Nicked Magazine Issue 1 by Lemon Tree Media Ltd

SPRING 2014

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NiCKED THE POLICE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE

PC CHRIS FOY _ LAYING DOWN THE LAW AN INTERVIEW WITH SERVING POLICE OFFICER AND PROFESSIONAL REFEREE CHRIS FOY

ISSUE 01

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WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT? WE’LL HELP YOU CHANGE THE HABITS OF A LIFETIME

SHIFT WORK WOES HOW TO EAT RIGHT AND KEEP FIT

ISSN 2055-0782

HOBBIES GALORE! GOLFING, WALKING, PHOTOGRAPHY AND MUCH MORE...

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Welcome

CONTENTS 06

Hello and welcome

Laying down the law

to the very first issue of NiCKED magazine.

Family law

Beauty

Beauty: ageing perils

Whether you work the streets or are part of a busy oﬃce, NICKED delivers some helpful tips and advice on how to care for your skin

Get your boots on!

Good for the body and soul, Paul Casey talks about his passion for the great outdoors and walking

Retired but with more to give? Peter Farrington shares his start-up business advice

32 22

Chris Foy talks about his career as a police oﬃce and FA referee

How to lose weight and keep it oﬀ. Andy Heyes shares his story

Laying down the law…

In short, a whole load for you to get your teeth into, but what we really want is for it to grow into the magazine that you need and want.

Fore...!

Golf has always been popular pastime in the police service. Alan Considine tells us why golf is his perfect recreation when oﬀ duty

Mind over matter…

Give eggs a crack!

Celebrity chef Dean Edwards is on a mission to prove eggs are more than just a breakfast staple

Fancy a short break? Some ideas for the UK and Europe

A programme designed to keep your body on a regular pattern each week even if your shifts change

Never played before? Intersted in taking up the game? It’s not hard to get started

Paul Herbert’s food plan

Cracking eggs

Career after policing

Mind over matter…

Short breaks...

Golf: back to basics

TEAM: Directors Mike Shaw/Paul Casey Editor Christina Evatt Photography Shannon Shaw/Lesley Cameron Staﬀ writer Brinsley Bailey Graphics Dave Butler Concept www.nectarcreative.com Designer Chris Kniveton

Mary Shaw oﬀers practical advice on dealing with divorce and separation

PEFC Certified This product is from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources PEFC/16-33-775

www.pefc.org

online

The Poisoned Island book review

Mystery and intrigue abound in Lloyd Shepherd’s new book

Spring trends

Retail therapy is always good, so now winter’s gone, it’s time to brighten up your wardrobe

Fashion

NiCKED checks out the new Seat Leon estate and discovers it's worth a close look

A new series of articles designed to help you get the best out of your pictures without all the techno-babble... well for now!

Vehicle check

Gardening

A flood of ways to save waterlogged plants

Find studying for police exams diﬃcult? Follow Jim Ferran’s programme for success. It'll work for other areas of your life too!

Over the past months we have been asked why we decided to publish a lifestyle magazine dedicated to the police service. The answer is simple. You deserve one. We’ve worked front line duties in a busy force, so we understand the pressures and demands that the service places on ALL of its staff. Whether you are warranted or support staff, front line or office bound, shift work or a regular 9-5, in some way, at some level, you contribute, you make an effort, you make a difference. So we thought it only fair to make an effort and provide something that will entertain and inform, while at the same time be a source of relaxation and distraction. In this first issue we have chosen articles based on common themes that people we’ve worked with have enjoyed as a means of distraction or entertainment.

The art of study

Christina Evatt EDITOR LEMON TREE MEDIA LTD The Malthouse, 48 Southport Road, Ormskirk, West Lancashire L39 1QR t. 01695 668630 e. info@nickedmagazine.com www.nickedmagazine.com

Family law

It’s not just for the anorak brigade!

Is your health suﬀering due to shift work? Paul Herbert’s top ﬁtness tips will help

Urban birdz

A shift in the right direction

In the most part written by serving or retired oﬃcers, in this issue you’ll see a wide range of hobbies ranging from golﬁng to walking, bird watching to travel; and then there’s photography, fitness, business and legal advice.

We’d love to hear your feedback so please get in touch and let us know what you think.

Carving a career after policing

Get your boots on!

The next part of the challenge is to put a smile on your face, inspire you to try something new, or offer some advice that really can make a difference to your working week. The NiCKED team is almost exclusively made up of retired policing staff and they recognised the real need for a unified magazine specifically for police officers and their support staff.

If you’re reading this it means you’re probably part of the policing family and that you’re taking a quick five minutes to have a read and relax. If this is the case it means our mission is nearly accomplished.

NiCKED is released

Life through a lens

The art of study

Gadgets

Top six portable chargers

Wherever possible we have sourced articles by current or retired police professionals for the very obvious reason that ‘they know the job’. Being ‘lifestyle’ you won’t ﬁnd anything that is overtly political in our commentary or articles. We all know the impact the ﬁnancial cuts are having throughout the service, and we are happy to leave comment and analysis of such matters to those who are more qualified. Because the magazine is for YOU we welcome contributions for future issues. Do you have a unique pastime or hobby? Have you a skill or experience that you can share with colleagues to enhance their skill set? Let us know. We’ll be only too glad help you write an article. Enjoy...

Mike Shaw/Paul Casey

MAIN FEATURE

Laying down the law... COULD POLICING AND REFEREEING BE THE PERFECT PARTNERSHIP? WHEN BRINSLEY BAILEY MET WITH POLICE OFFICER AND PREMIER LEAGUE REFEREE CHRIS FOY, HE DISCOVERED THE SYMBIOTIC ATTRIBUTES THAT HELP MAKE HIM A PROFESSIONAL AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME. The final whistle blew. Ten goals were conceded. There were no cards issued and no offsides. The game was perilously wild. On 12th September 1983 the Winwick Hospital grounds were the setting of a brutal baptism into the world of football officiating. The then 21-year-old Chris Foy began his day with idealistic expectations but ended his debut with a sobering dose of reality. The young builder’s apprentice from St Helens sat alone in the Referee’s changing room; silently reflecting on his performance and his future in the sport he loved. “At the end of the match one of the managers came in.

He looked at me and said ‘You were rubbish. ’He was probably right. My £2.50 expenses ended up on the floor.” Foy was understandably low. He yearned for the repartee and sense of fellowship that he enjoyed amongst his teammates during the prior years of weekend football. “When you play football, you always have someone around you, that camaraderie. When you’re a referee you’re on your own. ”At this point in his life, Foy was accustomed to relying on the support of his ‘great circle of friends’ but for the ﬁrst time, he had to navigate these issues alone.

He describes his thought process like a deﬁant veteran who has confidently conquered the trials of his past. “As somebody once said ‘Winners never quit and quitters never win.’ It was time for me to dig deep. It would have been easy for me to walk away but I decided that if I did quit then, I wouldn’t have achieved anything.”

I have had a fantastic policing career; I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve done and when I leave I’ll be pretty proud of my achievements 06 WWW.NICKEDMAGAZINE.COM

MAIN FEATURE

I’m not saying everything we (referees) do in football is perfect but we are working bloody hard to improve

Like father, like son

SON OF A POLICE OFFICER FATHER AND SCHOOL ASSITANT MOTHER, CHRIS FOY WAS THE OLDEST OF THREE CHILDREN AND THE PROVERBIAL ADAGE ‘LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON’ APTLY DESCRIBES THE PATERNAL RELATIONSHIP VISIBLE IN THE HOUSEHOLD. As a child, Foy was passionate about sports like his father and it is something he still appreciates to the present day. “I’m really thankful to my Dad because he took me to watch football, cricket, rugby league, rugby union and we went everywhere watching sport and I still love sport to this day.” Like many idealistic youths around the country, Foy fantasised about becoming a professional football player. But his dream was short-lived and he accepted the limits of his ability, deciding that fun should be his paramount focus. “I think I’d be telling a lie if I said I didn’t want to be a footballer but sometimes you’re not good enough. Having said that…I really enjoyed going out at the weekend and playing football. It wasn’t a high standard but it didn’t matter because it was enjoyable and that was the most important thing for me.” At 16, with minimal qualifications, Foy found himself in the building trade earning a modest weekly wage. He had an active social life and was in a comfortable position, but he wasn’t satisfied. Change was on the cards and he looked for a move away from the 9 to 5 monotony, but was undecided on the path he should take. The unsettled Foy decided to confide in his father, who suggested the prospect of following in his footsteps. “My Dad asked me to think about joining the police and it was something I never ever considered doing…but I wanted to do something that was different.” In previous years, his father did his best to keep the negative aspects of police work out of the home and Foy understood this but was under no illusions of what joining the police would entail.

“My Dad never really talked about the darker side (of police life). Obviously you can’t just deal with the lovely pink fluffy stuff, you’re dealing with things that are difficult, sudden deaths being an example and that was something he never spoke about.” Upon joining the police, Foy had found his calling and enjoyed a level of emotional fulfilment that he previously lacked. “The police officers of the early eighties, helped me tremendously with my training, education and development and prepared me for any eventuality I had to deal with… (being in the police) is something I really enjoyed”. This new environment also worked to provide the structure and diversity the young Foy craved. “Every day was challenging and you’re not stuck in a rut. It was really interesting because you’re dealing with different pressures that lead to a variety of situations.” Foy still had the ambition of becoming a referee but found at this stage in his life that it was a complicated proposition. “I just joined the police so I had to try to beg, steal and borrow time off (to referee). My probationary stage was really difficult so the refereeing and football took a back seat. (Although) I did ref locally in Liverpool so I didn’t have too far to travel from work.”

The merging of career paths MOST MATCH OFFICIALS ARE KEEN TO STAY OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT AND AVOID BECOMING THE PROTAGONIST OF THE EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE ON THE PITCH.

Foy was no different, but as a referee in the most televised football league in the world, his two career paths began to inevitably merge. Fortunately, the celebrity status that was generated served to help him in his police duties. “When I go out there in (police) uniform people see me and say ‘It’s Chris the ref!’ they don’t always see me as PC Foy. It’s amazing because they see the guy who’s on TV. In an incident that demands a police presence…being recognised has a really calming effect on people.” As Foy was becoming a more recognised figure in the game, he was predictably followed by the ever-present dark cloud of discontent that looms over all referees at the highest level. Over the years, the performances of match officials are highlighted and scrutinised as frequently as the players and managers. Yet rather than being bitter about the criticism often directed at referees, Foy is pragmatic about the decisions he has made in the past. “If I referee a match and the decision I make comes under criticism, I will watch it. If I have made a mistake I will look at it and say ‘Why have I made it?’ I have to stop that from happening again. I’ve never met a person who has never made a mistake and a lot of stuff in football is opinion based. What many people don’t understand is that in many situations the laws of the game actually state ‘in the opinion of the referee’. So when you referee a match it’s based on your opinion… and sometimes people get frustrated, emotions run high and people react in different ways. I’m not saying everything we (referees) do in football is perfect but we are working bloody hard to improve and it is a constant strive to do that.”

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MAIN FEATURE

On the path to refereeing...

Champion for respect

THOUGH FOCUSED INTENTLY ON HIS POLICE CAREER OVER THE NEXT DECADE, FOY SIMULTANEOUSLY WORKED HIS WAY UP THE REFEREE LADDER AND STEADILY THROUGH THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE.

DURING HIS REFEREEING CAREER, FOY HAS BEEN EAGER TO WORK HARD OFF THE PITCH TO ENSURE THAT THE BEAUTIFUL GAME IS PORTRAYED IN THE BEST LIGHT. On 17th December 2013 he travelled to Westminster where he was inducted into the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ Hall of Fame for his work in schools and was clearly moved by the gesture. “It was a fantastic thing for me (to be inducted), I am really proud of it and I was quite emotional to be honest… I don’t care what colour your skin is, I don’t care what religion you are and I don’t care what nationality you are, everyone is the same…I talk to kids about citizenship and show them that racism has no place in football.” Foy is also a major advocate of The FA’s highly publicised ‘Respect’ campaign and the Premier League’s ‘Get on with the Game’ initiative; both of which aim to improve on and off the pitch behaviour from grassroots to the top-flight. “Respect is massive. Everyone in football has a duty to protect the image of the game. Whether that is the club chairman, managers, coaches, players, substitutes, referees, assistant referees, everybody has a massive part to play. Referees can’t do it on their own…it is about making sure that when we play football we do it in the right way, that we play it fair but firm, and at the end of it we all shake hands” In other sports such a Rugby Union, dissent is not tolerated and the protocol whereby only the captain can speak to the referee usually works to avoid mass confrontation. I pointed this out and argued that there is still a problem in football where players bring the game into disrepute by crowding the referee whilst aggressively disputing a decision; Foy was quick to quell my claim. “From 30 matches, I will probably caution no more than five for dissent which is amazing considering how many decisions I’ll make and that’s because players are becoming more receptive. We say to club captains now that they need to take responsibility of their team and it’s working…In the Premier League we’ve had less mass confrontations than we’ve ever had before and cautions for dissent are down massively. It’s all about education and we are all working together as we know everyone has a part to play.”

Where many people would see this multitasking as problematic, Foy embraced the situation he had found himself in and recognised the prospective benefits of the dualistic relationship. “A lot of stuﬀ that police officers do is very relevant to refereeing. The two jobs have the same attributes really. From the beginning you have a uniform, you have to know the law, you have to keep yourself physically ﬁt and you have to be able to manage people.”

Also, you have to be cool and calm under pressure. When I go out and referee; I know the law, I’m fit and I’m confident. But my biggest strength is that I can manage people. This is more important than anything and (in both roles) diffuses difficult situations.” In 2001 Foy was rewarded for his impressive performances and became one of the original 24 referees that operated full time in the Premier League. Dilemma soon followed as he realised that he would potentially have to quit the police in order to accept the role.

Foy cherished the diversity he experienced in the police but also had the desire to reach his potential as a referee. Fortunately there was compromise on the horizon and his bosses were accommodating to his predicament. “I was presented with some diﬃculties as I was already a full time police oﬃcer. However, Merseyside Police were really receptive to the idea (of me becoming a full time referee) and I was given the opportunity to become a ‘part-time cop’. My remit is junior schools in Liverpool south and now I have the chance to get out and speak to young people.”

As a referee there are some great opportunities for young people and the career path is amazing 10 WWW.NICKEDMAGAZINE.COM

No regrets...

WHEN I ASKED FOY FOR INSIGHT THAT WOULD GUIDE THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO FOLLOW THE TRAIL HE HAS SET, HE QUIETLY PONDERED UNTIL A MOMENT OF REALISATION BREACHED THE SURFACE.

“As a referee there are some great opportunities for young people now and the career path is amazing. I’ve been abroad over 40 times and I’ve visited some fantastic places through football. Been to some magnificent stadiums, been involved in some wonderful matches. I’ve been to places I’ve never thought about going to and will probably never get the chance to go again. Whatever you want to do, go for it. I’ll be able to sit in a chair at 60 and say ‘I shouldn’t have done that’ rather than ‘I wish I had done that’. Foy has endured a frenetic lifestyle over the past 30 years as he juggled two highly demanding careers. As he is perched in a somewhat contemplative state, he reflects on the volume of his accomplishments. “(In the police) You walk out wearing the uniform, you’re dealing with different stuff everyday, some is challenging, some is enjoyable and some is not very nice. As a police officer there is an immense sense of pride. I could never see myself doing a 9 to 5 job anymore…I have had a fantastic policing career, I have really enjoyed what I’ve done and when I leave I will be pretty proud of what I have achieved.”

During his long illustrious career as a referee, Foy has oﬃciated in every major domestic competition and when I asked what his greatest career moment was, he answered without hesitation. “May 15th 2010, when I refereed the FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Portsmouth at Wembley. I have refereed over 600 professional matches but to walk out at the home of English football, the biggest domestic cup competition in the world, with all the prestige, was just an amazing feeling.

The match was controversy free and at the end to walk up the steps, see my family in the crowd, introduce my team to Prince William, get a gold medal and look round at 90,000 people…that was the pinnacle ”Foy felt triumphant and exuded immense pride at his accomplishment. He stood there for a moment, gazed at the crowd and absorbed the electric atmosphere that buzzed around him. A single thought enters his mind and he produces a wry smile. “Wow. I’ve come a long way since I sat alone in that freezing cold changing room in 1983.”

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TRAVEL SPRING BREAKS - BERLIN

Image: © Press Association

Spring breaks

Image: © Press Association

Let’s face it, working in the modern police service has never been more taxing. With more and more people looking for the opportunity to relax and get away from it all why not plan a short break with family or friends? Sarah Marshall, Claire Spreadbury and Tori Mayo round up some of the best properties in Europe for group getaways 12

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BERLIN IS AN INCREASINGLY POPULAR DESTINATION FOR POLICE AND SUPPORT STAFF WHO WANT AN ENJOYABLE SHORT BREAK. BUT WHY GO TO THE EXPENSE OF A HOTEL? A friendly apartment should be your top choice for a weekend break with mates to Berlin, says Sarah Marshall ”If you arrive after 6pm, you'll need to collect the keys from our bar, Red Rabbit, in Friedrichshain.“ That's the message I receive from my Berlin host, Lisa, who has kindly lent her apartment to myself and four friends for the weekend. When we finally reach the doorway to the drinking hole, it's well beyond midnight, but for the trendy crowd sinking beers and bottles of Club-Mate, the evening is only just beginning. A Jiffy envelope is waiting for me behind the bar, packed with keys and a batch of tantalising club flyers, and I know my trip is off to a good start. Booking an apartment is often the most comfortable and fun choice for a group of friends going on holiday, but so many properties end up being empty shells, devoid of personality, with only a sprinkling of flat-pack furniture.

Image: © Press Association

Airbnb, however, pose the appealing proposition of staying at a (new) friend's place - while they've (most likely) skipped out of town for a few days. And sure enough, when we turn the lock in Lisa's door, we find the radiators on full blast, coffee percolator stacked with filters, and a fruit bowl overflowing with Haribo gummy bears. It's as if Lisa had just popped out to the local Wurst stand only five minutes earlier. We all have enough fresh towels and beds that don't masquerade as sofas - even though on our first night, we congratulate ourselves on discovering a ”spare camp bed“ which in fact turns out to be a ”cot“. The position of the flat is also excellent; overlooking the East Side gallery, where remnants of the Berlin Wall remain, and close to the squatter-style bars and creative hubbub of Kreuzberg.

