How Does Tuition Improve a Child’s Confidence?

At Top Grades Education, we know that when a child feels confident, they can achieve things they may never have thought possible.

We asked our students how they had benefitted from attending our tuition sessions. We were overwhelmed with the same response ‘my confidence has improved.’ But what does that mean? What does that look like? How will our parents notice?

Our confident learners have enjoyed improved results and exam grades in English, Maths, Science and Languages. Their knowledge and understanding have improved in other areas and often they arrive at our tuition centre with news of other successes they have had in their lives. Our confident learners become part of the ‘Top Grades family’ we celebrate our learners’ successes, regularly communicate with parents, and communicate with teachers, providing an extra support network for families. Our confident learners can ask questions, have no distractions, enjoy personalised learning, reduced anxiety, and support for revision.

FREEDOM TO ASK QUESTIONS:

As teachers we often say that pupils should ask for help when they need it or advise pupils to make contributions to class discussions or ask questions. As a teenager would you have felt comfortable asking a question in front of 30 other pupils? Have you been in a situation where you felt you couldn’t clarify your understanding? One of the most empowering elements of small group tuition is that our students can ask questions freely without feeling self-conscious. Although some of these questions may seem simple, these questions could be the key to unlock your child’s potential.

BESPOKE LEARNING:

We tailor our tuition to support our learners. During our free assessment lesson, we work out our learners’ key areas for development and tailor our tuition to support our learners to improve. Our parents even have the opportunity to tell us where their child may need specific support and we adapt our curriculum to provide personalised learning.

NO DISTRACTIONS:

Distractions often get in the way of learning in the school environment. There are no distractions in our small tuition groups. We offer laser-focused tuition sessions in our positive, purposeful environment.

REDUCING ANXIETY:

If a young person starts to believe that they don’t understand a subject it can cause a barrier to their learning. We work with our young people to break those barriers to learning, improving their confidence, and encouraging them to enjoy the subject.

SUPPORT FOR REVISION:

Being able to revise effectively is challenging. Many young people struggle to revise meaningfully, they need guidance and support to navigate their way through revision for exams. Whether your child is struggling with understanding Science, remembering Spanish vocabulary, analysing language features in English or solving simultaneous equations in Maths - we can help!

N Richard 07824 549 441 Emma 07824 776 510

M 15 Cross Street, Standish,

Wigan WN6 0HQ

E hello@topgradeseducation.co.uk

D www.topgradeseducation.co.uk

F topgradeseducation

I Topgradeseducation LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE 107

Broadmoor Women

Tales from Britain’s First Criminal Lunatic Asylum By Kim E Thomas

BROADMOOR WOMEN BY KIM E THOMAS, ISBN: 9781526794260. Available from www.pen-and-sword.co.uk, Amazon.com, Waterstones.com, and all good bookshops. RRP £14.99

• Broadmoor Women tells the stories of seven women treated in Broadmoor Hospital: an asylum for criminal lunatics • Explores Victorian medical understanding of what today would be considered mental illness • Using patient files and historical records from

Broadmoor archive, the author pieces together seven different lives of women across Victorian society • A moving account of how ordinary Victorian life could shape mental health

Broadmoor, Britain’s first asylum for criminal lunatics, was founded in 1863. In the first years of its existence, one in five patients was female. Most had been tried for terrible crimes and sent to Broadmoor after being found not guilty by virtue of insanity. Many had murdered their own children, while others had killed husbands or other family members.

Drawing on Broadmoor’s rich archive, this book tells the story of seven of those women, ranging from a farmer’s daughter in her 20s who shot dead her own mother to a middle-class housewife who drowned her baby daughter. Their moving stories give a glimpse into what nineteenthcentury life was like for ordinary women, often struggling with poverty, domestic abuse and repeated childbearing. For some, Broadmoor, with its regime of plain food, fresh air and garden walks, was a respite from the hardships of their previous life. Others were desperate to return to their families.

