• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Weekend Witch Social Media

Specialists in Effective Communication Skills, plain English training & SEO writing & editing

  • Home
  • Services
    • Social Media Management
    • Social Media Coaching
    • Social Media Marketing Strategy
    • LinkedIn Services
    • Content Marketing
    • Profile Optimisation
    • Plain English Copy Editing
    • Plain English Coaching
  • About
    • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Testimonials
    • Renée’s poetry
    • Social Media Management Packages
  • Blog
  • Contact

Life after stroke, awesome young women and a sad goodbye to Rik

You are here: Home / Blog / Life after stroke, awesome young women and a sad goodbye to Rik

June 16, 2014 By Renée 2 Comments

I felt so privileged to attend the Life After Stroke Awards at the Dorchester this week.  The glamorous ballroom, elegant dinner and host of celebrities didn’t detract from the reason I was there, smiling, clapping and hoping my mascara wasn’t running.  Karren Brady introduced the ceremony to honour people who’ve overcome a stroke to create better lives for themselves and others.  Christopher Biggins hosted the event and many of the celebrities presenting the awards have either had strokes or are close to someone who has.  A veritable list of stars stood on that stage, but none shone as brightly as the recipients – all of whom were totally awesome!

Imaginative Training | social media blog | social media training
The lovely and very funny Tamsin Greig, one of the many celebrity Stroke Association supporters

I enjoyed my flaming brulée along with Liz and Nancy, the friends I made out of our shared horror experiences.  Together, we’re a voice for the families of young stroke survivors.  We sat between two politicians – one from the House of Lords and the other from the Commons, pushing forward the agenda to ensure childhood stroke is more widely recognised, fast-tracked and appropriately supported in its aftermath.

It was also delightful to share the table with Joanie and Sarah Scott.  Joanie and I met on Facebook and we recognised each other immediately – the beauty of social media.  Sarah suffered a stroke when she was 18, and has won the Volunteer of the Year Award for her work at raising awareness in schools and at public events.  She wasn’t the only young person honoured… Carer of the Year went to a gorgeous young girl of just 13, Cheyenne McLaughlin, who looks after little sister, the survivor of a stroke while still in her mother’s womb.  The Children and Young People’s Courage Award was presented to Hannah Garrity who suffered a stroke at eight years old.  And the Adult Courage Award was deservedly given to Angharad Lloyd Thomas, whose life was devastated by a stroke when she was 20.  All young people… all surviving…. All amazing!!  All determined to overcome, achieve and live happy, successful lives.

It was the second time I’d cried this week, and I rarely do.  But on Monday, I was early for a networking event in a pub in Shoreditch (yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking!) so I popped into a quiet bar for a cup of peppermint tea.  Scrolling through Facebook, I was hit by the dreadful news about Rik Mayall.

I didn’t know him personally (although I did date his chauffer a few times in the late 80s).  But the Comic Strip team epitomise my youth… I grew up with Rik and Ade, Dawn and Jennifer – and my friendships at that time were sparkling with their humour.  His portrayal of a poetry-writing, student anarchist entertained a whole generation; the politics may have changed, but the comedy genius shines as brightly as ever.  It made me so sad.

The networking event was lively, despite the sombre Rik chatter.  I got to play with a new on-line music platform – Music Jelly – and it was such fun!  I created a cacophony of sound with a mix of totally unrelated instruments, musicians and tappers (don’t know the technical term for that!) using a range of iPads to control my uneducated musical choices.  I can’t explain it well, but it’s fascinating and totally absorbing, and worth checking out if you’re a music lover.

Back in 1982, Rick Mayall and co coined Cliff’s words for their masterpiece launch into TV comedy history: ‘Once in every lifetime, comes a love like this.  I need you and you need me, oh my darling can’t you see…?’  This week quite a few people have needed me to advise them on website content.  If you need me for that, or any other writing or social media advice, I’m right here: @WeekendWitch.

