Caring, volunteering and walking

Hello lovely bloggers, it’s me Kate Bentham again, sitting in the Weekly Blog Club hot seat, well slouching on the sofa to be precise. I hope you’ve all had a good week? I’m going to top that off nicely now with some wonderful blogs for you to read. There were 13 blogs submitted for week 24 and from reading them it seems our bloggers have all been extremely busy and deserve to be slouched on the sofa too.

To mark National Volunteer Week, and also taking up one of the [entirely optional] themes this week we have a blog from Louise Brown called Volunteering rocks – my volunteering week. Louise has been giving her time to help support her local community, and other projects she is involved in. As Louise points out, volunteering can give you an enormous sense of achievement, can help you to feel you are giving something back, and also looks impressive on a CV. If you feel inspired by Louise, then why not have a go at volunteering to be the Weekly Blog Club host and curator for a week. There’s an easy step by step guide on how to on our Admin info page. Go on, what have you got to lose?

A couple of other bloggers also took up the [entirely optional] theme of Urban/Rural Walk this week. First up is A walk to Dog-Eared Corner by Karen Hart. Karen leads us through the streets of east London, as she makes her way to work, we pass some very interesting objects, buildings, businesses, and avoid some of the more undesirable elements. I was startled to read that sadly Karen has been mugged 5 times, and utterly shocked at the suggestion the police made to try and prevent it from happening again.

We go on quite a journey with Janet Davis this week, a bus ride into Newcastle and walk and the return journey home, as Janet also takes up the [entirely option] theme of Urban/Rural Walks. The collection of images in Urban walk June 2013 part 1 have a focus on some of the public art in the town, Urban walk June 2013 part 2, looks at the softer side, sharing some of the natural objects on display in an urban area, and Urban walk June 2013 part 3 looks at some of the architecture, modern and classic buildings making up this great place. Some wonderful images of objects we might miss if we don’t challenge ourselves to look differently.

I also chose the [entirely optional] theme of Urban/Rural walk this week but instead shared some images captured from a few visits to a Welsh coastline. In A Beach Walk May 2013 by Kate Bentham there are images of jelly fish, a small cairn, a sea fisherman, and an excited 5 year old.

A very important post this week was Carers need more than hugs & chocolate by Jane McIntyre. Jane’s dad has Dementia and in this blog she shares the military style operation needed to care for him over a weekend, while his partner had a weekend away. The blog not only highlights the important and vital role that carers play, but also looks at the relationship between parent and child, and the sadness that can bring when the role is reversed.

In ECCF personal and professional improvement by Graham Kane, Graham looks at the Early Clinical Career Fellowship for newly qualified nurses and midwives, supporting them to develop the personal, professional and academic skills they need to become nursing leaders. Ultimately the end goal is to become a better nurse and to offer the best in patient care.

If you have an interest in health care related blogs then you really should check out   Better late than never, probably! by Scottish Health Monthly. This blog curates Scottish health care blogs each month and covers a wide range of health topics. Plenty of good stuff here.

I really enjoyed reading United Leadership (part 1) by Andy Johnson, which looks at the leadership styles at Manchester United Football Club and in particular that of Sir Alex Ferguson. The blogs looks at communication, vision, learning and mistakes. Eddie Coates-Madden Eddie Coates-Madden recently pitched a session at the LGComms Academy unconference session on how to move into sexy and leadership jobs in central government. Eddie led a lively discussion which questioned whether comms folk, who are skilled at representing others, may not have the confidence or belief to sell themselves for jobs or professional development opportunities. Those involved in the session agreed that this needs to change, that comms folk need to regain some pride, recognise their value and go for those sexy leader jobs. Un-like us is a good read for anyone who needs a boost.  

Karl Green shares Some Classic Karl…with us this week, and shares a piece of fiction he wrote when he was 13. I think this is the second piece of fiction we’ve had submitted to Weekly Blog Club, showing again that a blog really can be anything and everything.

The final post this week is Diverse by Mark Wood. As a professional photographer Mark has been photographing a number of weddings recently. He tells us how he gets the best out of his subjects, which might also involve tucking their shirt in for them. Mark has also been experimenting with techniques, which involves remote wizards and other interesting sounding gadgets. I am sure with Mark’s skill everyone involved will be pleased with the results.

