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Hi – and thank you for visiting my website (even if it was only by accident). The site is devoted to my attempts to raise mental health awareness, through a series of over 100 challenges undertaken since the start of 2014; and on the pages that follow you will find details of the challenges along with a selection of photographs.
If you want to watch one of the tasks actually being completed, the video for no.78 (a version of Snow Patrol's "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" performed with my friend and work colleague Georgina Sayers), which was recorded at The Garage Studios in South Shields, appears further down this page. Just above it is an audio demo acoustic recording of Blink 182's "All the Small Things" sung with Carl Pemberton (formerly of Journey South). I later sang the song live with Carl's band V12 to complete challenge no.118. I first revealed that I suffer from a chronic but mild form of depression - now recognised as dysthymia - in 2011 (there are links below to two related blogs); and I have written a book about my experiences and challenges entitled "Today, Just Like Yesterday", which was published by Trigger on 12 April 2018 - five years after the appearance of my first book "Desperately Seeking Susan Foreman", the quest to obtain a signed photo from all the female Doctor Who companions. If you are thinking of ordering a copy of "Today, Just Like Yesterday"; firstly thank you ... and secondly, there is a link on the right-hand side of this page (below the picture of the book cover). Trigger is a specialist mental health publisher based in Newark. My title forms part of their "Inspirational Series"; books which are all about overcoming adversity and thriving; and I feel incredibly fortunate that my book appears alongside some amazing stories written by truly inspiring people. For further details,, please visit the Trigger website. Away from writing, I have had a lifelong love of sport, with particular interests in cricket (which I attempted to play for many years), rugby league (which I didn't), netball and the Olympic Games. A number of my challenges have been sport-related, but the most important thing is to simply try to keep raising awareness of mental health issues; to do whatever I can to encourage people to talk; and to try and show what can be achieved if you are able to find the strength to ask for help. Thanks again for popping by; if you have any comments, please feel free to drop me a line. |
"All the Small Things" (acoustic demo) |