Over 61% of women in the UK are not aware of this common and easily treatable condition, and yet it is the most usual cause of abnormal vaginal discharge.

* Sponsored video * Dream the Blues campaign - Samsung and Chelsea FC.

Living with a footie fan who is an avid supporter of the beautiful game and both Lee and I being champions of great campaigns aimed at children I had to share about Samsung Electronics’ ‘Dream the Blues’ campaign alongside Chelsea FC.

The Dream the Blues campaign provides children from a number of countries across the globe with a once-in-a-lifetime football experience.  The campaign which covers four continents and eight different countries aims to encourage football-loving children aged 9-13 to develop their football skills and achieve their football dreams with a little help from English Premier League club Chelsea FC.

This year’s Dream the Blues campaign is the second season of the campaign following on from last year’s successful launch of the Samsung Dream the Blues campaign with Chelsea FC.  The campaign is an expansion of the Samsung-Chelsea FC Youth Football Camp programme which has been providing children with the opportunity to be trained for the next generation of football players since 2007 with the initiative having benefited 5,000 children across the World so far.

Know the glow - Childhood Eye Cancer Trust.

December is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in the UK.  One small charity is working extremely hard to make sure parents around the world ‘know the glow’ and take action if necessary.

Do you know the glow?

The ‘glow’ is a very subtle sign in a child’s eyes that their life may be at risk.

Childhood eye cancer ( retinoblastoma) is rare but can be deadly.

It can rob children of their sight, in most cases at least one of their eyes and from time to time, sadly, their life.  For those affected they can face years of treatment, dozens of examinations under general anaesthetic and the life-long impact of living with an artificial eye.

Yet many parents have never even heard of it.  More worrying, GPs too are failing parents by missing the symptoms – in 2012 72% of GPs who examined a child with retinoblastoma either missed the tumours altogether or misdiagnosed them as a less serious condition – delaying these children access to vital life-saving treatment.

Now the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT) is campaigning to educate parents about the signs and symptoms so they can take action if they ever see the signs in their own child.  Early diagnosis offers the best chance of saving a child’s sight, preventing the need to have their eye or eyes removed and ultimately will save their life.

In 2011 CHECT convinced the Institute for Child Health to publish the signs of retinoblastoma in the Personal Child Health Record (red book) as prior to this there was no public information at all about the condition which is found in around 50 babies and children in the UK each year.

As children with Rb, as it is known for short, often show no other signs of illness, it is crucial that parents know what to look out for and this is why CHECT has released a series of posters online during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in hope of using people power to share these vital messages.  More than 100,000 people on Facebook have been reached so far since the beginning of the month.

A glow in the eye can of course be nothing to worry about – in most cases it is the light of the flash bouncing off the back of the eye  but CHECT reminds us that you cannot rule out serious eye conditions, which include cataracts among others, from a photograph alone and we should always get it checked out.

The good news is there is a simple test our GPs can do to rule out anything serious.  The red reflex test involves shining a torch into the eye of the child - the room should be dark so the pupils are nice and wide.  But CHECT advise to print off details of the test from the website and take them to the GP to help explain any concerns you have. http://www.chect.org.uk/cms/index.php/signs-and-symptoms/who-to-see

The second most common sign of this eye cancer is a squint – often dismissed as a lazy eye, CHECT is doing its best to raise awareness amongst GPs and health visitors to ensure all children with suspected squints are automatically checked with the red reflex test before being referred to a squint clinic.

There are four other signs of Rb which you can read about here http://www.chect.org.uk/cms/index.php/signs-and-symptoms

CHECT’s campaign runs until the end of the month, you can help support their efforts by liking their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Childhood-Eye-Cancer-Trust-CHECT/123729324370622) and more importantly by sharing their awareness posters. It’ll cost you nothing but could save a life.

*  Charity guest post *

Save Santa's Home!

Santa’s home is melting!!!

Help!!  Santa, the Elves, Rudolph, the other reindeer’s and all their arctic animals friends are in danger!!

Dear old Santa is finding it hard to keep a big smile on his face in spite of all the festive spirit and excitement of making little boys and girls across the country very happy at Christmas with the lovely gifts he delivers because he is worried about his home which is danger.

Santa is in desperate need of your help because without your help his home, the job he is passionate about and all the presents for children across the globe will be underwater and ruined thanks to climate change.

Tweeting bra Breast Cancer campaign - sponsored video.

Since losing my grandmother to breast cancer over 10 years ago breast cancer is an issue that is close to my heart.  Having lost a loved one to breast cancer I support campaigns that raise awareness of breast cancer and charities that raise money for the cause.

As I like to support breast cancer campaigns I wanted to share with you about Nestle Fitness’ latest video campaign where they are raising awareness for breast cancer and highlighting the importance of monthly breast self-check-ups.

Realising that due to busy lives some women simply forget to regularly check their breasts Nestle Fitness are aiming to remind women about the importance of regular breast self-check-ups with their innovative breast cancer campaign.

Recognising that in spite of hectic lives many women still find the time to check social media, Nestle Fitness have come up with a ground-breaking way to raise awareness for breast cancer and remind women about the significance of the monthly self-exam on the social media platform twitter with the unique Tweeting Bra.

Ecover - Message In Our Bottle Campaign.

Cleaning the seas, one bottle at a time. Visit The-Splash for more information and to read our pledge.

#Blogging4Madeleine

Since becoming a parent I find news of missing children more heart-breaking than ever.  Personally when I hear news of a missing child my only concern is the missing child.  I offer my support by spreading the news.

I have decided to take part in the #blogging4madeleine campaign this year to not only write about missing Madeleine McCann but to also highlight the fact that there are thousands of children missing in the UK with at least hundreds of thousands of children missing across the whole World.

Baby Loss Awareness Campaign

Image courtesy of www.babyloss-awareness.org

Our Wave Of Light