Of course, every flat registered with Airbnb is different, with more than 34,000 properties to peruse in 192 countries. And half the fun is choosing the right property and personality to match your needs. Owners are often, as in Lisa's case, plugged into the local social scene and can recommend the best cafes, bars, galleries and shops in the area. Lisa even has a giant map in her hallway, with pins helpfully highlighting her favourite haunts. But best of all, this accommodation option is more comfortable than a hostel and far cheaper than staying in a hotel. Our stay works out less than £25 each per night - and, I'm relieved to say, not one of us has to sleep in a cot. Book this apartment from £221 for minimum two-night stay (sleeps five) at www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/115345

TRAVEL SPRING BREAKS - CENTER PARCS

Center Parcs FANCY A SHORT BREAK IN THE UK? CENTER PARCS HOLIDAYS REMAIN POPULAR WITH FAMILIES OF ALL AGES...

Travelling around on two wheels is pretty popular at Center Parcs, especially at Elveden Forest in Suffolk, as nothing's especially far away and it's all lovely and flat, so whether you're new to cycling, or just out of practice, it's fun for all the family. If you fancy a getaway for a big group of people, which also includes kids, Center Parcs is a sure-fire hit. Whether it's a generational gathering (so nanny and gramps can babysit while mummy and daddy hit the delightfully de-stressing Aqua Sana spa), or a couple of clans clubbing together to splash out on some of the higher-end accommodation (a two-storey treehouse complete with games den, Physiotherm infrared room and outdoor hot tub, perhaps?), there's something to suit everyone - and at every budget.

Keeping the kids happy is child's play at Center Parcs, says Claire Spreadbury It's not often I swing a leg over a bicycle and go for a pedal, but it's true what they say: you never forget how to ride. As I wobble about trying to ﬁnd my balance and steady myself, a ﬂash of green whizzes by. It's my four-year-old, on her bike, wearing the biggest smile you've ever seen.

Every type of lodge comes with its own kitchen, so you can cook up a storm for breakfast, lunch and dinner, or dine out in one of the many family-friendly restaurants in the village. Children (and adults) can join a plethora of activities, from quad biking or creating cupcakes, to aerial tree trekking and wildlife walks. You can even drop in for a family photoshoot if you fancy. You can literally be as busy or relaxed as you please.

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Image: © Press Association

As I straddle the saddle for one last time before our long weekend comes to a close, it doesn't matter that my entire family is better than me on a bike. I'll be back to wobble on two wheels again pretty soon. Lodgings from £229 (sleeps six) for a mid-week four-night break. For more information, visit www.centerparcs.co.uk

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TRAVEL

Image: © Press Association

SPRING BREAKS - ROME

Image: © Press Association

It's quite possible to peer at the Pantheon, shop in the designer stores along Via Condotti, walk up and down the Spanish Steps, or surround yourself with papal pomp and ceremony in St Peter's Square at the Vatican - all in a day.

Rome

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO PREFER THAT BIT OF THE MED (AND THE WARMTH) BUT DONT WANT THE FAMILY SPREAD OVER SEVERAL HOTEL ROOMS, WHY NOT CHOOSE ROME, THE ETERNAL CITY A Roman holiday is a grand choice for big families, says Tori Mayo

When your base for a long weekend in Rome is the seriously chic Villa Nocetta, just 10 minutes from the centre, you may consider taking up permanent residence. This beautifully renovated villa has been in the owners' family for three generations and sits in landscaped gardens where artichokes once grew among hazelnut trees.

While my boyfriend and I spend evenings enjoying sundowners on the tower-top terrace made for two, other family members head to the basement gym or relax by the pool under the shade of Mediterranean pine trees. Each of the ﬁve guest suites has been individually styled, featuring classic design pieces, artworks and ﬁne Italian linens.

Original marble ﬂoors and a grand piano bring a sense of classic elegance to the space, and 17th century heirloom wall coverings hang alongside portraits of Angelina Jolie and Al Pacino, taken by celebrated Romebased photographer Angela Lopriore.

Even though a continental buﬀet breakfast and shuttle service are provided, as well as the option of a personal concierge, Villa Nocetta feels like a luxury home rather than a hotel.

It's certainly enough to impress my three generations of relatives, who are here for a family gathering in grand surroundings.

It would be tempting not to leave our new abode, but we do make it outdoors to explore the city. Ancient city planners clearly had tourists' schedules at heart, as all the major sights are within walking distance of each other.

16 WWW.NICKEDMAGAZINE.COM

My boyfriend and I even take a tour on vintage Vespas, riding along the cobbled streets lined with candy-coloured houses and cafes, weaving through traﬃc while marvelling at ancient sites. My parents opt for the more leisurely Roman approach, taking it all in via pit stops in the piazza for a macchiato or an Aperol spritz. But we all end up at the Trevi fountain, where we each throw a coin into the water and make a wish. If the legends are true, next year, we'll be back at Villa Nocetta for more of la dolce vita. Villa Nocetta www.villanocetta.com; +39 06 663 7119 Sleeps up to 12 people and is available from 2,900 euros per night (approx £200 per person per night). Minimum stay of three nights. easyJet (www.easyjet.com) fly from London Gatwick to Rome from £28.74 per person (one-way).

FOOD

crack! GIVE EGGS A

Celebrity chef Dean Edwards is on a mission to prove eggs are more tha n just a breakfast staple.

The former digger driver shares his secret for perfectly-cooked eggs, and reveals how his grandmother inspired his passion for food.

by Jeananne Craig

Most of us have had some sort of disaster when cooking eggs - too runny, too rubbery, or too difficult to extract from the bottom of the pan. But for TV chef Dean Edwards, his egg Armageddon came live on air. The former MasterChef runner-up got into a very sticky situation while showing the nation how to make a tortilla on ITV's Lorraine show. "I was panicking a bit, because the pan that was supplied really wasn't non-stick," he recalls. "We had about 10 or 15 seconds where we went to recap and I had to plate the food up and make it look nice and pretty. When it came out, it looked a bit of a dog's dinner. It tasted better than it looked!"

Image: © Press Association

The blush-inducing incident hasn't put Edwards oﬀ cooking with eggs. In fact, he's fronting British Lion eggs' Main Meals In Minutes campaign to help make them a focal point of mealtimes.

"People tend to think inside the box a bit when it comes to eggs - like scrambled eggs or fried eggs at breakfast - but there are so many possibilities. They're affordable, versatile, and a great way of using up leftovers," he says. The key to success, according to the Bristol-based chef, is to avoid overcooking - and invest in a decent non-stick pan. "As soon as you think they're ready, pretty much by the time you've got them out of the pan, they're overcooked. So the secret is to take them off the heat just before they're finally cooked through. That way, they'll finish their cooking in the pan." Edwards was a digger driver before entering the BBC's MasterChef competition in 2005. He came second on the show, gave up the day job, and went on to carve out a successful career as a celebrity chef. His first cookbook, Mincespiration, was published last year. Edwards, who admits he still pinches himself about his success, credits his South African grandmother, Judith, with instilling his love of cooking. "My nan used to make an egg curry, it's one of my favourites. We couldn't afford lots of meat and it was a way of bulking it out and adding those nutrients and protein without costing a fortune," he says.

Now Edwards, 36, hopes to instil this passion for food in his four-year-old daughter, Indie. "She's got an adventurous palette and she loves curry, we'll often go out for an Indian. It's great to get kids to try new things," he says. "I let her help me out in the kitchen. She's more inclined to eat what we cook than if I plonked it on her plate before her. "The kitchen's like a bomb site when she cooks with me, so it's a bit of a trade oﬀ! But it's my great pleasure in life." Edwards has created a range of egg recipes for the Main Meals In Minutes campaign. Here are three of them.

You can find more egg recipes at

www.eggrecipes.co.uk /mainmealsinminutes

"Food was always a big part of our lives. Our family parties always involved two or three big pots of South African stews and curries, and we were encouraged to help out at an early age."

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FOOD

Cheat's kedgeree

SERVES 2

One pan rosti with chorizo & eggs SERVES 2

- 4 large eggs - 2 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated - 1 onion, thinly sliced - 1 tbsp fresh thyme - 1 tbsp plain ﬂour - 1/2 tsp smoked paprika - 20g unsalted butter - 100g cured chorizo sausage, sliced - Salt and pepper

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F iery egg & spinach curry SERVES 4

Grate the potatoes and dry them a clean tea towel. Try to squeeze out any excess starchy water before placing in a bowl with the onion, thyme, paprika and flour. Season with salt and pepper. Fry the chorizo for one to two minutes until it starts to release its oils. Add the butter, potato and onion and spread into a thin layer. Cook on a medium heat until it starts to brown, then break up and leave to brown again. This will take about 8 to 10 minutes.

Make four wells in the potato mixture and crack in the eggs. Continue cooking until the whites have just started to set. Place under a pre-heated grill and cook until the whites are set.

Garnish with some more fresh thyme, and serve...

In a large pan, fry the onion, garlic and ginger in some olive oil for 5 minutes until soft. Add the spices, mustard seeds and chilli and cook for a further minute.

In a deep pan, bring water up to a rolling boil, add the vinegar and crack in the eggs. Leave to cook for four to ﬁve minutes (four for a runny yolk).

Add the rice and stir through, making sure the rice is well coated. Cook for three to four minutes, adding a splash of water if necessary.

Remove from the water and drain any excess water on some kitchen paper.

Add the salmon, spring onion and coriander to the rice and stir. Season with salt and pepper and squeeze over the lemon juice.

Divide the kedgeree between two warm plates, top each with the poached egg and serve with a lemon wedge.

Image: © Press Association

- 1 skinless salmon fillet - 1 onion, finely diced - 2 garlic cloves, crushed - Small piece of ginger, peeled and grated - 1 tsp garam masala - 1/2 tsp mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp turmeric - 1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped - 1 250g pack microwave wholegrain rice, cooked - 3 spring onions, finely sliced - 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped - 2 large eggs - 2 tbsp white wine vinegar - 1 lemon, quartered to serve - Salt and pepper

Add a splash of oil to a non-stick pan and cook the salmon for four to ﬁve minutes over a medium to high heat until nearly cooked through. Flake the salmon.

- 8 large eggs - 1 large onion, sliced - 1 500ml carton tomato passata - 3 fresh tomatoes, quartered - 200ml chicken or vegetable stock - 150g baby spinach - Fresh coriander to garnish - Salt and pepper For the curry paste: - 1 onion, roughly peeled and chopped - 5 cloves of garlic, peeled - 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled - 1 red chilli - 1 tsp cinnamon - 1 tbsp garam masala - 1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed - 1 tsp turmeric - 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil and gently add the eggs. Cook at a simmer for seven minutes then place the eggs into a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process. When cool enough to handle, peel them and set aside. Place the curry paste ingredients in a blender along with a small dash of oil and blitz into a ﬁne paste. Fry the onion in some oil for three to four minutes. Add the curry paste and fry for a further three minutes. Add the passata, fresh tomato quarters and stock. Simmer for 10 minutes. Just before serving, stir through the spinach until wilted. Season to taste and add in the halved eggs. Divide between four bowls, garnish with fresh coriander and serve up with basmati rice and naan bread.

75 Image: © Press Association

WELLBEING

Mind over matter...

Time for a change DID YOU MAKE A NEW YEAR RESOLUTION THIS YEAR? IF YOU WERE SUCCESSFUL, WELL DONE, IF NOT, HOW LONG DID YOU LAST BEFORE YOU GAVE UP? ACCORDING TO AN INTERNET STUDY OF 3,000 ADULTS CONDUCTED IN 2012, ONLY ONE IN FOUR OF THE RESOLUTIONS MADE BY THE RESPONDENTS LASTED LONGER THAN NINE DAYS.

RETIRED POLICE OFFICER ANDY HEYES LOST 10 STONE IN SEVEN MONTHS AFTER DECIDING IT WAS TIME TO MAKE SOME SERIOUS LIFESTYLE CHANGES. HERE’S HIS INSPIRATIONAL STORY OF HOW HE ACHIEVED HIS GOAL. One sunny morning in August 2013, I walked past an office block clad with mirrored glass and saw the image of a smartly dressed man reflected back at me. He walked tall, with confidence and pride. I smiled at the reflection, before turning away and continuing my journey. Although the incident lasted just a few seconds, I have often thought about the experience and the feelings it generated. Yes, it was my reflection, but the image was totally unrecognisable from the one that would have been reflected only seven months earlier - I was 10 stones lighter. No, it’s not a typographical error and you haven’t misread - I was 140 pounds or 63.5 kilograms lighter than I was in January.

As New Year resolutions normally fail, in January 2013 I rather smugly didn’t set one. Nine days later, when statistically most people had already given up, my wife reminded me, “Didn’t you say that when you retired from the police and you ﬁnished your studies you would lose weight?” Yes, I had said that and I had meant it. But making a resolution or having dreams, aspirations, or goals, and achieving them are not the same.

The police service and its extended family has people working in a variety of demanding roles. Each job presents different challenges in terms of organisational needs, but also for the individual and their lifestyle. During your working life you may stay within the same role or you may choose to move around. During my police service, for example, I moved from the demands of working variable shift patterns on operational duties as a PC, sergeant and custody officer, to more sedentary nine to five classroom teaching and office duties. It is not difficult when faced with changes to your role, to focus on the job and overlook your health and fitness. Many people have noticed my weight loss, and asked how I have managed to lose so much so quickly. The brief answer is: I became a member of Slimming World and I follow its system of food optimising. However, this only tells part of the story and, as is often the case; the reality of how I achieved my goal is a bit more complicated. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always got.” has been attributed to a number of people including Henry Ford and Albert Einstein. Regardless of its origins its message is clear; to achieve any goal things need to change. But when this involves changing the habits of a lifetime, making that change is easier said than done.

ANDY HEYES

MA(Ed), Dip(Ed), Cert(Ed) is a Fellow of the Institute for Learning and a Member of the Chartered Management Institute. He is director of Aspire and Tower Ltd. providing life coaching for individuals and bespoke learning solutions to organisations in the public and private sector.

Your aspirations will remain just that if you don’t do anything to achieve them, and as time passes they may become regrets. So in January, having overindulged on my December birthday and over Christmas, and having no other excuses, I told my wife that I was going to keep my word and get myself ﬁt. By coincidence about that time I went to a major supermarket to buy some healthy and not so healthy food. In the foyer there was a consultant from Slimming World trying to encourage people to become members. The support of others is important in achieving any goal. I therefore decided that the support from the group may motivate me and, you never know, they may have a winning formula that actually works. So on 9th January I attended my ﬁrst session. Rather than paying each week, I paid upfront for 10 weeks, based on the principle that if I’ve already paid I will be more likely to attend and as I wouldn’t want to waste my money I would be more likely to stick to programme.

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WELLBEING

The blame game Isn’t it strange how sometimes we will defend ourselves and blame everyone or everything around us rather than face the truth? Sometimes we become so defensive that our responses become automatic. For example, at the Northern Police Convalescent Home I once overheard a disgruntled resident who had arrived that day state, “That’s typical of this place.” He had never been there before and therefore had no idea what was or was not ‘typical’; it was probably a phrase that he used routinely; blaming others was a habit.

FOR A LARGE PORTION OF MY 32 YEAR POLICE CAREER MY MAIN PRIORITY AS A TUTOR, COACH, MENTOR, TRAINER, SUPERVISOR, MANAGER, ASSESSOR, AND TRAINING DESIGNER WAS THE DEVELOPMENT OF OTHERS; BUT IN JANUARY 2013 I MADE A COMMITMENT TO DEVELOP ME.

Not only do we play the blame game, sometimes we pretend that things are better than they are rather than face the truth. In 2003 I made a number of visits to the force Occupational Health department. On each occasion I was weighed and my blood pressure, pulse etc. were checked, and I was praised by the medical staff as my weight decreased slightly each month. In reality, the first time I was weighed I wore relatively heavy clothing and filled my pockets with lots of coins and other heavy items, including old style truncheon and cuffs (which those of you old enough will recall were secreted in specially designed trouser pockets so they didn’t frighten the public!).

As the months went by I emptied my pockets and wore lighter clothes. Each month I congratulated myself and felt good at having lost some weight, but the reality was that much of the weight loss was due to carrying less on to the scales. If you’re going to achieve a goal you need to invest emotionally in it. If you’re a supervisor setting targets or introducing new legislation and processes to your staﬀ, you need to ensure they believe in what you’re doing. Both of you need to emotionally ‘buy into’ whatever you’re introducing. Previously, although I knew I needed to lose weight, there was no emotional investment.

So how do you change the habits of a lifetime? Having decided that I was going to make a lifestyle change, I used the concepts I had learnt through experience and academic study of lifelong learning to enable me to achieve my goal. In essence, I became my own life coach. It is fair to say that the ideas and principles I used were not entirely my own. However, the ideas presented are my interpretation of other peoples’ work adapted to my circumstances. As a police trainer and as a sergeant I had used the SMART model to create action plans: n Specific n Measurable n Achievable n Realistic n Timed

“We have major motorway connections in our brain and if they’re bad habits, they’re tough to break” WWW.NICKEDMAGAZINE.COM

Humans are creatures of habit. For me, the habits built up by a lifetime of unhealthy eating are still residing in my unconscious mind. Eight months of making the right food choices are not enough to rid myself of the unconscious desire to overeat.

I used my work and studies as an excuse for my lack of physical activity and blamed my lifestyle for my eating habits - so it wasn’t my fault that I gained weight. But of course it was my fault - life is full of choices and I had willingly made the choices that resulted in me being double the weight I had been when I joined the police in 1979.

CHANGING THE HABITS OF A LIFETIME

MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES

Although this model is fine for developing an achievable plan - there is nothing within it that will ensure it’s achieved. Recent adaptations of the model include ‘evaluate’ and ‘review’ or ‘re-evaluate’ (were they just added just so that it would spell SMARTER?), however, there is still nothing within this model that encourages an emotional investment from those involved. Rather than focussing on plans that may or may not be put into action I devised a brain-friendly solution.

Not just for weight loss…

THE MIND-OVER-MATTER PRINCIPLES ANDY TALKS ABOUT NOT ONLY HELP WITH LOSING WEIGHT. They can also help with: n improving your fitness n quitting smoking

n improving sporting techniques n changing your job or role

The principles described in this article may be relevant to you for a whole host of reasons.

RETRAIN YOUR BRAIN

BREAK THOSE BAD HABITS

I’m going to keep this simple, so I apologise in advance to any psychology or neuroscience experts who may read this. The brain contains around 100 billion brain cells (give or take a few billion). Each brain cell (neuron) is connected to about 100,000 neighbouring neurons and to the naked eye they are visible as the ‘grey matter’ of the brain or as Hercule Poirot would say, “The little grey cells.” A piece of brain the size of a pinhead would contain about 60,000 neurons.