So, that’s your lot. Thank you to all of you who have submitted, shared, commented on the blogs we’ve had this week. If you want to have a go a writing a blog for week 25 then you can find out how on our About page.

This week’s [entirely optional] themes are:

• Dads – with today being Father’s Day – either what it means to be a dad, or what your dad means to you.
• Education/school days/learning
• An interview with someone you admire
• A review of a book/album/film
• A photo with a few sentences around it.

That’s it from me, back to the lovely Janet Davis, unless of course you want to volunteer for week 25? #hint

Kate

Kate Bentham

Sunday 16^th June 2013

Summary of Week 24 posts

1. Better late than never, probably! by Scottish Health Monthly
2. United Leadership (part 1) by Andy Johnson
3. Diverse by Mark Wood
4. A Beach Walk May 2013 by Kate Bentham
5. Urban walk June 2013 part 3 by Janet Davis
6. Urban walk June 2013 part 2 by Janet Davis
7. Urban walk June 2013 part 1 by Janet Davis
8. A walk to Dog-Eared Corner by Karen Hart
9. Volunteering rocks – my volunteering week by Louise Brown
10. Carers need more than hugs & chocolate by Jane McIntyre
11. Un-like us by Eddie Coates-Madden
12. ECCF personal and professional improvement by Graham Kane
13. Some Classic Karl…. by Karl Green

Better late than never, probably!

WOW! There are some great healthcare related blogs summarised in the May edition of the Scottish Health Monthly, something for everyone with an interest in Scottish health matters.

Better late than never, probably! by Scottish Health Monthly

Lights, colour, action

You’re all welcome to a piece of my virtual, colourful birthday cake. It’s in all the colours of the rainbow, is calorie-free and suitable even for those who are gluten-intolerant. Part of it is lemon cake, part is vanilla and part is chocolate, and it’s decorated with edible glitter and sprinkles in rainbow colours.

Kate Bentham blogged about an ebook with a rainbow cover, the first ebook to be published by Shropshire Family Information Service, in Ebook Publishing in Local Gov. It seems a very sensible idea to produce ebooks that provide useful information and advice if a Council is likely to have to reduce or cut budgets for publishing printed versions. Kate includes some tips that others will find useful if they try the digital publishing route.

Professor Angela Wallace had lots of colour in her post, The Northern Lights on the Ayrshire Health blog. It was a lovely metaphor for a scheme to develop and encourage future clinical leaders in the National Health Service. There were lights and sounds to produce pictures of parts of people’s insides in David Hill’s A Radiologist’s Journey  on the   Dumfries and Galloway Health blog. It was fascinating to read about how the technology and ways of working have changed since he started work (and I enjoyed his confession of why he chose this specialism!). Whenever I have had an x-ray or scan, I would have loved to spend more time looking at them. I love images and I love digital technology.

Copper featured in Joseph Conaghan’s blog as he wrote about infection control, use of microbial copper in hospitals, and his daughter’s very interesting degree work in Hospital Acquired Infections Require A Copper Bottomed Solution. I am very curious to know more about how copper works to lessen the spread of infections.

It was back to colour in Karl Green’s Fifty Shades of Green: Part 1 – It’s ’Orrible Being in Love When You’re 8 ½ (or 5 ½…) in which he told us about his first crush on a celebrity, and the following half-a dozen crushes (a lot of them on Doctor Who’s assistants). John Patterson was also remembering heroes of his youth, but of a more superhuman cartoon type, and wandered to considering the people that he now thinks of as heroes in Heroes are all around you. I totally agree with him that heroes are all around us, many helping in everyday situations.

Two people were thinking about good customer service this week. Rough Cat’s Death of an O2 Salesman will probably make you smile (and no actual salesmen were harmed in the writing of her post, as far as we’re aware. Please note: other brands of salesmen are available in most stores near you). Dan Slee had some really good advice about online customer services, written with the public sector in mind, but applicable also to the Third Sector, all businesses, and other organisations: HELP 2.0: What good Twitter customer service looks like.

Phil Jewitt took us for a wander through the ideas that came out of reading blogs by Catherine Howe and Elia Morling that so inspired him, he before 5am he was writing Context not cloaks and cliques. He thought about the need for leaders not just to be aware of social media but to understand properly, through experience, how it can be used. He also thought of a new kind of leadership and influencing, not about being high up in the hierarchy, but by curators. Do read his post – it is full of interesting ideas.