All but one of the women whose stories are recounted in this book recovered and were released. Their bout of insanity was temporary. Yet the causes of their condition were poorly understood and the treatment rudimentary. As well as providing an in-depth look at the lives of women in Victorian England, the book offers a fascinating insight into the medical profession’s emerging understanding of the causes and treatment of mental illness.

A FOREWORD BY AUTHOR KIM THOMAS

For many of us, the word Broadmoor is enough to strike fear in the heart, immediately conjuring up a grim psychiatric institution that has housed the country’s most feared criminals. Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, spent time there, as did the notorious gangster Ronald Kray and the Stockwell Strangler, Kenneth Erskine.

Until 2007, however, Broadmoor was also home to a number of female patients, and for the most part we don’t know their names or what brought them there. So when I began researching Broadmoor, I decided to focus on the women and bring some of their tragic stories to a wider audience. One of these women was a Lancashire native, Mary France, who spent five years at Broadmoor in the nineteenth century. Her bleak story almost broke my heart.

My work on Broadmoor began life as a student dissertation, which focused in-depth on Mary and one other woman,

Julia Spickernell. The Broadmoor archive, which is housed in the Berkshire Record Office (BRO) in Reading, just a few miles from Broadmoor itself, is a vast repository of documents. These include admissions books, patient files, annual reports, management committee minutes and even menus, all dating back to 1863 when Broadmoor became the UK’s first asylum for criminal lunatics.

By combining the information Broadmoor held about Mary and Julia with other publicly available information – birth, marriage and death records; trial transcripts; and newspaper reports – I was able to build a picture of each woman’s life from birth to death. It’s an approach known by historians as “microhistory”: the idea is that taking a close look at the life of a single person can tell you a lot about broader topics such as marriage, family, work and community.

Delving into the archive, I found that the Broadmoor of the nineteenth century was a very different institution from the one I’d expected to find. We think of Victorian asylums as cruel places, using shackles and straitjackets to subdue patients. In its early days however, Broadmoor was led by a series of enlightened men who eschewed the use of restraints and tried to cure patients through wholesome food, healthy walks in the garden and, where appropriate, physical work such as laundry or gardening. The wings were segregated by sex, but women mixed with each other in games rooms, and in fortnightly dances. There was even a Broadmoor brass band. Visitors were encouraged.

At any one time, Broadmoor housed about 500 patients, roughly 400 of whom were male and 100 female. About two thirds were “pleasure” patients: people who had committed a terrible crime such as murder but found insane at trial and detained in Broadmoor “at Her Majesty’s Pleasure”. The other third had been convicted for minor offences such as stealing and then gone insane in prison, after which they were transferred to Broadmoor. Curiously, they proved much more troublesome for the Broadmoor staff than the “pleasure” patients, who were mostly meek and obedient.

When I had the opportunity to expand the dissertation into a book, I chose another five women who, like Mary and Julia, were “pleasure” patients. Of the seven, four had killed their own children, one had killed her husband, one 

Broadmoor women’s dormitory, published in Illustrated News, 1867 Credit: Permission of Reading libraries

 her mother, and one had attempted to kill the servant taking care of her. The women’s time in Broadmoor spanned the years 1863 to 1896.

Just as I was getting started, lockdown happened, and rather than visiting the archive itself, I had to rely on the BRO archivists to transcribe records for me. Luckily, newspapers, Old Bailey transcripts and birth, marriage and death records are all available online, so I was able to do much of the research from my desk.

