The season of mellow fruitfulness is upon us, a harsh winter could be on the way, and perhaps sore throats with it.

Throaty Soothe

Do you remember those miserable sore throats in your childhood days? I was given a honey and lemon drink which vaguely helped but Throaty Soothe sounds as though it will work better and in this time of watchfulness over the possible over-use of paracetamol, and ibuprofen especially for young children it’s interesting to note that both have been replaced by the traditional herbs – Icelandic Moss and Mallow.

Icelandic Moss and Mallow have identifiable modes of action and offer effective use. Calcium pantothenate also supports the soothing effect of Icelandic moss on the irritated mucous.  Throaty Soothe syrup, for use from 12 months, and Throaty Soothe Lozenges, for children aged four and older, offer a safe and effective treatment for a common and often troubling problem and should be recommended as a first-line treatment for infants over 12-months and children suffering from sore throat.

Throaty Soothe syrup contains zinc as well as Icelandic moss and mallow. Throaty Soothe lozenges contain Icelandic moss, calcium pantothenate and zinc.

 www.throatysoothe.co.uk/

Chemical-free cleaning:  with e-cloth and water

You might have noticed that there has been some concern expressed about chemical cleaners. Until relatively recently, consumers have been forced to choose between efficacy and efficient cleaning with chemicals, and the health of their family and the environment, but now there is a third way — thanks to the marvel of microfibre technology. One that only requires water and not a thousand different types of toxic chemical cleaners.

e-cloth products, which use microfibre technology, allows you to clean and sanitise almost every surface in your home with nothing more than water and a wipe. And though no chemicals are being used, this method still eliminates almost all bacteria, proving chemical-cleaning is no longer a must.

And e-cloth’s efficacy has been proved in a number of studies. Independent tests have been carried out by laboratories based in U.S.A, France and Brazil, with data reviewed by an American microbiologist who pioneered research into salmonella and other harmful bacteria, to confirm the highly efficient antibacterial action of e-cloths.

The e-cloth range is extensive and we list just a few:

e-cloth’s General Purpose Cloth removes thick grease, dirt and bacteria from all hard surfaces. RRP £4.99

It can be used with the e-cloth Glass & Polishing Cloth to be used dry on a damp surface. RRP £4.99

e-cloth’s Deep Clean Mop and also the light Mini Mop with a smaller head (good to keep in the bathroom) RRP £19 / £14.99

www.e-cloth.com/

Red Kooga Natural Energy Release

Chronic Tiredness is prevalent, apparently. Life is hectic, and with little time to eat properly coffee and sweet snacks are often downed to fill the energy gap. My husband calls them white van moments after he flagged down a white baker’s van in the wilds of Wales when he came over ‘all strange’ on a long walk, having missed his lunch. He bought bags of buns from the bewildered driver.

Maybe this is a better idea. Red Kooga Natural Energy Release combines top-quality natural ingredients, backed by research, to boost energy and wellbeing and ward off fatigue.

Reported benefits include anti-fatigue, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity and anti-tumour effects. Red Panax Ginseng has potent antioxidant activities which may help to prevent oxidative-stress linked to many chronic diseases. Alongside this, there is some evidence to suggest that ginsenosides may have a role to play in the treatment of flu viruses. It is thought that these powerful compounds may be able to attach to viral proteins, rendering them less active. A recent murine study also found that Panax ginseng helped to reduce parameters of fatigue experienced with exercise

http://www.redkooga.co.uk

Just sometimes Frost Magazine hears of an amazing endeavour and the PentUp Foundation’s Modern Pentathlon is certainly that. Mark you, it took a great deal of hard work and foresight, not to mention extraordinary participants, but on Sunday 14th October, at the Military Academy Sandhurst, it was clear that PentUp had created something grand.

I was lucky enough to be am cheering on my son at the Modern Pentathlon, alongside many others all willing on the participants, and the idea. It was an inspirational day, the culmination of careful planning by the organisers, and hard work, training and focus by the competitors. These competitors were all ages and abilities, including some who were continuing their recovery from PTSD –  supported by private individuals, clinicians, Olympians and serving military personnel throughout the training and event.

Frost Magazine hopes that it will be repeated year on year.

The PentUp Foundation is a recently-founded Community Interest Company (CIC) with an ambition to raise as much money as possible to facilitate the national and regional treatment of PTSD through individual giving, sponsorship, major donors and legacies. PentUp uses the sport of Modern Pentathlon as a means of sports therapy to support the recovery of military veterans who have completed clinical treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Image courtesy of Leo Wilkinson

RECOVERY THROUGH SPORT…

Evidence based research has shown that the process of training and preparing for a competitive multi discipline sport, can form an essential part of therapeutic treatment and rehabilitation for sufferers of PTSD. The foundation was set up specifically to support a Modern Pentathlon event at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 14 October 2017, with a view to it becoming an annual competitive event.

Dr Simon Thompson, Psychiatrist at Combat Stress; “This adapted modern pentathlon event works in treating PTSD veterans because it utilises the psychological skills gained through intensive trauma focused cognitive behavioural therapy and the grounding and mood emotional regulation techniques developed in the clinical treatment programmes”. This is the first time that a multi discipline sport has been used as a form of recovery.

Image courtesy of Gavin Booth

POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

Over 75,000 veterans from armed conflicts of the last 25 years are afflicted by trauma, and in 2015/16 Combat Stress’ 24 hour phone line was contacted 9,500 times, with 2,500 referrals for therapy. The scale of suffering is unprecedented and growing with over 200 traumatised ex-service personnel a month coming forward to ask for help.