I didn’t go on my usual walk in town during May so put together a few snaps from several walks in the centre of Newcastle and on the eastern side of the centre in Ouseburn during the month: Urban walk May 2013. I really miss taking my DSLR for a walk. Snaps on my iPod Touch are fine for certain things but they are not the same.

Since the number of posts shared with Weekly Blog Club had dropped a lot recently, I had wondered if it might be time to suggest we end it. Derek Barron had recently mentioned us as being helpful when he wrote Ayrshirehealth Reviewed – a year of blogging. Kate Bentham had written recently about Weekly Blog Club encouraging her to blog. Then this week, I read John Patterson’s post in which he mentions being encouraged to blog by Weekly Blog Club. Then there was Karen Hart’s A love letter which starts off with surfing but is about something else, and includes mention of Weekly Blog Club encouraging her to write. I don’t want to give away too much about what she wrote because I want you to read it.

Perhaps I am just unsure generally about where to go from here, in life generally! Events such as birthdays make me try to review where I am and to try to see where I am going. At the moment I am still trying to see (urgently!) how to get back onto the path of paid employment. I am very busy with voluntary work in the meantime.

Thank you very much to all who contributed posts, Liked, commented or tweeted about them. If I have missed out any posts, please do say. Lovely Kate Bentham is taking over Weekly Blog Club for Week 24. The [entirely optional] theme could be:

1. my favourite way to spend a sunny day in June;
2. volunteering;
3. privacy in the age of PRISM;
4. a walk (town or country).

If you want more inspiration, just tweet us. You can join in blogging any time and can find more about how to on our About page. Note that “weekly” is more of an aspiration than a rule. If you want to volunteer to look after Weekly Blog Club for a week, the details of what it involves are on our Admin info page.

Have a good week. Kate, over to you…

Janet

Janet E Davis

Summary of Week 23 posts

A Radiologist’s Journey by David Hill on the Dumfries and Galloway Health blog.

Fifty Shades of Green: Part 1 – It’s ’Orrible Being in Love When You’re 8 ½ (or 5 ½…) by Karl S Green.

Ebook Publishing in Local Gov by Kate Bentham.

HELP 2.0: What good Twitter customer service looks like by Dan Slee.

Death of an O2 Salesman by Rough Cat.

The Northern Lights by Professor Angela Wallace on the Ayrshire Health blog.

Context not cloaks and cliques by Phil Jewitt.

Heroes are all around you by John Patterson.

Hospital Acquired Infections Require A Copper Bottomed Solution by Joseph Conaghan.

Urban walk May 2013 by Janet E Davis.

A love letter by Karen JK Hart.

A love letter

I feel it would be a spoiler to tell you what Karen Hart’s love letter is about. I will tell you that it starts with surfing and mention of the film Point Break, but that’s only the introduction…

A love letter by Karen JK Hart.

Heroes are all around you

I was delighted when John Patterson said that he would try to do some quick blogging to meet the Week 23 #WeeklyBlogClub deadline because his posts are always worth reading. Not only does John present a slightly different viewpoint that is often thought-provoking, but he expresses it in a way that takes thoughts dancing with a delicate precision down the page. Shifting the metaphor to music, this is John’s riff on heroes.

Heroes are all around you by John Patterson.

Context not cloaks and cliques

Phil Jewitt was so inspired by a couple of posts by Catherine Howe and Elia Morling that he ended up writing his thoughts at 4.38 in the morning* (and managed to come up with an alliterative title that works). He writes about the need for leaders who understand social media from a practical angle, for bringing the gaining of digital social skills into the mainstream, curators who can provide a different type of leadership, and creating confidence.

Context not cloaks and cliques by Phil Jewitt.

*Top tip for bloggers looking for inspiration. Have a break, concentrate on reading interesting things, and you’ll probably get inspired as Phil did.

Warmth, compassion and new starts

After some variable and decidedly chilly weather in May, we seem to have started June with much sunnier weather and that was reflected in a few of the Week 22 contributions to Weekly Blog Club. There were also some tough topics tackled.

