A Little Bit of Everything...

I’m pleased to see that MPs (mine included) are still blogging about meeting a Speech and Language Therapist at the Mass Mobilisation (Ian Lavery's Webpage) . Hopefully we’ll see lots more in the coming weeks! It was also good to see a full page spread in the Health Supplement of last Monday’s Evening Chronicle. (Speech and Language Team Win National Award)

On walking into a local pub on Friday night I was greeted by the barman telling me that he recognised me from the newspaper, as he’d seen me twice. I don’t know if was my face or my Giving Voice badge which led him to recognise me. But I smiled and confirmed that he had the correct person. He then asked the 3 men sat at the bar if they had seen me in the paper too. They all said no but were keen to know which Newspapers and why. The chatterbox in me saw this as the perfect opportunity to tell them about Giving Voice (I pointed out my badge) and the valuable work of speech and language therapists. They seemed very interested and I also told them about the mass mobilisation event and how I met our MP Ian Lavery in the Houses of Parliament. I stood talking to them for about 5 minutes and it was lovely to see they were so enthusiastic to hear about speech and language therapy.

The North of Tyne Collaborative have organised a Human Communication Chain which is due to take place on Gateshead Millennium Bridge on November 20^th. If you are in the area, it would be great if you could come along and support us. If not, please support us in advertising the event (facebook event can be found here) and tweeting/updating your facebook status to raise more awareness of Giving Voice. More details of the event to follow soon!

Evening Chronicle, 31st October - (the print is the same as the online article)

A Badge, a Scarf and a Chatterbox

It’s taken me a week but I’m finally blogging about my last day in London...

On Wednesday morning after breakfast we got ready to check out and do some sightseeing before travelling home. I pinned my new Giving Voice badge to my coat and had my camera in hand as we went to check out so I would be prepared if we bumped into David Hasselhoff again.  I looked out for him all the way from the hotel room, through checking out, to leaving the hotel, but sadly we did not see him. (It obviously wasn’t meant to be!)

Still in high spirits from such a brilliant Tuesday, I was looking forward to doing some sightseeing on our last day in London. We set off for a final look at Buckingham Palace then headed back towards Westminster. Although the sun was shining brightly, it was pretty cold so I set off on a mission to find a hat and/or scarf. We passed a shop that sold scarves and I went in to have a look. I was quickly drawn to a bright (Giving Voice) pink one but I knew it wouldn’t go with the red coat I was wearing so I decided to get a black one (another Giving Voice colour!). To my delight, the man in the shop told me that the scarves were 2 for £5 so I decided to get a pink one and a black one! As I was paying, the man read my badge and said “Giving Voice to who? To what?” so, ever the chatterbox, I took the opportunity to explain the campaign and a little bit about speech and language therapy! Happy I’d told someone else that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms lives and now a lot warmer in my new scarf, we set off to find a hat (my ears were still cold!)

Walking around, I noticed a few people looking at my badge J and when I found a shop that sold a hat, the lady on the till asked what my badge was for.  I was delighted to talk about the campaign again, and was quite impressed so many people seemed to be interested J

I have been wearing my badge all week since I returned home (complete with my hot pink scarf and black winter coat!) ready to spread the word some more when people ask.

If you were at Mass Mobilisation and got a badge – why not wear it when you are out and about to Give Voice and spread the message that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives!

Me wearing my GV badge (Big Ben in the background!)

Me wearing my GV badge (complete with new hat and scarf!)