Laughter in London

As the clocks move forward and Spring is in the air, I welcome you to my first post of 2017. Last week was a particularly exciting week for a pupil in one of the schools I work in. Jesse was invited to London as one of the finalists for Voice Box. He was delighted to be able to attend with his Mum and older sister to tell his joke in Speaker’s House at the Houses of Parliament.

Houses of Parliament before we went inside

Upon arrival at Portcullis House we passed through security and were greeted by a buzz of enthusiasm and excitement in the room. I’d tweeted a photo of Jesse travelling to London on the train, which had subsequently been re-tweeted by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT). Not long after we arrived a number of members of RCSLT staff came to say hello and told him they recognised him from Twitter, which really made his day.

At 12.30pm we were all greeted and shown to Speaker’s House, which involved a walk under the road and up a rather grand flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs we were given a name badge and informed that lunch was served. This allowed a nice opportunity to enjoy the surroundings and mingle with the other guests.

It was clear to see how excited everyone was though I’m sure there were lots of nervous butterflies fluttering around in tummies too. During lunch, there was a magician providing entertainment for the guests and was particularly popular with the children.

After lunch, we were called through to the main room ready for the children to tell their jokes. Nick Smith, MP for Blaenau Gwent, was Master of Ceremonies and he did a great job of keeping the day moving along. He welcomed each of the judging panel and it was lovely to see last year’s winner TJ was back to help choose the winning joke. Read more here about when he won last year. TJ told us his joke at the beginning of the day and then each of the other judges told a joke too.

All of the children were brilliant with a very high standard of jokes (the judges had a tough decision to make!) There were a range of jokes from children from around the country and it was great to see some MPs get up there with their constituents to tell a joke of their own.  

Once all the children had told their jokes we had a refreshment break while the judges made the important decision about the winner and runners-up jokes! We had the opportunity to chat with Ian Lavery, MP who came along to support Jesse.

Jesse and Ian Lavery, MP for Wansbeck
Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson

All of the children were presented with a goody bag and framed certificate and Kamini Gadhok, CEO of RCSLT congratulated everyone on reaching the final. Once all of the children received their goody bags the runners up and winner were announced.  It was a brilliant day and a fantastic opportunity for the children! To read Sam’s winning joke visit RCSLT’s Giving Voice website here.

On Friday morning, I received a telephone call from RCSLT informing me that BBC Radio Newcastle wanted to interview Jesse about his experience at Voice Box. Jesse was extremely excited about this opportunity and I went to his school on Friday afternoon so that the interview could be recorded via telephone. We both chatted to the presenter Jon and the interview went out on the Drive Time show on Friday evening. If you’d like to listen to the interview you can find it here (from 54:09) – it’s only available until Friday (07/04/17).

It’s been great to see lots of activity on Twitter, including tweets from RCSLT, BBC Radio Newcastle and Ian Lavery, MP.  More photos from the day can be found on the RCSLT Instagram and Twitter.

It was a brilliant day in London and it was lovely to hear Jesse say that the competition has led to him making more friends. We all thoroughly enjoyed the competition back in the Autumn term (read about it here) and Jesse getting to the final is fantastic.

I received lots of positive feedback about how much the children and teachers enjoyed Voice Box and we are all looking forward to taking part again. It’s a brilliant opportunity to celebrate language and how fun it can be!

Jesse's Mum, me, Jesse and his sister at Speaker's House
Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson

Love to Laugh? Voice Box is Back!

After the success of Voice Box last year, I’m excited it is happening again this autumn term. Whether you are a parent, a teacher or a Speech and Language Therapist I’d like to help you inspire your local school to get involved in Voice Box.

Communication is a fundamental part of our daily lives and these skills begin to develop from birth. Humour is something that connects us and allows us to share in experiences with others, building friendships and providing joy. I love that Voice Box brings together the importance of communication and how fun language can be. Humour is used a lot throughout our lives and I think it’s a great way to explore language.

Last year I inspired a number of Leeds schools to get involved in Voice Box (2 of which went on to represent their schools at the final in London with one becoming the overall winner!) Read about the school competition, Leeds final or National Final at Westminster.

We were excited to get involved in Voice Box but it really did exceed our expectations, even before we knew who had been shortlisted. Everyone loved taking part right from the beginning and it was lovely to see how enthusiastic the children were throughout. It was lovely to see the children grow in confidence and they enjoyed sharing their jokes with their friends and on stage. Some of the children required additional support from a Speech and Language Therapist (me) and then delivered their jokes with confidence.

