Tag: Mental Health Awareness

Always look on the bright side – the things that made me smile in February.

With Winter almost over the horizon and turning to give its last wave until it sees us again at the back end of the year (or sporadically from August if you live in the north), Spring had undoubtedly brightened things up. So, last month had a few more than just the regular five things to smile about!

My birthday. One of the first things I had to smile about was my birthday. I normally don’t really care about it that much and find that the family make much more of a fuss than me, which in its own way is of course very nice. However, this year felt different. Firstly, we didn’t make any plans to go out because there was torrential rain for the whole day. In turn, that made things all the more relaxing. One of my presents was tickets to see The Shawshank Redemption at a theatre in Leeds, which I was really pleased with. But then I realised that I’d never watched the film. None of us had. And so, we spent my birthday afternoon together, snacking and watching what is largely felt to be one of the greatest films ever released. It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday.

Local paper steals my headline! I could have got quite annoyed about this, but in the end it just made me smile. It came about because a local journalist put a story out on Twitter (sadly now X) about Newcastle’s Champions League tie in Baku. The story referenced a song that our fans have been singing for years, to the tune of Que Sera, Sera – ‘Tell me mam, me mam, I won’t be home for tea, we’re going to Wembley’. So, a celebration of a certain achievement where the ‘tea’ and ‘Wembley’ rhyme. But for his headline the journalist had just ended it with Azerbaijan, which doesn’t rhyme with ‘tea’…or with much at all! So, I left a comment saying wouldn’t be better as ‘scran’ (a dialect word for food) instead of ‘tea’. The journalist got back to me saying that I was right. Later however, the newspaper that said journalist writes for sent out a link to an article about our fans being in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, using my version of the song as their headline! Have a look for yourself!

Abandoned island for sale. This was a story I read about an island that has been put up for sale. It’s in the Dwyryd Estuary in North Wales, very close to where we go on holiday every year. Apparently there are 17 acres containing a farmhouse that is in need of major renovation. Had I have been 20 years younger – and a lot richer – I’d have been tempted to have a look and maybe even put in a bid!

Spring. Plain and simple. The nights are getting lighter. As are the mornings, come to think of it. Having had the last few months where I’ve been leaving for work in the dark and then heading home in the dark, it’s very much smileworthy to not have to do it anymore! Spring also means that I can see new life everywhere and – old romantic that I am – I really like seeing buds come back on to plants, flowers appearing and the like. They’re just a sign of better things to come.

The Alternative Guide to Qarabag. As I mentioned previously in this column, Newcastle United played a Champions League tie in Azerbaijan recently. And, as I write for a Newcastle fan site, I was inspired to write a piece on this. However, rather than write a straightforward preview of the match I wanted to do something different. Many years ago I wrote for another Newcastle website and what we wrote was largely silly, imaginative (made up) pieces that looked at the club in a very different way. So for my Qarabag piece I decided to write an alternative guide which mixed a small amount of factual stuff with loads of made up bits about Qarabag. It was just a piece that I hoped would raise some smiles and maybe even a few chuckles. More than that though, it gave me the chance to write something completely different as well as rolling back the years a bit and remembering writing in my twenties without a care in the world. The piece is on the link below if anyone fancies a read.

NUFC in the Champions League – The alternative guide to Qarabag.

The Qarabag result. Qarabag 1 Newcastle United 6. The game was played over two legs and we won by an aggregate score of 9-3 in the end. However, that first game was superb and we were absolutely ruthless. Suffice to say, after all of the build up, it left me with a big smile on my face!

Marsden Moor. At half term me and my son ventured out past Huddersfield to take a hike across the beautiful Marsden Moor. It was a cold wet day, which was bad enough, but when we got up onto the moor it wasn’t long before we encountered snow. We were well equipped for what we were doing though and so the snow didn’t really provide an obstacle. What did hinder us was some badly worded instructions and a wrong turn that not only took us about a mile out of our way, but also led to us tackling some very narrow and steep paths. And of course it was at this point that the rain decided to properly lash down as well. Despite the conditions, despite painful feet and ankles from my boots and despite how tired we both were, the day was brilliant. Spending that time with my son was time incredibly well spent and there were smiles throughout the day.