The opportunity to see the circumstances of each woman’s life emerge from historical obscurity was thrilling. Mary France’s life, characterised by hard work and a struggle to make ends meet, was very ordinary in most respects, but she became the focus of public attention when she killed her baby daughter. A coal-miner’s wife from Aspull, Mary had given birth eight times: three of her babies had died. After baby Ellen was born in 1886, Mary developed symptoms of Graves disease, an illness caused by a hyperactive thyroid that can cause muscle weakness, fast heartbeat, bulging eyes and – crucially – delusions and

hallucinations. Mary’s delusions were of a religious nature: she thought she could see both Jesus and Satan. Under the grip of the delusion, she picked up a knife used to peel potatoes, walked to the bed where Ellen was sleeping, and slashed her throat.

What strikes us now about Mary’s story is how kind everyone was: she gave herself up to the police, who immediately understood that she was mentally ill and put her in a day room rather than a cell. A newspaper report said that “much commiseration” was expressed “in the neighbourhood.” Doctors at Ellen’s inquest testified that Mary was an “exceptionally good mother”. Her husband George told the inquest that “no better mother could be found in Aspull” than Mary had been to his children.

At trial, Mary was found unfit to plead, and sent to Broadmoor indefinitely. She was still unwell at the time of her admission: her notes record that she was “under a delusion that she is the Lord Jesus Christ.” Sometimes she thought she was in heaven, at other times that she was in hell, and that her soul was lost. Over the next five years, George persuaded his local MP to write several times on his behalf asking for her release. Slowly, Mary’s delusions abated and she began to mend. When she was eventually discharged in 1892, fully recovered, she resumed her life with George and their remaining children. They both moved in with their adult daughter Betsy and her family in Warrington Road, Abram, George dying first in 1923 and Mary following in 1924, aged 77.

In researching Mary’s life, I had a glimpse into a different world: one of extreme poverty and hardship, but also one where family members supported each other through thick and thin, and a whole community could be devastated at one family’s tragedy. We wouldn’t want to return to those times but we could, perhaps, learn from them. n

View of Broadmoor in the Berkshire countryside published in Illustrated News, 1867 Credit: Permission of Reading libraries

Balance Counselling and Coaching Ltd PUT YOUR LIFE IN BALANCE

By Kathryn Taylor

WHAT’S YOUR LOVE LANGUAGE?

One of the things that comes up time and time again during my coaching and counselling sessions is about relationships with partners and feelings that they aren't valued or loved. What I have recognised over many years is that the reason for feeling this way is often down to a disconnect in the way people express their feelings and emotions in other words their love language.

We express ourselves in many different ways and when it comes to love we express ourselves in different ways, with each of us having a preferred way of doing so. This can be through, words, touch, acts of service, spending quality time together or through giving gifts. Certain ways of doing this have different meanings for individuals.

An example of this would be a client who came to me with concerns that despite being married for many years she felt that the husband didn't love or care for her as they never expressed that they did in words or actions.

Having discussed with her what her concerns were, it became obvious that despite the fact she loved him dearly she was feeling that the love only went one way.

I asked her to talk to me about the way that she showed her husband that she loved him and she gave me a list of things that included telling him she did, hugging him and looking after him ensuring he had clean clothes to wear and always thinking about what he liked to eat when preparing meals ready for when he got home from work. I asked her what he did for her and she struggled because she told me he never tells me he loves me he never just gives me a hug I really don't think he cares. Even when she asked him directly if he loved her his response was usually you know I do, but he never used the words.

I asked her to do some homework which was to go home and have a conversation with her husband asking him how did he demonstrate his love for her.

When I saw her in the next session, I asked the question about how the conversation had gone and what his response was and this is what she told me.

She started by saying that initially, she wasn't very impressed with his answers because he said amongst other things, I take the bin out for you, and I always ensure that oil and water is topped up in the car for you.

She told me that her response had been to say “but you live here too, so why shouldn't you take the bin out I do that on occasion too but that doesn't show me you care and how does putting oil and water in the car show that you love me?”

The husband replied "I take the bin out whenever I see that it's nearly full because I know you don't like doing it and I check the oil and water in the car because I want to know the car is working properly so that when you go out in it then it won’t break down and that you're coming back home to me safely".

