Month: May 2020

Hearts going down as SPFL ends season early

The SPFL has today announced that, following consultation with all 12 top-flight clubs, the Board of the SPFL has determined that the 2019/20 Ladbrokes Premiership has been concluded with immediate effect.

As with the Ladbrokes Championship, Ladbrokes League One and Ladbrokes League Two competitions, final season placings have been determined by points per game in league matches played to 13 March 2020 by each club.

The decision means that Celtic are crowned 2019/20 champions and Hearts have been relegated to the Ladbrokes Championship. The final placings in full can be seen below:

Games played Points Goal Difference Points / Game
1 Celtic 30 80 70 2.6667
2 Rangers 29 67 45 2.3103
3 Motherwell 30 46 3 1.5333
4 Aberdeen 30 45 4 1.5000
5 Livingston 30 39 2 1.3000
6 St Johnstone 29 36 -18 1.2414
7 Hibernian 30 37 -7 1.2333
8 Kilmarnock 30 33 -10 1.1000
9 St Mirren 30 29 -17 0.9667
10 Ross County 30 29 -31 0.9667
11 Hamilton A 30 27 -20 0.9000
12 Hearts 30 23 -21 0.7667

SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan said: “Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to officially congratulate Celtic on their achievement of winning the Ladbrokes Premiership this season, and also to sincerely commiserate with Hearts on their relegation.

“We would all have rather seen the league season played out on pitches, in stadiums and in front of supporters. This is not the way anybody involved with Scottish football would have wanted to conclude the league season but, given the grave and unprecedented circumstances that we are facing, the Board has agreed that it is the only practical way forward.

“Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on sporting competitions around the world and the repercussions will be felt for a long time. Scottish Government restrictions and deep concerns for both player and spectator safety left the SPFL with no realistic option but to call the Ladbrokes Premiership now and we thank the Premiership clubs for their support on this decision.”

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “On Friday, Ladbrokes Premiership clubs expressed their clear and unanimous view that there was no realistic prospect of completing the outstanding fixtures from Season 2019/20. 

“The SPFL Board met this morning and in line with the express agreement of member clubs in April, the Board determined that League Season 2019/20 and the Ladbrokes Premiership be brought to an end.

“This decision now enables us to pay out around £7 million in fees to help clubs stay afloat during this incredibly difficult time. We will begin processing these payments immediately.

“The focus of all those involved in the game will now turn to how we get football up and running again safely as soon as possible.  Next season’s Betfred Cup first round group stage is scheduled to begin in mid-July, with coverage from Premier Sports.  The 2020/21 League Season in all four of our Divisions is due to commence on 1 August, which coincides with the start of our new and exclusive five-year broadcasting deal with Sky Sports.

“Nobody should be under any illusion as to how complicated and difficult a challenge it will be to return Scottish football to normality. We will be liaising with Government on the best way forward and working to ensure that all of our 42 clubs are playing football again as soon as humanly possible.”

The story’s not over yet, however …

In a statement, Heart of Midlothian said: ‘Following today’s decision to end the 2019/20 Premiership season and expel Heart of Midlothian Football Club from the top flight, the club would like to provide a brief update to both its fans and the wider Scottish football audience.

‘We have stated from the outset that we don’t believe it is right that any club should be unfairly penalised because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was previously indicated that league reconstruction would not generate enough support to pass a vote between member clubs.  In recent days a number of positive talks have been held with both the SPFL and member clubs and this topic is currently being revisited.

‘Hearts will shortly submit a member’s resolution that we believe is a pragmatic solution to the issues the game currently faces and a way forward that the clubs can unite behind. It is our belief that this resolution, if supported, will provide an opportunity to avoid disproportionately disadvantaging – financially and otherwise – any club. 

‘This is possibly the final chance for our game to stand together, protect each other and not only survive but flourish in the aftermath of this terrible pandemic. Players from across all leagues have shown a desire for reconstruction and having already received support from some clubs we are hopeful that this resolution can positively progress Scottish football.

‘As previously intimated the club has been taking legal advice throughout this process and are continuing to do so. We hope that the resolution being prepared will avoid the need to go down this route. Legal action would be both time consuming and expensive. However the cost to the club of relegation would outweigh these considerations.