Image courtesy of Leo Wilkinson

Each annual cycle sees up to 40 veterans, clinicians and supporters take part in a training programme to prepare them from novice to competitor in a 6-month period between March and October. The cycle culminates in a PentUp Pentathlon competition run by GB Modern Pent specific for this group of competitors.

Image courtesy of Leo Wilkinson

Having given their all, competitors and supporters togged up into best bib and tucker for PentUp Foundation Ball and Prizegiving – a fitting celebration of a great debut for PentUp’s Modern Pentathlon .

You can still donate at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/pentupfoundation

http://pentup.org.uk/

Leo Wilkinson: www.leothephotographer.co.uk

Frost has been looking at independent bookshops recently and has come across the gorgeous, thriving award winning White Rose BookCafé in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. As evidence of its success this remarkable bookshop  has just celebrated its 22^nd birthday.

This bookshop is just perfect with its huge range of books, and a great little café with an outside terrace. We didn’t make it to the terrace but sank into a sofa and enjoyed homemade cakes, and wished we’d been there for a light lunch too. My mum would have loved the tea but would have given the FREE WiFi indoors & out a miss. She didn’t  hold with these new fangled wotnots. Her daughter does though.

You can browse to your heart’s content without being hustled, there are book signings, most recently with local author Julian Norton who has brought out another book in the Yorkshire Vet series – Through the Seasons, which Frost Magazine will be including in a roundup very soon.

They have a whole wall of cards, you know, the sort that you laugh out loud at, so those were bought to bring home. As well as books, there were prints, toys, maps, diaries, calendars and a miscellany of other gifts.

Independent bookshops have to be pro-active in order to survive these days, and the White Rose BookCafé owned and managed by friendly and knowledgeable Caroline Nicholls is certainly that. They organise a host of book related events every month, such as their Bloomin’ Words Cabaret evenings, and regular storytime for children every week. There is a loyalty card schemes for books and the coffee bar to gain offers and discounts, and they issue a monthly e-news.

As we left we were totally glum to be missing Gervaise Phinn’s visit. His books are hilarious.

Anyone thinking of running a bookshop should take a trip to the White Rose BookCafé, and certainly anyone in search of cards, books or cakes – beat a path there too. Thirsk is well worth a look too, not to mention The World of James Herriot Museum.

http://www.whiterosebooks.com/

https://www.facebook.com/WhiteRoseBooks/

https://twitter.com/

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/news0142/pins/

https://www.instagram.com/whiterosebookcafe/

White Rose BookCafe

79-81 Market Place, Thirsk, North Yorkshire YO7 1ET – Tel: 01845 524353

Regional Shortlisted 2017, 2016, 2015 & Independent Bookseller North 2014

Certificate of Merit in the Parliamentary Shop of the Year 2010

Milly Adams latest book is The Waterways Girls pub Arrow in pb. £5.99

The Ovalhouse, London.

“too nice for its own good”

The Good Daughter offers to keep her father’s secret – he has been so sad of late, it may cheer him up. He whispers it to her and feels joyous, the weight having been lifted. She has sworn to keep it secret, which she does. Unfortunately, everyone desires a go and soon the whole town is happy, except The Good Daughter – she is sadly aware of so much truth, even the identity of a murderer.

This is a gothic, adult fairy tale, creepy and silly. As an entertainment, it is brilliant. Mainly due to the amazing cast of four who pull the audience into their bizarre world and tell a story as dark as anything the Grimm Brothers could have conjured. Angela Clerkin (who co-wrote the piece with Lucy J Skilbeck) plays The Good Daughter, on high, in the attic, watching events unfold below her, as a young girl. The years drop away as she assumes an innocent and childish air. As if that’s not enough – she directed the play as well!

Photograph courtesy of Sheila Burnett

But I left feeling slightly cheated. There is nothing wrong with the performances: the other actors play all the additional parts – as well as the magpies, representing the secrets. Niall Ashdown, Hazel Maycock and Anne Odeke excel in the style and present a wacky assortment of town characters.

Simon Vincenzi’s design centres on the raised attic bedroom, with the surrounding town looking small and distant. It is simple and efficient, perfect for the UK tour.

Photograph courtesy of Sheila Burnett

Even though the production was developed at the National Theatre Studio, The Secret Keeper does not fulfil its promise. It is advertised as a ‘political fairy tale’, but it is very light on the politics. Even light on the darkness and the horror that it feels too timid to veer towards. There are songs, too, which take us into, perhaps, one genre too many – they being of variable quality. There was, in conclusion, little peril – the very emotion I craved to feel.

Photograph courtesy of Sheila Burnett

The Secret Keeper is too nice for its own good. Still a marvellous production, full of wit and charm, but lacking in bite.

Paul Vates.

Producers           Ovalhouse and ClerkinWorks

Photography      Sheila Burnett

Twitter                 @ovalhouse

Tour dates:

Until Oct 21        Ovalhouse, London SE11

020 7582 7680 – ovalhouse.com

Oct 23                  Stantonbury Theatre, Milton Keynes

01908 324466 – stantonburytheatre.co.uk

Oct 24-25            Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry

024 7652 4524 – warwickartscentre.co.uk

Oct 27                  Greenwich Theatre, London

020 8858 7755 – greenwichtheatre.org.uk

Oct 28                  The North Wall, Oxford

01865 319450 – thenorthwall.com

Oct 31-Nov 4      Theatre Royal Plymouth (The Drum)

01752 267222 – theatreroyal.com

Nov 6-7 Curve, Leicester

0116 242 3595 – curveonline.co.uk

Nov 8                   Little Theatre, Sheringham

01263 822347 – sheringhamlittletheatre.com

Nov 10                 Corn Exchange, Newbury

0845 521 8218 – cornexchangenew.com