Tom’s story

In 1997, Bob Griffin founder of Tomcat, met his wife Anne, and her son Thomas who had Angelman’s syndrome; a profound disability, typified by severe learning difficulties, sleep disturbance and poor coordination.

One day Anne made the casual remark that would change not only their lives, but the lives of disabled children worldwide. “If only we could tire Tom out”, she said, “he’d sleep all night and so could we!”

Tom required 24 hour supervision so exercise or outdoor activity was all but impossible on safety grounds. Cycling seemed the answer, but in 1998 special needs trikes were crude contraptions; little used outside school for weight and safety reasons. Something revolutionary was needed!

An invention with a purpose

Six months later Bob built the very first trike for riders with learning difficulties and visual impairment; furthermore, it did not look like a trike built for disabled children. It had lightness for ease of use and lightning fast transportability and a revolutionary rear steering and braking arm with park brake and speed regulation to put the carer in control.

Suddenly, Tom’s many problems evaporated and he cycled an astonishing three miles on his first attempt, laughing all the way. Bob recalls the day as a “wonderful, safe, rewarding, memorable, sunny day.”

Life changing trikes accessible to everyone

Tomcat trikes certainly turned the tricycle industry on its head by offering a bespoke solution to those families who thought cycling was entirely beyond their reach. So, what was initially a good idea turned into an innovative business.

Over the past twenty years Tomcat has become the leading light of the trike industry, with many innovations becoming industry standard by which all other trikes are judged. Tomcat has also been recognised for the difference it has made to people’s lives by the many awards it has won; including Britain’s highest business accolade – The Queen’s Award for innovation.

Quality isn’t expensive it’s priceless

The impact that Tomcat trikes has had on the disabled community would not have been possible without the funding support of charities like Gloucestershire Disability Fund and in Guy’s  particular case Words for the Wounded, (WforW helps ill and injured veterans) Guy’s trike was presented by two members of the Tomcat team in the company of Guy’s friends, members of the supporting charities and family.

Photography credit: GloucestershireLive

But Guy, himself a mature student at the University of Gloucestershire tells us that the original impetus came from a third year University of Gloucestershire student George Helder who started a GoFundMe page to raise money towards the bike after Guy had attended a Wheels for All at the Prince of Wales stadium and saw something that would benefit him enormously – exercise and transport. Another friend, Tracey approached the trustees at the Gloucestershire Disability Fund for help and Guy contacted Words for the Wounded.

Guy, who was placed third with a poem in a Words for the Wounded writing award some years ago says: I have Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, Polycythemia Ruba Vera which puts in me in the LINC unit of Edward Jenner at Glos Royal every two weeks – it’s a red blood cell cancer / disorder, and Chronic Thrombo Embolic Pulmonary Hypertension (try saying that after a visit to the pub) which is a lung disorder that puts pressure on my heart. Rest assured, I’m off to get a heart rate monitor this afternoon.

So the obvious thing to do, as my son would say, is ‘go hard or go home’.

I plan to spend my future running and promoting the charity I’ve set up called Shepherding the Mind using dogs, horses and poetry for unlooked for mindfulness. And being a clown, I’ve got the badges to get away with it.’

Guy has set himself a gobsmacking challenge for himself, and his Tomcat trike. Painted pink in aid of breast cancer awareness – the trike, not Guy though Frost Magazine wouldn’t put it past him – Guy is intent on not only being able to walk his wonderful companion, the German Shepherd, Zen, but – and here’s the challenge – he is intending to cycle the entire length of the A40 on a charity fundraising mission. During the journey he hopes to have a Riding for the Disabled Association pony with him as well as Zen.