‘To our supporters, we thank you for showing patience and continuing to back the club. We will continue to fight against what we believe is an unjust outcome.’

Update to Coronavirus symptoms

Statement from the four UK Chief Medical Officers

A statement from the four UK Chief Medical Officers on an update to Coronavirus symptoms:

“From today, all individuals should self-isolate if they develop a new continuous cough or fever or anosmia.

“Anosmia is the loss or a change in your normal sense of smell. It can also affect your sense of taste as the two are closely linked.

“We have been closely monitoring the emerging data and evidence on COVID-19 and after thorough consideration, we are now confident enough to recommend this new measure.

“The individual’s household should also self-isolate for 14 days as per the current guidelines and the individual should stay at home for 7 days, or longer if they still have symptoms other than cough or loss of sense of smell or taste.”

Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Frank Atherton
Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland, Dr Michael McBride
Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, Dr Gregor Smith
Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty

Note:

Changes for the symptomatic individual and their household:

  • Individuals will need to self-isolate immediately if they develop a new continuous cough OR fever OR as of today, a loss or changed sense of normal smell or taste (Anosmia).
  • All members of their household must also self-isolate according to current guidelines, unless the symptomatic individual receives a negative test result.

Tech-shy Edinburgh Minister hosts record-breaking international Prayer Meeting

What is believed to be the largest Prayer Meeting held in Scotland since the Reformation was conducted via Zoom last week, with around 400 worshippers joining from as far afield as the USA, Germany and Sweden.

Rev. James Gracie, of Arthur Street Church in Edinburgh started the Prayer Meeting in March as his parishioners were unable to attend services due to the government lockdown.

The first Monday evening meeting attracted around 50 attendees, but as word spread, numbers rocketed, causing a few challenges for Rev Gracie.

He said: “I had to become tech-savvy very quickly. I initially had a licence for 100 people and managed to set up our first Zoom call. I had no idea how many would attend, but the response was fantastic.

“It was mainly members of my congregation, but there were several attendees from other denominations, and a few folks from overseas also joined in.

“After that, the word just spread and spread. We have now had to purchase a licence for 500 people, and we’ve had people joining from Canada, Holland, Romania, the USA and Sweden. Indeed, the number of attendees has grown every week since it began.

“I’m not sure how much bigger we can get, but to my knowledge, it’s already the largest Prayer Meeting in Scotland since the time of the Reformation. 

“For something that we started as a way of bringing our people together to have snowballed as it has been nothing short of a miracle. With isolation and so much uncertainty, the chance to join together in prayer can provide a great deal of comfort and reassurance. ”

Anyone looking to join the prayer meeting, which is held at 7pm on Monday evenings, can do so by contacting Rev. Gracie at jig.edin@gmail.com.

Scottish Government strengthens oversight of care homes

New arrangements to significantly strengthen oversight of Scotland’s care homes have been published by the Scottish Government.

From today, clinical and care professionals at NHS boards and local authorities will have a lead role in the oversight for care homes in their area.

Every Health Board and local authority must put in place a multi-disciplinary team comprised of key clinical leads and the area’s Chief Social Work Officer.

The team’s remit will include daily discussions about the quality of care in each care home in their area, with particular focus on implementation of infection prevention and control, and the provision of expert clinical support to residents who have Coronavirus.

The short paper ‘Coronavirus (Covid 19) – enhanced professional clinical and care oversight of care homes’ also highlights issues around testing and contact tracing with escalation measures in place if issues cannot be resolved.

The paper builds on recent actions to ensure care home residents can be kept safe, including new guidance for the sector and amendments to the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Bill which would ensure the swiftest possible intervention if care home residents are being put at serious risk due to services failing.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on Scotland’s social care services. It is of paramount importance that those using services, including residents of care homes and those supporting them, are provided with the best possible care and the Scottish Government is doing everything in its power to ensure that is the case.

“All organisations including care providers are responsible for effective and safe care in their services and are expected to work closely together and at pace to give effect to these arrangements. While these are unprecedented times, everything possible must be done to protect care home residents and staff from the effects of Covid-19.