When I asked how she now felt about whether her husband loved her, she responded by telling me that she realised he did love her but was just different from her in terms of how he expressed his emotions and feelings. She also said that since they had the conversation where she had also explained what she needed to feel loved her husband had understood how important hearing the words and hugs were to her to enable her to feel loved so he was actively trying to change and be more proactive in ensuring she felt loved.

But she also voiced how knowing how he viewed the things he was doing for her as acts of love it had actually changed the way she felt about him. Now when he did things for her like taking the bins out, it made her smile and it was like she could hear his voice in her ear saying I love you.

Below are some suggestions of things we can do to demonstrate how we feel by using words, touch, doing things for each other, spending time together or giving meaningful gifts to demonstrate how we feel about someone.

WORDS OF LOVE • Saying I Love you • Compliments • Loving notes/texts • Actively listening • Encourage • Kind words

PHYSICAL TOUCH • Give hugs • Hold Hands

• Kisses • Sit close together • Stroke/pats ACTS OF SERVICE • Make them a meal • Acts of kindness • Breakfast in bed • Doing chores together • Help with their workload

SPENDING QUALITY TIME TOGETHER • Go on dates • Plan things to do together • Go for walks • Weekends away • Have quality conversations

GIVING THOUGHTFUL GIFTS • Remember special occasions • Listen to what they want and surprise them • Give small tokens of appreciation • Make them something • Buy them things for hobbies (craft supplies, golf balls, etc) • Little treats

COLNE

By Sarah Ridgway

Above: Colne, Lancashire Photo Credit: Cathy Hargreaves - Shutterstock.com

The vibrant market town of Colne has been dubbed “Lancashire’s Capital of Cool” owing to its independent high street full of quirky boutiques, home interior shops, gift shops and an array of cafes. In 2015 it was nominated for a Great British High Street Award for the best market town but sadly missed out.

Colne is situated in the Borough of Pendle and surrounded by luscious countryside and quaint villages, the beautiful village of Wycoller was frequently visited by the Bronte sisters. The popular Pendle Hill is five miles from the town offering spectacular views and well known for its history of the Pendle Hill witches. For more retail therapy head to the Boundary Outlet, a shopping destination housing famous brands and eateries. The outlet is one of the largest of its kind in the region and provides hundreds of jobs to people in Pendle. A proud Britain in Bloom town, the main street, is usually bursting with flowers and colourful hanging baskets. The town has received numerous awards including Gold in the Best Large Town category at the North West in Bloom Awards. There is a powerful sense of community spirit throughout the town and many annual events to bring everyone together, including the Pendle Beer Festival, Colne Gala and the Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival.

A SHORT HISTORY OF COLNE

Settlements around Colne have been present since the Stone Age and there are remains of an Iron Age fort from the 6th century BC has been discovered. Between the 6th and 10th Centuries, it was under Viking control as a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria before the Norman’s arrival who controlled the area throughout the 11th century. The de Lacys of Pontefract controlled the area from 1090 until 1311 from their position at Clitheroe castle. St Bartholomew’s church dates from 1122 and designated a Grade I listed building by English Heritage in 1988. By the 15th century, the town had a thriving wool-producing industry and during the Industrial Revolution the town switched to cotton. In 1891 there were thirty cotton mills recorded in the town, the town’s population declined in the 20th century due to the lack of industry and mill closures.

THE WITCH TRIALS OF PENDLE HILL

Pendle Hill is an area of outstanding beauty that attracts thousands of visitors to the rural location, country pubs and quaint villages. This breathtaking area of Lancashire known for its spectacular views remains notorious as the home of the infamous Pendle

Witches. The suspected witches who lived here over four hundred years ago were put on trial and were part of Britain’s biggest witchcraft trials. During the early 1600s, religious persecution and superstition were rife throughout the country. England was under the protestant rule of King James I, therefore Catholics were often persecuted and suspected of witchcraft. During this period, many innocent people were put on trial for witchcraft and put to death by hanging.

