***THANK YOU PIGS ON THE WING!*** Wow! Without Wings are so excited to announce that last Saturday's Pigs on the Wing gig raised a grand total of.... DRUM ROLL!!!! £1617!!!!!!! FOR WITHOUT WINGS! What's more, Without Wings didn't actually realise until the night that the band, and their support team, were also donating their incredible talents, and had been doing throughout their entire 'Points of the Compass' Tour. We just thought we'd be shaking buckets, not taking a huge share of the ticket sales too! AMAZING! And hugely appreciated. This money will go a long way towards helping us establish our all important business plan for the Department of Health, and to ensuring everyone who approaches us can receive the support they need. Thank you too to everyone who turned up to support us and, what was a fantastic gig. In other news...
Lots is still happening in the world of Without Wings as we continue to work hard to get our charity firmly established. Things are also settling too, so from now on our blog will be reduced to a calming 'once a month,' with the occasional guest blog thrown in-between. For today though, we still have a lot of news! First up: last Tuesday, Jackie, our Chair, featured on Manx Radio's 'Women Today,' officially launching our Mental Health Safeguarding Initiative. This, we had especially prepped in time for Mental Health Awareness Week. Thank you to the Lisa Lowe Foundation for helping to make our initiative possible, and a big thank you too, to Manx Radio's lovely Christy and Beth for the opportunity to announce this publicly. They have proved to be a wonderful source of support to our charity and we are very grateful. It appears our information hit the right mark. Without Wings is very happy to say that post interview we received lots of messages of support and interest. Finally, awareness of these illnesses is being spread, and people living with these conditions are beginning to find access to the help they need, when they most need it. Now all we need is to KEEP RAISING FUNDS! We've done well so far but need to raise much more if we are to ensure that everyone who approaches us can be helped, whilst also continuing our awareness and information raising campaigns! Speaking of which, though June is set to be fairly quiet, July is not! July 5th - Without Wings have secured a stand at Tynwald! Currently our plan is smoothie sales and some kind of craft for kids based around Lula, our beautiful logo. We also have a couple of amusing ideas up our sleeves to entertain everyone - EVEN IF IT'S RAINING. Which, of course, it won't be. Come and find us!!! July 17th - Douglas Carnival! Currently we have done absolutely nothing about this, but it is still in the calendar as Without Wings firmly believes it will be fun. And fun is something all people living with these illnesses deserve to have. The big plan is to invite anyone and everyone to help us build our massive bird, then join us on our massive float. Logistically, it's possibly a nightmare, but we are certain ALL WILL BE FINE! Keep an eye out for updates! July 23rd - Noa Bakehouse, 7pm. TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED: NATURAL HEALING AGAINST THE ODDS. Is it really possible to recover naturally from these often debilitating and crippling illnesses? Without Wings will be putting this very question to our two speakers. Danny the Champion of the RA world, is coming all the way from the Netherlands to talk to us about how he managed to 'crush' his RA through diet and exercise. Uk based AndySwarbs, PsA, RA and osteoA blogger, speaker and general arthritis King tells a similar story of how he went from wheelchair to bikram yoga obsessive ON NO MEDS! These guys are an inspiration. Like so many people who suffer from these, or any other serious, progressive autoimmune illness, both have been through incredible hardship. Andy in particular, has not escaped unscathed. Yet, through exceptionally hard work, constant troubleshooting and discipline, they have both managed to turn their health, and their lives, around. Without Wings is in awe and cannot wait to hear what they have to say. Hopefully they will have something to teach us all. Tickets are £12 a head. If any under 16s want to attend, they can free of charge - so long as they promise NOT TO EAT ALL THE RAW VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE that we also plan to have on offer (I'm sure we'll be safe. We'll just tell them it contains beetroot). Danny will also be doing a smoothie demo/ tasting and there might be some other interesting nosh there too. Nettle soup anyone? At the end there will be a panel discussion, so plenty of opportunity to really get to the bottom of HOW DID THEY DO IT??? It should be an informative and fun evening, so please, please, do come along. Education is freedom. ***Disclaimer: In relation to natural healing, Without Wings would never advocate altering medication without full knowledge and consent of your health care provider.***
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***NEXT WEEK IS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK*** In line with this, as promised, Without Wings has been working SUPER hard to develop our initiative to provide swift and open ended counselling to all people living with autoimmune arthritis, including loved ones. Read on to hear all about our exciting plans, especially our AMAZING new partnership with the INCREDIBLE Lisa Lowe Foundation (previously Manx Cancer Help.) Jackie is back on Women Today, (Manx Radio) May 9th to discuss her own battle with mental health issues. And happy May the 6th for anyone attending the last of the Pigs on the Wing Compass Tour this Saturday. If you haven't heard it on the airwaves, we are very excited to say that Without Wings is the nominated charity for this event! Many, many thanks to Pigs on the Wing, a fantastic, if not possibly an iconic local band. If you are able to make it, we’ll be there with our Without Wing’s charity buckets. Please come and say hello, even it we can't hear you :) ***MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK*** Without Wings is SO EXCITED! Over the last few weeks we have been working super hard to formulate our most prominent drive: to ensure the availability of swift, open ended counselling to all people in need who live with autoimmune arthritis. This includes loved ones who might find themselves in a supportive/ caring role.
Firstly, we are incredibly grateful to Dr Alex Allison MHK, for suggesting we hook up with the Lisa Lowe Foundation - previously Manx Cancer Help. This wonderful charity share many of our ideas and initiatives, - namely, a commitment to positive and compassionate living and the provision of excellent and swift support to those in times of need. They also have a powerful 10 year plan that will change the face of mental health support and provision on the Island immeasurably. As well as being able to tap into their psychological support services, Without Wings are incredibly proud to say that we have been invited to be involved in their 'open door' programme in the perfectly named 'Hope Street' in Douglas. This will be a lunchtime project when anyone, with any ongoing stress/ distress issue - be it disease related or not, will be able to come and talk in a safe and comfortable environment with trained personnel. For sufferers of autoimmune arthritis, Without Wings hope to provide a once weekly presence where sufferers - and their loved ones, can come and voice any concerns they have regarding their illness, or indeed any other issue. No one needs to be experiencing severe difficulty to attend this project. It is available to anyone who just wants to chat or see a friendly face. This partnership will of course have the added benefit of raising Without Wing's profile, which in turn will help us develop our all important business plan to prove our long term sustainability to Government. In doing so, our services can be recognised as part of a pathway of integrated care through GPs and the hospital, via the Department of Health. Phew! It's been a lot of work but it is coming together! Please keep supporting us. Please keep liking and sharing our Facebook posts and if you're planning a sponsored event please keep us in mind. Every little helps and our next step is to raise serious funds to make sure that no sufferer of autoimmune arthritis need ever feel alone and unsupported. |
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January 2018
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