“These new arrangements will ensure clarity and consistency across the country about the role of Health Boards and local authorities in helping to keep their residents safe from coronavirus and should be seen alongside other recent action the Scottish Government has taken, including publishing revised guidance for the sector, and amendments to the Coronavirus Bill being discussed at parliament next week.

“I want to assure staff, residents and their families that a safe residential environment in care homes remains our top priority.”

Coronavirus (Covid 19) – enhanced professional clinical and care oversight of care homes.

Students shine as shoe fixing business expands

Edinburgh Napier students combine love of trainers with entrepreneurial spark for new business venture

A trio of entrepreneurial Edinburgh Napier students are shining brightly in the start-up world as their shoe cleaning service continues to expand into new regions.

Shoe Fix Edinburgh was established last year by Edinburgh Napier marketing students Euan Bodie and Lewis Holman and sport and exercise science student Hannah Thomson.

The business puts life back into shoes and trainers by offering a high-end cleaning service that includes a range of services from midsole repainting, body cleaning and shoe protection alongside free collection and delivery.

The trio met while studying at Edinburgh Napier University, with the idea sparking from a conversation they had whilst working a hosting shift at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on how best to clean their designer trainers.

Upon quickly realising there was no company that could provide the service they were looking for in Edinburgh or surrounding areas, the students realised there was an evident gap in the market and Shoe Fix Edinburgh was born.

Since its creation, the business has overseen rapid growth, with 100s using the service to breathe new life into their designer shoes and trainers.

The service has also proved popular with some of the city’s footballers, with Heart of Midlothian defender John Souttar and Hibs midfielder Fraser Murray among Shoe Fix’s growing customer list.

Interest in the shoe-fixing service has grown so much that the business has recently expanded into new areas and now covers Falkirk, Stirling and Livingston as well as Edinburgh itself.

And with the trio’s time at Edinburgh Napier soon to come to an end, the team is looking to build on their success across the country.

Shoe Fix Edinburgh’s Lewis Holman said: “We all have an interest and passion in trainers, as do loads of other millennials across the UK today.

“With a collection of designer shoes between us, we regularly used to browse the web and supermarket shelves to track down the best product to clean our shoes when they needed some TLC, but this wasn’t enough.

“As we are students we can’t afford to regularly purchase high end designer trainers and replace those that we think are beyond repair, and we know we are not alone in this so the idea for Shoe Fix Edinburgh really stemmed from there.

“We were initially surprised with the interest in the service – we didn’t expect to experience high growth in such a short space of time. However we have backed ourselves and knew there was a clear gap in the market. As marketing students we have used what we have learnt over the past four years to our advantage and made use of marketing communications to the best of our ability.

“We believe that our popularity is down to the quality of the service we provide. Through social media we are able to share customer feedback and post the results from a service at Shoe Fix. Our followers on Instagram love to see our before and after shots in which you can see how the shoes have transformed – check them out!

“As university is coming to an end, we thought now is the perfect time to put all of our time and effort into Shoe Fix, expand where we can and meet the existing demand. We love working together and what we do and that’s when we are at our happiest, so we have made the decision to put our all into this.”

Shoe Fix Edinburgh offers three levels of service: basic, advanced and professional. Prices start from £20 with free collection and delivery for all customers.

More information on Shoe Fix Edinburgh can be found on Instagram here.

 

Scottish Book Trust launch online celebrations for Bookbug Week

Scottish Book Trust, the national charity changing lives through reading and writing, will host online celebrations this year for Bookbug Week​, which runs from Monday 18 May – Sunday 24 May.

As the Bookbug programme has been running since 2010, the charity will mark the ten year milestone with #HappyBirthdayBookbug, encouraging families across Scotland to send Bookbug their birthday wishes.

Bookbug Week is an annual celebration of Scotland’s national book-gifting programme and Song and Rhyme Sessions. There will be many ways for families to join in the fun at home, such as a daily drawalong with Bookbug’s creator Debi Gliori, to learn how to draw Bookbug and friends.

There will also be a special film with Debi, which explains how she created Bookbug ten years ago.

The popular live Bookbug Session on Facebook will run on Friday 22 May at 10am, for everyone to join in and sing happy birthday to Bookbug.