Lancashire at this was a very remote place with ill-educated people who were quick to believe exaggerated tales. It was regarded as a wild and lawless part of the country where theft and violence were common. The events that triggered the trial happened on a day in March, 1612. On an isolated road to Colne, Alison Device met peddler John Law from Halifax and begged him to give her some pins for her grandmother’s spells. He refused her request, and the story goes that she put a curse on him. Law was later found paralysed on one

side on the ground and was taken to the local Inn. Alison arrived at his bedside shortly after admitting to the curse and begged for forgiveness. By this time, the peddler’s son Abraham Law had arrived and was unhappy with the situation and dragged Alison to the local magistrate where she confessed to the curse. During the interrogation, Alison incriminated her grandmother Elizabeth Southerns known as Demidike who a traditional healer and in her eighties. Due to her profession Demdike was said to have been suspected of being a witch for the last fifty years in her village. Alison’s mother Elizabeth and brother James were also summoned to appear before the magistrate, where her brother James recalled his sister bewitching a local child.

Demdike was brought in for interrogation where she and her granddaughter incriminated rival Anne Whittle known as Chattox also another traditional healer in the area. There has been bad blood between the two families, so they took this as an opportunity for revenge. Alison accused Chattox of killing four men by sorcery and the killing of her father who had died in 1601. Outrageous

allegations were made from each family, including confessions of giving souls to the devil which no doubt made things worse. As a result, the magistrate committed Demidike, her granddaughter Alison, Chattox and her daughter Anne Redferne to Lancaster Gaol to be put on trial for witchcraft. Elizabeth Device organised a meeting at Demidike’s home and friends of the family and locals who sympathised with their situation attended. Word got back to Magistrate Roger Nowell of the gathering, and as a result, eight further people were accused of witchcraft and committed to trial. At the trial, the main witness against Elizabeth Device was her nine-year-old daughter Jennet who gave evidence against her stating she believed her mother to have been a witch for the past four years. Elizabeth’s son James also supported this accusation against his mother in court. James pleaded not guilty, but his nine-year-old sister told the jury she had seen him conjure up a black dog asking it to kill someone, and the jury found him guilty. Throughout the trial, many outlandish accusations of causing deaths that had happened many years earlier from witchcraft were told. Subsequently, Alison Device, Elizabeth Device, James Device, and Anne Whittle alongside the four attendees of Elizabeth’s gathering were found guilty. Elizabeth Southerns (Demidike) died while awaiting trial. Only Alice Grey from the accused group escaped a guilty sentence and on August 20th,1612 the accused witches went to the gallows. The Pendle Heritage Centre’s Museum offers a detailed account of the Pendle Witches, and there is a Pendle Witches Walking Trail, a Pendle Witches Road Trail and you can spot some witches on the Pendle Sculpture Trail.

HOME TO HERO WALLACE HARTLEY THE BANDMASTER ON THE RMS TITANIC

The 1997 blockbuster brought the tragic story of the sinking of the Titanic to the world and was the highest-grossing film for 12 years. A scene that sticks in the minds of many is when the musicians continue to play to keep people calm while the women and children get into lifeboats. Far from Lancashire that night was the band’s leader Wallace Hartley who was born in Colne. His father Albion Hartley was a Sunday school choirmaster at Bethel Independent Methodist Chapel on Burnley Road and Hartley learned to play the violin from a congregation member. Hartley took a job at the Craven & Union Bank in Colne after leaving school but shortly after the musician joined the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra after his family moved to the town. In 1903 Hartley left the family home to join the municipal orchestra in Bridlington where he remained for six years. In 1909 Hartley got a job as a musician with the passenger liner company Cunard Line and served on the RMS Lucania, RMS Mauretania,

