Preparations are well under way for my Hebridean cycle adventure and I’m looking forward to it very much. The ferry is booked and I’m beginning to think about what to take with me. As well as all my cycling gear, I have been reminded to take lots of spares for the bike such as tubes…
I am really delighted to say that I managed to get a blog post onto the Berghaus Community Website. Berghaus very kind let me write a post about my experience of disability and outdoor sport, for which I am very grateful. I hope you will read the post and leave some feedback. Thanks very much,…
A friend suggested that I might try busking in the Meadows during the Edinburgh Festival and I stupidly agreed to do it. Got the idea from adventurer Alistair Humphreys who is busking his way over Spain, with a violin he only started learning 6 months ago. I must admit I was really terrified. After walking…
I have always had a desire to cycle the length of the Outer Hebrides have finally taken the plunge and decided to have a crack at it. Round the world cyclist Mark Beaumont recently accomplished it although he did it is 24 hours. I am not proposing to cycle the 186 miles in 24 hours…
Cycled 38 miles last night which turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far. Was quite a hard training run and got a great work out from it. Feeling fantastic today after it.
I have just returned after a few days camping in Sutherland on the north coast of Scotland and I am just feeling on top of the world. We were so far north, and it was so wild and remote that is almost did feel like the top of the world! With its miles of white…
We all face challenges in life. Cerebral Palsy is mine, but it hasn’t stopped me from becoming a keen recreational cyclist and playing an active role in my local clubs. I’m actually an active skier and, a few weeks before a ski holiday, went along to a local cycling club to try and build up…
Disabled people have come under attack again in the latest of George Osborne’s Budgets, with unemployed disabled people set to lose a further £30 per week. Those on Employment Support Allowance are set to have benefits cut – and this comes on top a round of cuts dished out earlier this month which could leave…
Disabled people have come under attack again in the latest of George Osborne’s budgets where unemployed disabled people are now set to lose a further £30 per week. In this, the latest blow to disabled people, those on Employment Support Allowance are set to have benefits cut, this comes on top a round of cuts dished…
This week the House of Lord voted in favour of cutting disability unemployment benefit by £30 per week leaving many, already struggling people, without money they need to live on. Names of the politicians who voted in favour of such a move have been published in the Independent in a so called ‘name and shame’…
There has been a call recently by health professionals to try to cut waiting times for mental health patients who have to wait often extended periods of time before they can access the help they require. Presently people wait weeks longer to see a consultant, much longer than they would have if they been suffering…
Disabled people who rely on vital monies for mobility, that enables them to have an active life and go about their daily business, are facing an uncertain future. Many thousands of disabled people rely on high rate Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to enable them to access a car via the Motability scheme to enable them to…
I was delighted to read that the government is about to spend millions more monies on improving mental health services in England and Wales. As someone who has experienced acute mental health problems over many years I know only too well the importance having effective services that are easy to access. Mental health is on the increase…
Next Week begins the start of a new series on Channel 5 where families on welfare are offered a years worth of benefit, £26,000 in a lump sum, and in return are expected to come of benefits all together. The program makers and Channel 5 producers insist that this is a worthwhile exercise that has…
For members of the SHRUB CO-OP, recycling and avoiding waste is second nature. Throughout the year, as one of the many community workshops they run, members will be providing sewing machines and a little guidance for students to create their own clothes and jewelry out of recycled material. We are a wasteful lot and no more…
This week the Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt told the Independent Newspaper that the Labour Party must get over its fear of the ‘F’ word and start promoting family values. He said the party needs to ‘shed its leftist qualms’ about appearing to patronise when talking about family values. In the past the Labour Party…
I have always had a huge amount of respect for Richard Branson, he comes across as a genuinely nice guy and has done tremendously well in life to build up his business from selling records to the £billion brand that he know owns. Nobody can doubt his spirit and flare. He was visibly moved yesterday…
Describing disabled people as ‘not worth the full wage,’ Lord Freud just now finds himself embroiled in bitter political arguments and is facing calls from the opposite side of the House of Commons for him to step down from Cabinet. The Conservative Peer and Welfare Secretary was recorded making such remarks at the recent party…
On a weekend away in Scotland, more often then not, one usually ends up traipsing round the nearest town or village to where you are staying in the rain. Last Saturday was no exception and waking up to a stormy day in Pittenweem we made for St Andrews for a mosey round the shops and…