The first live Bookbug Session was a great success with over 20,000 views. For those that cannot join the live session, there will be an option to watch later, or the option of acelebratory Bookbug Session for families to try at home themselves.

Scottish Book Trust’s home activities hub will be packed with more themed ideas to try at home, from making a party hat to colouring in sheets of Bookbug. 

All through the week, there will also be competitions on the charity’s website and social media. Scottish Book Trust will also be asking for families’ memories of their child’s Bookbug Bags and Bookbug Sessions with their little ones.

As always, families can access Bookbug’s Song and Rhyme library, via Scottish Book Trust’s website, or on the free Bookbug app.

Building on the increasing demand for modern nursery rhymes, Scottish Book Trust commissioned Sprog Rock to develop a brand new birthday song, which will launch on Wednesday 20 May.

The new song was created through interactive nursery workshops earlier this year with Bucklyvie Nursery in Glasgow. The song centres around the theme of being ten years old, with nursery children contributing their imaginative thoughts about what that age means to them.

Minister for Children and Young People, Maree Todd said: “I am delighted that we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Bookbug programme in Scotland.

“To date, Bookbug has provided well over 6 million books to children and helped families across Scotland to take part in Bookbug activities and enjoy precious moments of reading, story-telling and singing together.

“We know these are challenging times for families so it is heartening to see that the Bookbug online sessions are proving to be such a success. I am also pleased to see that this year’s celebrations will be packed with themed activity ideas for families to try at home.

“I would like to thank Scottish Book Trust and everyone involved in delivering this wonderful programme and I hope that many families can join in the exciting virtual events and resources during the Bookbug week.” 

Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said: “Scottish Book Trust is looking forward to celebrating Bookbug’s tenth birthday with families across Scotland through our website, social media channels and Bookbug app.

“We are extremely proud of the impact that the Bookbug programme has made in the last decade: from delivering free bags of books, to bringing communities together through Bookbug Sessions, to working with families at home who need our support to get started sharing stories and songs together.

“We’d like to thank all our colleagues from libraries, health, education, social care and the third sector for building Bookbug with us – it truly is a national partnership that shows how much we value books, and value children. We look forward to receiving everyone’s birthday messages for Bookbug and hope that families can join us to celebrate.”

Funded by the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland, Bookbug is Scottish Book Trust’s Early Years Programme.

The Bookbug programme encourages mums, dads and carers to sing and share stories with their children from birth. It gives every child in Scotland four free bags of books in their first 5 years, gifting over 885,000 books every year.

Bookbug also runs regular free story, song and rhyme events in libraries, shopping centres and other community venues which attracted audiences of over 720,000 parents and children in 2018-19.

Happy Birthday, Bookbug!

Mental Health Awareness Week: A Time for Kindness

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week (18-24 May 2020) and this year the topic is kindness.

  • Almost three-quarters of UK adults (72 per cent) say it is important we learn from the coronavirus pandemic to be more kind as a society.
  • Almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of UK adults say that when people are kind to them, it has a positive impact on their mental health.
  • Almost two-thirds of UK adults (63 per cent) say that being kind to others has a positive impact on their mental health.
  • Charity recommends targeted “kindness tests”, including equality, dignity and respect to be applied in creating and reviewing public policy.

Almost three-quarters of UK adults say it is important that we learn from the coronavirus pandemic to be more kind as a society, according to a new survey.

The survey was published by the Mental Health Foundation to mark the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, which this year has the theme of Kindness.

Two-thirds of people say that when others are kind to them, it has a positive impact on their mental health, according to the survey of 4,256 UK adults aged 18 and above.

Two-thirds of UK adults also say that being kind to others has a positive impact on their mental health.

The charity has launched a report showing the evidence base for the impact of kindness on mental health and a policy paper making recommendations on how kindness can be turned into action.

Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation Mark Rowland said: “The evidence for the positive impact of kindness on protecting and improving mental health has always been clear. Our own survey has shown there is powerful support from the UK public for a kinder approach.

“At one level, kindness can be as simple as phoning a friend who is lonely or thanking a colleague for something they have done. However, to have a major impact on improving our mental health, we need to take kindness seriously as a society. In particular, we need to make kindness an important part of public policy.