Bob Griffin of Tomcat says “Tomcat will always try and find a way for disabled children and adults to integrate into mainstream sport activities like cycling because it has so many health and social integration benefits.  At its best, cycling can change the future from life spent in a wheelchair to walking, and that is a rite of passage to us all.  For us as engineers, there can be no better reward than that.”

http://www.tomcatuk.org    Or phone: 01452 616900

www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk

www.shepherdingthemind.org.uk

http://www.fearfulodds.co.uk

Sometimes I just love my job, and ‘having’ to review RosehipPLUS® products was one of those occasions.

Our skin absorbs much that is applied to it – good and bad. You’ve probably used painkiller creams, which pass through your skin to ease joint pain.

For this reason we need to be careful what we use on it, and it’s great to know that RosehipPLUS® products contain no toxins, chemicals, preservatives or other nasties.

The rosehip oil, which is the basis of their range, is cold-pressed from seeds,  which are wild harvested in the Chilean Andes, and thus it is 100% pure, natural and organic.

When I was a child, mothers dosed their youngsters with rosehip syrup daily, as it has always been known to have beneficial effects. In fact, rosehip oil contains natural bioflavonoids, which are potent anti-oxidants. They combat free radical skin damage and reduce fine lines and wrinkles. It also contains essential fatty acids (omega 3,6 and 9) which help keep the skin hydrated, moisturised and younger looking.

The Nourishing Night Cream also contains a blend of cocoa seed butter, jojoba seed oil and shea butter which help to lock in moisture and deeply nourish the skin’s surface.

Naturally I was keen to test my night cream and pure rosehip oil samples.  I was not disappointed. The rosehip oil is supplied with a dropper, and felt wonderful as I tested it on my hand.

The night cream was rich and luxurious. Both products had a pleasant light perfume and disappeared easily into my skin without leaving any residue.

The verdict – my skin is saying ‘thank you’

https://www.rosehipplus.com.au/our-range/

 By Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co,uk

The sun is out, the school holidays are not far away, so we’ve put together a few collections that might appeal to you, as much as they did to us.

Liam Callanan’s Paris by the Book: One day Leah finds more that her wheaties in the cereal box. It’s a note from her husband who has gone missing. It leads her to that mosy romantic of city’s, Paris. But is it romance that brought him here?

She discovers an unfinished manuscript written by her husband.  Leah takes over a bookshop with her two daughters hoping for more clues. But is he alive, or not? A lovely book by the author of The Cloud Atlas and All Saints. Yes, you’ll enjoy it.

Paris by the Book: Liam Callanan. pub HQ pb £12.99 and in e-book and audio.

Anything for Her by G.J. Minett is a satisfying psychological thriller by an author with a devoted fan base. Billy Orr bumps into his ex-girlfriend, Aimi,  when he returns to spend a bit of time with his terminally ill sister. Back ‘when’ he’d have done anything for Aimi and still would. And does. But who is Aimi now? Has he done the right thing? A speedy twisty read.

Anything for her by G.J. Minett. Pub. Zaffre. pb £7.99

It was Her by Mark Hill

An adoption story which works well. Tatia was adopted into a well-off home and was happy enough until the youngest boy dies in an accident, and she is blamed. Is that deserved? She takes over the homes of families on holiday, but death follows her, or does she cause it?

It was Her by Mark Hill. pub Sphere £8.99

The Boy at the Door by Alex Dahl

Cecilia Wilborg has the perfect life: great husband, lovely daughters, fabulous house in a lovely town. What could possibly go wrong? Tobias arrives… and this is what could go wrong.

Good thriller. Twists, turns and secrets. Give it a whirl.

ebook pub 1st May £7.99. (print 12th July)

And so we come to the last stage of  the inaugural year of the Words for the Wounded Georgina Hawtrey-Woore Award for Independent Authors. The excellence of the entries, especially that of the winners would please Georgina enormously, just as it has pleased the judging panel.

Georgina died, too young, in 2017. As a senior editor at Arrow, Georgina was determined that her authors should fulfil their potential, and, more, she was also a great supporter of WforW. To commemorate her life, the three grannies who run Words for the Wounded determined that Georgina should be honoured. To this end Jan, Margaret,and Penny renamed the competition and re-jigged its structure. So now there are four categories.