Tilly and Tom enjoying Voice Box

If you work in primary schools I’d encourage you to get involved in Voice Box as it was so much fun! I’ve devised a list of things I did last year to inspire you as a starting point but I’d love to hear any of your own ideas as I’m hoping to get schools involved again this year, and what works for one school may not work for another. This is not an exhaustive list but hopefully will inspire you to help get schools involved.

1.       Inspire Schools and gain a key contact

It will be useful to mention Voice Box as early as possible to begin to plant the seeds. I’ve just started a new job and have already begun to mention it ready to remind them again in the Autumn term. It can be a busy time and it is worth planning it in as soon as possible. If you work in a number of schools, have a discussion with a key person in each who will be enthusiastic about taking it forward. Last year I was really lucky that both the SENCO and Head Teacher thought it was a brilliant idea and we joined together to make a brilliant team to make it work.

2.       Help Staff identify which children may need support

Voice Box is open to all children on primary school age. Some children may have Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) and need additional support to be able to understand and deliver their joke. Last year I did a number of additional rehearsal sessions with some children with SLCN to ensure they were able to learn and deliver their joke confidently.

3.      Set a date and share with whole school

With the competition dates in mind, think about when your school will hold your competition and how you plan to do it. Are you going to have a whole school event on stage? Per class etc?

Once you’ve decided on a plan, share with staff and students. I shared this with the children during an assembly and it also went out in the school newsletter so parents knew it was happening.

4.       Invite MP and other judges

Once you’ve decided on a date decide if you want to have a judging panel. This can be a really good way to link with MPs or others. We wrote to the local MP and then I followed this up with a visit to his surgery and invited him in person. We chose to have the event on a Friday so that the MP would be in constituency and more likely to be able to attend. Even if you don’t need the MP to be a judge it can be a good idea to write to them and tell them it is happening as the final will be taking place in Westminster.

5.       Lunch Time Joke Clubs

We had a number of lunch time joke clubs in the weeks leading up to the event. These proved hugely popular and were so oversubscribed that each class could only attend a lunch time joke club once in order to allow everyone who wanted to be involved to have the opportunity to do so.

The joke clubs consisted of looking at joke books and thinking of our favourite jokes. I also prepared some jokes for the younger children with the answers separate to the question to encourage the children to match them according to what made them funny. These were popular activities which inspired the children to think of jokes.

6.      Joke Workshops (No Pens Day)

On No Pens Day I led some joke workshops in each class which wanted them. For the younger children this was reading jokes from children’s joke books and talking about which ones they liked best. With the older children (year 3 and above) we looked at what makes a joke funny (creates a funny picture in your head, uses double meaning (pun) etc.) I then showed them jokes and the children had to decide why it was funny based on what we had discussed. These were popular sessions and encouraged the children to think about jokes. They were really nice sessions to have on No Pens Day as it was a good speaking and listening topic and the children were already enthusiastic at not having to write for the day.

These sessions could be led by the class teacher and wouldn’t need to be done on No Pens Day.

7.       Other:

a.       Goody Bags – we gave each of the judges a goody bag with a range of nice Giving Voice treats (as well as some chocolates!) This is a good way of reminding the judges about Speech and Language Therapy after the event. My dad created some small calendars for 2016 (as the events were in December) with a range of nice photos and facts about Speech and Language Therapy.

b.      Posters – The Voice Box toolkit has a poster you can print and use but school decided to have a poster design competition over the holidays which was also very popular. This allowed children who prefer to be artistic to be involved in the whole school event even if they didn’t want to enter a joke.

c.       Prizes – if you have a whole school event on stage you could get medals etc. We got a trophy for the winning joke (which read ‘I made people laugh’) and all the children who told a joke got a medal. There are certificates to print from the toolkit too which we also gave the children.

8.       Size of event 

Our event was quite large and the whole school was involved, those who didn’t enter a joke watching the show. I know of other school events that took place that were much smaller and just as successful. Even if you don’t have much time you can still get your school involved. My niece wrote to her Head Teacher and was then asked to present the idea in an assembly. The children then had over night to think of a joke for the competition the next day. A winner was chosen from each class and then an overall winner was chosen to enter the competition.

