Neil's 'Someone once told me': 'You are allowed to relax you know'

YOU'LL always find him in the kitchen at parties...

This is our new media director, Neil Aitchison, during our recent Someone once told me session.

And what an important message it is too!

Check out Carol's SOTM video here - dubbed one of creator Mario's favourites ever.

And then there was Linda, doing her best again to raise awareness about mental illness. She's not keen on the picture but the audio is powerful.

Various Passionate Media clients and contacts were also captured in pictures, video or sound. Watch this space for a fuller gallery as more are posted on the site.

Find out more about Passionate Media's podcast service

ARE you interested in podcasting but not sure about the benefits, how it would work for you and your company or what you could use a podcast for?

New media director at Passionate Media, Neil Aitchison, right, answers these questions and more in his latest podcast, just press play below.

You can also listen to Neil being interviewed by colleague Helen Moffat about the service.

You can listen to a selection of some Passionate Media podcasts here.

And please just get in touch if you have any questions. We'd be delighted to help.

Our new family travel blog - one to watch says Times Online

THERE'S a brilliant round-up of family travel resources available via Twitter in the Times Online here.

Oure new blog is included.

Heres' what Jennifer Howze says about us in her report of the best family travel tweeters:

KEEP WATCHING

twitter.com/Joner

This British feed, associated with the newly created www.havealovelytime.com, posts links to travel photo blogs, posts and lots of personal responses. The tweeter is plugged in to the UK mummy blogging world and already has a slew of followers.

So..watch this space for reports from globetrotting parents and reviews from closer to home.  Pieces lined up for imminent publication include reflections on Australia, Lancashire, EuroDisney, A Taste of Staffordshire and much, much more. Plus more travel news from Amanda Fazani and Tim Atkinson.

Don't forget to check out the other resources on Jennifer's list - there are some phenomenal resources included. Wow - how fantastic to be included!

Once again a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed, read us, commented or helped spread the word we are here. There's lots to do with the site and we are very excited at the potential it has. 

Challenging times for Compton Hospice as the crunch bites

We were dismayed to discover that Compton Hospice has been forced to scrap a fund-raising challenge to Mount Etna as the credit crunch appears to be taking its toll.

A relunctance by people to commit to the trip has been mirrored by a general decline in fund-raising revenue in April and May, as more and more people are feeling the pinch.

Sue Chance, the hospice’s head of PR and fund-raising, said it was disappointing to have to cancel October’s Sicily trip, but hopes some good will come of it as the hospice now plans to start promoting its 2010 big challenge, to give people time to raise the £2,350 minimum sponsorship.

“We had lots of interest in the Etna trip, so we know that people are keen to fund-raise for us, and up for the challenge of something like scaling a volcano, but people just seemed hesitant in committing to raise the money necessary within the time-scales,” explained Mrs Chance.

Mincher Lockett Opticians looking good at 40

WE all know that we have to take better care of ourselves as we grow older.

Well that's a message that Mincher-Lockett Opticians in Stafford took on board in a business sense.

The eye specialists are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year after they first opened the doors of the Stafford Street practice in 1969.

As part of a series of celebrations to mark their birthday the opticians launched a health campaign, Look Good at 40, emphasising the importance of getting your eye check from aged 40 onwards

Pictured right with the practice optician Jan Goodwin and dispensing optician Sarah Edge are customers Tracey Henney, who has just turned 40, and George Hewson who has been attending the practice for 40 years.

The business has recently undergone a major refurbishment to update the image of its practice, so it taking the message on board in a business and health sense.

Photo blog: Urban Allotments help kids get their hands dirty

IT WAS was great to see the children at Highclare School in Sutton Coldfield get stuck in at the launch of their new allotment organised by online grow-your-own specialists  Urban Allotments.

Lessons in listening thanks to Uttoxeter speech expert

Language expert Libby Hill has been working with three Staffordshire nurseries to pioneer a programme aimed at helping young children improve their learning skills.

Libby, director of Uttoxeter-based Small Talk, carried out sessions with youngsters from Horn End nurseries in Stafford, Hixon and Rugeley, to help develop skills essential to starting school.

She believes the programme - which was developed thanks to funding in Staffordshire – is more important than ever now, following a report which highlighted serious communications issues in young school pupils.

The Bercow Report found that at least two pupils in every primary school class – rising to almost half the class in areas of social deprivation – are currently struggling to learn properly due to problems with basic skills such as listening and following instructions.

Why blog? Women’s business conference set to show how social media can boost your bottom line

ASPIRING and established businesswomen will be shown how social media can boost their bottom line at a major conference to be held in Birmingham next week.

The event, to be held at The Pavilion in Moor Lane, Perry Barr, includes an interactive workshop, led by experts from the Connect Culture initiative, based at Coventry University, on social networking phenomenon Twitter, plus blogging for business.

Carol stars in Someone Once Told Me video - bit of a tearjerker!

IT only seems like yesterday that Carol's tenacity and determination were recognised with a national award. (Okay it was three years ago, even if I still go on about it!) Now, here she is again - inspiring others, this time in the social media spotlight.

Thanks to Mario from Someone Once Told Me for all his time with us recently. Check out his wonderful website for lots more examples of the influential things people have heard. And watch this space for more images of the Passionate Media team with their own life-shaping messages.

Double the excitement as our twins blog is featured in The Times

By Linda Jones

I'VE been reading about how PRs are engaging with bloggers lately and some of the discussion has either been sparked by or led to mentions of a recent trip I shared with six other so-called UK 'mummybloggers' to Walt Disney World.

The trip was the subject of a feature in The Times by my fellow member of the so-called Disney Seven, Alice Castle.

You can also see this forward thinking post from travel journalist Jeremy Head and this interesting piece by Manchester's Sarah Hartley.

I'm included because of You've Got Your Hands Full, our blog for multiple birth parents, which has gained more than 11,000 returning readers since being launched in 2006.

Susanna, from A Modern Mother, recently shared guidance for PRs wanting to contact this group of bloggers and I have been meaning to add my thoughts on her excellent post for a while. The one point I disagreed on was that I write for other people, not for me.