This year they are delighted  that not only are the entry numbers up, so too is the standard: ‘It is heart warming to see so many excellent entries, and a great treat to read them and Georgina would be thrilled.’ Of course, though, there have to be winners and ultimately the team led by Milly Adams, one of Georgina’s  authors, reached unanimous decisions. As in the Non-Fiction Category, the WforW judging team decided on joint 2^nd place winners in the Fiction Category: ‘Just too close to call‘ was their  comment.

In alphabetical order:

Joint 2nd Place winners of the Fiction Category.

A Painted Samovar by Sarah Roux.

A well crafted and evocative novel which takes us from the Russo-Japanese war of 1905 in which Isaac fights for his country, Czarist Russia, only to seek refuge in Britain post war. Later war beckons again, but this time Isaac has further decisions to make: whether to fight for his adopted nation, Britain, or  to return to Russia which is in a state of growing political turmoil. He  returns to Russia, leaving his wife and children. Will he ever see them again? Only if he undertakes a perilous journey. Does he, doesn’t he? And what were the reasons for leaving Britain in the first place? Read it and see.

As with life, either decision would have had problems, and how does one ever know what is/was the right one. and this was skilfully handled by the author.

A fascinating period, well handled; a human story set in a chaotic context, which after all, is so often the case in world affairs.  An epic story, with a complete structure and bags of human interest. It left the team with lots to think about.

Sarah Roux writes under a pen name; a convergence of her grandmothers which sadly never happened in real life. Born and bred in North London, she now resides in Buckinghamshire with her husband and son.

When she’s not writing, researching or parenting, she can usually be found wandering the stacks of the local community library where she is a volunteer librarian and trustee.

Sarah let us know the backstory to A Painted Samovar and it was interesting to hear that as an ardent lover of history, Sarah has always felt the sting of injustice when discovering an untold story or a forgotten figure hidden in the footnotes.

Her way of dealing with this is to write novels. A Painted Samovar was born out of the discovery that her maternal grandfather, a Jewish immigrant from the Russian Empire, was one of four thousand men expelled from Britain during the Great War and plunged into the Russian Revolution. Her grandfather was one of the lucky ones who eventually made his way back to Britain after four years away.

Although he never spoke a word about what had happened, Sarah likes to think he would be happy to have his life and those momentous times remembered; albeit in an entirely fictional way.

Learn more about Sarah on: www.sarahroux.co.uk

A Painted Samovar available on: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Painted-Samovar-Sarah-Roux/dp/1999795709/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528377700&sr=8-1&keywords=A+painted+samovar+by+sarah+roux

Joint 2nd Place in Fiction Category

Renaissance – The Fall and Rise of a King by Marla Skidmore

Set in the time of the Plantagenet Richard III and his challenger, Henry Tudor, Renaissance captures the essence of that turbulent period, galloping the reader into Richard’s battle to retain power in the face of Henry Tudor’s challenge at the Battle of Bosworth. We can hear the clash of weapons, see the fist of mail, the thunder of hoofs, and then – the death of the perhaps much maligned Richard III. But is it death?

Marla Skidmore grasps the nettle of her research and invests it with her interpretation, and a good dash of imaginative realisation, to bring to life this period which is clouded by myth and legend. The author uses the relationship between Richard and his celestial mentor Father Gilbert to discuss and reveal a different slant on Richard who might not after all be the monstrous villain of William Shakespeare’s play, and of the Tudor histories.

The premise was fascinating, and the execution skilled.

A memorable novel of what ifs…

Frost Magazine was delighted  Marla Skidmore had the time to tell us more about herself and the writing of Renaissance:

I grew up in Richard III country, in a small medieval city located on the edge of the Yorkshire dales – between Middleham and York – where I met and married my soldier husband at the tender age of 18.  After following the flag for a number of years, I decided to return home to become a mature student at Leeds University – I told my family “it will only be for 4 years.”   7 years later I emerged with a BA(Hons) in English and History, a Masters in English Literature and a PGCE and went on to teach in Further and Higher Education.