Bad habits work exactly the same way because they have major motorway connections in our brain. We have programmed ourselves to automatically do whatever the habit is. Someone once told me that they had given up smoking and as they were telling me they were getting a cigarette out of the packet ready to smoke it. The conscious mind may be willing, but the major smoking motorway connection had put the unconscious mind on automatic pilot. When you try to break a bad habit, particularly one you have had most of your life, you are often ﬁghting a losing battle. This is because the bad habit has a motorway connection, whilst the, “I’m going to give up…” connection is just a dirt track.

When we use our brain, electrical impulses are sent between connecting neurons that relate to whatever it is we are doing or thinking creating a neural pathway. Imagine for a moment that you are playing tennis for the ﬁrst time in your life. As you hold the racket and hit the ball your brain creates a new neural pathway in your brain. The next time you hit the ball the same connection (or a similar connection if you hit the ball diﬀerently) is made. It will be no surprise to you that the more you practice the easier it becomes. This is because each time you hit the ball the neural pathway is strengthened. The playing tennis connection in your brain becomes stronger and stronger, like moving from a dirt track to a motorway. Imagining (or visualising) that you are hitting the ball makes the same connections in the brain as doing it for real. Visualisations are therefore used by sports psychologists to encourage sports men and women to imagine perfection within their sport. Even just thinking about doing it right makes the ‘doing it right’ connection in the brain. Repeatedly visualising positive actions strengthens the connection until it becomes an unconscious response. In other words, you can do it without thinking about it; it becomes a habit.

By now you may be thinking I may as well not bother trying and the chances are I will fail - not so fast! The more you practice the positive habit and the less you reinforce the negative habit, the stronger the positive habit connection in the brain becomes and the weaker the negative habit connection becomes. Also remember the strength of emotions; emotional responses are hard-wired into the brain's circuitry. Charles Darwin talked about survival of the ﬁttest and we are survival machines. As we evolved from reptiles, to mammals, to humans (when I say ‘we’ I mean humankind, not me and you, although I have met a few reptiles in my time!), emotions played a major part in our survival. Emotions supercharge the neural pathways. ‘Fear’ developed to stop our ancestors from doing things that may result in their extinction. ‘Pleasure’ developed to encourage us to do the things that will ensure our survival. Emotions control our motivation, learning, and decisions and therefore inﬂuence the choices that we make.

There is a six lane superhighway completed that has taken all the traffic for a lifetime. I can’t relax until I make the right choices without even thinking about it. You hear people talk about ‘yo-yo’ dieting, where they lose weight only to put it back on when they stop dieting. The cycle then repeats itself all over again. Often these people state that they have not only put the weight back on, but now weigh more than ever. This is because many diets restrict what you eat until you have lost the weight. You then revert back to old habits. Weight loss programmes are successful when they are based on making healthy eating choices, rather than banning food types. Those who have achieved their target and continue their membership as target members have more chance of maintaining their weight, than those who walk away, because the “I like… (chocolate, pies, sweets, puddings, beer, etc.)” motorway is strong. Until you can make the right choices unconsciously there is a need to remain focussed and be supported by likeminded people. I have always known that for me the most difficult task will be finding the right balance in what I eat so that I can maintain my target weight. Thomas Edison is often quoted as saying, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” but he also once remarked, “Many of life's failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.” As I find that right balance I anticipate that there will be weight gains and losses. After all, those of you lucky enough to be happy with your weight still experience minor gains and losses, which over the days, weeks, months and years balance out. So if I ‘gain’, I have found a way that doesn’t work, and provided over time I balance these gains and losses, I am close to success and there’s nothing to worry about.

Your aspirations will remain aspirations if you don’t do anything to achieve them, and as time passes they may become regrets 25 FACEBOOK.COM/NICKEDMAGAZINE

HOBBIES

Get your boots on!

Good for the body and soul, Paul Casey talks about his passion for the great outdoors. If you’re up for a bit of an adventure this article will encourage you to get out and about into the great British countryside.

PAUL CASEY

Paul retired as a Patrol Sergeant after 31 years service in a busy metropolitan force. Spending his entire service on front line duties including postings to the Armed Response Unit and other specialist crime departments. He’s been a keen climber and photographer since chidlhood.

Image: © Press Association

The Cuillins from Sligachan, Isle of Skye 26

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HOBBIES

Spring. I’ve always loved this time of year.

The world is turning green again after the grey of winter, the sun is noticeably warmer on the skin than it was just a month ago, and at last the days are beginning to draw out for the long run in to summer, giving you the opportunity to do extra things with your free time.

Patios are being scrubbed, garden furniture uncovered, bedding plants ordered, and pub gardens visited. For me it’s also time to drag the boots out from under the stairs, find the flask that’s been sat at the back of a kitchen cupboard, and slap the dust off the rucksack that’s been hung in the shed since November. Well, unless you love your winter walking and have spent the last few months avoiding floods, rainstorms, gales, the occasional tornado, and a blizzard or two in Snowdonia or Scotland.

As someone who has had a lifelong love of the outdoors - a factor that probably kept me on front line duties for my entire service - it would be easy to write an article about how marvellous it is, drop the locations of some good pubs to visit after a day’s walk or climb, print some pretty pictures from a couple of my greatest adventures and move onto the next issue. But that would be too easy wouldn’t it.

? Did you know helps - brisk walking wer t, lo reduce body fa and , blood pressure sity n e -d increase high lipoprotein.

Personally, I enjoy getting onto the mountains as it’s a chance to get out of the big city for a day or two to experience the quiet and the scenery. It’s also the opportunity to get some exercise (strenuous if it’s a steep climb to a summit) plus the chance to pursue one of the other great passions of my life, photography. But walking isn’t all about mountains…

A wealth of walks

We may inhabit a small group of islands but we have the good fortune to have access to a rich resource of open and beautiful countryside that can take you along river valleys, across remote dales and moorland, along huge swaths of magniﬁcent coastline, and over high mountains, some with peaks easily achieved, some requiring a degree of experience and expertise.

Brotherswater, Lake District

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And that’s just the countryside. Most of the big cities have spent time and money creating urban pathways, cycle routes and heritage walks, so it doesn’t always have to be a 6am alarm call to get out to somewhere worthwhile.

Given that the 00 25,0 world is about rence fe miles in circum verage and that the a miles 3 walking rate is take a uld per hour, it wo on-stop n person walking ays to d approx 347 walk around the world.

A lot of people pass up the opportunity to start walking and climbing as they consider ‘getting out there’ as something that requires elaborate planning, the spending of a small fortune on boots, waterproofs, maps and all the other paraphernalia you might need. That’s not always the case because a good set of boots and a waterproof jacket can frequently be found at a discount ‘end of season’ sale at most of the national and local climbing/walking stores. You just might have to tolerate being seen afoot wearing winter 2013 lime green! Yet I‘ve always found that once you break through that barrier and discover how easy it is, you will unlock some realistic and enjoyable options to spend some time away from the hustle and bustle of work. After all, how frequently do you hear mention from colleagues as to how busy we all are, how we don’t always have time to unwind and get some exercise, or just to get away from the ‘job’ for a bit.

Now let’s assume that you’ve managed to dismiss all the excuses and doubts and want to start to explore. Some of you reading this article may already be experienced walkers or climbers, and maybe one or two have anonymously bumped into the author while traversing The Cuillins on Skye, wandering through fog on the Pennine Way, or exchanging a nod and ‘hello’ while plodding along the Pembrokeshire Coastal path on a sweltering summer’s day.

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HOBBIES

Explore... FIND FANTASTIC WALKS AND TRAILS ONLINE Walking in Scotland www.visitscotland.com /see-do/activities/walking

Walk Northern Ireland www.walkni.com Walking holidays in Wales www.visitwales.com /things-to-do/activities/walking-hiking

Safety

Snowdon Horseshoe, North Wales

Available at Survival Bag tailer. A survival any ‘outdoor’ re t rong, lightweigh bag is simply a st tough plastic a bag made from orange in lly ua us l ia er at m gned to reduce si de colour that is heat in an the loss of body n also act ca emergency. It ss signal, re st di iz -v hi a as gency er em and an shelter.

Walking Britain www.walkingbritain.co.uk Walk England www.walkengland.org.uk National Trails www.nationaltrail.co.uk

Do you have a favourite walk or ramble? Know of a unique and special route and want to share it with other readers? Drop us a line at NiCKED HQ and you could be the author of a future article... we may even send our photographer out with you for the day.

So how do you get started? FITNESS

Well, let’s begin with:

What I’ll never do is encourage you put this magazine down, pull on your trainers, leap into the car and head off into the great unknown to start a 35 mile yomp, or do a three peak challenge if you’re not up to it. Of course any form of exercise will be good for you, and no doubt the readership will have varying degrees of fitness that starts you further up the ladder of exertion than others. As many a mountain rescue team member will advise: never overextend yourself physically. Build up to it by improving your all round fitness. It won’t take much and as soon as you’re competent, that fitness will develop quite quickly allowing you to go further and/or higher.

MOTIVATION

KIT

Walking is an ideal pastime. It’s something you can do at the drop of a hat; with the family; with a friend or group of friends; with the dog. It gets you fit, gets you to places you’ve probably never seen before, and if you exceed your expectations and get to the top of a difficult or challenging peak, or finish that 20-mile trek across Dartmoor, will leave you with a real sense of achievement. A lot of forces have their own climbing club or society that will generally have a section that is dedicated to walking/rambling, but will let you evolve onto climbing if you fancy a go. Seek them out and join. Some of them already have kit discount agreements with major outdoor chains.

Once you’ve decided you’re going to give it a go visit some of your local outdoor pursuit shops and price out some kit. A lot of people nowadays try stuff on for fit and comfort, and if the shop can’t be competitive in price they go home and source the stuff online from the likes of Amazon or e-bay. Usually, you will be looking for good functional footwear - it doesn’t always have to be top of the range boots at £299. You can buy decent waterproof boots for £70-£100 that will always double up as casual wear.

The same applies to clothing. Always seek out a functional coat, a pair of over-trousers, and a decent set of gloves and a good hat, (preferably woolly) that can be used in inclement weather. Like with boots, most coats nowadays are multifunctional and can be used for day-to-day wear rather than an expensive wardrobe filler that’s only used when out in the countryside. You may also need a rucksack to store the inevitable camera, flask, food, map, compass, mobile phone (with spare battery), spare clothing first aid kit, iPod, sun cream, car keys... It doesn’t need to be a 80 litre monster designed to get you across the Himalayas - a good quality 15 litre rucksack is usually fine for most days out.

MFH (MISSING FROM HOME)

To avoid the embarrassment of having yourself all over the local or national news, and perhaps more seriously to ensure you really do get from A to B, you need to buy yourself a map and compass and learn how to use them. It’s not rocket science, and can be another little skill you can take pride in learning. More importantly it can save your life. We have become a society where the reliability of technology is taken for granted. Even the smallest of mobile phones can now use satellite signals to position you down to the nearest grid reference. This is all well and good for a stroll along the canal, but when you are out on the hills or deep into the countryside and the battery in your faithful never-beenunreliable-before phone battery decides to go to sleep - and it will – you’ll need a backup. The modern hand-held GPS systems are for the aﬁcionado only as they begin at £150 for a basic model. These units are better than your phone because they are usually quite robust and weather sealed. I have one, but always carry a decent compass, which I bought for less than £5 on Amazon, together with a good Ordinance Survey map of the area you’re planning to visit for about £10-£12. For a little extra you can buy laminated maps which are ideal for use in wet weather.

If you are ever planning on going anywhere diﬃcult or remote I recommend doing so with someone else who has some outdoor experience and knows how to use a map and compass. Always remember to let someone know your route and an estimated time of arrival at your destination. Over the years I’ve taken plenty of reports from anxious relatives reporting missing or overdue walkers that have usually resolved themselves by the local police ﬁnding the forgetful ‘misper’ sat in the pub with a look of mystified innocence on their face.

WALK ALONE OR WITH A GROUP?

People go walking for lots of diﬀerent reasons. Some love the solitude of walking alone across hill and dale, while others wouldn’t think of heading out unless accompanied by a companion. Walking in solitude has lots of beneﬁts to the individual and is a choice most people make from time to time, myself included. But sometimes being part of an organised group has its advantages, not least of which is that there is generally a mix of experienced and competent walkers from whom knowledge and wisdom is dispensed.

The police service has always had people who organise climbing or rambling clubs as part of the sports and social organisations. Ask around to see who runs one in your force area. Apart from my own experiences during my service, I know that there are lots of small groups of walkers including police officers, CSOs and support staff who meet up at the police station over a coffee and arrange to meet on a ‘rest day’ and head off into the mountains, or for an overnighter to the Lake District or Dartmoor, or wherever it takes their fancy. It’s also a great tool for teambuilding and cementing the trust you have for one another during work time.

ENJOYMENT

Remember, if you manage to get yourself into the great outdoors, ENJOY IT. Most of the country and its scenery are free for you to explore and wander over. Go experience it. Breathe some fresh air; get some exercise for the body and some calm for the soul...

Coming up in the next issue... 30 WWW.NICKEDMAGAZINE.COM

‘Getting out there’. Over the coming issues we will visit every corner of the British Isles looking for those special walks and places of interest we would love to recommend. Issue #2 features Snowdonia, high and low routes, accommodation and places to eat and stay.

HEALTH & FITNESS

A shift in the right direction PERSONAL TRAINER, PAUL HERBERT, GIVES US HIS EXPERT GUIDE ON HOW TO DEAL WITH EXERCISE AND NUTRITION WHILST DOING SHIFT WORK. We all know being a police oﬃcer can be a demanding (albeit rewarding) role, but add shift work into the mix and you’ll have all sorts of extra pressures. There’s the obvious sleep pattern disruption, but what about diet and ﬁtness?

ve a fewe? a h y l n O to spkawrorkout, s e t u n i m r a quic like

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supplement those spent calories by putting the right calories back in. Having good balanced nutrition is vital but a lot of people focus on not having too many carbohydrates. If you’re active, the most important thing is to have those carbohydrates. I always advise my clients to replace the calories they burn otherwise your body will go into something called ketosis, which creates a sudden drop of energy levels. Making sure nutrition is on point is always the most important thing.

should exercise at the best time for them. There’s no optimum time to exercise some people prefer to train in the morning, and some people prefer to train in the evening. You have to know what suits YOU best. If you’ve just done a long shift, do a 15-minute blast session depending on the type of exercise you prefer. For example, if you prefer running, start with a walk and gradually build into a run and, if you want to, do some light stretches in the middle. If you prefer bodyweight exercises again start slowly and build the intensity gradually.

Q :What are some common mistakes that can hinder your exercise? A :Not having the correct breathing technique. In order for the blood to go

PAUL HERBERT

Q :How important is nutrition in day-to-day life? A :It’s so important because if you’re moving around all day you need to

Q:When is the best time to exercise? A :My clients ask me this question a lot and I always recommended that they

Sometimes coping with actual shift hours can be as difficult, if not more so, than the job at hand. Health and fitness expert Paul Herbert met with NiCKED magazine’s roaming Deputy Editor Brinsley Bailey and shared some advice on diet and fitness and how it can help with the demands of shift work.

Paul Herbert is a former GB athlete who competed at 800m against the likes of Sebastian Coe, Steve Cram, Steve Ovett and Peter Elliot. At 21 years old, he was UK champion and 25th fastest in the world with a time of 1:45. After a successful athletics career, Paul decided health and fitness was the way to go and he created Body Transformations. His company in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire works with people from various backgrounds from sedentary to athlete. Some of his high proﬁle clients have included Kym Marsh (Coronation Street), Penny Malory (TV presenter) and Martin Kove (Karate Kid).

Q&A

Quick tgipysm for the

1 p/stretch u rm a w s y a Alw 2 breathing ur o y n o s u Foc 3 y involved a Be menet ellxercise in th

round your system once, it takes roughly 23 seconds and if your breathing goes out of sync this process takes longer. If this occurs then you go into oxygen debt, which causes you to get dizzy, as the blood takes longer to get back to your brain. Keeping the process in sync through a correct breathing technique is very important. Also, it’s important when you’re exercising to ‘be in the moment.’ If you’re about to perform a squat for example, you should be working on your core muscles that support the movement and you must be 100% focused on making your upper and lower body work together. It’s amazing when you walk into a gym and you see people who are not focused on what they are doing. You can tell they’re thinking about what’s going to be on TV later rather than thinking about the exercise they’re doing. I always tell my clients that if they get mentally involved in the exercise, their body shape will change more quickly.

Q A:Shift work aﬀects your appetite and when it comes to exercise, this can mean :What type of problems does shift work produce?

energy levels ﬂuctuate. Often this is based on diet as many people eat the wrong foods on shift work and this has a direct eﬀect on their energy levels. Generally, food grabbed ‘on the go’ is loaded with carbohydrates and when you eat these foods you become full quickly, but you also become empty really quickly as well. I often encourage people who are on shift work to plan ahead. Preparing nutritious food to take to work means you know what you’re going to eat and there’s less chance you’ll make the decision to eat unhealthy fast food. With regards to exercise, you need to work out how many times a week you are able to train, what you are going to do in your workout and how much time you have. Remember to factor in cool down time and a shower etc. Be realistic and bear in mind, something is better than nothing!

Q :Which foods should shift workers avoid? A:We all know the foods we should be avoiding… high fat takeaways, and foods

loaded with sugar. I also advise to keep clear of any food high in carbohydrates, and deﬁnitely processed foods. Avoid overloading on bread and chips, anything like that will work against you and deplete energy levels rather than lift them. Meal replacement can work, for example: if you like burgers, instead of having a takeaway, plan your meal beforehand and have a Quorn burger with salad on a granary bagel or small wholemeal roll. This way, it’s like having a takeaway burger but you’re eating a healthier version. Sweet potatoes have a low GI (Glycemic Index) and you can use that to make baked fries which you can reheat at work.

:‘Grazing’ is a term often heard in health and ﬁtness circles. What are the beneﬁts of this technique and can it be applied to shift work?

:Grazing is when you don’t have your main meal but have smaller meals instead as a snack. This method of eating is based around the core meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner and occurs either side of your lunch. For someone who does shift work, grazing is perfect. If you’re on a shift pattern that misses breakfast or (other) another key meal, you can graze on fruit, nuts or seeds, which will sustain your energy levels. I encourage people to graze because it allows you to keep energy levels up and stops you from losing the calories you need to sustain a full shift of work. However, avoid grazing on sweets because these will take your sugar level up and reduce your energy level.