“The pandemic is an opportunity to do that. Kindness can play an essential role in reducing the social, economic and mental health consequences of the crisis, that could last for years to come.”

The survey also found that almost half of UK adults (48 per cent) said being kind “to myself” had a positive impact on their mental health.

The charity is making a series of recommendations on kindness. They include recommending that all Government departments apply a measurable, values-based kindness test to current and new policies. This is to ensure they are informed by kindness, equality, dignity and respect.

Mr Rowland added: “We need to challenge the idea that kindness has no relevance to government and public policy. Instead, we want to start taking kindness seriously in how we shape political decision-making at all levels.

“Kindness has a role to play in how we run our welfare services, our justice system and our health system. To achieve this, we need to include a fundamental test for all existing and new policies – are they kind?

“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to re-imagine a kinder society – one that protects all our mental health and especially that of the most vulnerable.”

The Mental Health Foundation organises and hosts Mental Health Awareness Week every year. The week runs from 18th to 24th May and is now in its 20th year.

Mental Health Awareness Week is marked in different ways by organisations and individuals.

This year, the Foundation is asking people to share their stories of kindness during the Week on social media and also their ideas for how we can build a kinder society, using #KindnessMatters and #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek.

Visit mentalhealth.org.uk/mhaw for more information.

MHAW20-Supporter-Pack_Final

 

 

Jeane Freeman: ‘We are getting a bit closer to the day when we can relax some more of these restrictions’

Statement given by the Health Secretary Jeane Freeman at a media briefing in St Andrew’s House yesterday (Sunday 17 May).

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us for today’s briefing. I want to start – as I always do – by updating you on some of the key statistics in relation to COVID-19 in Scotland.

As at 9 o’clock this morning, there have been 14,537 positive cases confirmed – an increase of 90 from yesterday.

A total of 1,308 patients are in hospital with the virus – 1,007 who have been confirmed as having Covid, and 301 who are suspected of having Covid. That represents a total decline of 108 from yesterday, including a decrease of 4 in the number of confirmed cases.

A total of 59 people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. That is the same number as reported yesterday.

I am also able to confirm today that since 5 March, a total of 3,354 patients who had tested positive for the virus have been able to leave hospital. I wish all of them well.

Regrettably, I also have to report that in the last 24 hours, 9 deaths have been registered of patients who have been confirmed through a test as having COVID-19 – that takes the total number of deaths in Scotland, under that measurement, to 2,103.

It is worth bearing in mind that fewer deaths tend to be registered at the weekend than on other days of the week – that is almost certainly part of the reason why today’s figure is significantly lower than yesterday’s.

As always, I want to stress that these numbers are much more than statistics. They represent individuals whose loss is a source of grief to many. I want to send my deepest condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one to this virus.

As Health Secretary, I also want to once again thank those working in our health and care sector.  That thanks is due to every single person – doctors and nurses; paramedics; care home staff; healthcare assistants; porters, cooks, and cleaners and many, many more.

Everything you do is essential to the health and well being of our country. And all of us owe you a great debt of gratitude.

I have three areas which I want to update you on today.

The first relates to care homes. All care workers demonstrate everyday commitment and compassion in their work and in incredibly difficult circumstances. We will continue to do everything we can to support you, while you provide care and support for those who most need it.

On Friday we published detailed clinical and practice guidance for care homes. Today we have published details of arrangements that take effect from tomorrow to ensure enhanced professional clinical and care oversight.

The publication today sets out a very clear role for the NHS, in partnership with the relevant Local Authority and Local Health & Social Care Partnership to actively and proactively ensure that every care home has the additional support and if necessary intervention, to make sure that clinical care, infection prevention and control, PPE and testing arrangements are what we need them to be.

Accountability for this sits at the most senior levels of our Health Boards and of course through them, to me as Health Secretary.

These additional arrangements build on current support and ensure that care homes benefit from the vital contribution of Nurse Directors, Chief Social Work Officers and Chief Officers of Health and Social Care Partnerships.

The Scottish Government has also added new measures to the Coronavirus Bill, which will receive Stage 2 consideration in Parliament next week.