Why should I get involved in Voice Box?

-          Language is fun!

-          Develops speaking and listening skills

-          Opportunity to link with local MPs

-          Spread awareness of Speech and Language Therapy

-          Develops confidence and self-esteem in children

-          Appeals to a wide range of children (and staff alike)

-          Chance of being shortlisted to the National Final in Westminster!

-          Create healthy competition between children and between schools by organising a wider event

I hope you found this interesting and feel inspired to get your schools involved. If you have any questions about how I got involved last year or want to share ideas I’d love to hear from you @pinkjules_16

Voice Box is a joint initiative between RCSLT and The Communication Trust. For further details please see the official website http://www.givingvoiceuk.org/voice-box/

Laughter with a Lord

Thanks to everyone who has read, shared and re-tweeted my blog in the last 24 hours! It's been great to see that a number of the MPs who were at Voice Box last week have retweeted it. Gary Northfield, one of the judges (and children's author and illustrator) also retweeted it to his followers.

Today I got some official photos from RCSLT and I thought it would be nice to share some of them here as an additional post.

Tomorrow morning, Chris Dyson Head Teacher and TJ are going to be on BBC Radio Leeds between 8.15 and 8.30am and on BBC Look North after 6pm. I look forward to listening and watching!

Richard Burgon, Leeds East MP, Chris Dyson and TJ
Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson



Richard Burgon, MP with Abigail from Seacroft Grange
Photo credit: Geoff Wilson

TJ telling his winning joke (complete with potato prop!) with Nick Smith, MP
Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson

 Gary Northfield and TJ with his certificate
Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson

Kamini Gadhok, CEO of RCSLT with Lord Quirk
Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson


Lord Quirk pictured above was President of RCSLT between 1987 and 1991. In addition to this, in the late 1960s/early 1970s he chaired a committee of enquiry into speech therapy services (which fundamentally changed the profession!)

I have enjoyed being involved in Voice Box so much. I think it is a fantastic idea and I know that all the children have enjoyed it too. I look forward to getting involved again next time round. It's a great way to promote the communication skills and confidence of young people in a fun way.

Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives. To read more about the Voice Box final in London last week see here. Thanks for reading and thank you to RCSLT for providing the photos I've shared in this blog post! I'm sure you'll agree they are fantastic! :)

Raising the Roof at Speaker's House

I travelled to London for the Voice Box final on Wednesday. I arrived a little early at Portcullis House so had a little walk along the Thames to take a few photos. Anyone that knows me knows I can never have too many photos of Big Ben or the London Eye! After brief sightseeing I joined the queue to get into Portcullis House. Once through security I was greeted with a buzz of enthusiasm and excitement from all the children waiting to go to Speaker’s House for the competition (and indeed the adults in the room too!)





 



Portcullis House, London

Voice Box was organised by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and The Communication Trust. I had the pleasure of meeting the Director of The Communication Trust (Octavia Holland)on our way from Portcullis House to Speaker's House.

I was particularly excited that two of the Leeds schools had made it to the national final and chatted with both finalists while we were waiting. Both children from Leeds were particularly excited for their first trip to London and couldn’t wait to tell their jokes! My niece took Voice Box to her school last term too and the winner from there also attended so I introduced myself to him and his guests too :)                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

The event was officially hosted by Mr Speaker, John Bercow MP and it was held in Speaker’s House. It was an honour to be invited and have lunch with all the competitors and their families/teachers/SLTs before listening to all the jokes.

Richard Burgon MP for Leeds East attended for part of the event and was able to chat with both the Leeds children before they told their jokes. I was really pleased that he was able to attend and it was brilliant that he was able to see it through to the end after having been the judge at both of our Leeds events.  You can read more about the Parklands Voice Box and the Leeds final here.
 

After lunch we took to our seats for the competition to begin. Nick Smith, MP for Blaenau Gwent was the Master of Ceremonies. Nick was RCSLT’s Director of Policy and Partnerships between 2006 and 2010. He kept the event running smoothly including a few jokes of his own. I had the pleasure of meeting Nick at the 2011 Giving Voice awards but unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity to speak to him on Wednesday.