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HEALTH & FITNESS

ion Key nutrit

1 s: rice, rbohydrate Healthy cpaotato, quinoa etc. sweet 2 icken, turkey an ch le : in te eat ro p Quality occasionally red m d n a 3 onds such as atslm Fats: nuts u n l and Brazi 4

kerel, lmon, m.ac Oily fish:hsa tc e g in rr e

Q :Energy drinks are often used to help people stay alert, particularly on shift

Q :Protein shakes are very popular nowadays. Would you recommend them?

A :The key thing to start with is water being hydrated helps keep your energy levels

A :I do promote the use of protein shakes but it’s important not to over do them as

work. Are there any natural alternatives that can provide the same boost?

up. There is a misconception about water as you will often hear people say that you should drink 2 litres per day, but this isn’t necessarily the case. Recent studies show there are other things you drink throughout the day such as tea and coﬀee, which also go towards your water intake. Food also contains water which will form part of your intake and fruit provides a really good boost to your energy levels. Also, the great thing about fruit is that you’ll use it as part of energy but it won’t take your sugar level up too quickly. The kind of things that hinder people’s performances the most are the sugary ﬁzzy drinks and even the energy ones marketed as being ‘healthy. One of the most popular ‘energy’ drinks has18 teaspoons of sugar in one bottle – it’s obviously not going to do you much good. Your intake also has to be relative to what type of sport or activity you are doing. If someone’s running a marathon I would recommend an energy drink, however, for someone who works out in the gym and is burning fewer calories, I would recommend water. Or if they need an energy boost I would suggest a 50/50 mix of pure orange juice and water.

And if so, what do you take and when?

it can mess with your digestive system. I wouldn’t suggest relying on these shakes, as it is best to vary your food. On a shortterm basis however they can be used as a meal replacement but if you decide to take it every morning for example, add oats and nuts so it becomes a better breakfast and a more complete meal. Ideally, take no more than two shakes maximum per day but again that depends on how many calories you consume in a day and your activity levels.

:What advice can you give to people who are looking to lose weight through training as well as maintain ﬁtness?

:Training type is key here. If someone goes out for a run ﬁve or six times a week without any resistance work then they will lose muscle tissue. But if you incorporate a resistance programme, using bodyweight exercises at home such as press-ups and squats or at the gym using equipment like the shoulder press, Olympic lifts, deadlifts etc. along with the cardiovascular exercises, you can get the best of both worlds and drop body fat whilst increasing muscles tissue at the same time.

Q :Are there any health supplements you would recommend? A:It all depends on what you’re looking to achieve but I do recommend taking a multi

-vitamin per day. However, if you eat a well balanced diet you probably won’t need any extra supplements. If you’re trying to increase your weight or burn body-fat, Casein powder (a milk protein) can be taken before you go to bed. This prevents too much protein being lost whilst sleeping as your body goes without food for several hours. I use the Casein with healthy peanut butter, just to add to the extra protein. Branched chain amino acids (BCAA) help the process of building muscles and replace the loss of amino acids from your system. Essential fatty acids are also important and are something that can be taken via supplements or obtained naturally through eating ﬁsh. Also, at every meal you should try and have some fat. There is a stigma towards fat and people automatically think it’s bad but it’s important to have healthy fats in your diet.

Q :What’s the ‘top-tip’ people should try to remember? A:As a personal trainer, people always tell me what they eat but I guarantee it’s never

accurate and only half the story. My top tip is simple. Be honest with yourself, work hard and work safe. If you’re honest with yourself, the results will come.

Want to know more? Email Paul at enquiries@bodytransformations.co.uk 34

or visit www.bodytransformations.co.uk

Elaine Watson Mobile - 07962595855 Email Address - elainejwatson@utilitywarehouse.org.uk Web Address - www.ShrinkYourBills.org.uk

HEALTH & FITNESS

BREAKFAST Mackerel with scrambled eggs and a slice of wholemeal toast or Porridge (water or skimmed milk) with a scoop of protein (30g Women/45g Men) with almonds (6-8 Women/ Men 10-12) GRAZING SNACK Protein Shake (made with water) with Peanut Butter on a slice of Ryvita LUNCH Quinoua or Basmati Rice (Low GI) with any lean turkey or chicken GRAZING SNACK Protein bar or cookie (make sure it has < 8.5g sugar per 100g) or Rye bread with Quark cheese, lean ham, cucumber and lettuce DINNER Any lean meat with half regular serving of sweet potato (low GI) and a large portion of leafy green vegetables DRINKS Water (add half a squeezed lemon and a capful of fruit squash to break the monotony). KEY TIPS Preparation is key. If you don’t prepare, it is very likely that you’ll stray.

•

with diﬀerent herbs • Experiment and spices (dry powder) with the lean meat to add variety to your meals.

Paul Herbert The food plan

THE 30-MINUTE WORKOUT

The workout plan is based on the concept of Peripheral Heart Action (PHA), which was brought into the fore of the exercise world by Bob Gajda (Former Mr America & Mr Universe). PHA works various muscle groups in a single workout. This 30-minute workout programme focuses on the upper body and lower body alternately causing your body to work harder overall.

STRETCHES

Before and after the workout it is important to stretch the upper and lower body; speciﬁcally the chest, calf, quads, and back. Always remember to keep your head in line with your spine by looking forward. Tense the abdomen to stabilise your core and have slightly bent knees to take pressure oﬀ your joints.

Chest stretch, back stretch, calf stretch and quad stretch THE WORKOUT

Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

Fig 4

Fig 5

Fig 6

A maximum of ﬁve sets for the circuit but you should base it on your ﬁtness levels:

Beginners: 2 sets Intermediate: 3 sets Advanced: 4 sets Depending on your conditioning, rest between each exercise for:

Beginners: 60 seconds Intermediate: 30 seconds Advanced: no rest WARM-UP: Spend a short time warming up and stretching off before beginning any exercise. Fig 1 PRESS-UPS: (16-20 reps) Keep head in line with the spine and avoid locking your elbows. Also make sure the stomach is tucked in to stabilise the core. Fig 2 SQUATS: (16 -20 reps) Make sure that your knees don’t go over your toes and lean forward slightly, keeping your back straight while in the seated position. Breath in when you go down and out when you go up. If you want to make the exercise harder you can use dumbbells. Fig 3 SPLIT-SQUATS: (16-20 reps each side) Keep the feet stationary throughout the exercise with your front foot flat and back heel up. Back straight with head in line with the spine looking forward. The lower yourself to the floor directly down with your back knee an inch away from the floor. Fig 4

This programme is designed to keep your body on a regular pattern each week even if your shifts change. You can eat these foods at anytime as long as it works with your speciﬁc schedule. Don’t feel forced to follow conventional eating times, simply view food as what it is… food.

PIKE PUSH UP: (16-20 reps) Start in regular press up position and then walk your feet forward until your body forms a V shape. Keep your knees slightly bent and avoid locking your elbows. Fig 5

All that matters is that your meal has a balance of fats, carbohydrates and proteins that can fuel your body.

SINGLE ARM ROW: (16-20 reps each side) Both knees are bent but back is ﬂat with a stance similar to cutting a piece of wood on a bench. Fig 6 WARM-DOWN: After completing any form of exercise, spend some time cooling down, and doing some light post exercise stretches. Fig 1

REMEMBER: If you are carrying an injury, or it has been a long time since you have done any exercise seek medical advice before attempting these exercises.

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BUSINESS

Carving a career after policing WHEN PETER FARRINGTON HAD TO TAKE EARLY RETIREMENT FROM THE POLICE SERVICE, HE KNEW HE HAD A LOT MORE TO GIVE. HERE HE OFFERS SOME GREAT ADVICE ON HOW TO BUILD A CAREER AFTER POLICING. After leaving school in June, by August I found myself joining the police service as a 16-year-old cadet. Being rapidly assimilated into the institution that is the police family, I found almost all my friends were now employed by the police. Although I knew from the beginning what I was getting into, the actual reality of a life on shifts, which precluded me from many of the things most people take for granted, began to hit home. Family events; maintaining my football season ticket; carrying out hobbies and pastimes in mainstream society - all had to take a back seat in my social priorities. I was a police officer now, part of that bigger family that often met in the middle of the night, early on weekend mornings or on sunny midweek afternoons. Booking annual leave now involved intricate and complex negotiations involving shift rotas, line managers, and the vagaries of your colleagues’ personal circumstances. I didn’t eat at ‘normal’ times anymore, and would rarely get home on time. Long-standing engagements weren’t honoured because I was ‘dealing’ with something, or someone, else. And mid week lie-ins on my rest days were a rarity because an inconveniently delivered court warning often beckoned. We’ve all been there… We become ‘dyed in the wool cops’. We knew our life and saw the years of service stretching away into the distance like some desert highway. Unfortunately, the flow of your career can sometimes be cut short, and after 23 years of enjoyable and fulfilling police service I had an unexpected and unwelcome exit and woke one morning to find myself in receipt of a pension following my discharge on health grounds. Well OK, I might not have been able to carry out the entire portfolio of police work (if I ever was) but I was certainly young enough, and keen enough, to do some sort of fulfilling work – but what? Bills still had to be paid, mortgage payments met, and food for the family bought.

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Where to go from here?

People usually respond to such circumstances in one of two ways. Not being the type to panic, I started by weighing up what my ‘employable’ attributes and skill sets were. The police had spent a considerable amount of time, money and effort teaching me to drive cars expertly, investigate crime efficiently, talk to people with economy; to listen, interpret and act on information boldly and assertively, without fear or favour. I could undertake surveillance without being detected; knew a lot about the intricacies of the law, and about the causes and consequences of criminality, and dishonesty. I was well versed in police procedures; reading and writing reports; and had lots of friends and acquaintances; all introduced to me by the police service. As a newly ‘retired’ detective it was an obvious career choice for me to become a self-employed investigator. However, setting it up as a business was to prove a challenge, both professionally and personally. Having determined my future lay on the self-employed business route, I had a ‘eureka’ moment when it dawned on me that I had always calculated things in pounds and pence. How much overtime, how big a pay rise, how much is a bill, what is my net pay? Rule one – forget that altogether. It is an equation you can never balance. The commodity of life outside the police is ‘time’ so I am now a time salesman – I sell my time to different people for different prices depending on a few obvious but important factors: n How difficult is the task? n How much do I like or dislike this type of work? n What resources are required? n How long will it take? n How regularly will I be doing this? Have I lost you yet? In summary – do not use your police salary as a yardstick. It is irrelevant to your new circumstances, and will rarely achieve an immediate equivalent in your new career. Of course your pension helps, but unless you’ve paid off your mortgage it will never amount to much compared to your police salary. Here’s a simple fact: in the police you can be the hardest working officer from your section, department, or force, but you will be paid (overtime excluded) exactly the same as the least productive colleague. No matter what happens, your monthly salary will be much the same as the last one, and for that matter, the next one. You do one job and get one rate of pay. But now I don’t - I do lots of different jobs. Imagine your life in the police if you were to be paid piecemeal. £X for taking a crime report, £Y for dealing with sudden death and £Z for supervising somebody else to do either X or Y. That is how it is for me nowadays.

PETER FARRINGTON Peter Farrington is managing director

of Probe Investigations (UK) Ltd, which was given the impressive accolade of an ISO:9001 award for quality management. The company is proud to be the first business in the UK to be successfully assessed at BS102000 level for its provision of investigative services. Peter is also a member of World Association of Detectives (WAD); Ex Police in Commerce (EPIC) and Association of British Investigators (ABI). Other achievements include:

n 2009/10 Vice President, Association

of British Investigators

n 2010 Probe Investigations (UK) Ltd

– awarded Merseyside Crime Stopper of the Year n 2011 Formation of specialist process serving business www.pdqprocess.co.uk n 2013 Formation of Probe Concierge and Security Services Ltd www.probesecurityservices.com Visit www.probeuk.com or call 0845 520 7777 for more information.

BUSINESS

Top tips for success

Remember: if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!

WHEN I TOOK RETIREMENT AND STARTED MY COMPANY I HAD PLENTY OF COMMON SENSE AND DETERMINATION, BUT ABSOLUTELY NO BUSINESS ACUMEN WHATSOEVER.

There is far more detail I could provide and the above list, while not exhaustive, might seem intimidating. It did to me at first glance but, as they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so there is nothing wrong in methodically exploring which area of business or trade suits your personal skill set, and fires the desire to build a solid and profitable business. You may already have skills and qualifications or a career that you used to do before joining the service. I know lots of former electricians, plasterers, builders and plumbers who decided to change career and become police officers. Just bear in mind that the police service will have given you a fantastic array of skills - now it’s up to you to capitalise on them and create a new tailor-made career.

However, apart from the ability to work with self confidence and self reliance the police service equipped me with the discipline to work through problems logically and methodically. So that’s what I did. I applied myself to the task at hand and have built a company that utilises my skills and attributes yet at the same time rewards me personally and financially. I am regularly approached by colleagues coming up to retirement for advice about starting up a business. They don’t want to waste all that training and experience just because the first earning phase of their life has come to an end. My advice is always the same and usually involves most, if not all, of the following: 1. Research and engage a reputable and cost-effective accountant. Your tax affairs are very different now and the accountant will be your equivalent of the police pay department.

2. Set up a business bank account.

Most high street banks offer free banking to new businesses and offer all sorts of helpful advice to guide you through initial financing and setup costs.

3. Consider whether you want to

trade as limited company. There are pros and cons to doing so, but overall my preference is to protect my personal assets and keep my business separate from my private aﬀairs by operating two limited companies.

4. Obtain professional insurance cover.

Whatever business you decide to establish, you are human and therefore liable to make a mistake at some point. Professional Indemnity Insurance is an absolute must. If you have premises that the public visits or an exposure to risk from public interaction then you should check out Public Liability insurance.

5. Advertise. Potential clients or customers

won’t find you unless you position signposts. The internet can frequently be the best place for placing advertisements, but also consider entries in business directories, trade exhibitions, networking events or magazines, where a suitable circulation is present for your target market.

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Buy a ready -made business

‘Peter and Rex were amazed at the quality of the CCTV’ 6. Compliance. In your particular business, you might have to comply with specific laws. For example, I have had to notify The Information Commissioner for Data Protection purposes, and I am required to hold a Consumer Credit Licence and SIA Licence for aspects of my work. 7. Communications. You will need to deal with telephone accounts, domain names, fax numbers and postal services. Social media is an important tool these days and most businesses operate Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook pages. Consider using a PO Box address or a ‘virtual office’ address if you’re working from home. 8. Professional memberships. In your new career, you may benefit from joining a professional body. I certainly learnt a tremendous amount by becoming a member of The Association of British Investigators, The World Association of Detectives, and EPIC (Ex Police in Commerce). This is your new ‘Federation’. 9. Contacts. Stay in touch with people. The friends you made during your service are very valuable to you socially. It can be a lonely environment setting up a business, especially after a career where you were generally part of a team. One of the benefits of the police service is that by and large it’s a very socially orientated organisation - a surrogate family. Staying in touch will, apart from the enjoyment of meeting old friends and colleagues, help you stay abreast of changes and assist you in developing new relationships for your business.

10. Branding. You don’t get many goes to get this right, so take the time to plan your business brand, and the message you are trying to send out. Find yourself a reputable graphic designer/printer and ask for examples /reviews of their work, and develop an understanding of what YOU want. This is your business and the designer might not understand your business concept, they might have ideas that are at odds with yours in terms of your chosen marketplace, your target audience and the image you want to project. The same can be said of web designers. 11. Finance. If you want to start a business

then understand that you need to spend money on it. The ﬁrst six months are likely to be a big drain on your resources. This is not a rarity, and you will be in good company.

12. VAT. By law, if your turnover is in excess of £77K per annum then you must register for VAT. This might seem a big figure to many police officers (you’re using your salary as a yardstick again aren’t you?) but in business, it really isn’t. My advice is to register for VAT from the very start. You won’t then get in a mess trying to deal with retrospective finances but you will get your VAT back on your outgoings quite quickly and that is a big help in the beginning. 13. Keep proper records. Retain everything

- every bill, every bank statement, every cheque stub. You may be subjected to an inspection by HMRC at any moment and they will want you to produce such records going back six years. It’s just like compiling a prosecution file!

14. Grants and relief. Find out about any Government or EU Grants available to your business and also enquire with the local authority about Small Business Rate Relief. The local Chamber of Commerce is a good starting point in this respect.

15. Premises.There is something nice about the idea of working from home. In some occupations this is fine. In some, it is impossible. I tried it and found that my work frequently spilled over into my house; family life interrupted my work with the working day collapsing into a rota of stop/start. It wasn’t for me. There are plenty of ‘easy in/easy out’ office deals available. Bargain hard with landlords, you’ll be surprised how much movement there is when negotiating. Get the price right down and the length of the tenancy as short as you can to begin with. That said; always keep one eye on expansion as you might quickly outgrow your offices. Changing address can be a big upheaval for a company so if you can stay in the same place but in a larger suite of offices that might suit your long-term planning better. 16. Partnerships. Many people begin a

business in partnership with an old friend. I did too. However, very few partnerships last the distance (mine included). Under the pressure of running a business, it becomes apparent that diﬀerent ideas can sometimes conﬂict and cannot readily be resolved. If you’re going to become a partnership then draw up a legal contract from the very beginning. Set the rules out clearly and unambiguously, and make sure that you have formal minuted meetings on a regular basis. This is now your livelihood, not a recreational activity.

17. Throwing good money after bad.

If you have a business that isn’t working don’t let your pride cause you to waste more time, eﬀort and money on it. Accept that failure sometimes happens and move into another area. Learn from your mistakes.

18. Competitors. Get to know your competitors - you might be surprised to ﬁnd they are actually very helpful and supportive. Remember that as a new business you are competing on a well-trodden ground. Some competitors may appear to have your business plan ‘sewn up’ already. Don’t be put oﬀ by this. My top tip is to never undercut a rival. This is guaranteed to aggravate them and it won’t impress most clients either. Customers are most impressed by good service, good products, reliability and prompt delivery. Don’t compromise your business plan and integrity. Once again, don’t use your police salary as yardstick. Concentrate on building a reliable clientele who will bring you repeat business or be pleased to refer others to you. 19. Employees. If you employ somebody,

then look after them. Your employees are the people who enable you to enjoy a day oﬀ, take a holiday, be in places you can’t get to and so much more. They represent your business. Make sure you have Employers’ Liability insurance (it is a legal requirement), and comply with all the various Health and Safety directives.

20. Pensions. Treat yourself to a second pension. You can maximise your tax eﬃciency at the same time. 21. Personal insurance. We are all growing older and in time our health will gradually decline. With this in mind, I maintain a policy of insurance that covers my business against critical illness. If I am out of action through serious illness then the business needs to continue without me. In my business an appropriately qualiﬁed ‘locum’ can be appointed to deal with the company during my enforced absence.