Subscribe me please!
I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp ( more information )
Opt-in here if you'd like to stay in touch. Our privacy notice (at the bottom of the page) says how we use your information - but, in a nutshell, it's only to send you a newsletter every now and then with social media tips.
We hate spam. Your email address will most definitely not be sold or shared with anyone else.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: 80s, Facebook, London, networking, social media, social networking, stroke

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sasfreeman says

    June 17, 2014 at 1:19 pm

    Brilliant loved reading, made me tingle all over. Wished I had been there but reading made me feel included, thank you.
    Yeeeees Pleeeeeaaaase I’d live any help/advice re website/ blog also if love to create an audio version of my book for stroke survivors as it is often so difficult to read following stroke. My book Two Strokes not out is for survivors & their families I talk honestly hopefully saving them from some mistakes by explaining mine it’s humorous too. Pages of turmoil, frustration, denial & humour. So I’m your sponge ‘metaphorically speaking’ for ANY advice. Thank you

    Reply
    • Renée says

      June 23, 2014 at 11:43 am

      Hi Sas – thank you!! I’m sorry I didn’t reply last week – I’ve been away. Just had a quick look at your website – your paintings are fab!! Reminded me of French impressionist art. I will happily introduce you to people who may be able to help or advise you to get your book onto audio. Can you email me please, as info@imaginativetraining.com. (I’ll read your book too…) Have to say – the photo on your homepage is beautiful! 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CAPTCHA Image
Refresh Image

*

Primary Sidebar

Are the burglars watching your social media activities?

How your business can get Back on Track to help a charity

Join me for a free social media marketing workshop!

Facebook is the bee’s knees… Or the bee’s willy…!

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week – here’s my story

What happens when social media goes wrong?

Happy clients say…


Renée is an amazing writer who is the author of some fantastic blogs… very informal and conversational, she talks TO the reader rather than at them. She uses a lot of humour, she doesn't take herself too seriously and isn't scared to laugh at herself; a bit of naughtiness included too for added spice(!)… I asked Renee to help me understand SEO and how to improve my site. We had a one to one session in which she explained in detail everything I needed to know. Her explanation was clear and fully understandable, which was great for me as I had no previous knowledge of SEO or social marketing. I left our meeting confident of what I needed to do in order to boost my site, which is exactly what I wanted to gain from the session... Renée is the most friendly and professional person I have ever worked with. She is an asset to any company and brings a new insight into training. I would strongly recommend Renée to any company wishing to grow and to improve staff performance… Renee is the ultimate networker and is happy to share her contacts for the benefit of others. She is very knowledgeable and has a great network of contacts... Renée creates fantastic web content and writes our twice-weekly blog. Being results-driven, she has succeeded in increasing traffic referrals to our website and raising us swiftly through Google rankings. She also runs our social media marketing campaigns effectively and handles all related staff training in a relaxed and lively manner. She’s great to work with and bakes nice cakes!... I have received great compliments about Renée from those attending the Mildmay Job Clubs... Renée has made valued contributions to our key School Policies (such as The Equality and Diversity policy and The Learning and Teaching policy). She is extremely professional, she has a great eye for detail and can empathise with the target audience. She ensures what is written is a true reflection of what is going to happen or what needs to be said whilst encompassing all stakeholders in the process... Renée’s writing is clear and concise and we have used this in our accountancy practice to produce professional letters to our clients that they can understand. All our team are unanimous when we say Renee is a pleasure to work with and we are looking forward to continuing our strong relationship... A professional and well organised outfit that exceeded expectations. Excellent feedback from the client group who asked for more of the same... Renée has a very good reputation among learners and staff. Her learners benefitted from her expertise. She has a very good outcome from her learners. We are very happy to have Renée as part of our team at Redbridge Institute of Adult Education... Renée has a very relaxed style and is able to get on with colleagues at all levels. She is able to engage very diverse audiences when training, which she delivers in a very user-friendly way. I am more than happy to talk to any potential clients…Personable, expert, high integrity... Delegates came away from the training sessions with vital new skills and a better understanding of how they could communicate more clearly… Renée was able to run these sessions in such a way as to make them both informative and enjoyable. I was remarkably impressed with Renee’s professionalism and expertise and can honestly say that she helped us achieve 100% of the targets we had set ourselves. I would have no hesitation in recommending her… Renée demonstrates outstanding oral presentation skills and has an enthusiastic approach to the subject which promotes motivation and participation between learners... Highly effective identification of individuals' learning needs, excellent support provided as appropriate: one-to-one or as a group...
.

Footer

Copyright © 2019 ImaginativeTraining.com
Home | About | Contact  | Privacy  | Cookies  | Terms

 

 
We use cookies to give you the best website experience. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Ok, thanks.More about cookies