Nick Smith MP, me and Sharon Hodgson MP at the Giving Voice Awards 2011

Eleven other MPs attended and some of them got up and told jokes alongside their constituent competitors! They did get laughter from the audience but I must say the children were definitely funnier than the MPs ;)

There were a range of jokes, some complete with props, and each and every one of the children had the room erupting with laughter. Some children used iPads to tell their jokes and all of the children were full of character - I definitely think there are some comedians in the making!

Ian Lavery, MP for Wansbeck attended part of the event and it was great to catch up with him again. I also chatted with him to get a quote for a press release for RCSLT to send out to local media. Ian took the time to talk to the child from his constituency and posed for a photo with him.  It’s always lovely to catch up with Mr Lavery. I’m so pleased that over the 4 years since I first met him to tell him about Giving Voice that he has been a continued supporter of Speech and Language Therapy and has attended so many events to show his support.

Ian Lavery, MP with me in Speaker's House

Lord Quirk also attended - he was President of RCSLT between 1987 and 1991. In addition, in the late 1960s/early 1970s he chaired a committee of enquiry into speech therapy services (which fundamentally changed the profession!)

The event was brilliant and the children were all fantastic though I have to say the Parklands potato joke (complete with props!) remained my favourite (and I’m not at all biased! ;)

We broke off for a cup of tea and some cake while the judges were deciding the winner. I saw that South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck was talking to her constituent child (the child from my niece’s school) so I went and joined them for a chat. I told her that my niece took Voice Box to her school and that I’m a Speech and Language Therapist working in Leeds. It was lovely to chat to her and to hear how passionate she is about South Shields. (My home away from home!)

It was also lovely to have the chance to catch up with Andrea Robinson, who is also a member of the Giving Voice Innovation (GIG) group. She was also supporting a child in the final :)

Me with Andrea Robinson, SLT

Once we’d had our fill of tea and cake we went back in to find out the all-important results. The judging panel comprised of Octavia Holland (Director of The Communication Trust), Gary Northfield (children’s comic author) and last time’s Voice Box winner Jack. Before announcing the winner Gary showed the children how to draw Julius Zebra (from his book of the same title) and he presented all of the children with a framed certificate and goody bag. Once all the prizes were given we found out the 2 runners up and the winner…

And I am delighted to announce that the winner was (insert enthusiastic drum roll here…)

TJ from Parklands Primary School!

He was fantastic and the title was thoroughly deserved. He also looked the part in the 3 piece suit the head teacher (Chris Dyson) bought him for the occasion! The winner from Seacroft Grange also did really well and I am proud to have been part of their journey to London. All of the children were inspirational and it was clear how much they all enjoyed the day.

Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, Chris Dyson Head Teacher and TJ - winner of Voice Box!
Richard tweeted about the event and shared this photo on Facebook and Twitter

After the competition we went on a tour of the Palace of Westminster and it was lovely to hear about the history of the building and to have a look around part of it. Unfortunately the House of Commons and the House of Lords were in sitting so we were unable to view the chambers.



Palace of Westminster

On Thursday my niece won cadet of the year at South Shields Girls Venture Air Corps and I tweeted Emma Lewell-Buck to say it was lovely to meet her on Wednesday, reminded her that Toni had took Voice Box to school last term and had just won Cadet of Year. She tweeted back on Friday and when I told Toni that her MP had tweeted to say well done she was over the moon.

RCSLT had their official photographer there on Wednesday and once I have access to these photos I’ll share some of them on here too.

Thanks so much for reading and well done again to everyone who was involved in such a brilliant event, we all made memories that we’ll treasure forever. I am looking forward to getting involved again next time round!
 

Giving Voice Local Heroes Make National Champions

As I mentioned in my previous post RCSLT invited me to be a guest speaker at a webinar (online seminar) event in London last week and I was honoured and delighted to attend. The webinar GivingVoice: local heroes make national champions: engaging with MPs, aimed to share information about what RCSLT has done and is doing to influence parliamentarians and to share best practice examples of local influencing.

 I set my alarm early on Friday morning ready for my train to London! I'd packed my Giving Voice bag with goodies the night before!

 

While at the train station I got talking to a homeless man and I bought him a hot drink as he was so cold. He was so grateful and was glad that I stopped to have a chat. Conversation is free and I am always happy to talk to people; it was nice to put a smile on someone’s face so early on a Friday morning when everyone was just rushing past. It’s sometimes the simple things that mean the most, and I felt this was the start of a positive day. After our chat I headed to get my train, enthusiastic about the day ahead.