Rather than building up a business from scratch, another option is to buy an existing one. I have never done this, although I have taken over contracts from other suppliers and had a taste of TUPE law, which for those that don’t know, means taking on existing employees that previously worked for the first contractor - a bit tricky but manageable. There are agencies out there that sell businesses such as Turner Butler for example. It may be worth browsing what is on offer. For those who want to enter the investigation business from scratch, contact The Association of British Investigators (www.TheABI.org.uk) and enquire whether any members might consider retirement or are looking to sell up their business. It’s important to remember that before considering buying a business, it will be necessary to carry out due diligence. You don’t want to buy into somebody’s unpaid VAT bill or their bad reputation. This is the time to find the appropriate solicitor and accountant to help you strike a deal and put a true value on the business and assess its potential for growth. The aim could be to sell it on again, at a profit, further along the line or perhaps bequeath it to the next generation?

Further information…

For help and support please contact your relevant force Welfare Department.

Police officers can contact either the Police Federation or the National Association of Retired Police Officers (NARPO) - both have excellent support resources to assist you should you find yourself approaching retirement, either anticipated or unanticipated. Support staff can call upon their respective unions to provide a comparative level of support and advice.

HOBBIES

Fore...!

ALAN E CONSIDeIN served

GOLF HAS TRADITIONALLY BEEN A POPULAR SPORT AND SOURCE OF RELAXATION WITHIN THE POLICE FAMILY, SO IF YOU’RE A SERIOUS GOLF NUT, HAVE THE HABIT UNDER CONTROL, PLAY ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR WITH BORROWED ‘BATS’, OR JUST HAVE AN IDLE CURIOSITY, YOU’LL ENJOY ALAN CONSIDINE’S SERIES ON ALL THINGS GOLF.

Mark Twain is oft quoted for his observation about golf being “a good walk spoiled...” This is all well and good if your time is spent plotting your next novel but for the rest of us, golf presents an accessible and enjoyable sport played by ever growing numbers of men, women, boys and girls across the world. Having successfully negotiated my police service I found myself ﬁnishing 30 years of service with the appellation of ‘pensioner’ while still being under 50 years of age.

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Working in a busy force I appreciated the frustrations involved in trying to make a diﬀerence, as well as the huge sense of pride and achievement it can bring by solving the problems others fear to address. I thoroughly enjoyed my service, and as it was mostly operational, I’m not going to pretend I always considered it the perfect career choice.

You all know that a life dedicated to the police service is a challenge, usually an enjoyable one, but a challenge all the same. And because of that, you need your distractions, hobbies and sometimes a chance to exercise. Well, there are lot of options for your down time. Personally, I always looked forward to a rest day when I could be out on the course with my friends.

Having played golf since a young age, I’ve spent most of the intervening years playing off a single figure handicap. (If you don’t understand golf handicaps, there is a jargon busting section at the end). I currently play off a 10 handicap, and if you can keep a secret, those extra shots are lovely when you are eager to secure that friendly side bet - the one against your mate, who you love dearly, but could also throttle with a five-iron if he beats you on the last. Of course golf has a language, standard of dress and behaviour, and customs all of its own that can seem foreboding and mysterious to the newcomer, but stick with me. You’ll soon pick up the meanings in future articles. Because golf has a strong social element I also dedicated a lot of my spare time to helping run and organise golf clubs in various roles, spending over a decade on numerous committees, and even enjoying a few years as a course manager where I learned a lot about setting up a course from professional greens staff.

Alan Considin nstable as a police co st force e with a North Wtiring is and since re und usually to be foa on, or near, I have also had the good fortune to golf course! be invited to help organise marshalling at the British Open Championships and had the pleasure, and it IS a pleasure, of playing on courses throughout Europe, particularly Portugal and Spain. Now there’s a life… golf in the sun. But that’s for another issue! In this series we’ll visit those types of experiences, and let you know how to make it happen on your terms, and just as importantly, within your budget. We will explore, review and advise on matters such as golfing holidays and breaks, golfing equipment, tips and techniques to improve your game, and developments and gossip from the world of golfing. NiCKED may even weigh in from time to time with a prize competition. My colleague John Fisher, a PGA Teaching Professional will provide more in-depth advice about technique, skill development and equipment. As these pages grow we look forward to receiving feedback and suggestions for future issues, so let us know what you want to read about.

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HOBBIES

Giving it a go?

So how can you get involved in the game? Well, I suppose the easiest way to see if you like it is to acquire a golf club and head off to the local driving range. I’ll steer you away from using the local park or field as you’re likely to attract the attention of either the local warden, or more dramatically, an irate householder who will angrily point to the new ventilation hole in his conservatory roof while trying to climb his fence to get to you! We’ll stick with the driving range as it’s a purposebuilt facility and you can usually hire a few clubs if you can’t lay your hands on any. Most are open all day, and are floodlit for evening use. If you haven’t got a friend or relative who can give you some basic coaching don’t worry as most will have friendly staff and/or a resident professional, if it’s associated with a golf club, who will be only too glad to give help and advice. A session usual costs around £5 for a bucket of 30-70 balls. Just remember to put the basket at the mouth of the ball dispenser before you slip the token into the machine. If you don’t you are likely to attract amused attention from other range users as the ball dispenser noisily takes delight in rapidly spewing out balls all over the floor. After a few trips to the driving range you may find you’ve an aptitude for it, and have developed a swing that evolves to the point where the ball is flying through the air for a reasonable distance. Don’t worry that it’s not always in the direction you were aiming you can consider yourself ready for the next stage the golf course. In future editions Johns 'Beginner Articles' will give advice on clubs, etiquette, golfing jargon, and a host of other essentials, but for now we’ll move on to those with a little more experience and expectations of the game, who fancy testing their golfing prowess within the police service.

Golf within the police

So, you think you can play? Well always remember that most forces have police teams or societies. Undoubtedly, there will be someone in your home force who takes on the task of the stressed and unappreciated organiser of your force’s golf section. I can’t speak for every force, but there is usually someone organising an annual individual competition locally, a national individual event, as well as the PAA golf team event. The latter usually consists of four forces submitting a team, and meeting up on a course chosen by the host force. The day usually consists of two semi-finals in the morning flowed by the final in the afternoon. The winners will progress to similar events, which will eventually produce four teams who qualify for the national finals. I’ve been fortunate to play in one of those events, and had a great time pitting my skills against colleagues from around the country. Unfortunately, our team lost in the final to a team of cut throats and vagabonds who had sold their souls to the Devil. Of course, although you may 'think' it, you must never say it out loud.

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That would be a unforgivable breach of golfing etiquette! If you get involved at that level of police golf you will discover that golf clubs actively encourage visits by police staff and usually offer very competitive packages including lunch or evening meal with your rounds of golf to such competitions. The national individual trophy is a little bit more exclusive, in that they employ a handicap limit, so only the better golfers get to play in it. Outside of competitions you may discover a group who like to travel further a field and organise a week away playing some of the big Scottish courses, and even go as far afield as Florida in search of that perfect golfing holiday. In the next issue of NiCKED I’ll be discussing the pros and cons of visiting a European tour event as a spectator, and many other golf related items.

A competitive friendship

I’ll digress for a moment to explain my relationship with our resident Pro, the predictably titled John ‘Fish’ Fisher, who will be providing an introduction to the finer points of golf over the following pages. Before I start, I’d like to point out that he’s a friend, but one of those friends you invariably end up having a squabble and fight with! I recall a recent round when I was robbed of my rightful twenty pound wager by my club Pro friend late one evening... I was a few holes up, with not many holes to play. Life was good, and I was preparing to be smug and unbearable in the members’ lounge where I would deprive him of a twenty pound note while buying him a pint and smugly offering false commiserations and false commiserations. That was the plan. Unfortunately, it had rained until lunch-time, and we had thus set out late with the prospect of the daylight dwindling. By the time we had teed up on the 16th hole, you could see perhaps 50 yards, and were in real danger of doing harm to the wildlife that emerges at dusk. Now, most golfers, like anglers, will drift toward hyperbole and talk as though they know what they are doing. But in reality, golf is a game played mostly between the ears, even for the amateur, and the control of your swing, and thereby the ball is fleeting and transient. Well the Pro isn’t the Pro for nothing. While I was taking account of how the tops of trees bend, whether the cows are stood up or lying down, and of course my faith in Seve Ballesteros’s assertion that ‘trees are 90 per cent not there’, the Professional trusted in his swing, honed by thousands of grooved practice swings, course management, and yardage markers. My better qualified opponent and part time friend played the last three holes in Par, Birdie, Par. Which I’m sure is against the natural rules of justice. So as I missed a putt on the 18th seeking a win (or at least we think I did, because it was now dark, and we didn’t find the ball in the hole), it left the Pro with a five foot putt to save a game he had given up on a while back. As his ball dropped in the hole, the previously respectable PGA Professional leapt in the air while letting out a triumphant screech, which thankfully could not be observed, or indeed heard in the club house. He had somehow salvaged a draw! As a result the vision of me collecting my £20 winnings went up disappeared quicker than the fading light, much to my friends amusement. Over the next hours I was, to use a common parlance ‘made to have it’, after 'made to have it, as other members enquired where we had been, and passed comment of the new sport of night-golf, as it had been virtually pitch black for around an hour! So the moral of the story, or at least the one I am conveniently using, is that golf isn’t supposed to be fair… but it will always be much more than ‘a good walk spoiled’. Maybe Mr Twain hadn’t heard of the 19th hole.

Golf jargon buster m

Handicap

A number assigned to each player based on his ability and used to adjust each player's score to provide equality among the players. In simpliﬁed terms, a handicap number, based on the slope of a course, is subtracted from the player's gross score and gives him a net score of par or better half the time. m Birdie

A hole played in one stroke under par. m Eagle

A hole played in two strokes under par.

m Par

Standard score for a hole (deﬁned by its length) or a course (sum of all the holes' pars). m Bogey

A hole played in one stroke over par. m Fore

A warning shout given when there is a chance that the ball may hit other players or spectators. m Scratch golfer

A player's whose handicap equals zero.

GolfingFACT

Did you know approximately 4 million people play golf in the UK? About 2 million of those golfers are members of private golf clubs, with 80% of players being men and 20% women. There are also a large number of non-registered golfers who play on a ‘green fee’ basis, making the total number of those who play golf even higher.

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HOBBIES

Golf

BACK TO BASICS

GOLF PRO JOHN FISHER HAS SOME TIPS ON HOW TO GET READY FOR A NEW SEASON OF GOLF AND GOES BACK TO BASICS ON STANCE, POSTURE AND GRIP... A BIT ABOUT ME…

I started playing golf at the age of 12 at Shaw Hill Golf and Country Club near Chorley, where I also started my professional career under the guidance of the professional Ian Evans. I then moved to Hurlston Hall Golf Club, Southport in 1994 where I remained until 1997, and was then fortunate to receive sponsorship from Kammac PLC, which enabled me to play full-time on various mini tours around the UK and overseas until taking up my current position in 2000. The highlights of my playing career so far have been being picked to represent England in the European Club Professionals Championship in Sardinia. Winning the British Open qualifying event held at Ormskirk Golf Club in 2003 and holding various course records including 61 at Huyton and Prescot Golf Club. In 2008 I was captain of Lancashire Professional Golfers’ Association. I am also proud to be in the TMAG (TaylorMade Adidas Golf) staﬀ professional programme, being one of only 55 in Europe.

WHAT’S TO COME?

Over the coming publications I will be giving you the low down on the latest equipment available, teaching tips to help you with your game and even some strange rules you may come across during time on the fairways. There will also be some pointers to help you start your new season on the right foot. Golf can be an intimidating sport to take up and often thought of as elitist but this is far from the truth as golfers these days come from all walks of life.

Those of you who haven’t played before; a great way to start is a handful of lessons from your local PGA professional who can be found at golf clubs or driving ranges in your local area. Non members are always welcome so don’t worry about not having the right equipment they will provide it for your lesson. Getting expert help right from the start will prevent any bad habits forming that would hinder your enjoyment of the game.

fig 1

GRIP

fig 2

At this time of the year, golfers are starting to dust their clubs down for the new season ahead. However, very few realise the importance of giving their equipment an MOT.

lies diagonally across your left hand from the bottom joint of your index finger to the callus pad of your little finger (fig 1). Then simply close your fingers over the handle placing your thumb just right of centre which should mean the V formed between your thumb and hand is pointing to your right shoulder (fig 2). Place your right hand on the handle with the index finger of your left hand and the little finger of your right hand interlocking on the club being placed at the bottom of the fingers and the index finger of the right hand acting like a trigger finger (fig 3). The right hand closes over and the thumb of the left hand goes left of centre so the V formed is again pointing to your right shoulder (fig 4/5).

Want to know more?

POSTURE/STANCE - stand up tall with

the inside of your heels the same width as your shoulders and the club parallel to ground at waist height, (fig 8) pivot from the hips keeping your back straight until the club reaches the ﬂoor and simply ﬂex the knees to release the tension in your back of your thighs. You should now feel the weight on the balls of your feet, front of your thighs and the front of your body giving you the perfect athletic posture (fig 9).

GRIP

GETTING READY FOR THE NEW SEASON

Here are some things to bear in mind: n Badly-worn club grips can mean an increase in grip pressure of 27%, which in turn can drastically aﬀect performance. Why not ask your local PGA professional to check/re-grip your clubs, this service will cost from as little as £5 per club and can make those 10-year-old clubs feel like a new set. Most tour pros have clubs re-gripped every two to three months n Check if your shoes need re-spiking as balance and stability are key fundamentals to your golf swing. n A quick 30-minute lesson with your local PGA pro can set you on the right track for new season ahead. Some simple pointers when you’re fresh can help you improve your game.

fig 3

Lessons with a PGA professional really help you to understand exactly what is happening, why it is happening and what you need to do to improve your game fig 4

GRIP

fig 5

GRIP

HOW GRIP SHOULD LOOK

GRIP

fig 6

POSTURE /STANCE

Let’s start at the beginning... GRIP - for a right-handed golfer the club

GRIP

fig 7

POSTURE /STANCE

JOHN FISHER John Fisher is a qualiﬁed Class AAT PGA Professional. He has been the Head Proessional at Huyton & Prescot Golf Club on Merseyside since 2000. He is also one of only 55 TaylorMade Addidas Golf staﬀ professionals in Europe.

ALIGNMENT/AIM - at address, your body

(feet, knees (fig 10), hips, forearms, shoulders and eyes) should be positioned parallel to the target line. The easiest way to think of this is to imagine a railroad track: your ball is the outside track and your body is the inside track (fig 11/12).

If you would like any advice on equipment choice, rules questions, swing guidance or have any topics you would like me to cover please email me at: johnfisher@myprogolfer.co.uk

fig 8

ALIGNMENT /AIM

fig 9

ALIGNMENT /AIM

fig 10

ALIGNMENT /AIM

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LEGAL ADVICE

Family

Law FAMILY-FRIENDLY LAW

WE ALL KNOW LIFE HAS ITS UPS AND DOWNS ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO RELATIONSHIPS. HERE FAMILY LAWYER MARY SHAW HIGHLIGHTS THE POSITIVE WAYS IN WHICH WE CAN GET THROUGH THE LOWS AND WHAT TO DO IF WE CAN’T…

TESTING TIMES

Marriage is a work in progress and this is also true for civil partnerships and living-together relationships and, if I can save you ever having to see a family lawyer, then well done me! (I bet this is challenging your family lawyer stereotype).

Many couplehseir t who feel thatip is relationsh threat er seriously undir that can repa and relationship r the improve it fom long-ter

The longest and happiest relationships will have had their ups and downs. Life is like that and relationships are tested by financial realities, having children, work-related stress, bereavements and all of the difficulties and challenges that life throws at us. You probably know that the police divorce rate is high. On average, in the large departments it’s about 70-80 %. And that’s not surprising when you consider the sacrifices that have to be made by you and your family - the long hours and shift patterns, attending court on days off. It's easy to see why a couple can drift apart. And it can be difficult for a partner to accept that their spouse isn't going to be around like ‘normal’ people.

MARRIAGES CAN BE REPAIRED…

Many years ago I met a client for the first time who was about to embark on her third divorce. She confided in me that, with hindsight, she should never have divorced husband number two but that once she had started consulting a lawyer she didn’t know how to pull back. She now felt that her second marriage had been fixable and she regretted her divorce. That was a very salutary lesson for me personally and professionally, and I have never forgotten it. I am proud to be a trustee on the board of my local Relate, the charity which has recently celebrated its 75th birthday and assists people with all sorts of relationship problems across married, unmarried and same sex couples and parent/child relationships. Relate has an excellent website, but there are other good relationship counselling organisations the length and breadth of the country.

MARY SHAW

Mary Shaw is a family lawyer who has practised for almost 30 years, firstly in London and subsequently in Newcastle where she has headed up the Family Law Department at David Gray Solicitors for 25 years.

During that time the department has grown steadily in size and reputation and has won national awards for the quality of its legal work. David Gray Solicitors LLP (www.davidgray.co.uk) is based in the North East, but regularly advises people the length and breadth of the country and is happy to ‘meet’ clients online.

“I am a family lawyer. I can hear a collective snore... But this is a family law feature with a difference. Here, there will be practical as well as legal information that could help you, or someone you care about, at what could be the most difficult time. And, I will help you get advice and guidance in the most cost-effective way.”

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LEGAL ADVICE

Resist the temptation to criticise or blame the other parent to your child. They will be grateful in years to come.

During my 30 years as a lawyer I have gained experience in all facets of family law so here are some of my top tips to help you avoid having to see a family lawyer altogether or to make the experience as pain free as possible if you do:

1. Don't bury your head

You may never need a family lawyer if you can recognise that you need some help with your relationship and get the appropriate help. We have no problem getting our car serviced on a regular basis, but we are much less inclined to think that our primary relationship could do with maintenance. What I have learnt from my work as a lawyer and with Relate is that, firstly, people often wait until their relationship is in real diﬃculty before seeking help and, secondly, there is a common belief that couples can get to a point of no return in their relationship diﬃculties, making a permanent separation inevitable - this isn’t necessarily the case.

2. It’s good to talk

Just because you’re feeling desperate doesn’t mean that your relationship is fatally damaged. Consider relationship counselling. Even if ultimately you do separate permanently, you will at least both know that you have done everything you could to prevent it and made the right decision. Many couples who feel that their relationship is seriously under threat can repair their relationship and improve it for the long-term.