It was during a prolonged break in my career, due to a serious health issue, that I returned to writing. I had dabbled in it on and off for years – writing short stories, poems and even the beginnings of a couple of novels, but life in the shape of career and family commitments always got in the way of me giving it my full attention.  It was natural therefore that when I was forced to take a ‘time out’ my love for literature; for words and a fascination for history would lead me down the path of writing a historical novel.

I was well into the 5^th chapter of a romantic murder mystery, set during the Napoleonic Wars, when at lunch with a group of university friends, at the time of the rediscovery of Richard III’s grave and the ensuing controversy about his reburial place, I speculated about what he would have made of all the fuss.  A member of the group (a respected medieval historian) challenged me to write the story – “do one about Richard in blue jeans” were her words. The idea took root and snippets of a story constantly inserted themselves into my mind.  Finally, I had to put aside my Napoleonic novel – the result is ‘Renaissance – The Fall and Rise of a King.’  My Richard did not turn out to be in blue jeans but I did bring him into the 21^st century – in my own way.

I promised myself that I would resume writing the earlier story as soon as ‘Renaissance’ was written but now ideas for a sequel are running through my head – about that most loyal of Richard’s friends, the mysterious Francis Viscount Lovell.  So…here I am… with a published novel, one partially written novel and another in the researching stage – which one of the latter two do I tackle first? Can one write two novels simultaneously?

Breaking News…

Marla tells us: ‘Renaissance’ was reviewed by author Helen Hollick’s team of Bloggers on 24^th May and it has received their ‘Discovering Diamonds’ seal of approval as a recommended read.’

‘ It gets better…when I got back from holiday on Monday evening I found another email from her informing me that the book was winner of ‘Discovering Diamonds’ Cover Design for the Month of May and will be put forward for Cover of the Year in December.’

She is being interviewed on a podcast which will go out on UTube; the Richard III Society is publishing a review in the September issue of their quarterly magazine – The Bulletin; and their American branch would like her to do an interview for their June Newsletter. Bravo…

https://www/facebook.com/MarlaSkidmoreAuthor/

The book is available on Amazon:

Also on Booklinker: http://mybook.to/TheRiseofaKing and you can also find Marla on Twitter: @marlaskidmore44

And this ends what has been a fabulous list of authors and books, and a most impressive inaugural WforW Georgina Hawtrey-Woore Award for Independent Authors. Frost Magazine will be meeting the winners of next year’s award in 2019. We can’t wait.

This delightful pull-along turtle is part of the Pepe & Friends series by Hape. As with all Hape toys, it is high quality and lovely to look at. For grandmas like me, the unique feel of old-fashioned wood, merged with a modern design is just perfect and takes me back to my own childhood (I find this is happening just a bit too often nowadays).

Its eye-catching light green body contrasts with the dark green ‘shell’ – which is actually a circle filled with green liquid, which turns. This makes the liquid splash into the different segments, creating attractive shapes, as the toddler pulls it along.

It is a nice size – big enough to catch the interest of your little one, but small and light enough for them to handle easily, when they have just got the hang of walking.

I know my grandson loves it – and that is the ultimate test, isn’t it?

www.hape.com/uk/en

By Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co,uk

Ellie Holmes, 2nd place prize winner of the International Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award with he wonderful The Flower Seller tells Frost Magazine readers about her day – as an author.

When the sun is shining I like nothing better than to relocate from my study to the garden. I only have a small garden but I have worked hard to create a calming oasis full of colour and interest. It is a place for calm and relaxation, wonder and inspiration.

I am not blessed with a garden office – now there’s a tempting thought – but I do have a lovely patio table and chairs set in the shade of a red Acer with roses in bloom above my head.