I wore my Giving Voice badge on my bag, ready to engage any unsuspecting fellow train travellers in a conversation about Speech and Language Therapy, but I was sat on my own so I just read my notes and rehearsed my speech in my head instead!

I have spoken at a number of events about Speech and Language over recent years but this was my first experience of speaking at a webinar. Not sure what to expect, I arrived slightly apprehensive but the staff at RCSLT quickly put me at ease as they talked through the running order of the day and explained how the equipment worked. The practice run through of the webinar was useful to listen to the other speakers before we went live. This was also helpful to get to know the equipment and get used to wearing the headset and mic.

We had a working lunch and it was nice to chat more to the other speakers. We also had time for a quick photo with Kamini Gadhok, CEO of RCSLT.

The Webinar speakers with Kamini Gadhok

 

The webinar was live online at 1pm and RCSLT members began logging on 10 minutes before, ready to engage in the session. Derek Munn, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at RCSLT chaired the meeting and welcomed everyone to the event.  Peter Just, Public Affairs advisor at RCSLT was the first speaker and explained the importance of engaging with MPs and what RCSLT have been doing and plan to do to continue keeping Speech and Language Therapy on the agenda.

I was the next speaker and I shared my experiences of engaging with my MP (Ian Lavery) from the first meeting in constituency to meeting him in London during a Mass Mobilisation event and inviting him to local events I organised in constituency.

Rachel Clare, student SLT at UCL shared her experience of her involvement in ‘The Great Letter Writing Challenge’ where students from the Giving Voice society wrote to MPs in the lead up to the general election about the RCSLT manifesto asks.

Janet Cooper, SLT manger, told us how Stoke Speaks Out engaged with local MPs to help shape the local decision making and successfully prepare for the future. It was interesting to listen to Janet's experience and how influencing can really have such a positive impact!

I enjoyed taking part in the webinar, meeting the other speakers and hearing about their experiences too. It has reignited my passion for raising awareness of the profession and I hope to continue spreading awareness of the valuable work of SLTs in Leeds also. I am hoping we can get schools involved in national joke telling competition ‘Voice Box’ in the autumn term, which is organised by RCSLT and The Communication Trust. I look forward to sharing future involvement here on my blog.

After the webinar I had a little bit of time before my train so I went for a walk along London Bridge and had an ice cream in the sunshine! I always enjoy visiting London and even managed a quick cuppa with my cousin Kirsty who lives in London, before catching the train back to Leeds.

Tower Bridge

The RCSLT webinar is available to view online here if you are interested in finding out more.  I hope it inspires you to get involved in local influencing! Don’t forget to ask RCSLT for any support you need, or to share your experiences with them.

Thanks for reading! Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives

Happy Birthday!

We are more than half way through the year! I do not know where the time is going! I am still working hard in Leeds and thoroughly enjoying my job.

A few weeks ago a friend (and fellow Speech and Language Therapist), Charlotte and I went to Holy Trinity Church to celebrate the Giving Voice choir’s 1^st birthday. Giving Voice is an inclusive choir for adults with neurological conditions and their carers. It was launched in June 2014 and was formed by Speech and Language Therapist, Wendy Neill. I really enjoyed their Christmas performance and was looking forward to seeing and hearing them perform again to celebrate their first birthday.

The evening began with an introduction from Wendy Neill and then the choir began with a lovely performance of ‘We like to sing’. Guests were provided with a song book so we could join in with the songs too. It was clear that everyone was enjoying themselves and it was lovely to be there to celebrate their first birthday.

Wendy thanked a number of people at the end of the first half of performances before the interval. Following this Thea Stein, Chief Executive of Leeds Community Healthcare, then thanked Wendy for her hard work and dedication to the choir.

No birthday party is complete without a buffet, drinks and birthday presents. During the break there were refreshments and an opportunity to buy raffle tickets for the chance to win one of the beautifully wrapped birthday gifts.

 

The choir then sang another selection of songs before the raffle was drawn and we all sang happy birthday! Sadly, I didn’t win a birthday present, but I did have a lovely evening listening to the choir sing in the church. We signed the visitors book and had some birthday cake before we left. If you are in Leeds and haven’t seen the Giving Voice choir perform, it’s definitely a nice evening’s entertainment and I will look out for future performances.

