Lullaby Trust "Family Day Out" at Cadbury World

Today I helped out at a Lullaby Trust "Family Day Out" at Cadbury World. These days are for bereaved parents and their families, are free, and give everyone a chance to meet and talk to other families and Lullaby Trust staff. 

I arrived at 10:30 to help Sandra (from the Lullaby Trust) with the registration and giving out tickets. My job was to hand out stickers and make sure the families knew about all the events going on in addition to the tour. I was amazed at how many people came: they had 270 signed up, and most of those were able to attend on the day. Most were families with young children (or grandchildren) and some had come from quite far. 

Everyone had arrived by 12, and I then had a chance to go round the tour (and get some chocolate!) before heading to the education room. The Lullaby Trust had booked the room for an hour and a half in the afternoon, for the families to come in and have a relaxed chat. 

Before attending today, I had no idea what the real benefit of these days was. Being there, it became obvious. For the families, being able to speak to others who had been through the same as them was invaluable. These days give them the opportunity to openly discuss their tragedy, without the awkwardness that must come with talking to people who haven't been through it and so can't possibly understand, no matter how hard they try.

It was great to see the number of families who came in to speak to one another, and to see how valuable the day was to them. It was also great to see how many had gone on to have more children, helped by the Lullaby Trust's "Care Of Next Infant (CONI)" scheme. 

Seeing the benefits the charity brings to families was a massive reality check for me. It gave me even more motivation to succeed at these challenges this year, and raise as much money as possible. So, I have been searching for things to do....

In March I have found a 20 mile walk in Wales (http://www.threepeakstrial.co.uk/), 
in July, I have found a 24 hour running race (http://www.100milerun.com/cotswold-24-hour-race/sign-up/),
who wants to join me??

February

Last night I did my February challenge! I did stand-up comedy as part of the Bright Club at the Birmingham Rep. As I had written about before here, I had gone to training a few weeks ago which had scared the living daylights out of me! I wrote my script over the last few weeks, and spent most of my bike ride on Saturday and my drive on Sunday going through it in my head. It wasn't until the run-through directly before the performance that I had actually said it out loud…

I arrived at the rep a bag of nerves, very much not feeling like a comedian, and feeling much more like an awkward academic who wanted to go back to their windowless basement! After encouragement from Jim (the organiser) and the other “performers” I stood up and did my run through. It went surprisingly well, and I knew then that the real thing would at least be possible! I saw my friends and some family arrive and I'm not sure whether that calmed me down or made me even more nervous! But by that point I’d got my Lullaby trust t-shirt on and so I knew there was no going back.

From being called on stage to sitting back down afterwards is a bit of a blur – all I know is that it feels awesome when a whole theatre of people laugh at something you thought was funny! I was surprised at how I managed to ad-lib a bit, adding in bits for the final performance that were never in my original script.

When I finished, I was shaking like a leaf but feeling very proud! As I was on 2^nd, I then got to enjoy the rest of the night – my fellow academics were excellent and the bright club atmosphere led to a really good night.

For those of you who were unable to come, the link to the recording is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3_IaeK0xu8&feature=youtu.be

And I’m still not booked in for March... Those of you who would be interested in doing the Nuts challenge, we need to get booking!