Now, chaps,here's where I'm going to talk to you...! My experience as a family lawyer and working with clients, tells me that it is often the man who is resistant to taking up relationship counselling. Talking about your feelings can be diﬃcult and scary. But this is not half as scary as the feelings you might have standing in a court corridor waiting for a man or woman you have never met before to make decisions about your children, home and pension

Think about a prenup or a living together agreement Consider frontloading your family law advice and insuring yourself against the risk of future court proceedings by entering into a prenup. This may sound backwards, but taking family law advice at the beginning of your relationship may save you a great deal of pain and expense in the long run. It is possible to enter in to an agreement with your partner before you get married or enter in to a civil partnership, or begin to live together. You will read in the press about ‘prenups’ - these agreements provide for what will happen to your assets in the event of a divorce or separation and, not surprisingly, they’re not seen as particularly romantic. It is quite understandable that a loved-up couple embarking on a new life together, which they hope will be happy ever after, should find it difficult to contemplate what would be fair in the event of their relationship not going the distance. And yet, we are happy to insure our houses against fire and ourselves against critical illness. But, paradoxically, having that conversation when you are full of love and optimism is perhaps the best time to have it and for some couples, a prenup or living together agreement might give them the confidence to move in to married life feeling that they have all bases covered. Prenups aren't right for all couples and so early advice early legal advice is a good idea. Prenups lend themselves very well to the collaborative law process – something I will come back to in detail another time. The collaborative law process is a round table process where you each have a lawyer who will take a constructive and creative approach to your discussions about the contents of your prenup agreement. In that way, the lawyers can’t get ‘in-between you’, a phrase that I have heard clients use anxiously.

The right divorce support will help Speak to your family lawyer about what kind of support you might benefit from. Assuming your marriage or relationship is coming to an end, it is important that you know how to access the help and resources you will need to make what will almost certainly be a painful journey. Permanent separation and divorce are tough for just about everyone. I have had many people sitting in my office telling me they thought they were going quietly crazy with the grief, fear and anger they were feeling. In my experience, this is normal and, rest assured it will get better and you will recover, but you may need some help on the way. This is another time when taking up professional support can be a much better strategy than leaning on friends and family. If you don’t have children, you may be able to make a clean break from each other but many couples suffer real bereavement about the loss of close relationships across extended families.

Police and their pensions My time as a family lawyer has taught me that police pensions can be a really thorny issue. I am going to cut to the chase and try and save you time and money here. The vast majority of family lawyers and family law judges now understand that a uniformed pension (be it police, fire service or armed forces) is a very valuable asset. Pretending otherwise is likely to delay the financial aspects of your divorce and is likely to increase your legal fees. Be prepared for your family lawyer to tell you that you’ll need to seek expert advice on your pension. In defence of family lawyers, it might be helpful to understand that we live in an ever-increasing compensation culture, and a brief look at a website called Divorcelifeline will show you that there are people very happy to advise about whether or not a pension was wrongly valued for a divorce settlement. I shall come back to pensions in a future edition of NiCKED as I know it’s a subject dear to the hearts of many serving officers.

Keep it out of court Everyone has heard of somebody else's nasty divorce dragged through the courts at great expense. In my experience this is usually using one round table process or another (usually collaborative law or mediation). I shall come back to this in a future edition in more detail.

What would you like to read about? 50 In future editions of NiCKED I’ll focus on the issues that you really want to know about, so do let me know what you would like to be discussed. If you have any questions that you would like covered then please email me on: mary.shaw@davidgray.co.uk

Focus on your children

IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN, THEN THE PLAIN FACT IS THAT YOU WILL REMAIN CONNECTED TO YOUR EX FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE AS YOUR CHILDREN’S CO-PARENTS AND QUITE PROBABLY AS GRANDPARENTS. Your children are very likely to feel some or all of a range of emotions about the changes to their family and, the sooner you can work with this the better for them. Make it your business to learn as much as you can about what your children may be feeling and what sort of help and support they may need from you, from their other parent and from anyone else in whom they might wish to conﬁde – check out some helpful websites.

information about what to expect from your children and giving you tips and advice about how best to help them. Most importantly, resist the temptation to criticise or blame the other parent to your child. They will be grateful to you in years to come.

I refer many clients to two great websites, Resolution and The Parent Connection, oﬀering support and

www.relate.org.uk www.theparentconnection.org.uk www.resolution.org.uk www.david.gray.co.uk

Photos: All images © Anton Evatt Photography

Top tips

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NATURE WATCH

Urban birdz IT’S FREE, IT’S COOL (YES REALLY!) AND IT’S ACCESSIBLE TO ALL. CHRISTINA EVATT SAYS:

What’s not to like about a bit of feathered-friend spotting even if you live in an urban area? Perhaps it’s just me, but if you learn to appreciate the free stuff that’s going on all around you, then life just seems to get that little bit richer. I can be typing away at my laptop, then out of the corner of my eye there’s a flutter in garden and flurry of yellow, red and gold alights on the bird feeder outside the window. It’s my regular 10am visit from a local charm of goldfinches (see I am a proper bird geek now because I know some of the collective nouns). It’s only momentary and then they’re off to pillage someone else’s seed; however it puts a smile on my face and a renewed spring in my step, or maybe that should be speed in my typing fingers. My love affair with birds, and I suppose wildlife and the outdoors in general, was handed down to me by my father and grandfather when I was a young child. I see it as like being handed a gift and it’s one that is free and just keeps giving because wherever I am, and whatever I’m doing, there’s always some gem of wildlife or nature to enjoy.

Police oﬃcers are trained to be observant but most of us aren’t that great at looking up at the sky. I know I have walked the same routes a hundred times only to look up at an amazing roof line or a mind-blowing piece of architecture and wonder how I’d missed it all those times. However, my eyes are now very much aware of what’s going on around me because I have a passion for birds and not necessarily the ones in remote hedgerows or peaceful lakesides, but those who are intertwined with our day-to-day human bustle. The proper bird ‘thugs’ who have decided they can live quite happily alongside us in our sometimes inhospitable urban environment.

London, along with other cities such as Coventry and Derby, is now home to one of, if not the, fastest animal in the world – the peregrine falcon 53

NATURE WATCH

DID YOU KNOW?

Any time, any place IF YOU’RE A POLICE OFFICER ON A STAKEOUT THEN YOUR EYES WILL VERY FIRMLY BE ON THE MATTER AT HAND AND YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LOOK FOR DISTRACTIONS. However, there may be other occasions in the normal routine of police work that can lend themselves to observing our feathered friends even if it’s while on a break, or travelling between call-outs. But more probably it will be during your oﬀ duty time. The best thing about urban birding is you can do it almost anywhere, for any amount of time and probably get quite good at it without spending a fortune. Even in the densest urban sprawls there is green space, whether it’s one of the large public parks or a garden a few feet in length – it will provide a haven for urban birds. London, along with other cities such as Coventry and Derby, is now home to one of, if not the, fastest animal in the world – the peregrine falcon. In-between skyscrapers and ancient monuments they plunge from the sky after their prey at speeds of over 300 kph. And if you consider that pigeons are their main food source, it’s not hard to see why they can make themselves at home and flourish in urban areas.

Kittiwakes, a seabird normally more at home on coastal cliffs, nest on Newcastle’s Tyne Bridge. An impressive 13 miles from the sea, it’s the most inland colony in the world. The four lanes of traﬃc roar past behind them 24/7 and yet they continue to ﬂourish in their metal reinforced home...

What’s out there? SO NOW WE KNOW WE’RE NOT JUST ON THE LOOK OUT FOR PIGEONS (THEY’RE ACTUALLY PRETTY INTELLIGENT CREATURES BUT THAT’S ANOTHER STORY), WHAT IS THERE TO LOOK OUT FOR IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT? Well in London it’s not rare to see flocks of parakeets (how very tropical!) or the majestic red kite soaring over the skies of West London. And in most towns and cities you’ll see hovering kestrels at the roadside, foraging gulls, darting swifts, flocks of starlings, and garden birds such as sparrows, robins, blackbirds, and the more common finches and tits. Until you start to really look out for birds you may not have even know they’re there – it’s such a great way to connect with nature and pass a few moments.

The RSPB has reported increased membership in the under-30s in recent years and it appears I’m not alone as a woman enjoying the hobby as birding is something all genders are enjoying – it’s no longer the preserve of men in woolly hats! And it’s not just our country friends who are enjoying the wildlife around them, increasingly people in urban environments are becoming interested in the bird and animal life around them. What seems like an impenetrable barrier to us in terms of environment, doesn’t prove too much of an issue for many types of wildlife – they just get on with it. So be inspired, take a moment to enjoy what’s going on all around you, and in no time you’ll be tuned in to the world of urban birding. Enjoy!

Find out more online... RSPB

However, it was their liking for carrier pigeons in the Second World War that brought about their demise in the ﬁrst place – luckily email is seen as a much more eﬀective form of communication now and there’s an estimated 20 peregrine falcon breeding pairs in London.

rspb.org.uk

This site lists every birdspecies in the UK, explains what they look like, as well as when and where to see them. There are also audio ﬁles so you can listen to each bird's call.

BBC nature

www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Bird

The BBC's searchable bird database has all you need to know about British birds. There’s also all the latest bird related news and views.

Birdwatch

birdwatch.co.uk

Billed as being operated by birders for birders, this site is home to handy reviews of multimedia, equipment and books as well as being host to interesting features, good birding walks, and event listings.

What’sby? b your hohasn’t tickled

irding u like OK – if b what would yo KED? NiC cy, your fan e next issues of camper n h e t e k in to see n avid angler, a t us know e a L u ? o bler d Are y bout an ged ram or a rug ’d like to read a email r u what yo on the case…o ia.com t e d g e l ’l m we ree out lemont editor@ u could write ab o y d an bby. your ho

Birds of Britain

birdsofbritain.co.uk

As well as having all the information you could need, this site includes a guide to reserves, featured articles, and bird watching holiday inspiration.

Bird Guides

birdguides.com

Photos: All images © Anton Evatt Photography

This site has a great searchable photo library showcasing birds from around the world. You’ll also ﬁnd articles on everything birdrelated from destinations to conservation.

Top urban birding tips Be aware

Now you know there is birdlife to be found everywhere, go ﬁnd it! Look up to the skies and rooftops - you’ll also be surprised at where birds like to make their home. Some birds like black redstarts like building sites, and even the smallest urban garden will attract a friendly robin. Take the time to just sit and take everything in – we are so often guilty of looking but not seeing.

Feed the birds

Putting food out in your for local birds is a great way to start urban birding. When I started out, I decided that I’d like to see some goldﬁnches in my garden, so I put out some niger seed (their favourite) and now it’s not rare for me to see 15-plus birds queuing up to get their free snack! Remember to also put out water for your visiting birds, especially in dry conditions or frosty weather.

Get a bird book

I still have the ﬁrst bird book ever bought for me by my grandfather and I used to tick oﬀ every bird I saw. It’s amazing how many truly rare birds I saw at the age of 10 – I saw them all – honest! Anyway, mysterious bird sightings aside, it’s a useful thing to have and learn from. Children especially can get quite a buzz from learning and knowing what certain birds are.

Buy some binoculars

Now you’re getting into proper birding territory… a pair of binoculars will take you to the next level of being able to spot and identify birds. Of course many urban and garden birds will be close enough to enjoy without them, but if you’re out and about looking for something a bit more elusive or high-ﬂying then some good binoculars are a must.

Go technical

The new generation of urban birders can also beneﬁt from the wide range of bird apps out there, which can be easily downloaded onto your phone. You can identify various birds using sight identification apps, but also even if you can’t see the bird; it may be that you can ﬁnd out what it is by the sound it’s making… now that will impress your friends.

MOTOR REVIEW

FACTS AT A GLANCE

Seat Leon ST FR 2.0 TDI 184PS Engine: 2.0-litre diesel producing 182bhp and 280lb.ft of torque Transmission: Six-speed manual gearbox driving the front wheels

Vehicle Check

Performance: Top speed 142mph, 0-62mph in 7.8 seconds Economy: 65.7mpg combined Emissions: 112g/km of CO2 Price: £23,380

Looking for a bit more space for the kids, dog or golf clubs? The new Seat Leon estate is worth a closer inspection...

FIRST DRIVE:

SEAT LEON ST We love it in five and three-door

forms, but now Seat has introduced an estate version of its Leon. Is anything lost in translation?

One truism of the car world is that if you have a successful model, try and spin as many other models oﬀ it as you possibly can. Nothing wrong with that of course, particularly when it comes to widening the potential audience. Seat has done well with this approach before and is doing the same with its excellent Leon. First we had the ﬁve door, more recently there was the sportier three-door SC and now there's the eminently practical ST.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: It shouldn't be too hard to spot. You'll recognise the handsome nose and sharp creases that have become a key part of the Seat look, only at the rear it now flows into a neatly designed estate tailgate. Some might see the term 'estate' as a byword for unglamorous practicality but those days are long gone; the Leon ST is slick, sharp and thoroughly modern. The other important bit is in place too, namely space. With a modest length increase of 27cm over the ﬁve door the Leon ST hasn't turned into a parallel parking nightmare, but the boot space is usefully larger. With the seats up there is 587 litres on oﬀer (almost 200 more than the hatch) and with the seats down there's a massive 1,470 litres.

All versions regardless of spec also have a moveable boot ﬂoor, giving you a useful separated storage area beneath or the one giant area, plus a 12v power socket and a through hatch, useful for long loads. An option is a folding front passenger seat too for serious load carriers. SE models and above get a handy release in the boot for dropping the rear seats, the kind of detail that makes it so easy to live with.

DRIVE TIME: You might expect that the transformation into an estate means compromises in the way the Leon drives, but in reality it's easy to forget you're in the ST once behind the wheel. The same refreshingly simple and well-specified cabin greets you as you climb in, and you and your fellow passengers enjoy as much room as in other Leon models. The layout is easy to get to grips with, while the finish and the standard of materials is significantly better than the previous model. The Leon is a quality item, regardless of the bodystyle. The engine choice is usefully broad too. Petrol engines start with a surprisingly flexible 1.2-litre TSI unit, with a 1.4-litre TSI and powerful 1.8-litre version at the top. Diesel engines include the 1.6-litre TDI including in super-frugal Ecomotive guise (capable of 85.6mpg combined) rising to the full-house 184PS 2.0-litre TDI. It may be the most expensive choice but that top diesel engine also gives you the most impressive overall package. It's as quick and responsive as the figures suggest, with more torque than you could possibly need yet the possibility of over 65 miles per gallon. It's smooth and powerful, making life very easy for the driver.

THE VERDICT?: The Leon should be on your shopping list anyway, but if you don't think the hatch is quite big enough then the ST solves all your problems. Don't think about buying a compact estate without taking a close look.

Let’s be honest Clarkson & co are all very competent, but they don’t drive and work with cars in the way the police service does. And I mean in terms of speed, control and safety! Could you write a motor review?

Do you fancy becoming one of NiCKED magazine’s future testers and writers? Give us a call, or drop an e-mail to NiCKED HQ. We don’t care if you’re serving or retired, warranted or support staﬀ, as long as you can deliver an honest and balanced review of a vehicle and its attributes, from the perspective of the policing community.

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GARDENING

A flood of ways to save waterlogged plants

It wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have escaped your attention that the past winter has been a little bit on the damp side! For those of you who love and enjoy your garden it will probably have been a time of frustration and in some cases desperation as downpour after downpour floods the garden. And then there are the gales, but thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a separate article.

With the rain showing no sign of abating, Hannah Stephenson asks an expert how we can protect our plants from the worst of the weather While the incessant rain may have left gardeners' water butts overflowing, it has also inevitably claimed its share of casualties.

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GARDENING

Best of the bunch

- Snowdrop (Galanthus) They are among the first bulbs of spring to open, their delicatelooking bell-shaped white blooms appearing with strappy leaves, looking wonderful in woodland gardens under trees or shrubs. Snowdrops are also easy to naturalise, so in just a few years you could have a carpet of them. They prefer moist, fertile soil with added organic matter and are ideally placed in light shade. Grow them with winter aconites whose large yellow buttercup-like flowers blend beautifully with the elegant galanthus. Good varieties include G. nivalis 'Viridapice', which has green tips on the flowers, or G. 'Magnet', which bears large, shining white flowers on long, arching stems. Snowdrop bulbs should be planted in early autumn in groups of 10 or more, spacing them 4cm apart and 6-7cm deep, to leave enough space for the bulbs to multiply in subsequent seasons. You will need to plant an awful lot of bulbs to achieve a naturalised effect quickly.

Waterlogged plants, nutrients leached from the soil and pest and disease problems can all result from consistently wet conditions, and those gardeners with poor drainage systems are likely to be the hardest hit. When soil is waterlogged, plants literally drown. Water ﬁlls all the air spaces between the soil particles and this prevents oxygen from reaching the roots. In turn, this causes the soil to stagnate and prevents root growth.

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Bulbs shouldn't be affected by the continuous rainfall either, he says.

"They are really good at surviving this sort

of thing. Snowdrops and daﬀodils in particular are excellent at adapting. Bulbs are generally very tolerant of wet soil.

"We might even get a better show of bulbs

Don't plant bare-root shrubs such as roses until the soil has dried out a little, Barter advises.

Herbaceous perennials renew a large part of their root system annually, so they can recover from soggy conditions. Perennials also have shallow root systems so they can ﬂourish in situations with a high water table.

"Gardeners will have rose bushes and trees and fruit bushes and turf ready to go out and they must keep that protected because it will be a rush trying to get everything planted when the soil ﬁnally dries up in February, March or even April. Gardeners need to keep their new plants in good condition ready for the happy day when they can put them out," he says.

because in conditions like this they will be photosynthesising in the increased light as the year progresses." If plants look a bit sickly after a week or two of solid rain the minerals may have been washed away. Restore the vigour of plants by giving them a dose of liquid seaweed fertiliser.

"It's absolutely vital that one doesn't walk

on the soil when it's this wet because you compact it and destroy its structure. Don't dig it or disturb it but leave it to its own devices until the tide goes out," says Guy Barter, head of RHS advisory service. Plants likely to be worst aﬀected include those from dry climates such as lavender and rosemary, while lawns can also suﬀer as a result of excessively wet weather, he notes. Don't mow the lawn in wet weather or even walk on it, as the pressure can cause structural damage, especially to those grown from seed in spring - most established lawns can cope with excessive rainfall.

Barter advises gardeners to shelter pots of lavender and other container plants by a wall, or even put waterlogged pots on their side for a few days to allow them to drain a little. You may need to repot them in the spring, as the compost may be spent. But the wet weather isn't all doom and gloom for gardeners.

"Paradoxically, lawns will be growing in these temperatures," points out Barter. "While in the vegetable garden vegetables will still be growing, so leeks will thrive and cabbages will still be swelling slowly through this weather. By April many things will have come good."

