‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ is a song by Queen that I started to use to inspire others, when I shared the story of my eldest son Joe living a life that was designed in a way that made sense to him.

This was a strong message to the ‘powers that be’ that basically said that we need to continue doing the things that really matter to people and we need to trust the instincts of individuals to do what they believe is right for them.

We built the My Life charity on the same premise and over the last few months we have continued to trust and believe that individuals and families will do what is right for them. People have had to make huge sacrifices to enable their loved ones to remain safe and we have supported a wide range of people in many different flexible ways, such as:

• Delivering over 700 hampers to people in the community
• Picking up and delivering prescriptions
• Sewing 1000 gowns for PPE for Wigan hospital
• Supporting people in their own homes during the period of social isolation to keep them healthy, safe and well
• Working with commissioners to support new people, who otherwise would be struggling
• Keeping in touch with everyone including staff, members, students, families and the wider community through e-newsletters, Zoom chats, virtual meetings, telephone calls and distance deliveries
• Planting out all of our greenhouses, flowerbeds and raised beds so we have a flourishing site for when everyone returns
• Taking delivery of four new buildings and improving the Standish site
• Getting all of our accessible bicycles repaired and on the road
• Moving 80 tonnes of road planings to make the site more accessible
• Exercising our animals, preparing them for the summer and adding to the stock
• Delivering over 650 hanging baskets and bedding plants
• Generally ensuring all of our sites are fully cleansed and resourced ready for everyone to return

The work has been done by some amazing volunteers who have worked so hard in all weathers to keep the charity going. Our staff teams out in the community have equally done an amazing job to keep people safe.

We have developed a recovery plan that explains what we are intending to do over the next few weeks, and we will need to all work together and learn what works and what doesn’t as we go along.

We already have seen an increase in people wanting to at least get back to some kind of normality and we are supporting each person in a way that makes sense to them. We are determined more than ever to keep going and be on hand to help you when you need us to.

Thank you all for your continued support,

Caroline

My Life Learning have had a busy few weeks.

We’ve seen the return of two learners to Standish on an altered timetable and they’ve pitched in with the daily tasks, such as collecting eggs from the chickens and ducks, sorting hanging basket and bedding plant orders and much more.

Our weekly Zoom calls with our learners have also continued. In a fun twist to our usual catch up, on VE Day we had a quiz, where all the answers were either ‘red, blue or white.’ We had to hold up a piece of coloured card to represent the answer, which caused hilarity as some of us weren’t as prepared as others and had to improvise by finding the nearest item of that colour!

We’ve also set up a private group on Facebook for staff to interact with learners in these unusual times. This gives us an extra way of checking in frequently and a platform to share and discuss new projects.

Like everyone else, we’re waiting to see what develops in terms of the government guidance around the re-opening of educational establishments and will update everyone as soon as we know more. We’ve made contact with all learners and their families to form a picture as to the next steps forward and will keep reviewing this over the next period.

Keep safe everyone,

John Mitchell, Head of Education

It’s easy to become inactive when you don’t have many places to go.

Why not try Wildlife Watch’s Wildlife yoga?

Are you a starfish, or a snail?

All you need is some indoor or outdoor space and a yoga mat if you have one. Make sure you warm up and stretch properly too, as well as giving yourself plenty of space.

Simply follow the yoga exercises below!

This June, join thousands of people taking part in the Wildlife Trust’s annual nature challenge, 30 Days Wild!

They want you to do one wild thing a day throughout the whole month: for your health, wellbeing and for the planet. That’s 30 simple, fun and exciting Random Acts of Wildness that you can do from your own home.

You’ll get a free, downloadable pack of goodies to help you plan your wild month, plus lots of ideas to inspire you to stay wild all throughout June (and beyond!)

For extra ‘bonus’ items, keep an eye on your emails for additional, fun activities, from instructions for baking hedgehog cupcakes to a beginner’s guide to wildlife photography.

To get involved, sign up here.

We made the local press with our recreation of Peter Kay’s ‘Show me the way to Amarillo’ and now, for our next video, we’ve remade that classic Queen video, ‘I Want to Break Free!’

Thank you to all those who took part, social distancing here at My Life or in your own homes, this really was a team effort and we’re very proud of it, with a special mention to our producer / director Nyle.

So, sit back, relax and enjoy this rock classic as My Life Presents – ‘I Want to Break Free.’ Click here to see us on YouTube.

If lockdown is making you feel a bit down, why not try these tips to help improve your wellbeing? You can use them daily, or just when you feel a bit low.

It’s completely understandable that lockdown, a change of routine and not seeing the people that we know and love, can make us feel a bit rubbish.

There are things that you can do to feel better.

The NHS have put together this ‘Beating the Isolation Blues’ wellbeing pack to help, if lockdown is having a negative effect on you.

It’s easy to use and full of tips and advice to blow those blues away – why not try it? Simply click here for your copy.