Speaking of birthdays it’s 4 years this month since I started this blog and this post is my 100^th post. In July 2011 when I decided to start this blog I didn’t think I would write so much! I am so pleased that people have been interested, and read it and can’t believe it has had over 27,000 page views! Hopefully the second half of the year will bring more opportunities to blog and spread awareness of Speech and Language Therapy!

In other news, I am looking forward to travelling to London on Friday to speak at a webinar at RCSLT headquarters. I’m going to talk about my involvement in engaging MP Ian Lavery. For further information about the event visit RCSLTs website here: Giving Voice – local heroes make national champions: engaging with MPs

I hope it is useful to a lot of RCSLT members and I look forward to updating you after the event!

Media Training

On Saturday 23rd November I was in London with the other members of the Giving Voice Innovation Group for Media training. I travelled to London on the Friday afternoon and met up with Sara and Ruth for a meal. We hadn't met before so this was a nice opportunity to get to know them the night before the media training :) we also had a little look round London after our meal, making the most of our time in the capital.

The training took place in the RCSLT offices and was an enjoyable (albeit challenging) day! The aim of the training was to enable us to be equipped with the skills needed to engage with the media to promote Giving Voice and Speech and Language Therapy.

The training was delivered by Derek Munn, Emma Barnes and Robin Matheou. We practised (via role play!) being ‘interviewed’ by a newspaper journalist, radio presenter and TV journalist (in front of a camera!) This was good practice but I found that I was more nervous in these situations than I was when being interviewed live on BBC Radio Newcastle earlier in the year!

We had opportunity to watch some of the videos that were recorded on the day and this was good experience to see how other SLTs respond to some challenging questions. We learned about what makes a good news story which I found useful and this will definitely be something I think of when contacting the media in the future. Once the training was finished we had a Giving Voice Innovation Group meeting to discuss future Giving Voice plans –particularly ideas around The International Communication Project 2014 (find out more at www.communication2014.com) and sign the pledge here recognising that the opportunity to communicate is a basic human right (I’m sure you’ll all agree with that!) I am excited about 2014 and the International Communication Project – are you getting involved?!



Giving Voice Innovation Group

Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives

An Inspirational Weekend

I’ve been looking forward to going to London for the Giving Voice residential for a little while now and was excited when Friday finally arrived! I was extremely happy that my train was running on time and I made it to King’s Cross with no problem at all J I travelled from King’s Cross to Limehouse station with fellow North East SLT, Sarah and we were extremely proud that we made it all the way from Newcastle to East London without getting lost!

I was so excited when I saw a sign post for The Royal Foundation of St Katharine (our destination) that I stopped to take a photo!

Upon arrival we checked into our room and took in the beautiful surroundings. We met as a group before dinner and the networking began! It was lovely to meet up with SLTs that my path has crossed in the past as well as meet lots of lovely new ones! J

After dinner we were welcomed by Derek, Ele and Emma from RCSLT for our first Giving Voice session. We got to know each other by drawing each other’s life stories and learning more about where each of us works. We also got a taste of what was to follow on Saturday and the room was full of enthusiasm! At 9.30pm we had a choice of entertainment; a film (one of which was The King’s Speech) or a drink and chat in the lounge, and the majority vote was the latter! This was a great opportunity to talk about our enthusiasm and begin to build working relationships.

Saturday was an early start with breakfast at 8am and the first session at 9am. We were introduced to a challenge that we would be working on in teams and then the first of our guest speakers arrived. A total of four talks took place across the day, all of which were extremely interesting and inspirational.

We heard from Sarah Corbett of The Craftivist Collective who inspired us to use craft in our campaigning. I used to do a lot of crafts so this is definitely something I have been inspired to try in the near future! We also heard from the Royal College of Nurses about the success of their Frontline First campaign and we watched the ‘This is Nursing’ video which was truly inspirational and made me even more proud of my sister (who is a nurse) and her colleagues than ever before. Lewisham Central councillor Damien Egan came to talk to use about life as a local councillor and how to make it easier to capture the attention of councillors. I think many of us were inspired by this and are going to contact councillors as a result! The final talk of the day was from Rhiannan Walton of Therapy Ideas Live and she inspired us to motivate and encourage others to get involved in campaigning.