Jigsaw puzzle lovers raise £15k for charity. This is a great story. During the first Covid lockdown Lynn Pearl and her husband Gideon started a puzzle library where people could lend jigsaws. This has now grown from the 80 they started with to over 3000 mainly donated jigsaws that are lent out at £1 a time. On average 40-50 jigsaws per day are loaned out at their village hall and this has led to them donating over £15k to local food charities across the years.

Chris Ramsey. Chris Ramsey is a fantastically funny comedian and we were lucky enough to go and watch one of his gigs last month in Halifax. Obviously you’d judge a comedy show on how much you laughed, but when you come out and your face aches with laughing, you know it’s been a brilliant night. Handily, I’ve added my review of the gig below, if anyone wants to find out about the gig! Comedy Review: Chris Ramsey at Halifax Victoria Theatre.

So, lots of positives found in February, which was a good job because the weather was horrendous! I hope some of it made you smile too. On to March and to see how much I’m smiling once that’s out of the way!

Always Look on the Bright Side…Five Things That Made Me Smile in January.

So, a new year comes round again and for lots of us it’s time for major change…at least for a month until we get bored and go back to being our usual selves. Well, there’ll be no New Year, New Me here! But what there will be is the usual monthly feature looking for a few positives in life. So what turned my frown upside down in January?

Photographer recreates that iconic ET moment. This was a story from Wales where a photographer and his mate spent almost two years trying to recreate the iconic ET and Elliot flying across the moon moment. Michael Meighan and his mate Nathan Edwards had patiently tried everything to get the shot just right over the years, but something always got in their way. And with only twelve full moons per year, chances were limited. Eventually though, with Nathan pushing his bike – complete with taped on teddy bear covered in a blanket as E.T. – and Michael over a mile away watching through a viewfinder outside his house, they got the perfect shot as you can see below!

The Fast Show. The Fast Show was a huge influence on me in my twenties. A sketch show that just made me laugh and laugh. Full of ridiculous characters and catchphrases that just became part of everyday life in our house and in every workplace that I entered during that era. So, it was great to read about its new found popularity in January. Apparently, due to internet clips and an ‘An Evening with…’ tour by most of the stars last year the show has reached a whole new audience. Too right, as well. Whether it was Ken and Kenneth, two overly familiar gentlemen’s outfitters, Bob Fleming coughing his way through another show or even a Peruvian flute troop cropping up in the most unusual places, it was always my favourite show.

Tynemouth Igloo. As a native of the North East of England I’m always on the lookout for local news, even though I haven’t lived there for almost 30 years now. The North East will always feel like home. So in early January, when there was a lot of snow about, I was instantly attracted to a news story about someone building an igloo in Tynemouth, a coastal town near Newcastle. Two brothers, Isaac and Jakob had spent 15 hours building an igloo using plastic tubs to help with building blocks. The result was something that it seemed like the whole community would use over the next few snowy days.

Care Home Residents’ Podcast. This one really made me smile. Three residents of a care home in Birmingham have developed a podcast after a member of staff told them they’d be great at it. Doreen (92), Maureen (88) and Anne (92) now host ‘Do You Remember the Time?’, talking about just how life has changed over the years. And despite their initial reservations about the technology involved, they’ve found out that it’s just like having a chat with friends over dinner. As someone who’s fast approaching my retirement years it’s good to know that the future might be a bit more fun than I’d imagined.

Amazing miniatures. Having spent hours of his childhood making Airfix models, Lee Smithson has turned his hobby into a business and now makes miniatures that bring other people’s memories to life. And they’re amazing! Lee now runs Sheffield Miniatures, taking commissions to make everything from a recreation of someone’s front room to their local butchers and even a steam engine from way back in Sheffield’s history. What caught my eye though was an allotment he’d done for someone. My father used to have an allotment and had taken some photos of it and asked my daughter if she could do him a painting of it. However, try as she might she couldn’t get it quite right. A miniature would have been fantastic!

Try as I might I couldn’t think of many smiles that were personal to me for last month, but I hope you like the stories I stumbled across!

Anyway, keep looking for the positives, however tiny they might be!

Always Look On The Bright Side – Five things that made me smile in December.

A bit of a different one for this feature this month. It has to be said that December was a bit of a disaster for me personally. It became clear that from pretty much the start of the month that I was poorly and this developed and stayed with me for almost the whole of the month. A lovely chest infection coupled with a sinus problem! So, moments of happiness were in short supply!

So, where were those few smiles?