Most, including those such as hardy geraniums and autumn-ﬂowering asters, that do not normally live in wet environments can cope well with wet conditions. Plants with big, lush green leaves thrive in really wet weather. Rodgersias, rheum (ornamental rhubarb) and hostas are well-known moisture lovers. Conversely, avoid anything with small, leathery or grey leaves. Alpines, particularly the succulent ones or those with hairy leaves such as sedums and some sempervivums (houseleeks), are vulnerable to wet weather, so if you haven't yet covered them with cloches, do so before it's too late.

Anyone who has bought a bare-root plant should make sure the roots don't dry out in the meantime, he urges.

"Take it out of the packaging and pot it up or wrap it in wet newspaper or straw, put a plastic bag over the roots and leave it in a shed ready to go out in its ﬁnal position later on." While fruit trees love the moisture, the relatively warm weather may lead to earlier blossom, not a good thing in our climate because of the late frosts we so often suﬀer. Gardeners who want to avoid too many casualties in future years may consider building raised beds, improving soil drainage and planting species which are happy in wet weather.

It may be worth thinking about create a bog garden too, which has the added bonus of attracting wildlife - plant irises, carex, gunnera, primulas, hostas, rheum and rodgersia. Of course, pests come into their own in wet weather and the number one culprit is the snail.

"A wet, mild winter is slug heaven," says Barter, "so they will be in poll position to start breeding

come April. At the moment it's too cold for them, but you often find bulb flowers being damaged by slugs and snails. I find putting down an old cabbage leaf (held down by a stone) next to plants which are being attacked works well as a trap. Slug pellets don't normally work at this time of year because the slugs aren't moving enough to find them."

Some diseases such as leaf spots persist on plants which are in leaf during wet weather. If you ﬁnd outbreaks, prune out infected material. Lastly, as the rain will have washed many of the nutrients out of the soil, give it a pick-me-up with a fertiliser rich in potassium, such as sulphate of potash or rose fertiliser, and your plants should come through the torrent of rain with few problems.

STUDYING FOR DUMMIES

The art of study

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IF STUDYING FOR POLICE RELATED EXAMS SENDS YOU INTO MENTAL FREEFALL, YOU DON’T NEED TO WORRY. JIM FERRAN HAS SOME EXPERT ADVICE TO HELP YOU STUDY EFFECTIVELY AND MORE IMPORTANTLY MAKE SURE ALL THE INFORMATION IS STORED AWAY SAFELY IN YOUR MEMORY.

What has studying for a promotion or CID exam, painting a wooden staircase or running a marathon got in common? Simple - they all require you to put in a signiﬁcant amount of planning, preparation and hard work if you want to get the best results.

JIM FERRAN Jim Ferran PGCE CertEd MIfL served

with distinction within both the Metropolitan and Merseyside forces and since retiring has established a small bespoke training consultancy, JRC Training. In a short time the business has accumulated an impressive client portfolio and Jim is recognised by his clients as an exceptional trainer and facilitator.

Designing and developing contemporary training courses, JRC Training also provides mentoring and coaching for people preparing for assessment centres and interviews using very unique and successful reﬂective practice techniques. He currently sits on the executive committee of Mencap Liverpool providing advice and guidance on a voluntary consultancy basis. Want to know more? Email Jim at jrctraining@hotmail.com

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“That’s all well and good” you say, “but how hard can it be? I mean, I’ve been doing the job for xx years and I know the law so it’s easy.” This is the first mistake many people make so let’s explain why that is... Without cheating and from memory write down the definition of Section 1 Theft as outlined in the Theft Act 1968. A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with intention to permanently deprive the other of it. OK, let’s assume you got most of the definition correct, now the hard bit and without any cheating define: n Dishonest n Appropriates n Property n Belonging to another n With the Intention to permanently deprive. So how was that for you? You probably knew some of it but when taking an exam you’ll need to be able to instantly recall the definition and apply it to the set of specific circumstances you are faced with. Simply thinking “well it looks like theft so they would be arrested” is not going to get you through the exam.

The ironic thing is that a person with no policing experience at all who studied the syllabus has a better chance of passing than an experienced serving officer. Why is that? The biggest hindrance you will face is your operational interpretation of the Law. I remember when teaching revised Code A stop search to experienced colleagues, they had a fantastic operational application knowledge of the legislation but when we looked closely they had a poor grasp of what the law actually said. This is not a criticism, rather a fact, which we all have survived with as operational officers for years. Think about the last time you went to court on a strongly-contested drink driving case - you know the accused is guilty of because you arrested him and put him through the alcometer process. Scene: The magistrates court and the defendant represented by a barrister. n Barrister: “Officer, can you explain to the court the procedure you asked my client to carry out.” n Officer: “Yes, I explained the road-side breath test procedure to him/her; I correctly assembled the device and carried out the test.” n Barrister: “Sorry officer, you misunderstood me, it may be me but what I think the court want to hear is and, using the words you used exactly, what did you explain to my client and why.” n Officer: “…er well I used the wording as outlined in the manual of guidance… well yeah the manual you know the one?” n Barrister: “Officer, answer the question.”

I’m not making light of this or mocking (y)our skills but we have all been, or knew someone who has, in this exact position. We are now in the land of ‘court karaoke’ - you know the tune because you sing it all the time but now on stage with an audience you find out you only know the first verse, half the chorus, and you lip-synch the rest. Passing the promotion exam requires you to know the definition, understand the application of it and also any underpinning stated cases which are in place. Remember this simple formula:

Poor preparation + exam karaoke = failure So to be successful you have to have a structured and achievable plan. Studying is time consuming and requires a willingness on your part and also on your partner/ family/colleagues to both encourage you and understand the pressure you will face. You will need to fully accept that studying will consume you and requires time, planning, patience and above all support. I employ something called the ‘i-FACTOR’ when coaching and mentoring my clients. Unlike its more famous relative the X FACTOR this one does not ask you to make a fool of yourself on TV but it does require you to progress through several rounds of intense scrutiny, test your skills and above all, practice.

The I factor

Information storage and recall

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TOP 10 1. Ask yourself: “Why am I doing this?” This is very important as if you don’t want 2. What is it I want to achieve? Obviously I want to pass the exam, but do

I have the plan to achieve it? Why do I want to pass? Am I ready for promotion? Is this my idea or something that others have suggested? Am I absolutely committed to this?

When was the last time I studied or read seriously? This is very important as studying law and procedures requires a lot of concentration and the ability to store information and retrieve it when required. Reading for pleasure is very diﬀerent to reading for knowledge. You also need to be able to put into context the information and also not allow your operational knowledge to cloud your judgements. Your brain, like any other ‘muscle’, requires exercise and you can’t simply pick up study material and get straight into it. Think of it as ‘hitting the gym’ after a long absence - would you really expect to be able to perform at the level you had been at previously?

How much time have you got spare be honest because if you go overdrawn at the time bank it will cause you stress. Create a chart to see how you can work the studying into your schedule. Many people think they can study when on Mutual Aid let’s be honest, how much peace and quiet will you get in a van with the average colleague? Supervisors may promise you a bit of study time here and there but again, it rarely happens, and certain shifts are just not conducive to eﬀective studying. Operational policing is more intense than ever, fewer colleagues means you are working harder and ﬁnishing your shifts tired. Starting a course of intense study is a bit like signing up for the gym in the New Year, how many of us continue after the initial adrenaline or guilt rush has gone?

You must ﬁnd a system that allows you a work/life/study balance. If you have children or a dependent family member etc they need to be involved. How will it ﬁt around your work – you may be in a specialist unit that sees you constantly changing shirts, or you may be managing a heavy case load. Plan your pre-exam revision time. If necessary book annual leave in the week prior to the exam to ensure you a/ have a controlled study run in, and b/ you aren’t stuck on a crime scene till 0300hrs on the morning of the exam either as the night detective, or the uniform logkeeper.

6. Who can I get to help me? Consider setting up a study group with

colleagues. Some people set up a group with a diverse skill/experience mix such as a CID oﬃcer for crime, traﬃc colleague for the mysteries of roads policing and someone who can unravel the web of intrigue that is the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and its associated codes of practice.

7. What study guides will you use? Make sure you are using the most up-to-

date material and be mindful that some legislation has changed and you may not have been given the training yet. The diﬀerent sources are: web-based, IT-based, books, audio and formal classes - there are severely companies that run very eﬀective weekend workshops etc and the trainers are generally very knowledgeable and will show you some fantastic memory techniques.

8. What type of learning style are you? This will impact on the type of guide you use.

Contact your local training oﬃcer and they can arrange a basic learning style analysis for you. You can also download these from many educational websites and do your own. It’s important you know because not everyone will get the most eﬀective learning outcome simply by reading. I recall that when I was learning road craft on my advanced course (it had to be word perfect), I put it onto a Sony Walkman and listened to it whilst driving or cycling to my course - it worked and I got 100%.

9. How will I measure my success? Firstly, you must fully understand your

current knowledge level. How would you rate your knowledge now – did you breeze through the definition test outlined earlier? Set yourself small bite-sized achievable targets so you can see the progress as these will give you a confidence boost and show that you are actually learning. Always take a moment to congratulate yourself on what you have achieved with your study. You do a difficult job that takes a toll on your life. You deserve the opportunity to develop yourself in an occupation that, despite recent media attacks, is still one of the most sought-after occupations.

10. When should I start? Most people wait until the application for

the exam comes out, however, I would suggest that that is too late and you have already put yourself under pressure. Learning MUST be viewed as an ongoing process and cramming is not the answer. Consider reading things such as PACE codes of practice, RTA deﬁnition etc as a warm-up a few months prior to the real intensive study programme as they form the foundation for a large part of the syllabus.

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4.How much time can I devote to studying?

5. Who else will be aﬀected? Studying will impact on your family life.

The i-FACTOR works as it makes you concentrate on the most important person in this equation… you. Studying does have an impact on you, your quality of life and needs. Like any other activity, it needs to be planned into your already busy schedule.

Remember, your ultimate goal is to seek promotion, be it for personal/financial reasons, or the excitement of being a ‘decision maker’, or both. You are the motivational part of that process, however, part of your planning should include encouraging your line managers to support you, either by facilitating your study periods, or by giving you hands-on insights into the role and responsibilities encountered by police management.

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to study, or are doing it because someone has suggested it to you, it may be an issue. You must fully understand the impact it will have on you and your family/friends.

ON A VERY SIMPLISTIC LEVEL YOUR BRAIN IS A COMPUTER - A VERY COMPLEX AND POWERFUL ONE BUT NO DIFFERENT TO THE ONE YOU USE EVERY DAY. The brain is made up of two main hard drives: n The short term memory n The long term memory Your short term memory is a storage device with a very limited capacity and information, if not processed properly, can and does drop from it. Think about a brieﬁng you recently had. How much did you actually remember afterwards and how much did you recall when you read the bullet points you made? It is suggested that information is stored better when it is delivered in a way that suits us.

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STUDYING FOR DUMMIES

How to store information e≠ectively

Psychologists suggest that for information to be moved from the short term memory to the long term memory several things need to be considered: n You must be in the right mind-set to study. When tired etc. your ability to store information decreases. n Pick a place free from distractions - quiet music might work but TV or ACDC’s greatest hits etc. does not, it is a distraction. n Don’t cram your studying into long intense sessions this only works very short term – set short repetitive sessions. n Create structure or group the areas you are studying that are relevant - e.g. do not read the Theft Act and then read the Road Traﬃc Act they are not related in any way. n Use mnemonics as an aid - I still recall several I was taught at training school in 1982, or create a story around the deﬁnition. n Try to visualise the definition as a story - when you’re studying create a mental video of a person committing the act. n Review as bullet points the following morning/evening what you studied the previous day.

Think about your school days. What was your favourite subject then ask yourself why? I would suggest the following will apply: n You had an interest for the subject n The teacher was very knowledgeable But most importantly, I bet the teacher was an exceptional communicator and made it real for you. Reverse the process and I would suggest the teacher and their method of delivering the information was poor, even though they may have had great knowledge, they did not make it real. Your long term memory is the main storage area and it is capable of storing a vast amount of information - recall the last time you conducted a victim or witness interview using the techniques you were shown on your PEACE course, think how much information we actually store. The long term memory is where we need to store all our study information.

In a nutshell

WHILST PLANNING AND PREPARING ARE THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS, YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN UNLOCK YOUR POTENTIAL. YOU CAN SUCCEED IF YOU PUT THE TIME AND EFFORT INTO YOUR STUDY PROGRAMME BUT IT IS IMPERATIVE YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS YOU’RE TAKING ON. We all start projects with good intentions but unfortunately many of us fail to complete because we get tired, bored or see a minor setback as a failure and give up.

Set yourself achievable weekly targets and recognise your achievements and find a study/work/life balance that works for you.

Finally, good luck and remember the five Ps:

Prior n Planning n Prevents n Poor n Performance

Coming soon…

IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF NICKED WE WILL ASSUME YOU’VE PASSED THE EXAM (USING ALL MY HELPFUL TIPS!) AND LOOK AT HOW YOU CAN PREPARE FOR ACTING DUTIES. We’ll look at the successful methods to promote your personal skills and attain acting posts, together with the all-important evidence gathering in relation to competency and professional skills, and ﬁnally a few tips for the promotion board.

BEAUTY

Ju st

16% of womenageing, embragctoea recent accordin e UK Conﬁdenc al. re Index by L'O

After grey hair, wrinkles and dark under-eye circles came top in a list of the physical factors that make women feel less conﬁdent.

Side-step skin pitfalls by avoiding these surprising ageing antagonists. BEWARE OF FACE INFECTORS

AVOID STRAWS AND CIGARETTES

Your dentist may be all for straws to protect your teeth from dark and fizzy drinks but dermatologists aren't. "Sipping from a straw can cause ﬁne lines around your mouth, "Mauricio warns. "Over the long-term, pursing your lips to sip out of a straw causes extra wrinkles around this area." The same process applies to cigarettes, which also compromise your skin's production of collagen and elastin, making smoking bad news for your looks as well as your health. TOO LATE? Reduce the appearance of deep and vertical wrinkles with Vichy LiftActiv Advance Filler, £31 www.boots.com

Ok, you might never be able to ‘Stop the clock’, but with good skincare habits you can certainly help slow it down, Lisa Haynes reveals some surprising ways to slow down the ageing process Anti-ageing isn't just down to gene pools and preventative potions. Everyday skincare sins could be interfering with your war against wrinkles without you even knowing.

“

SLEEP ON YOUR BACK

More than half of British adults sleep in the foetal position, curled up on their side with knees tucked in. That's the stuﬀ of nightmares for your skin, according to Mauricio. "Women who tend to sleep on their sides are most likely to see sleep lines appear on their chin and cheeks - these are wrinkles etched on the surface of the skin that don't disappear when you lift your head oﬀ the pillow." Train yourself to sleep on your back so that your skin doesn't lie crumpled against the pillow. TOO LATE? Encourage a restful night on your back with Aromatherapy Associates Relax Eye Mask, £46 www.aromatherapyassociates.com

Many of us are permanently attached to mobile phones but chatterboxes can be blighted by regular outbreaks. And that doesn’t include those of you who are permanently stuck to an Airwave set for 8-10 hours a day! "Mobiles get left around on various surfaces and pick up bacteria that can cause pimples around the cheeks and jawline. It's best to use your phone in hands-free mode," advises Mauricio. The same principles apply to glasses and sunglasses, which can harbour sweat and germs. "Bacteria can grow on the frame that will sit directly on your facial skin for an extended period of time. Aim to use anti-bacterial wipes before putting them on each day." TOO LATE? Deep clean and prevent outbreaks with Bioderma Sebium H20 micellar, £10 www.garden.co.uk

Doing the wrong things can speed up your skin's ageing process, and you might be surprised at what some of those no-nos are, says American dermatologist Dr Tess Mauricio.

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BEAUTY

BUY IT NOW

BEAUTY BULLETIN

Travel in style on spring breaks with Orla Kiely's new wash bag range. The print designer has created a Sixties stem pattern on durable coated canvas with gold zips and leather trims, from £20 - £32

Women in the UK spend a whopping £2.3 billion a year perfecting their eyebrows. Almost a fifth of British women (19%) are spending more than £10 a month on brow maintenance, according to a recent survey by QVC to mark the exclusive launch of Benefit Gimme Brow Gel.

www.johnlewis.com

SEEK SHADE ON AEROPLANES

Ah, sunbeams! Cloud gazing is good for the soul but not so uplifting for the face. "You're much closer to the sun in a plane than on land, so it stands to reason that solar rays, which can penetrate windows, are more intense at higher altitudes, " Mauricio reveals. "Plus, the air up there is notoriously dry and without moisture, so skin simply shrivels." If you're sitting next to a window, pull down the shade, drink plenty of water to hydrate, and avoid salty foods and alcohol. Mauricio recommends applying a rich moisturiser with minimum SPF15 half an hour before boarding, as sunscreen needs time to absorb before it's eﬀective. TOO LATE? Even out age spots and stubborn pigmentation with SkinCeuticals Advanced Pigment Corrector, £83.50 www.eﬀortlessskin.com

MAINTAIN A HEALTHY WEIGHT Yo-yo dieters, beware. Repeatedly losing and gaining weight can take its toll on your face's elasticity, leaving behind jowls and sagging.

Mauricio says: "Packing on pounds can make your skin look plumper on the surface, but carrying excess weight can cause your body's levels of insulin and cortisol to rise, which can break down collagen. "You'll see increased sagging from putting on and keeping on as little as 10-15 extra pounds, and loss of facial fat can cause sagging and a gaunt, aged appearance." Maintain a healthy weight with proper diet and exercise, aiming to keep your weight in the 'normal' range, with a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9. TOO LATE? Perk up sagging and loose skin with Origins Plantscription Powerful Lifting Cream, £50 www.origins.co.uk

Just brows-ing One in eight (13%) spend upwards of 30 minutes a week perfecting their arches, amounting to over one whole day (26 hours) per year. For brow inspiration, almost half of women (42%) look to the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton and her dark, defined arches.