Ria and David :-)

I feel like I learnt a lot throughout the 24 hours I spent in London, and formed new friendships and working relationships which I look forward to developing further in the future. I am keen to take my campaigning forward with my newly developed knowledge and skills and would be extremely keen to hear from anyone in the North East that would like to join me to Give Voice.   Check out the twitter hashtag #givingvoiceuk to see more pictures and comments from the weekend (and if you’re not already on twitter here’s the perfect opportunity to get involved!)

Some of the working group :-)
(thanks to Rhiannan for taking the photo and RCSLT for sharing it on facebook!)

Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives



Troublesome trains & helpful hashtags!

One week today since the RCSLT Honours and Giving Voice awards. I’d been looking forward to the day for over a month (since I received the phonecall to say I had won the Giving Voice ‘Newly Qualified Practitioner’ Award) so I thought I’d take this opportunity to write about my day…

My alarm was set for 5am and I awoke with excitement (not usually being a morning person, I found it surprisingly easy to pull myself out of bed). I had my breakfast and a cup of tea before getting ready for the exciting day ahead. I’d been shopping for a new dress the weekend before so I couldn’t wait to wear it! My parents were up and about early too as my dad was my guest and my mam our taxi to the train station!

I had been following the weather and train updates on Monday and was expecting that we might be delayed a little so was glad we had booked such an early train (6.55am). Also, I had arranged to go the awards half an hour early to talk about my experiences of the campaign to be recorded for the RCSLT website.

 Sitting in the train station with our cups of tea, I noticed the display board said our train was delayed, so I was excited and pleasantly surprised when it turned up on time. In just over 3 hours’ time I would be in the capital city meeting lots of other speech and language therapists!

We got on board and found our seats, placing our bags on the shelf overhead. Settled in our seats with a half-finished cup of tea, I told my dad how excited I was for the day ahead.

That’s when things began to go wrong… an announcement came over the tannoy and said that there were delays further along the track so we had to wait until this was sorted. They couldn’t specify how long it would be so we just had to sit it out. An hour after our train was due to leave I saw Lee Ridley (Lost Voice Guy – winner of Celebrity Ambassador of the Year) with his mam, and two representatives from the North East Trust for Aphasia  (winners of Giving Voice Partnership award), standing on the platform (for the 7.55am train). I was pleased to see them and got off the train to tell them what the latest announcement had said, (travel on Wednesday if possible, as severe delays). They spoke to the platform guard who said they could get onto our train with their tickets so we all sat together, waiting for our journey to commence.

At 8.10am another announcement came over the tannoy and it wasn’t looking hopeful to be able to get there on time. I rang my mam to see if she could look on the internet for a flight. She rang back 5 minutes later to say that she couldn’t see online if there were seats available on the flights so we would need to go to the airport and speak to someone. The only flight times were 9.20am (which was already boarding) and 12.15pm (too late), so neither of them were particularly useful anyway.

A further announcement recommended travelling on a different day if at all possible, which led to people around us leaving. The people next to us said they would travel next week as they were going to go Christmas shopping, and we engaged in a short conversation. I told them that I couldn’t travel a different day as I was going to an awards ceremony in London at noon. They congratulated me on my award win and asked what it was for, so I took the opportunity to tell them about the Giving Voice campaign.

A final announcement told us that the service was terminating here and realising that there was no chance of getting to London on time (if at all), we departed the train and headed home with a heavy heart.

By this time my mam was at work, so my dad and I decided to get a taxi home. The taxi driver was friendly and we engaged in conversation, again taking the opportunity to talk about Giving Voice.

Once at home, we made (another!) cup of tea and I got changed out of my new dress. Once it was 12pm I began following the event on twitter from the #rcsltawards hashtag. This was bittersweet as I knew I should have been there but I still enjoyed the updates (thank you to everyone who used the hashtag on the day!)

The full list of winners can be found here  - congratulations everyone!

I was happy to hear that they were still able to show my winning video so, in effect, I was at the award ceremony after all! J It sounds like it was a fantastic event and it looks like everyone enjoyed the day J

On a more positive note, I was able to celebrate my award win with my ever supportive family on Saturday night. I look forward to the arrival of my award and am truly delighted to have my campaigning efforts recognised.

All in all it was a rather disappointing day for those of us not able to attend, however I was still able to spread the word about the campaign (perhaps more so than if I’d actually been at the event) so all was not lost!

 Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives

My supportive family

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!)