and RMS Lusitania which by an eerie coincident was sunk by a German U-boat three years after the sinking of the Titanic. On April 6, the ill-fated RMS Titanic departed on her maiden voyage for New York, on board was Wallace Hartley the newly assigned bandleader on the White Star Line ship. Hartley had been resistant to accept the position as he had not wanted to leave his fiancée Maria Robinson again for such a length of time, but decided the position would benefit his career and could provide future contacts, On the night of April 14 1912, RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and began sinking, Hartley and his band bravely continued to play music to keep the passengers calm with some survivors saying after that they continued to play until the very end. A newspaper reported after the tragic deaths of the brave musicians “the part played by the orchestra on board the Titanic in her last dreadful moments will rank among the noblest in the annals of heroism at sea.”

After the tragedy over two hundred bodies were recovered from the freezing North Atlantic waters, among them was Wallace Hartley who was just 33 years old. The press reported he was found fully dressed and still with his music case strapped to him. It was the case that enabled the violin to withstand the wet and freezing conditions and remained intact.

The musician’s body was brought back, and his father met the ship at Liverpool to bring him home to Colne where he was given a civic funeral on 18 May 1912. There were up to one thousand people in attendance for the service, and between 30,000-40,000 lined the route for his procession to pay their respects to their brave and heroic neighbour. Hartley’s violin was gift from his fiancée who later gave it to a music teacher at the Salvation Army. The instrument bears a loving engraving from her to Hartley that reads: “For Wallace, on the occasion of our engagement. From Maria”. The violin sold at auction in 2013 for £900,000, a world record price for memorabilia from the Titanic and has since been on display at various museums.

There is a memorial to musicians in Southampton honouring their bravery, and the dedication under their names reads: “They died at their posts like men” Hartley is buried in Keighley Road Cemetery and in 1915 a bronze bust memorial to Colne’s heroic son was erected, the memorial reads:

WALLACE HARTLEY

BANDMASTER OF THE R.M.S TITANIC WHO PERISHED IN THE FOUNDERING OF THAT VESSEL APRIL 15TH 1912.

ERECTED BY VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS TO COMMEMORATE THE HEROISM OF A NATIVE OF THIS TOWN.

Due to the uncertainty of the pandemic, some events and festivals have been postponed till next year but there are still many that are raring to go to enjoy:

Easter in Colne arrives on 16th April and the popular family event including a traditional easter egg hunt is in its seventh year. There is lots to do on the day including face painting, live music, a free donkey ride and much more. Local children are invited

to paint and design an egg that go on display at the library.

Colne Gala is a fantastic family day out for the community which is free to enter. The day includes a funfair, a procession through the town, charity stalls, events such as a tug of war, and lots of live entertainment from the local talent.

The Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival takes place over the bank holiday weekend in August and held across a variety of venues across the town ranging from 50 to 750 capacity. The high street is pedestrianised for the event and lined with food stalls, bars, and live street entertainment. Up to 25,000 attend this much-loved award-winning festival so keep your eyes peeled for the future line-up and venue announcements.

Colne Grand Prix Cycle Race has been a sporting fixture on the calendar since 2004. The annual race is a part of British Cycling’s Elite Circuit Series and observers can watch the thrilling 800m circuit around Colne’s town centre.

Christmas in Colne is a magical event in the festive calendar not just for the children. A torch-lit procession follows Santa and his reindeers as the Christmas lights get turned on.

Children have the chance to meet Santa and his elves and there is a fantastic array of Christmas markets stalls on offer for unique gifts. The night finishes with a spectacular firework display to warm everybody up.

