HEALTHY LIFE ESSEXBLOG

Little Havens needs a Little Lottery Luck

Little Havens Children’s Hospice has made it to the finals of the National Lottery Awards 2010!

The National Lottery Awards is an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects and after a three week frenzy of voting, Little Havens Children’s Hospice is now one of the final three in the Best Voluntary/Charity project.

The next and final round of public voting is open NOW! So please tell your friends, family, class mates and colleagues and get voting today! To register your vote for Little Havens please visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards or call 0844 6865047. Calls cost 5p from a BT landline. Calls from other networks or mobiles will vary. Full T&C’s can be found at the Lottery Good Causes website

Lottery Funding
Little Havens received nearly £650,000 from The Big Lottery Fund back in 2002 which funded the equivalent of eight full time nurses who specialise in looking after life-limited children. The winning project in each of the seven categories will receive national recognition on a star-studded BBC 1 TV show and, in addition to the Lottery funding they have already been awarded, will receive a £2,000 cash prize to spend on their project.

The program will be aired on BBC One on 4th September so please vote, tune in and cheer on your local children’s hospice!

Back in March I posted information about the Mendip & Treecot Residents Association, Wildlife Garden project.

The site has now been transformed from what was effectively a rubbish tip.

With new trees and whip planting It is getting the feel of a nature garden and you can start to visualise where it is going. (see pictures below).

The team have done wonders, but there is still a long way to go. They are now asking for volunteers to help with the weeding. It is an exciting project to get involved with and if you would like to help, please contact the group’s Chairman, Phil Lilley on 07982 899758, email chairman@mendipra.c.uk.

For more information visit www.mendipra.co.uk

Then Groundwork’s GREENAIDERS could be for you!

The GreenAider Garden Project is a free service for the elderly and vulnerable adults who need assistance to get control of their garden.

What can we offer?  A free half day session to help get your garden under control and make it more manageable for the future with the help of  local volunteers and our dedicated team.

Who is eligible?
People over 50 years of age who are unable to maintain their own garden.
People with disabilities.
Repeat victims of crime.
People who have recently been discharged from hospital
You must live within Rochford District

Limited spaces available,.To book your Greenaiders visit or for more information please contact Ginette: ginette.braithwaite@groundwork.org.uk or call 01268 752368

Referrals may be made either through an organisation or directly from individuals themselves.

Groundwork South Essex is an environmental charity working alongside the whole community to transform places and lives.
www.eastofengland.groundwork.org.uk/south-essex.aspx

What a tragedy - the last tree on Victoria Circus Roundabout, a ‘London Plane’ has now been removed.

In a statement  today Councillor Nigel Holdcroft, Leader of Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, spoke of his “great regret” that the Council had been forced to remove a London Plane tree from Victoria Circus.

Cllr Holdcroft said: “In March 2009, prior to the commencement of the Victoria Gateway scheme, the Council spoke to all the affected utility companies to establish the extent of their cabling networks in the area. On the basis of the information we received at that time it appeared possible to retain this tree. However it was only recently - many months later - that British Telecom provided us with full details of its fibre-optic cabling network and this revealed a very different situation”.

He went on to mention how BT’s telecommunications network in the town would have been disrupted if they had continued with the original plan, and the cost and time limit implications, with serious financial ramifications for the Council and Council Tax payers in the Borough.

Cllr Holdcroft said that the council had looked at every possible way of avoiding the need to remove the London Plane tree but in the end it simply wasn’t possible without huge cost implications.

“The Council’s contractors were tasked to remove the tree without chopping it into sections. It is hoped the trunk can be used as the foundation for a work of public art.

“He said that the Council were “committed to increasing the numbers of healthy trees across the Town and the Victoria Gateway scheme including extensive replanting and landscaping.”

Mountnessing Court Residential unit won a quality prize for innovative work with patients with dementia. They were awarded an additional prize by NHS South West Essex to help expand and publicise their work and raise awareness.

You are invited to attend the screening of a short film about a family coping with the effects of dementia and Holly, the grand-daughter, realising that there is something wrong with Grandad…

Tuesday 10th August 2010, 6pm-8pm at St. George’s Suite, The Basildon Centre, St. Martins Square, Basildon, Essex SS14 1DL

To book your seat please RSVP to Christine Cantello on 01268 407818 or by e-mail on  christine.cantello@sept.nhs.uk

For more information on Caring in Essex please visit the Healthy Life Essex, Caring with Confidence page

This “thought” by William Arthur Ward was sent to me by Baiju Solanki in one of his newsletters which always provide inspiring performance awareness tips:

Believe while others …

Believe while others are doubting…
Plan while others are playing….
Study while others are sleeping….
Decide while others are delaying….
Prepare while others are daydreaming…..
Begin while others are procrastinating….
Work while others are wishing…..
Save while others are wasting…..
Listen while others are talking…..
Smile while others are frowning…..
Commend while others are criticizing….
Persist while others are quitting….