In a week when right wing groups and those demonstrating against them gathered on the streets in English cities, it was sad to read of issues regarding attitudes towards Indigenous Australians and of a specific incident in Australian football in Racism In Sport – Still A Long Way To Go by Trent Masenhelder on the @SportingWag blog. It was good to read that there was some positive outcome in the case of this particular incident.

Back in the UK, there was a lot of talk at the weekend about the 12th Doctor Who and whether he could be black and/or a she. Karl Green had been wondering about the possible extra Doctor Who? in a different way, before the news broke of Matt Smith’s departure later in the year. If you’re a fan of the series and have not yet seen the finale of the recent series, Karl’s post contains spoilers.

Although Doctor Who is a very hands-on sort of Time Lord, I wonder if some time spent on a community secondment might help his understanding of humanity? Chris Bolton wrote about a discussion he had on Twitter and a post by someone else in  If I ruled the world, all public sector senior managers would do a secondment in the community by @Jargonautical. What do you think? Would senior managers gain more understanding and compassion if they spent some time on hospital wards? Do people need regular experience of the front line work in order to understand the people there? Join in the discussion in the comments on Chris’s post.

Someone who knows all about the front line is Thomas Whitelaw and he shared his story  about his mother who has dementia and his role as her carer in My Filmed interview Mums story – part of the Patients story library acute services training. He makes some vivid visual points about the number of people with dementia and the number of their carers in Scotland.

On the Dumfries and Galloway Health blog this week, Dr Angus Cameron explained how  Guidelines in Medicine had been developed over the years to standardise and improve treatments. He writes about why he is unlikely to be invited to dine again with Members of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, and what he is concerned might start to influence the guidelines in the future.

The Dumfries and Galloway Health blog was inspired by the example set in Ayrshire by Derek Barron. This week, Derek wrote Ayrshirehealth Reviewed – a year of blogging. Happy birthday, Ayrshirehealth blog! When we first started receiving contributions from them, I did feel anxious about whether I would understand the posts well enough to do a micro summary post. Some weeks, I have had to read through a post more than a couple of times to understand some of the jargon, and sometimes the subject matter has been tough to read, but I have found each and every post well worth reading. It has been fascinating to understand a little more about the concepts behind approaches to care and management, and how the National Health Service for Scotland is changing. I feel  honoured that the Ayrshire health bloggers trust us with their posts, and admire how Derek has not only encouraged people to blog in his own area but has inspired others elsewhere. I know it’s not an easy think to do. I look forward to the next year of posts.

Sometimes, the health bloggers write about ways of doing things that are highly applicable to sectors other than health. Susan Hannah’s on the Ayrshire Health blog this week was a great example as she used an ancient Greek tale - A Warm and Sunny Lesson From Aesop - to show how a more collaborative approach to management can be more effective.

Richard Overy shared a wonderfully sunny picture of smiling people in Lady & gentleman at a windmill. The bicycles in the background suggested it was a leisure outing. Some people prefer to create their picturesque views at home. Samuel-James Wilson’s post this week described how he constructed a Folly/Garden Feature for a private garden. Graham Budd wrote about getting park rangers in his local authority involved in telling people about the work they do (including setting up new beehives) in A new reason to bee excited. He was so successful that they now want to contribute so regularly that they need their own blog.

Mark Braggins wrote about the proposed end of the Knowledge Hub that was set up for local authorities to use and share information and advice in Knowledge Hub: Good CoP or Bad CoP? He and others have been talking about what they can save and possibly doing things in a new way.

It was Out with the old and in with the new in Mark Wood’s post this week, as his work involved photographing the outgoing and incoming Mayors of Walsall at the formal ceremony, and then taking a set of photographs of the new year to be used as his publicity pictures for the year.

There was a surprise in Graham Budd’s second post of the week, hinted at in the title - Aloha: goodbye and hello: he is heading off to exotic parts to do a new job (I’m not telling you where or what because you should read about it in Graham’s own words). I’m sure that other Weekly Blog Club members and others who know Graham would want to join me in wishing him a very happy time in his new home and new job. I, for one, am already looking forward to his posts and really hope he will get into photo blogging because I want to see what his new environment looks like.