Sunrises. Winter seems to bring with it some spectacular sunrises and I’m lucky enough to be able to catch a lot of them on my way to work. This December was no exception. I only have a short commute; about 7 minutes. This means that there’s not a lot of time sat in traffic, which means that I don’t get to enjoy the scenery or the sunrises. It also means that the car never has long enough to heat up in winter, but that’s another story! Brilliantly though, there’s a point in my journey where on either side of me is just beautiful countryside and when the sun is coming up and there’s no cloud it can be quite spectacular. Luckily for me, there were a number of those moments last month.

A giant advent calendar. This was a story I read about a charity advent calendar in Chorley, Lancashire that was made from 24 shipping containers. Each day a container of gifts was donated to a local charity as part of the Cash for Kids Mission Christmas campaign. I mean, what a wonderful thing to do. The kind of thing that helps you restore your faith in humanity. It couldn’t fail to make even the biggest Scrooge smile, could it?

The end of a long term. The first term of an academic year is always tough. And I know that people love to moan about teacher’s holidays – another thing that never fails to make me smile; if you’re so infatuated with our holidays, train to be a teacher – and I get that when we start again in September it’s off the back of 6 weeks off over summer. Still, that first term back is always a hard one, believe me. So, after 15 weeks of a term I was fully ready for the Christmas break and a glorious two weeks off. Smiles aplenty!

Family. I’ve lived away from my family in Newcastle for just over 30 years now and distance and busy schedules mean that I don’t get to see them very often. Christmas gives me that opportunity and even though we only managed a day this year due to my daughter’s busy work schedule, it was precious time spent with my closest family. It’s always lovely to see my parents engaging with with my kids – their grandchildren – and it always makes me smile. It was also good to see that my sister was healthy after a difficult year for her. And I must say, I enjoy giving presents, so watching my parents open their gifts is always good, especially my dad’s reactions; opens gift, looks at it for approximately 4 seconds, puts it down and just says ‘Aye’. The same every year!

A brass band! Every Christmas my local supermarket gets a brass band to come in and play carols on a Saturday morning close to Christmas. It’s always such a wonderful sound and that, plain and simple, is what made me smile!

And that was that for last month. I was poorly for almost the whole month and although I enjoyed the whole lead up to Christmas, there just weren’t as many smiles as usual!

Here’s hoping that January perks things up a bit!

Always look on the bright side; Five Things That Made Me Smile in November.

Another month, another search for the little moments of happiness that are always waiting to be found. With daylight in a bit shorter supply this is the time of year that has the chance to affect my mood the most. I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, which isn’t very good, really. So, what made me smile last month?

Puffins return! This was a story I read about a colony of puffins returning to the delightfully named Isle of Muck in County Antrim for the first time in years. Apparently, following a programme of rat eradication that started in 2017, combined with the fact that the council now keeps the vegetation low, thus providing less cover for predators, a small amount of puffins has been seen nesting on the island. Puffins are an at risk breed of seabird, as well as being really cute, so their return and attempts at breeding is a real plus. This made made smile, but nearly as much as when the article also informed me that baby puffins are known as ‘pufflings’!

Football and a bin brings joy to lunch break! Another story I spotted, this one. This is the tale of workers at a factory who have livened up their lunch times by devising a football based game that they spend playing on their break. It was something that they came up with about ten years ago, but a video of it went viral and now the world knows all about it. One of the organisers of the game, Connor Fathers explained that they had just thought, “we’re spending every lunch break just staring at our phones, not talking to each other, not doing anything. There’s got to be more to lunch than this.” And so, bin game was born, the premise being that if the group can keep the ball up four times they can have a shot at the bin to score. You maybe have to watch the video to understand the joy behind it, but this really made me smile because it’s exactly the kind of thing I’d love to be doing in literally any spare moments, let alone lunch times!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0mgm9s3

“Do we have to keep renewing this?” Every year, as part of our efforts to promote reading, the school where I work gives every Year 7 student a free book. They get to choose which book they’d like from a selection and then we order them and have to endure “When’s my book coming?” for several weeks after! My class got theirs in the middle of November and despite the questions and the fact that they all knew that they were getting a book, the reactions were priceless. What made me smile the most was the disbelief that they’d just get to take it home and keep it, with more than one of them going up to our librarian and asking, “Do we have to keep renewing this?”. Let’s just hope that they carry on reading as a result!