I have just watched this live video of Jamie Oliver in America and it was incredible. Jamie’s message was so powerful. There is so much disease caused by obesity and “death by food” is one of the major causes of early death in the US, and we are catching up rapidly in the UK. In both countries, there our now many families where 3 generation have lived on fast food. He stresses how educating families in the home and children at school, helping them to understand about real food and how to cook, can save peoples lives. He talked with such passion and made so much sense he received a standing ovation at the end of the presentation. Well done Jamie. You are an inspiration.

“Even though there are many perspectives on health and how to handle obesity and disease, there are some incredible people lobbying for change in the world. Change that we know needs to come.

Jamie Oliver is just one of those people and we stand behind his energy and commitment to helping change people’s attitudes towards food. This kickstarts the transition from unhealthy processed foods to healthier whole natural foods, where going back to nature is key.”

Please watch the video by clicking on this link -’ Jamie Oliver Speaks out on Obesity and Disease‘.

The first ever Co-operatives Fortnight culminating in International Co-operatives Day took place on Saturday 3rd July 2010. A national campaign to raise awareness of co-operation: calling for people to work together as individuals, colleagues, communities and businesses.

You may not know of any co-operatives in Essex other than the Co-op retail stores, but Gemma Sayers East of England Food Co-ops Adviser has come across many food co-ops running independently, based on the principle of mutual aid and the need for affordable, healthy, local foodstuffs.
Find out more about Food Cooperatives, the support available, and how you can become involved by visiting Gemma’s Healthy Life Essex article ‘A Proliferation of Co-operation!’.

I couldn’t resist sharing this article provided by Baiju Solanki of Performance Coaching. See more of his work at www.performancecoachingandtraining.co.uk

So many moments are lost forever in the cobwebs of our egos.
So many promises left behind because we cower in the corners of our own self pity.
So many hurtful things we say because we want to retaliate.
So many smiles lost in a moment because we are wrapped up in what the world would think.
So many magic moments lost because we had to analyse.
So many blissfull moments lost because work was more important.
We do it so often, yet we forget so quick, that when the clock goes round, we loose time with every tick - tick - tick
It is the moment that your heart stops beating because a car just missed your spouse, the moment of tears when the “missing”child peeps out from under clothes in a store. Finding someone you thought you’d lost.
Those are the moments that should be precious and should never be forgotten.
Because the next time it might not be reversible. Did you memorise the smile of that gorgeous little boy this morning, can you still feel the breath of your baby girl.
Do you remember the smile of that special person, or are they all lost in the day to day meanders through money and power games.

Banish your ego and give in to loving, banish the search for money, power and recognition for just a moment to memorise the face of love … when your heart is breaking, that is all you’ll have to hold on to.

May your day be blessed with pictures full of love.

Celebrating all that Nature has given us in the year doesn’t come much better than this. I was up with the larks (and I hasten to add the milkman, who poodled down the road at about 3.45am!) To watch the sun rise and to start the chanting off at our Buddhist Shrine in my garden. Finding myself alone, with no chanting buddies, I decided to sit in meditation, and discovered the sounds of the swaying trees and growing grass at that time in the morning is actually quite loud. If my dear readers don’t believe me just try it, go outside at the earliest opportunity, and sit very quietly, silence your chattering mind (we all have one, don’t be ashamed!) and listen intently without straining your ears, it is quite possible you will be able to hear scurrying insects and popping buds..all very exciting.

Anyway this is a very roundabout way of me talking about the little shrine in the garden, a place of peace and solitude for the World weary in the centre of Leigh.

I have run my Complementary Therapies business for many years from my little house, and now I am also offering meditation classes for beginners to advanced practioners from here also. We have a dedicated Shrine where we can perform Dharma rites to help people overcome problems in their lives, such as poor luck, illness and affliction. We are not for profit, and can have up to eight people at a time for meditation or healing.
contact Sarah or marc on 07946 306654.

Anyway back to the Solstice, we actually celebrated it at a farm in Hockley under a fabulous pink Sky inside a dear little Tipi. The energy was high and the vibe was calm and happy, As I taught the Beauty Yoga, an ancient Buddhist meditation technique that actually has a physical effect on the face, I could see that the class were relaxing and their faces became refreshed and radiant. very Beautiful, full of joy and full of hope!

By Sarah Yapp