Karen Hart could probably do without the distraction of Graham’s pictures of his exotic new environment because she is a virtuoso at the gentle art of displacement activity. In fact, this week she had BAGs of displacement activity! I do hope she also managed to get the writing done by the deadline.

Finally, in a week of news of yet more protests elsewhere in the world, Louise Atkinson’s post, Practice as research [Week 33] Why art is not protest, seemed especially relevant. Louise considers art and protest, from the agitprop forms that began in the 1917 Russian Revolution to work by the world-famous British artist Banksy, and the Chinese artist, Ai Wei Wei.

We set the [entirely optional] theme last week as heroes/heroines and this could continue as a theme this week. You could write about your childhood heroes/heroines; how you relate to a particular, famous hero/heroine; or unsung heroes/heroines whom you think should be recognised. It’s also National Volunteer Week from 1st to 7th June, so it would be great to see posts about volunteering.

If I have left out anyone’s post, please do say. It is not always easy to keep track of which posts are to be included in a week when handing over from one host to another.

Thank you very much to all who contributed by writing, reading, liking, following or retweeting the Week 17 posts. If you are inspired to join the contributors, more about how to can be found on our About page. As Derek mentioned in his post, it is really helpful if you retweet posts via Twitter or post them as links on other social media channels you use.

Help with looking after Weekly Blog Club is always welcome. It does take some time, but those who try it have found it rewarding. The people who contribute posts here are lovely.

Have a wonderful week.

Janet

Janet E Davis

Summary of Week 22 posts

Guidelines in Medicine by Dr Angus Cameron on the Dumfries and Galloway Health blog.

A new reason to bee excited by Graham Budd.

A Warm and Sunny Lesson From Aesop by Susan Hannah on the Ayrshire Health blog.

Doctor Who? by Karl S Green.

Aloha: goodbye and hello by Graham Budd.

Folly/Garden Feature by Samuel-James Wilson.

Knowledge Hub: Good CoP or Bad CoP? by Mark Braggins.

My Filmed interview Mums story – part of the Patients story library acute services training by Thomas Whitelaw.

Practice as research [Week 33] Why art is not protest by Louise Atkinson.

Ayrshirehealth Reviewed – a year of blogging by Derek Barron on the Ayrshire Health blog.

If I ruled the world, all public sector senior managers would do a secondment in the community by @Jargonautical by Chris Bolton.

Out with the old and in with the new by Mark Wood.

Racism In Sport – Still A Long Way To Go by Trent Masenhelder on the @SportingWag blog.

BAGs of displacement activity by Karen JK Hart.

Lady & gentleman at a windmill by Richard Overy.

Ayrshirehealth Reviewed – a year of blogging

Happy 1st Birthday, Ayrshirehealth blog!

Derek Barron shares the aims of the blog, the pre-planning of it, and statistics that provide some evidence of how much they have achieved over the first year. The blog has even exceeded recorded desired outcomes. Well done, Derek and all the Ayrshirehealth bloggers on publishing posts for a whole year! Thank you for all your contributions to and support of Weekly Blog Club. We look forward to the next year.

Ayrshirehealth Reviewed – a year of blogging by Derek Barron on the Ayrshire Health blog.

A new reason to bee excited

Graham Budd has been trying to get colleagues to contribute stories of what they do in their daily work to share with the public on Facebook. He writes about getting the Parks Rangers to record and contribute something about their work from repairing paths to setting up bee hives. Now their interest has grown to the extent that Graham is having to set up a new online space for them.

A new reason to bee excited by Graham Budd.

Blogging, babies and Dambusters

Hello lovely bloggers, yes Kate Bentham again, curating week 21 blogs. You’ve been busy this week with some great blogs; I’ve enjoyed reading every one of them. You really are a talented bunch. Give yourselves a pat on and back, and have a slice of cake.

There were 11 blogs submitted this week, which again is lower numbers than we have been used to seeing, but we are prepared for a dip in blogs as the nice weather finally appears and people are out and about more, but if you spot something interesting whilst you are out and about, why not write a blog about it? #justsaying

The fabulous Janet Davis has written a great blog for anyone thinking about blogging, but who might not know how to go about it. In Blogging for beginners part 1 Janet shares her skills, knowledge and experience to help others get started. I know that if it wasn’t for Janet setting up the mighty fine Weekly Blog Club, I wouldn’t have started blogging – I wonder how many of you that’s the same for?

