It’s funny how life twists and turns. Before our business Railholiday became the focus of my days, I was a music teacher. After two decades of juggling two jobs, a family and a band I finally realised I couldn’t do it all, so gave up teaching to focus on the business. Recently I’ve started teaching […]
A new and dangerous precedent for the right to protest – continued…
In April I wrote about trial of Trudi Warner. Trudi, a 69 year old health worker had been arrested for holding a placard outside the courts saying “Jurors you have the absolute right to acquit according to your conscience.” A week earlier the GP Dr Sarah Benn was found guilty of professional misconduct. She was […]
Defending our right to protest and speak the truth
In 2011 we visited an journalist friend in Kyiv, who at the time was a reporter for Ukraine and Belarus. His stories of Belarus were fascinating. Ruled by the authoritarian dictator Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, Belarus has long been criticised for its record of human rights and the silencing of journalists and opposition political movements. […]
It’s action time! A campaign for cleaner seas for a healthy planet.
Last year I took part in a clean water ‘paddle out’ organised by Surfers Against Sewage. Joining others on boats and kayaks, we swam to the diving board off the Hoe, having persuaded a friendly kayaker to transport our banner. The message was one that we’ve heard a lot recently; pollution is damaging our oceans. […]
How to find joy and rainbows, when rain falls.
Sometimes I find myself craving good news, and this month more so than usual. It’s been a difficult start to the year; a dear friend’s child took his own life. It’s been a heartbreaking few weeks, and I’d like to make a plea to my readers; don’t suffer in silence. If you feel low, do […]
The importance of acting now for a healthy future
Afew weeks ago I went to a talk about climate change by the inspirational Hugh Montgomery. Hugh was a professor of intensive care medicine at University College London before he decided, for the sake of his children, to put all his energies into fighting climate change. Hugh’s talk was impressive in that the data he was […]
The joy of planting hedges. Birds will love you too.
The recent dry spell has been much appreciated, but the colder weather has turned my thoughts to birds. Bird numbers have been challenged over the last few decades, and they need our help. Feeding birds with bird feeders has become very popular. It is a great pleasure to see birds congregating outside the window. However […]
How to enrich the lives of children within our communities
The turning of the year always feels significant; we make promises we fully intend to keep, we think about the person we would like to be, which is usually a little less flawed than the person we actually are. Remembering Kim – a good friend who was always generous with her time My mind has […]
The psychology of change – how to communicate with friends this Christmas
This month has been a very exciting one for me personally, because our business, Railholiday, had the great honour of winning the Most Sustainable Small Organisation at the Cornwall Sustainability Awards. As my husband Dave and I headed to the podium, I had to do some quick thinking as to what I would like to […]
Second homes; an environmental and social problem.
I was recently incensed by an article in a mainstream paper. The columnist chose to use his piece to complain about how inconvenient and unpleasant it was to visit his father-in-law’s second home in Cornwall. He went on to say they used to go there for a week every summer with his family, but now […]