"Read all about it!!"

Journalists are becoming my new best friends this week! On Sunday night I went to see ‘The Feeling’ in Newcastle and got talking to a trainee journalist there (from a North East regional newspaper). Always keen to Give Voice, I told him about Speech and Language Therapy and the campaign. I also told him that I am joining other SLTs in London next week to talk to our MPs (can’t believe it’s only a week to go!!). He was interested in what I had to say and we exchanged contact details. I don’t know if anything will come of it, but it’s always good to have another contact! J

Our Ashington Extra arrived with a thud today and I decided to have a flick through it to see what exciting things have been happening in Ashington over the last week! I was delighted to see that there was a short piece about the talk I did with Liz in Newbiggin last Tuesday. The journalist I contacted last week was interested in hearing more about my campaigning (he is impressed with how proactive and enthusiastic I am!) and I’m glad he got another short piece printed in The Extra. I was pleased to see he published the GV web address, and he also printed my email in case any other groups would like a similar talk. I think the over 50’s really enjoyed the talk and I’d love to Give Voice to other groups too.

The journalist also asked me to report back how it goes with Ian Lavery next week J so hopefully some further publicity will follow.

Ashington Extra - Wednesday 12th October

A little bit of Everything...

I’ve not written here for a few days as I’ve been looking after my little niece so I thought I’d post something before the weekend. A few things to update:

Unfortunately the appointment I arranged to meet a local councillor this afternoon was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances (on the councillor’s part) so we have agreed to rearrange a suitable time.

I followed up two of my councillor letters by email this morning so hopefully I will hear from them soon J

I had an email from someone asking how to find out who your local MP is so thought I would share here how you do it in case anyone isn’t sure what to do J

Click on this link à http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/ and search via constituency or your postcode J

This will tell you who your MP is, with contact details for Westminster and your Constituency. Good luck with contacting your MP (and don’t forget the mass mobilisation event in October!)

I was surprised and delighted to see that Giving Voice was mentioned in the Ashington Extra again this week (a couple of pages in) – it was very similar to what was on the front page last month. It seemed to be confused reporting though as it said I raised money for Giving Voice and the North East Trust for Aphasia. But it was still nice to see it in there seeing as I hadn't actually contacted them again.

Have a lovely weekend! J

From Deflation to Elation...

On 4^th July I wrote to seven of Northumberland’s councillors about the Giving Voice campaign and so far haven’t had a response from any of them L I began to follow this up with telephone calls this afternoon...

I didn’t have time to contact all seven today but I made a start J councillor one didn’t answer so I left a voicemail and followed up with an email. I spoke to councillor two who said she probably received my letter but couldn’t recall. I felt like I had inconvenienced her by calling and she asked why I thought this matter was of importance to her.. I explained a bit more about the campaign and asked if we could meet to discuss it further. She told me she isn’t in a position to make any decisions at the moment (with regards to meeting me) and gave me the contact details of someone else.  I sent an email following the telephone call so I’ll see what happens with that..  I felt slightly deflated after the phone call as she was difficult to talk to... however, she did give me the contact details of someone else J

Councillor one called me back later this afternoon and we arranged an appointment to meet for next Friday at 2.30pm! Exciting times J (watch this space!) I plan to contact councillors three-seven sometime next week to follow up the letters I sent.

This afternoon I was looking at Ian Lavery’s Website and came across a piece that seems to have been written the week after I met him. (see link below) He mentions meeting me about Giving Voice :-) - He usually writes in the Ashington Extra every week but I didn’t see this piece printed (though I have been looking!)

http://www.ianlavery.co.uk/index.php?page=debt-exploitation-companies

I was pleased to see Giving Voice printed somewhere else (though I don’t know how many people read Ian Lavery’s website.)

I wrote a poem about Giving Voice/speech and language therapy today which I will share over the next few days so keep checking back!

All in all it’s been a rather good Friday in terms of Giving Voice, and I’m ready for a nice relaxing weekend!  

Giving Voice - front page of local paper!

Excited! Excited! Excited! More publicity for Giving Voice! J

My friend text me earlier to say she’d seen me in the Ashington Extra! So I was excited to hear the thud of the paper through the door earlier this evening, and even more excited to see the headline on the side of the front page! The piece mentions both the stalls I held in Ashington for Giving Voice (and fundraising for the North East Trust for Aphasia), and states that Ian Lavery, MP for Wansbeck attended to show his support!

I emailed the paper on Sunday night but hadn’t heard back so it was a lovely surprise to see that it has made it to the front page. I was disappointed that they didn’t print the website but hopefully, anyone that is interested in finding out more will search online J

There’s nothing on the Ashington Extra website at the moment (apart from the article which was published before the first stall – which does state the website) – but I will keep looking and share it if anything appears J