These make it clear that – if a provider is unable to continue to deliver care, or if there is a significant risk to residents – Scottish Ministers can ensure continuity of care and support.

These powers would only be exercised as a last resort. There is a range of guidance available for care providers on how to manage the current situation, which we expect to be followed.

Of course there are many positive examples across Scotland of highly effective management of care homes.

But there have also been instances where care standards during this pandemic have fallen short. We are already taking action to address these, with the support of the Care Inspectorate.

If passed, the new measures we are proposing will provide additional assurance – to staff; to people who live in care homes, to their residents and to their families – that further action will be taken to address any failings that arise and will be taken quickly.

The Coronavirus Bill provisions – together with the guidance we have published – reinforce our determination to ensure that care in every residential setting is as safe as possible.

The second issue I want to talk about is a further development of our growing capacity to test, trace, isolate and support.

That process – which involves identifying cases of COVID-19, finding the people they have been in close contact with, and then asking those close-contacts to self-isolate for 14 days is crucial as we start to emerge from the lock down. It will help us to quickly break the chains of transmission, and therefore stop any new outbreaks of Covid from growing.

Currently Health Boards across Scotland do some contact tracing, based on risk assessments. And as part of our build-up of contact-tracing staff, an open recruitment process is underway to supplement the increase in contract tracing teams Boards are currently working on. We now have 600 additional staff across our NHS boards who are ready to start and more are being trained as contact tracers.

From tomorrow, NHS Fife, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Highland will test the contact tracing technology that health boards will use. This builds on existing tried and tested technology, and is designed to support staff to collect and record information, and to trace more contacts more quickly.

Together with the growing number of contact tracers the technology allows us to carry out contact tracing on the much larger scale that will be needed.

The software which is being tested next week, will be used in all health boards by the end of May and will continue to be refined and improved during June. It will play a valuable role in improving the speed and effectiveness of our work to test, trace, isolate and support.

The final issue I want to talk to you about is the appointment of an additional deputy Chief Medical Officer.  The First Minister has appointed Professor Marion Bain to that role on an interim basis.

Professor Bain is the Scottish Government’s former Senior Medical Advisor for Public Health Reform. Most recently, she has been working as the Director of Infection Prevention and Control in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.  She is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh, and has a particular research expertise in the use of routine health information for public health and clinical research.

Professor Bain will work alongside our other interim Deputy CMO, Dr Nicola Steedman.  And she will support our Chief Medical Officer, Dr Gregor Smith,

Her appointment will provide additional capacity in that key role and further ensure that we benefit from the very best public health expertise available.

I’m now going to pass you on to Fiona McQueen, our Chief Nursing Officer but before I do, however, I’d like to emphasise once again our key public health guidance.

Please stay at home except for essential purposes- such as daily exercise, or to buy essential items.

You can now exercise more than once a day – but when you do leave the house, stay local, stay more than 2 metres apart from other people. And do not meet up with people from households other than your own.

You should wear a face covering if you are in a shop or on public transport and physical distancing is difficult to achieve. And wash your hands thoroughly and regularly.

Finally, if you or someone else in your household has symptoms of COVID-19, then you should stay at home completely.

I do know how difficult these restrictions are. And I also know they get harder as time passes. But they are necessary – and they are making a difference.

By staying at home, we, you, are slowing the spread of the virus, protecting the NHS and saving lives.

And we are getting a bit closer to the day, when we can relax some more of these restrictions.

So thank you once again to all of you, for doing the right thing, and sticking to the guidance.

Its May, it’s spring and it should be the start of MoonWalk Season!

Whilst the iconic MoonWalks are on hold, organisers breast cancer charity Walk the Walk are inviting people from all over the U.K. to put on their walking shoes and join them on a virtual MoonWalk Celebration Road Trip.  

To mark the dates of The MoonWalk London on 16th May, The MoonWalk Scotland on 6th June and The MoonWalk Iceland on 13th June, this virtual road trip is a 29 day journey. It will start at Clapham Common in London, continuing via Holyrood Park in Edinburgh and finishing with a grand celebration at Lake Myvatn in Iceland.

The virtual route is 1,190 miles, as the crow flies and people wanting to support the charity can choose how many miles that they want to walk. The aim is to get as many people to Iceland as possible on 13th June, observing social distancing guidelines, of course.