Garden mural. This was a story I read about a 94-year-old woman in Somerset who had the front of her house painted over as a garden scene, featuring flowers, a lawn and even insects. The woman, Muriel Baker, says that she can’t garden anymore and so the mural on her house makes it seem like she’s living in a garden instead and gives her the enjoyment that she would get from tending one. All round, just a nice story, really.

Running! The final thing that made me smile last month came on the very final day of November. However, it was a ‘smile’ that had been in the making for a full month or so beforehand. On November 30th, I ran the Leeds Abbey Dash, a 10k race in central Leeds, taking us up past Kirkstall Abbey and then back down to Leeds for the finish. Running wise, it was fairly successful. Given prior illness and injury I was more than happy to run it in just over 54 minutes. Even then though, it was only thanks to the staggered start times that I even made it to the start line as the traffic going into Leeds meant that it took me well over and hour to get there. Thus, I missed my actual start time and had to start two times later, if you get what I mean. Still, I couldn’t help but smile given that I’d only managed to complete two 10ks in training – one at 56 minutes and the next at 55 minutes. Sadly, a day later I put my back up reaching down to pick up some washing! Then I picked up some kind of chest infection which is still refusing to budge more than a couple of weeks later. Sometimes, if you don’t just smile at these things, you’d end up crying!

So, there we have it. Proof positive that there’s always something to turn that frown upside down!

Always Look on The Bright Side of Life; Five Things That Made Me Smile in October.

October was a bit of a funny month. While there was plenty to keep me optimistic and to make me crack the odd smile, it also signalled the closing weeks of that tough first half term of the academic year. So even smiling felt like an effort! Anyway, here’s what made me make that effort last month!

A groundsman’s pitches go viral. As someone who used to coach football teams, this one caught the eye. I never had to cut the pitches, but was responsible for marking the lines out every once in a while. However, this was a story about Joe Mecke-Davis, the groundsman at Westfields Football Club in Herefordshire. Because his club isn’t professional there are no rules as to how he cuts his pitch and so Matt has let his imagination run wild over the years. Now, his designs are in the running for an international award after images of his pitches went viral. Have a look for yourself…

The joy of a free book and a writing workshop! Every year at the school that I teach at each student in Year 7 gets to choose a free book. It’s a sponsored thing designed to promote reading. And if you didn’t know, reading figures are dropping fast. Obviously, as an English teacher and a fairly prolific reader, I find this trend really worrying. Naturally then, I think the scheme where kids get a book for free is just a fantastic idea. But the thing that made me smile more than anything this year was the enthusiasm of the my students who were desperate to get a look at the choices and haven’t stopped asking when they’re going to get their book ever since! Alongside this, recently I had to nominate 5 students to take part in a workshop with a visiting author. I decided to nominate a couple of really shy, quiet boys because I thought they might benefit from working with a writer for the day. We had to give out little tickets to the event as well and so I kept my group of five back at the end of the lesson to give them their tickets. Both of my shy students looked like they thought they had done something wrong, but the smiles on their faces and the expressions that said ‘Me, really?’ almost made the whole slog of an 8 week half term worth it!

Dinosaur Discovery! I read a brilliant story concerning a discovery of dinosaur footprints last month. They’re part of the longest trackway site ever discovered in the UK. They were originally found by a farm worker driving a digger and since their discovery archaeologists have been excavating the land bit by bit. Now, they’ve unearthed five different trackways of massive footprints that go on for 150 metres and are thought to have been made by both sauropods and a Megalosaurus, the largest predatory dinosaur known in the UK during the Jurassic period. I find things like this fascinating!

Divers discover $1 million worth of treasure. Another article that I read last month told of the discovery of treasure found on a centuries old Spanish shipwreck off Florida. It’s thought to be part of up to $400 million worth of treasure that was lost in the same hurricane, which divers are now frantically hoping to find more of! I used to collect old coins as a school boy and loved finding rare ones, so this story couldn’t have failed to make me smile!

Finally…half term! I’m writing this after work on the final day of the first half term of the academic year. It’s been a long, gruelling 8 week stint, marked particularly over the last two weeks by massive bouts of illness across the school. On at least two days this week we’ve had over 100 students off ill. So partly, I’m happy that I seem to have avoided it and also I’m just thrilled to bits that I now have a week off! The next one leads us right up to Christmas; something else to smile about!

I hope you enjoyed my reasons to smile this time around. There’ll be more at the start of December. Hopefully November is full of positives!