It is the perfect spot to while away a few hours working on the plot of my latest novel. Although my wi-fi does reach this part of the garden, I try not to get distracted by the constant whirl of social media. I limit myself to having a quick look at Facebook and Twitter whenever I take a tea break. Writers need to be disciplined. You have to put in the hours whether you are feeling it or not, waiting for the elusive muse to descend is not an option for the serious writer.

When I need to refill the well of creativity I will take a break for an hour or so and take my longhaired Dachshund Willow for a walk across the nearby fields. Enjoying the countryside and watching Willow mooch along chasing captivating scents and bugs, allows my subconscious to work out any kinks in my complex plots. Often, I will come back from a walk with a fresh idea or an insight into what I had previously thought was an intractable problem without even being aware I have been thinking about it.

If the words are flowing I will work for as long as I feel comfortable but I never write myself dry. Ernest Hemingway espoused: “…never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.” I always work like this. It means that when you start work the next time you have something to say, you are never left staring at an empty screen bereft of ideas.

When I am writing a first draft I will write the whole thing from start to finish. Only once the bones of the story are down will I go back and start the lengthy process of editing and polishing.

I am pantser not a planner. I always know how my stories are going to start and how they are going to finish but I never know how I am going to get from the beginning to the end. It keeps the journey interesting.

Ellie Holmes writes commercial women’s fiction. 

http://Author.to/EllieHolmes

This is the inaugural year of the Georgina Hawtrey-Woore Award for Independent Authors. Georgina died, too young, in 2017. As a senior editor at Arrow, Georgina was determined that her authors should fulfil their potential, and, more, she was also a great supporter of WforW. To commemorate her life, the three grannies who run Words for the Wounded determined that Georgina should be honoured. To this end Margaret, Jan and Penny renamed the competition and re-jigged its structure. So now there are four categories.

This year they are delighted  that not only are the entry numbers up, so too is the standard. ‘It is heart warming to see so many excellent entries, and a great treat to read them and Georgina would be thrilled.’ Of course, though, there have to be winners and ultimately the team led by Milly Adams, one of her authors, reached unanimous decisions. As in the Non-Fiction Category, the WforW judging team decided on joint 2^nd place winners: ‘Just too close to call’. These will be discussed on 12 June.

 Fiction Category

1^st Place: Little Mouse by Judi Moore

After Kristallnacht in 1938 Doktor Theodore Goldstein, his wife Lisl, and their small son Theo, flee from Berlin to Edinburgh, where they find succour with a relative and build a new life. But then a friend from the old days arrives, a friend who might not be what he seems. Or perhaps it’s what he has been all along?

Little Mouse is what any fiction judging team longs for, a book which is different, and it is one that this team felt was supreme. Little Mouse is succinctly written, structured perfectly, the point of view intact, the characterisation of all the characters spot on, even to the ‘voice’ of the almost four year old, Theo. Within a page it becomes unputdownable, and sustains the attention, leading the reader to the ultimate question: ‘What would I do?’

Judi Moore captures exactly, or so one imagines, the sense of peril felt by this Jewish family in Nazis Germany. She understands the historical perspective, and steadily peels back the layers to reveal the true nature of the friend, but can he really be as they suspect?

Moore’s understated style is multi-layered and subtle as we follow the passage of Theo’s young life as he is forced to burst into an early maturity. Decisions must be made, but what will be the cost to him?

Does this sound tantalising? Well it should. We were all left feeling thoughtful, stretched, enlightened, and moved. Such a novel, such writing and still that question: what would we do?

More about Judi Moore:

I’ve been a professional writer since 1997 producing poetry; long and short fiction; and reviews of poetry, books and music. Between 2006 and 2013 I worked as a part-time creative writing tutor at university level. In 2016 I was commissioned by the Open University choir to write lyrics for a 20-minute piece of music for choir, brass ensemble and percussion, premiered in November 2017.