Ross Wigham has also been supporting others to blog, offering 2 guest posts this week on his bog. The first is Costume drama by Liz Ritson. Liz blogs about an exhibition of well known and loved costumes which have appeared in film and television and for which the costume designer received either a BAFTA, Oscar or a nomination. It is hoped that through the exhibition the skills of the costume designers will be recognised and appreciated.

The second post on Ross’s blog is by Maria Loupa and called Local market lovin’ looking at the national Love Your Local Market campaign. This campaign is to encourage new market traders and celebrate markets being at the heart of local communities.

We’re delighted for Elaine Hunter who has been asked to deliver the prestigious Dr Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture at the Occupational Therapy conference this year. Elaine is going to focus her blog on leadership and in A place to talk leadership #OTalk  Elaine explains how she has been preparing for her lecture. Good luck Elaine, I am sure you will be wonderful, and I look forward to the blog on how it went.

Our other health related blog this week is The Weight of History by Jeff Ace. In his blog Jeff looks at what the legacy of current health changes will be to future generations, something which needs to be taken into consideration with service redesign. Jeff and colleagues certainly feel the weight of expectation and responsibility on their shoulders as they ensure high quality integrated health and social care is at the heart of services to patients.

Louise Atkinson is continuing with her research as part of her practice led PhD and this week debates what the definition of a work of art might be, as a universal classification. Louise looks at ritual objects, semiotics and branding in Why art is not branding. I also know Janet would have done more justice to summarising this blog than me, so sorry about that Louise.

When Karen Hart started contributing posts to weekly blog club, I immediately enjoyed them. Karen is a great story teller, and this week I was excited to read that Karen is going to be turning her hand to more fiction writing. Karen even shares one of her short stories with us this week in Giving it all away 

Another great post this week is called One ounce of emotion beats a ton of scientific evidence. It’s all about “the babies….” by Chris Bolton. This post by Chris looks at the use of evidence in getting polices developed and practices delivered. Chris also considers the counter argument – the one often laced with emotion rather than scientific fact, the one that asks ‘what about the babies..?’ the question to which is often no answer to.

We have another glimpse into our past again this week in Bradford Grammar School Staff by Richard Overy. This wonderful photo from 1939 shows the teaching staff, with some wonderful faces to look at. I can’t help but notice that the teaching staff were all male.

The Only Way is Onwards, There is No Turning Back! by Karl Green looks at a television programme called Knightmare which Karl used to watch as a child. The programme saw contestants having to work as a team and defeat the dungeon. Karl admits this was the first geeky type thing he became a fan of.

There are some amazing images in Nearly missed the Dambusters! by Mark Wood, not only are there photos of military planes, but mayors, and boxers. Mark really is a stilled photographer and again proving that a blog can be a photo or two with some words written around it.

So if you have been inspired to give blogging a go and want to contribute your first post to weekly blog club have a look at our About page for details. If you are stuck for something to write about this week the [entirely optional] there is Heroes and Heroines, inspired by the Bowie programme which is on the telly box distracting me as I try to write this.

Remember, weekly blog club isn’t all about the blogging, it’s about the reading, commenting and sharing of posts, so if you have enjoyed any of the posts listed here be sure to let the writer know.

If you would like to have a go at curating weekly blog club, you can find out more about that here. I note with interest that in a week’s time it is National Volunteer Week, so why not pick a week which suits you and volunteer to be guest curator.

Until next time, stay cool.

Kate

Kate Bentham

Summary of Week 21 posts

1. Blogging for beginners part 1 by Janet Davis
2. Local market lovin’ by Maria Loupa
3. Giving it all away by Karen Hart
4. One ounce of emotion beats a ton of scientific evidence. It’s all about “the babies….” by Chris Bolton
5. A place to talk leadership #OTalk by Elaine Hunter
6. Bradford Grammar School Staff by Richard Overy
7. The Only Way is Onwards, There is No Turning Back! by Karl Green 
8. Nearly missed the Dambusters! by Mark Wood
9. Costume drama by Liz Ritson
10. Why art is not branding by Louise Atkinson
11. The Weight of History by Jeff Ace on the Dumfries and Galloway Health Blog