Aerial view of Colne

How to Enjoy Your Garden, Low Allergy Style

By keen gardener and airborne allergens expert, Max Wiseberg

www.haymax.biz

Enjoying a spot of gardening in the sunshine should be an enjoyable pastime but not if it’s accompanied by constant sneezing! Pollen from your lawn and in surrounding fields and grass verges is one of the main causes of hay fever during the summer. Grass pollen affects a staggering 95% of hay fever sufferers. The season peaks in June, and again in July, but a few simple changes to your routine and choice of plants could do the trick. Here are my top tips…

When choosing what to plant in your garden, one of the first rules to note is that female plant varieties are best. Male species are usually the pollen creators so avoid planting too many of them. Of course, you don’t usually find the plants marked male or female so how do you work out which is which? Well, very often the seedless or fruitless items will be the males which will happily produce lots of pollen, so avoiding seedless or fruitless varieties is probably a good start.

Insect pollinated plants are usually great for the allergic gardener. Here are a few suggestions for choices of plants to help you create your own low allergy garden that are either insect pollinated or produce low levels of pollen: Antirrhinum, Begonia, Camellia sinensis, Clematis, Delphinium, Digitalis, Geranium, Lobelia, Nigella, Rose, Lavender, Iris and Peony.

Planting fruiting shrubs and trees can have the added benefit of attracting birds into your garden. Although they will often eat the fruit before you get to it, they will also eat insects around your garden. This helps because insect dander is also bad for allergies. Trees with beautiful blossoms, such as crab apples, cornus and amelanchier are good. However, avoid cutting back shrubs and trees when they are in bloom.

Pollen is out in force in the mornings and the evenings, so it’s best not to do your gardening at these times. And when you do go out in the garden, apply some HayMax organic allergen barrier balm (www.haymax.biz) around your nostrils and bones of the eyes, to trap the pollen before it gets in to your body. It is proven in university studies to trap over 1/3 of pollen before it gets in the body[1], reducing your pollen load.

Deal with diseases in your garden. Along with diseases come all sorts of spores and allergens which will make the allergic person’s life a misery. So getting disease resistant varieties should further reduce the amount of allergens flying around your garden. Hardy examples include Geranium ‘Brookside’, Clematis ‘Avant Garde’ and Lobelia cardinalis Bees’ Flame. Some plants even act like mini air-purifiers for your flower bed, such as peace lilies and lady palm.

Grow plants and trees which are used to our climate such as rowan, field maple, holly, silver birch and hazel trees. Suitable native shrubs include sea buckthorn, dogwood, spindle, juniper, wild privet and hairy dog rose. Bell-shaped flowers such as foxgloves, which enclose their pollen, are also helpful. Foliage can help create variety and interest without adding to the pollen count. Choose caladiums and bromeliads as they have beautiful variegated leaves. And growing vegetables and herbs can actually help lower pollen levels too, whilst the unique variety of colour and shape of their foliage will add a new dimension to your garden.

It has been claimed that exposure to chemicals and pesticides can often trigger allergic reactions in people who previously had no allergies so gardening organically is also a good idea. It will help if you identify the key areas of wet, shade, dry soil or slopes in your garden, as all of these affect the ability of specific plants to grow properly. Choose plants that will thrive in those particular areas and that are naturally resistant to diseases and insects. ‘Smart watering’ can help, as many problems are caused by overwatering. It’s helpful to water plants deeply to encourage deep roots and allow the surface soil to dry before watering again.

Ensure you manage your lawn so that allergens are kept at bay. Grass is often overlooked by the allergic gardener, despite the fact that 95% of hay fever sufferers are allergic to it. If your garden includes a lot of lawn, ensure you keep the grass cut very low to reduce the amount of grass seeds it produces. If you water your grass before gardening, or surround your garden with pebbles or stones, this should also help keep allergens at bay. Ornamental grasses are a no-no as well as they are wind-pollinated. Search and remove all weeds from your lawn regularly; gate crashing weeds will often turn into great pollen producers. Keeping the weeds down should keep the sneezing down, too. And whilst enjoying your garden, avoid lying on the grass. Instead relax in a hammock so you’re above ground level where much of the pollen lurks.