As I have not, so far, hit the big time with my writing I’ve been living on fresh air and bowls of steam for more than 20 years. And I’ve enjoyed every day of it. I love being steeped in writing: making it, reading it, reviewing and beta-reading other people’s, and providing workshops and teaching materials to enhance other people’s practice of it.

And more about Little Mouse:

The first novel I published (by no means the first I wrote) was Is death really necessary? It is set in 2038, as some of what happens in it is still beyond our current technology. I decided that Theo Goldstein should be a factor throughout the book. To fulfill that purpose the reader had to first meet him as a small child and then re-encounter him as an old man. The book needed to start with a bang, so I started jotting down dates, working back 100 years from various points in the future and seeing what was happening around then that looked bangworthy. And there was Kristallnacht, an event I’d always wanted to write about. So I set the beginning of the book on Kristallnacht 1938 and used their experiences in 1938 to show what had made the family so dysfunctional by the beginning of Is death really necessary? in 2038.

Unsurprisingly, all that luscious backstory completely overwhelmed the novel’s actual story. I cut. And cut. And cut. Which left all this unused good stuff in forlorn electronic piles. When the dust of publishing Death had settled I revisited those piles. I reckoned if I could develop a plot to weave through, something worthwhile could be made of it. In the interstices of other work I evolved the story about a villain from the war threatening the Goldsteins new life in Edinburgh. Herr Dr Schmeling (also cut from Death) immediately recommended himself as a suitable scoundrel. Et voilá.

http://www.judimoore.wordpress.com

Little Mouse by Judi Moore, pub in conjunction with Moo Kow Press.

Available from Amazon.co.uk in e-book and paperback: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Mouse-Judi-Moore/dp/1785100998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528378014&sr=8-1&keywords=Judi+moore+Little+Mouse

Noah Charney aims to convince us that ‘it is important to study what has been lost, and why, to understand how art can best be preserved in the future, to appreciate what has survived and just how delicate is that miraculous fraction of mankind’s creative history.’ He is passionate and eloquent and persuasive.

Heather Benning, The Dollhouse: Dusk #3, 2007, printed 2011, Kodak Endura digital C-print, 50.8 × 76.2 cm (20 × 30 in) Picture credit: Courtesy of Heather Benning (page 204, upper)

How can art be lost? Quite easily, it seems. In sixteenth century Italy artists sought to have sprezzatura, a ‘studied carelessness’ which meant making the work look easy – and therefore it was the practice to destroy preparatory drawings. We know Michelangelo did this – and can only imagine what we have lost. Most losses, though, have their roots in natural disasters, human greed or  prejudice, or were simply collateral damage. This is, in many ways, a melancholy book.

Still from the film Le mystère Picasso, 1956, dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot. Picture credit: © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2018 (page 200)

After a comprehensive introduction the sections of The Museum of Lost Art are organised into types of loss: Theft, War, Accident and so on until the intriguing Lost, or Never Was. The conclusion which follows allows us some hope of future recoveries, and instances of earlier unexpected finds – and less unexpected negotiated ransoms. Charney also considers the value of 3D printing (the reimagining of Palmyra’s Arch of Triumph which was rebuilt in Trafalgar Square) and ends with a sad story of the ultimate piece of performance art.

Each section is enclosed  within the story of a work of art which was once lost but eventually found or recovered. Within each section is history, drama and exploration which gives the research an often gripping pace without losing contact with its evident scholarly roots. I found it fascinating. The story of art thief Adam Worth (apparently the model for Conan Doyle’s Moriarty, but far more engaging) is worth a film in its own right.

The high quality art work which illustrates this book is a poignant reminder of some of what has been lost. Read this book for the adventure and drama it reveals, but also let it make you grateful for what remains. And remember that one of the reasons for the founding of our National Gallery was to preserve artworks against the chances of loss through human carelessness or greed.

Museum of Lost Art by Noah Charney. Pub Phaidon £19.95