Walkers can choose to take on 2 miles each day, 3 miles a day or 5 miles each day for 29 days or pick ‘n’ mix their own distance and time.

There is no cost for joining and fundraising is optional, but should they want to, those taking part can open a fundraising page and anyone can show their support by making a donation.

The entire Walk the Walk Team is setting off on the road trip and walking at least 2 miles a day for the 29 days.

Nina Barough CBE, Founder and Chief Executive of Walk the Walk said; “With our 3 MoonWalks sadly on hold, we just could not let the days pass without some kind of celebration.

“So, all of us at Walk the Walk along with as many people as we can get to join us, are very excited to be setting off … virtually of course on ‘The MoonWalk Celebration Road Trip’.

“In these unsettled times we all need a bit of fun, and this really is fun for everyone. It is free to enter and a great incentive for women, men and children to get out into the fresh air with a fun goal … meanwhile, Walk the Walk hope to raise some much needed funds for those living with cancer who need it now more than ever, so a great exchange.

“After all, how often can you say that you are walking from London to Scotland and then onto Iceland … Join this magical journey now and expect a few surprises along the way!”

Mental Health in Lockdown: The World From My Window

This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (18 – 24th May) comes at an unprecedented time of global change.

As nations all across the planet slowly unfurl the restrictions of lockdown and societies begin to take small steps back to a version of ‘normal’ life, the lack of certainty over what will happen next continues to cause anxiety and distress to many.

During the lockdown, The World From My Window (TWFMW) has shone a spotlight on the stories of the individuals who are living through this difficult, shared experience. So far, hundreds of personal accounts and stories have been collected from 40 different countries across the globe; including, Pakistan, Uganda, North America, Sudan, the UK, Belarus, New Zealand and Palestine.

Everyone has a different story to tell. We have heard from patients in the throes of recovery, parents at home – struggling to balance demands of children and work and popstars – including Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne, who is finding hope in the opportunity to stay still.

What has been the common thread in all the submissions and stories received, is that making the time to write down your anxieties and emotions can bring comfort during a period of crisis.

You can add your voice to the growing digital anthology of stories told by all these global citizens by writing a short story or letter to describe what your world looks like right now. The goal is to gather stories from as many countries and societal perspectives as possible and to build a varied and holistic picture of this moment in our shared history.

Here are some extracts from the stories we have received so far:

“Loneliness is nothing to do with distance. It can happen anywhere, because it’s something we carry inside us, like a pain in our heart. We can be alone in a crowded room, even when people we love are right beside us.” – Paul, London

“Could you ever imagine, even in your wildest dreams, that a pandemic will bring the entire world to a halt? The world so preoccupied that it whooshes by those who take a moment to catch a breath.” – Atif, Islamabad.

“I hear cars and trucks, delivering important things, I hear possums and birds, wandering around, I hear neighbors and pets, living their lives, I hear silence most often and that’s a lovely sound.” – Rebecca, Australia

“I’m grateful for this moment of calm. The pressures of having to be the smartest, the most successful, the prettiest, the thinnest have disappeared and I am now free.” Sophie, West Sussex.

“…what I miss the most? It’s the ritual we were doing to increase our neurotransmitters – oxycontin, dopamine, serotonin and endorphins. The simple ritual of a Hug. – Subhan, Baku.

‘They remind me that outside my little mansion there are other stories, other entities and matter, and everything in our little world will pass, one day at a time. It’s a strange comfort’ – Aurora, Barcelona

During Mental Health Awareness Week, TWFMW is encouraging more submissions through a partnership with Centrepoint and a series of interactive Instagram live workshops and discussions.

Isolation is especially hard on vulnerable young people and TWFMW is feeding into the Centrepoint, #ChallengeAccepted, arts initiative by giving young people an opportunity to share their story via social channels in a series of different tasks and focuses to keep active and engaged during the lockdown.

To tell your story visit http://theworldfrommywindow / Instagram @the.world.from.my.window to find out more about this week’s activities and to share your view from isolation in less than 300 words.

All stories will be read with as many as possible being shared across our The World From My Window platforms.