Water features can exacerbate hay fever symptoms too! Gushing fountains can generate powerful air currents causing pollen particles to rise and spread through the air. A gentler water feature with water trickling over surfaces is preferable

Hi I am Janet and I am your resident Positive Change Coach bringing you techniques and insights to help you navigate the changes in your life positively. I have 15 years experience and now work globally from Costa Rica to New Zealand and everywhere in-between.

“I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT YOU!”

How many times have you said that when you answer the ‘phone or bump into someone in the street?

It seems an amazing coincidence - or is it?

Your mind is a magnet and what you think is what you get.

THERE ARE 12 UNIVERSAL LAWS:

Vibration, Attraction, Divine Oneness, Compensation, Polarity, Correspondence, Inspired Action, Cause and Effect, Relativity, Gender, Perpetual Transmutation of Energy and The Law of Rhythm.

The one at work when you meet the person you’ve just been thinking about is the Law of Attraction – the magnet.

You will know people who always get what they set out to achieve because they remain focused on the outcome. There are the people who do not achieve their desires because they worry about and concentrate on what could go wrong. Interviews with people who have won millions on the lottery have shown that they always had a firm belief that they would win. Some of you at this point will be thinking “Yeah right, so I’m going to win the lottery”, I can hear the disbelief and mocking in your voice from here! With that attitude, no you are not going to win the lottery. You may have a strong desire to achieve something but the doubts and worries get in the way, so even though you may achieve your desire it will either take a long time or in a much smaller way. Recently I fell down the stairs and badly bruised my elbow and tailbone, it was first thing in the morning and I thought great start to the day – I then had two choices – either think “What next?” Or “It can only get better”. I think you can guess I thought the latter, and of course I had a really enjoyable day. Had I thought “What next?” or “Things happen in threes”, then I would have been on the look out for what was going to go wrong and my brain would be helping me to create situations that went wrong. Our brain is incredibly powerful, so it up to us to fully use that power, the minute you start with the negative thoughts “I can’t”, “I don’t know how”, etc then we put a stop on our ability to achieve. The Law of Attraction hears the active word so “Don’t forget”, the emphasis is on the word “Forget”, and that is what happens. So make the active word a positive one “Remember” and you will achieve your outcome of remembering. Practice seeking a car parking space, focus on the parking space you want and you will get it, but thinking “The car park will be full”, then it will be. My Mother had a Disabled

Badge for the car, and if she got the thought out there before me “There won’t be any spaces”, then she got her wish. If I got my thought in first, “There will be a space” then there would be. Try it on traffic lights, just set the intention that all traffic lights will be on green. I am often amused by the power of The Law of Attraction, I will send a thought out, with nothing emotionally attached to it and I will get the outcome really quickly. I remember looking at the front cover of this magazine and thinking I would like to be on the front cover and I’d like a regular column and within a few weeks I was offered both, Law of Attraction at its best.

When working with my clients and I ask them what they want there are those who give me the list of what they don’t want. I then ask them again what they want and again they give me the list of don’t wants. By about the 4th time they finally realise what they are doing they then struggle to decide what they want as they have been so focused on what they don’t want. And whilst concentrating on what they don’t want that is exactly what they get, the people who say to me “I constantly attract the same type of partner” because their attention is on the negative. So when you want to make a change make a clear list of what you want and concentrate your thoughts on the elements on the list. It takes practice, and your mind will go to its usual habit of thinking of the negatives, but now that you are aware then you can stop those thoughts, take control of your mind and change them to positive thoughts. If you want to attract a man and don’t like beards, then make it a positive statement of what you want – a man who is clean shaven!

Start becoming aware of when the universe delivers what you ask for – positive and negative – and use that awareness to achieve your desires, and always remember to say Thank-you.

Head to my website for more information D thepositivechangecoach.com

For a complimentary 30 min., 1-1 Positive Change Discovery Session contact me E janetbroughton@ thepositivechangecoach.com

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