In the media!

As you may know I met with Ian Lavery MP a couple of weeks ago to present him with a Giving Voice calendar as a thank you for his support of the campaign. Following this meeting I emailed the News Post Leader to inform them of the story.

I used the knowledge I gained at the media training in London in November to ensure I covered all the important points of the story and ensure the person reading my email wanted to run the story. I was delighted that they uploaded it online on Monday and printed it in this weeks edition of the Newspaper!

I'm always excited to see Giving Voice in print! Spreading the word one person at a time :-)

To read the story online click here.

If you haven't already got a calander it's not too late! They are half price now and available from the Giving Voice website.  Why not buy one and pass it on to your local MP, councillor or commissioner to remind (or inform) them that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives!

Meeting a Dragon? I'm in!

Last night I went out in Newcastle with my friends. I only decided yesterday afternoon that I would be going out and I am so glad that I did!!

As it was raining we decided to head to The Gate as its all indoors and this would minimise the amount of time we would get wet! When we arrived at Bannatyne my friend informed us that Duncan Bannatyne himself had just been in! We decided to hang around there a while longer in case he came back, and to our delight he did. We asked him for a photo, to which he happily agreed! About 5 minutes later we decided to go and see him again to get some more photos and to have a chat with him. He was more than happy to chat to us and I gave him a Giving Voice pen and told him that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives. I was delighted that he put the pen in his pocket!

About an hour later I was ordering a drink in another bar and found myself standing next to Duncan again. He said hello and I took the opportunity to raise some more awareness of SLT.

Me: “Did you know that 2.5 people in the UK have speech, language or communication needs?”

Duncan: “I did know that. How do you know?”

I told him that I am a speech and language therapist and he told me about his involvement with Operation Smile UK and his recent trip to Mexico! Click here to find out more!

It was a pleasure to meet him and to have the opportunity to engage in a speech and language therapy related conversation – especially as it was totally unexpected! I always carry a Giving Voice pen with me (even on a night out!) as you never know who you might bump into to spread the message one person further that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives. Wouldn’t it be great if we see him use his new Giving Voice pen on the next series of Dragons Den?! (haha)

Me and Duncan just before I gave him the pen :)

On another note, just one week to go until afternoon tea! I am looking forward to raising awareness of Giving Voice and some much needed funds for the North East Trust for Aphasia, supporting people with language and communication difficulties following a stroke or other brain injury. I emailed the News Post Leader last week about the event and was delighted to see a short piece printed in this week’s edition! Contact me if would like a ticket :-)

News Post Leader

All in all a very exciting couple of days!  

Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives

Lost Voice Guy Headlines Again!

I was pleased to see a short piece printed in the News Post Leader this week about Lost Voice Guy at Ashington Football Club. This is also available online with a photo of Lost Voice Guy (see here). I’m looking forward to seeing Lost Voice Guy at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh on Wednesday with Patrick Monahan as the MC J I’ll be taking some Giving Voice leaflets and pens  just in case there’s anyone I can give them to!

It’s just 5 weeks until the Great North Run and we’ve been buying Jelly Babies ready to give out to the runners on the day, (around the 11 mile mark). I will be going along wearing my Giving Voice t-shirt again like last year and we’ll also be giving out oranges. My sister wrote to South Shields and Boldon Asda’s to ask if they would donate any oranges for us to give out, but so far she hasn’t heard back. Check out my blog entry from the GNR last year (here)

The Jelly Babies we've bought so far :-)

My brother-in-law is running the GNR for NETA (North East Trust for Aphasia) and I’ll be there cheering him on. If you’d like to sponsor him you can do so here.

Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives

Be Part of a Communication Chain...

I am getting quite excited for tomorrow’s event on Gateshead Millennium Bridge! I really hope the weather is like it has been today (sunny and dry - if a little cold!)

I have Giving Voice balloons and I've bought pink and black ones as well as balloon sticks to make us stand out tomorrow.  I can't wait to see them all blown up (hope it doesn't take us too long!).

If you haven’t already seen the facebook event check it out here for more information. It’s not too late to decide to come and join us! We’ve got free balloons and stickers!

If you can’t make it to the event please support our cyber chain by tweeting about the event (#givingvoiceuk) or updating your facebook status. I’ve been tweeting a range of people/organisations in the area in the hope they might retweet about the Giving Voice event (so far altweet_pet have retweeted to 1800 followers and Koast Radio to 280 followers J)

I was pleased to see that this weeks News Post Leader had a short piece in about the North of Tyne Collaboration’s award and about Sir Alan Beith’s visit to the SLT service in Berwick. It didn’t mention Giving Voice but was nice to see they are talking about the good work of speech and language therapists again! The headline is ‘MP Praises Speech Team’. I cannot find the News Post Leader’s online version but I’ll upload a photo of the piece soon.

I hope to see you Giving Voice tomorrow (either on Gateshead Millennium Bridge or in cyber space!) Good Luck everyone! Let’s make it an event to remember because Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives.

Giving Voice in Print

On Thursday I received a telephone call from my grandad, asking if I had seen this week’s News Post Leader yet. When I said our copy had not yet arrived he offered to come straight round to my house with his Newspaper so that I could the piece that had been printed about Giving Voice (and me).

I was pleased that Giving Voice had made it to the local paper again, and eagerly turned the pages until I was presented with a half page spread and two photos, and the headline “Julie is ‘speechless’ on Winning Award”

A few inaccuracies in the main body of the text but still a positive piece overall and I was delighted to see that they printed two photos (one from Mass Mobilisation, as well as one of Gareth Gates and I with our awards).

The online version of the piece can be found here and is currently available from a link on the homepage of the News Post Leader website!! J

It made my grandad’s day to see me in the local paper and it made mine to see Giving Voice in print again J

I shared the photo on link to the article on my facebook and was delighted to see that some of my family and friends did the same on theirs J Giving Voice one person at a time.

The piece from the News Post Leader (page 46 - Thursday 27th October 2011)

I've created a page (which can be found by looking down the right side of this page) with links to online Giving Voice related media from my local news papers. I’ve added this most recent one to this page (Local Giving Voice Coverage - click here) 

MP adds Voice to Campaign (News Post Leader!)

This morning, I was delighted to see that Giving Voice has made it to the News Post Leader again, with the headline ‘MP adds Voice to Campaign’. There’s a short piece about the campaign and my involvement at the Gala day, as well as MP Ian Lavery’s support. Unfortunately, they haven’t printed the website address though (but they did last week so hopefully people might have seen that too!)

There is also a photo of Ian Lavery and myself at the stall at the Gala day on Sunday! J I can’t see anything on the News Post Leader website at the moment, but I’ll keep checking!

(It's on page 12 of  this week's Leader if you get it and want to have a look)

News Post Leader... :)

I was delighted to see that there is a short piece in this week’s News Post Leader about my stall at the Street Fair (26.06.2011) - check it out on page 24 if you get the paper. They also directed people to the Giving Voice website J so hopefully a few more people will check it out! Here’s the online version of the write up in the News Post Leader:

http://www.newspostleader.co.uk/community/julie_s_stall_raises_more_than_200_for_charity_1_3570653