Tried & tested

Repair the ravages of winter with a multipurpose balm. Our testers try three soothing all-rounders: LUSH ULTRABALM ALL PURPOSE BALM

This generously-sized tin houses a non-petroleum balm with organic jojoba oil and rose wax. It feels quite 'thin' on application and doesn't taste amazing, so I preferred using this on areas of tough skin, my cuticles and for taming eyebrows. £8.50 for 45g www.lush.co.uk

CRABTREE & EVELYN ENGLISH HONEY AND PEACH BLOSSOM ALL PURPOSE BALM

Dinky tin with a buttery-soft moisturising balm. A little goes a long way and it felt soothing on both lips and body niggles with a subtle honey fragrance. £9 for 15g www.crabtree-evelyn.co.uk

LANOLIPS 101 OINTMENT MULTIPURPOSE BALM

A handy little tube that's ideal for bags. The ultra-pure medical grade lanolin makes for a luxuriously thick formulation. There's a natural gloss too, making it perfect for chapped lips. £11 for 15g www.boots.com

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BOOK REVIEW

The Poisoned Island

Q:So it’s historical ﬁction, then? A :Well, if you read The English Monster, you’ll know I’m not in the business of writing straight

historical ﬁction here. What I did in that ﬁrst book, and what I do again here, is set real historical events and characters against an imagined canvas in which unusual – perhaps even magical – things can happen. I’ve had to dance around this a fair bit, because to have talked about it too much would have been a heck of a plot-spoiler for The English Monster. But those expecting a straightforward historical tale will be in for a bit of a surprise; whether a pleasant or an unpleasant one will depend on the reader. But if you’ve got an appetite for the fantastical, this might be a meal you’ll enjoy sitting down to. There’s a murder mystery to be solved. There’s history to be described. But there’s oddness and unexpectedness too.

LLOYD SHEPHERD’S THE POISONED ISLAND IS A GLORIOUS MASH UP OF CRIME, EXOTIC ISLANDS, BOTANIC INTRIGUE AND THE HISTORIC STORY OF LONDON’S RIVER POLICE. HERE WE FIND OUT MORE IN A Q&A WITH THE AUTHOR...

Put it this way. I’ve found The English Monster ﬁled in bookshops under Crime, under History, under General Fiction, under Fantasy and under Horror. Seriously. My favourite description of the genre has come from Shelley Harris, the lovely author of the lovely book Jubilee. She described The English Monster as ‘Regency X-Files.’ Taking that theme, I’d describe The Poisoned Island as ‘Regency Lost.’ But genre is a slippery thing, is it not? What it gives with one hand it takes away with the other.

An island of intrigue…

LONDON 1812: For forty years Britain has dreamed of the Pacific island of Tahiti, a dark paradise of bloody cults and beautiful natives. Now, decades after the first voyage of Captain Cook, a new ship returns to London from the Pacific, crammed with botanical specimens and laden also, it seems, with the mysteries of Tahiti.

Horton must employ his singular methods to uncover a chain of conspiracy stretching all the way back to the foot of the great dead volcano Tahiti Nui, beneath the hungry eyes of ancient gods.

between the questioning of the Enlightenment and the technology of the Victorians. The world has only recently begun to be reasonably measured; in the previous hundred years, two thousand years of wrongheaded knowledge has been set right. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the ﬁeld of botany, on which much of The Poisoned Island is based. In the thirty years before my book is set, botanists had ﬁgured out plant reproduction and respiration. They’d begun to establish a robust platform for plant taxonomy. They’d begun to substitute superstition for science (even though that word hadn’t been invented). But there was still so much to do, so much that was mysterious and unknown. There were still white spaces on maps, but they were almost all metaphorical ones, gaps in human knowledge in which wonders could still manifest themselves. To put it another way: the early 19th century is the most recent time that still feels like deep history. The Victorians feel adjacent to us: photography means we can see them. We can even hear them. The Georgians are still unavailable to us in those forms. They remain intriguing.

Q :In most crime books the lead detective is slightly ﬂawed. What are Charles Horton’s strengths and weaknesses?

A:I think the best ﬁctional detectives are doomed because it's their ﬂaws that make them

eﬀective. They're too committed, too suspicious, too ready to see the bad in people. Horton's a bit like that: his slightly monomaniacal nature comes from his separation from ordinary people, and that separation stems from the guilt of his past. He betrayed his shipmates in the Nore mutiny in order to secure a release, and that infects all his relationships. So he wants to perfect the world and repay his debt, and that makes him extraordinarily committed, but it also makes him a bit odd. And of course his love for his wife gives him personal strength, but also makes him vulnerable to those who would be prepared to attack him via his wife.

John Harriott, magistrate of the Thames River Police, is asked to take a personal interest in the security of the ship and its cargo. So when, days after the Solander's arrival, some of its crew are found dead and their sea-chests ransacked - their throats slashed, faces frozen into terrible smiles - Harriott puts constable Charles Horton in charge of the investigation. But what connects the crewmen's dying dreams with the ambitions of the ship's principal backer, Sir Joseph Banks of the Royal Society? And how can Britain's new science possibly explain the strangeness of Tahiti's ﬂoral riches now growing at Kew?

Q:Why write about this period in history? A:Because it’s such a fascinating conjunction between two worlds. This period falls squarely

Lloyd answers some questions for NiCKED about The Poisoned Island: Q:What’s the book about? They are intended for the gardens at Kew, A :Ah, the hardest question of them all! under the supervision of Sir Joseph Banks of Well, first things first: it’s a sequel to my first

book, The English Monster. It’s set a year later, in 1812. But like my ﬁrst book, it opens with a chapter from a deeper past: in this case, with a young Englishman chasing a Tahitian princess through the trees in 1769. He catches her, but then she disappears…. Forty-three years later, a ship called the Solander arrives in the Thames estuary. She has sailed from Tahiti, and is carrying hundreds of exotic plants, seedlings and seeds from that mysterious island.

the Royal Society. A day later, Charles Horton of the Wapping River Police Oﬃce discovers one of the sailors from the Solander dead in his rooms, his face carved with a terrible smile. Horton and his magistrate John Harriott open an investigation, while upriver at Kew the strange plants from Tahiti reveal themselves to be a good deal weirder than even Sir Joseph had realised.

Q:What are the themes you’re trying to cover? A :The English Monster dealt with exploitation of a particularly chilling kind: the exploitation of humans

through slavery. The Poisoned Island deals with a different kind of exploitation: that of natural resources. In 1812, the natural world was something to be harnessed to the needs of nations. The most obvious example of this relates to Tahiti. When Lt. Bligh commanded the Bounty his mission was to take breadfruit from that island and transplant it to Jamaica and the other West Indies. It was thought to be an ideal, starchy foodstuff for the slaves working on the plantations in those islands (and they were still slaves; the slave trade might have been abolished in 1808, but slavery as an institution was not abolished in the Empire until 1833, and in effect not for a few years after that). At the centre of both these examples was Sir Joseph Banks, who plays a big role in The Poisoned Island, as does his librarian, the botanist Robert Brown.

Q :Harking back also to The English Monster, where did you go to research the Thames River Police?

A :First stop was, of course, the River Police Oﬃce itself. There's a fabulous museum there,

and I was grateful to retired river police officer Rob Jeffries for showing me around. Then I spent a lot of time in Wapping itself to get a feel for itself. The final source was the memoir of John Harriott, the first stipendiary magistrate of the River Police, and an amazing bulldog of a man.

Q :It has been said the Ratcliﬀe Murders (discussed in The English Monster) ultimately

lead to a reform of policing. Do you think that in The Poisoned Island Horton has honed his skills and tackles his investigation diﬀerently?

A :I don't think Horton's quite aware of his 'skills'. He applies common sense and intelligence to crimes but does it in a way that hasn't been seen before. Most importantly, he recognises the importance of motive and opportunity, and understands how evidence can lead to solutions. He is better at this in The Poisoned Island, and of course it was a diﬀerent situation, as the press and the nation weren't as obsessed with the story - because it didn't happen!

Q :We reckon most of our NICKED readers have a story or two up their sleeves. What

would your advice be to aspiring crime writers or those who have great story to tell?

A :Get it down on paper (or stick it in a computer), and get someone else to read it.

It'll be their response which tells them whether you've got something or not.

LLOYD SHEPHERD Lloyd Shepherd is a former journalist

and digital producer who has worked for the Guardian, Channel 4, the BBC and Yahoo. He lives in South London with his family. He is the author of The English Monster, inspired by the real-life Ratcliﬀe Highway murders and its sequel, The Poisoned Island.

Q:Who’s your favourite ﬁctional cop and why? A :Probably James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux. A hero, a poet, a ﬁghter and a drunk. He'd have your

back in a ﬁght, but one drink and he'd let you down.

The English Monster and The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepherd (Simon & Schuster) are available now in paperback. Find more about Lloyd Shepherd here: www.LloydShepherd.com or follow him on Twitter: @lloydshep

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FASHION

pastel punch

Spring Trends...

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Refreshing sorbet shades of mint, lavender, peach and powdery pinks and blues are an instant palette cleanser for spring. The freshest way to wear them is top-to-toe in one hue. Balance out the girliness with an androgynous silhouette - a tailored suit will look pale and interesting paired with a white shirt.

pick your spring statement

**************** After a miserable winter its time to lighten up your wardrobe with this season's fresh new looks.

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Texture is all-important. Look to fabrics like lace and leather to add an edge to pretty pastels. You'll even ﬁnd traditional black biker jackets in pastel leather colourways for a spring staple. Wear your pastels now by teaming a skirt or trousers with a grey crew-neck sweater to tone down the colour.

Sarah jacket, £179 Perry top, £89 Emily trousers, £110 Selma sandals, £129 www.hobbs.co.uk 0845 313 3130

Lisa Haynes reviews the trends to put a spring back in your step. With the rainiest Winter on record behind us, your wardrobe deserves an injection of spring cheer. Luckily, this season delivers, with mouthwatering pastels, bold prints and ﬁerce ﬂorals for an instant closet pick-me-up.

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The catwalk message is clear for spring/summer 14: go bold or go home. Dark and dainty pieces are few and far between, so be courageous with your trend shopping. Just a few high-fashion statement pieces are enough to revive your current spring staples. For good chiconomics, invest now and you'll get an entire season's wear.

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Any colourway goes in these country-inspired checks. Pastels will make your gingham look uber-pretty, red or blue brights make a statement, while traditional black and white are more accessible.

In the form of hothouse and tropical blooms, often as one statement bud, ﬂorals have been supersized for spring.

Floaty dresses and smocks are the feminine way to work this trend, but for a more contemporary look, opt for structured shapes, like scuba-style T-shirts or pencil skirts.

Wear as one bright piece or double up your petal power with matching two-piece sets. There are plenty of ﬂoral dresses out there, but you'll also discover standout separates and accessories.

Gingham may be a playful print but it can work for the oﬃce too, in the form of sharp, tailored trousers. Dress down with ﬂat loafers or pointed pumps, and just add heels for business-like glamour.

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Life through a lens

Get the lighting right

When starting out, the best piece of shooting advice is always choose the best light over the better location. Obviously no one wants a photo of their children stood by the bins, but when you’re in a gorgeous location there’s little point in choosing that stunning view if your subjects are squinting into the camera or it’s too dark to see their faces. Consider the light that is available to you, and how high the sun is in the sky. Like in the police service, photographers use the term ‘Golden Hour’.

The most frequently asked question by my clients is:

"Why don't my images look like yours?"

The honest answer, other than this is my lifework and career, is that it’s usually about how ‘depth of field’ and lighting are used. Modern articles tell us digital cameras and editing software can capture virtually anything, make it look special and take all the hard work out of photography. This is simply not true. Although a spontaneous happy snap can end up becoming a family favourite, there is no substitute for good lighting, and that’s a principle that hasn't changed since the invention of ﬁlm. Of course ‘composing’ the photograph is important but light is still the medium you will paint your picture with. You can have a beautifully framed picture in your viewfinder, but it you don’t use the light properly it can be ruined. Getting to know how your camera functions while developing your photography skills are far more beneﬁcial than standing in a camera shop buying yet another piece of kit. When I run workshops for starter photography businesses the most common mistake people make is that they buy far too much equipment. My advice would be, learn to use what you have, and when you have exhausted that equipment and can learn no more, then consider trading it in for the next level up.

In photography if refers to a certain time of day when the light is considered exceptional for the best outdoor photography. For those of you who work shifts it can fit in quite well when coming off duty at odd hours of the day, mainly because the Golden Hour occurs near to sunrise and sunset. It’s that first (or last) beautiful hour in the day where the light is ideally golden and the sun is low. If you’re lucky enough to holiday in the sun, take advantage of the Golden Hour and plan a stroll along the beach watching the sun go down (then, if you’re anything like me, ignore your poor loved one whilst you get some amazing images or better still ‘force’ them to pose in them!). However, you are more likely to be stuck at home in the UK with its unpredictable weather, and have to make the most of your time while trying to take series of nice family shots. try a local Woodland. Make sure you find one with a balance of trees and meadow – it’s surprising how dark the shadows cast by trees can be. If it's a bright day try putting your subjects at the edge of the available shade. Don’t start too far in and then move them back from where the shade starts about a foot at a time – keep going until the light on their face is equal (the same light on both sides of the face) but not so far that it’s too dark. Depending on the height of the sun this is usually two to three feet into the shade. If you want to get creative don't be afraid to shoot into the light, the trick here is to move yourself more than your subject. If the sun is low you should be able to position yourself well enough that either your subject or some nearby foliage is carefully placed to block out the worst of the glare from the sun. You should then be able to experiment, positioning yourself left, right and centre to see what effects you can take advantage of. If the light is right you should be able to get a lovely halo effect to their silhouette. It’s an old fashioned rule that the sun should always be behind the camera. I think the best thing about digital photography is that whatever type of camera you have it gives you the opportunity to keep experimenting until you’re happy. You can even use your mobile phone to gain these effects so get practising.

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Nicola’s top 10 basic tips

Which camera is best?

1. LIGHTING: Choose lighting over location every time

In addition to the “Why don’t my images look like yours?” question, the most commonly asked question via email is: "What camera should I buy?" This is a difficult question as it depends on your available budget and what you are most likely to need it for.

2. FAMILY PORTRAITS: Arrange separate days for photographing the family. Decide whether the objective is to fill the album with happy snaps (for example a day out at the zoo), or to choreograph a more formal family portrait.

Most people are occasional photographers and with either use their mobile phone, or a low budget compact camera. Some dedicated amateur photographers will buy more specialised equipment that gives them a greater ﬂexibility. Some of this equipment is of a very high standard and can be used by professionals. I shoot with Canon as I love their prime lenses (this means the lens range is ﬁxed and doesn't zoom in or out and I have to move either myself, or the camera).

3. SUNLIGHT: When you’re driving home or out walking/cycling and you notice a low golden sun, make a mental note of where the sunlight is falling at that time of year. These can be used later when setting up a photoshoot. 4. THINK ABOUT COLOUR: Colour affects the mood of an image not just how it is appreciated. Putting your daughter in a pastel pink or bold purple dress in the middle of a field yellow canola oil-seed field could look like a soft romantic image, but putting your son in a blue, white and red outfit in the same location would make quite a startling and contrasting image.

This isn't to say I dislike Nikon - quite simply it’s a matter of preference and there are no rights or wrongs. My first digital SLR was a Pentax and I loved that camera with my heart and soul, so it really is a personal opinion. As a professional I love using prime lenses because there are by and large of exceptional quality. However, they offer less flexibility than a zoom lens. Mainly because when using a prime lens YOU have to move the camera or the subject, whereas with a zoom lens the photographer can generally remain static and adjust the lens to frame the picture. However, if you want to delve deeper into photography, it’s worth knowing that the two biggest international brands are Canon and Nikon and they have the most options in terms of cameras and lenses. This is mainly because most of their professional lenses are compatible with the lower priced ‘entry level’ camera bodies, and vice versa. So you would be able to upgrade or buy additional lenses when the time called for it and if you ever decided to upgrade the body of your camera there would be no need for new lenses. The only downside is that Nikon and Canon lenses are not interchangeable between brands. So Nikon won’t fit Canon and vice versa. If you’re looking to keep costs down there is a vast range of other camera manufacturers such as Sony, who produce cameras to a very high standard. There is also the option to purchase from secondhand dealers that you can be found online or in the Classifieds section at the back of photography magazines. Make sure you do your research on the camera model and the company first. Entry-level Digital SLRs start from under £300 with an inexpensive kit lens and if you have a budget for a simple family camera I would always say to someone asking to opt for the entry level digital SLR over a smaller ‘compact’ non SLR camera. These days most are designed specifically to be small and lightweight for the convenience of travel etc, if that is all you want, but if you decide to take it further and turn your camera into a larger hobby you will have the ability to buy additional lenses and learn the photography basics as well. Most DSLRS can be controlled manually as well as automatically, which again gives you scope to take the hobby to the next level.

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Top tips for buying smaller cameras

If you decide you just want a functional point and shoot camera that costs less than £300, and you don’t intend blowing the images up too large, I would seriously consider a good camera phone. Controversial to some, however, you would always have it with you and there have been some amazing leaps in phone technology - you can adjust your ISO, change your white balance and sometimes your shutter speeds. If you look for good lighting and apply some basic framing principles you can get some great images and there’s always Instagram to add a little flare!

Nicola Johnson

ht n is a self-taug Nicola Johnsoﬁne art, lifestyle professional e has a passion for Sh photographer. graphy at all levels and to o h p g in ionals. teach skills of profess e th g in p lo e ev d er t more about h You can find oeur workshops at: work and h otographer.com nsonph www.nicolajoh cebook.com/ .fa w w w Photographer NicolaJohnson

If you do decide to buy a small camera, rather than looking too closely at the amount of pixels available on the sensor (although try to avoid anything below 10), look at its capabilities with regards to: SHUTTER SPEED - how fast the shutter opens and closes. You need a good range of both slower, say 100, and faster these go up into 1000s.

• • •

APERTURE - how wide the shutter opens. You will need a lower aperture. ISO - its capabilities in low light. The higher the ISO the better it will be in low light.

5. CAUTION DISTRACTIONS: Have you ever seen someone in a vertically striped outfit on the TV and the screen displays a weird distortion effect that makes your eyes blink? It’s the same effect when photographing similar objects. Narrow stripes can blend together in images because of the curve of the lens try to avoid photographing objects that involve thin stripes. So try to avoid taking portraits of people in character clothing as it leads the eye directly to the source of the distraction rather than to the person or people who are the subject of your image. 6. CONSIDER THE TIME OF DAY: The sun is at its highest at midday and in the height of summer it is worth avoiding as the light can be quite harsh and unflattering. Remember – as a general rule - the lower the sun, the more flattering the light.

7. FOREGROUND, MIDDLE GROUND AND BACKGROUND: As you look at your image either in portrait or landscape format, take a breath and look at your framing. Try separating the image into three horizontal sections. The area to the bottom of the image is generally your foreground, the central area is the middle ground, usually where the subject of the photograph sits, and the top of the frame being the background (or horizon). To develop your skills experiment by moving your framing up and down slightly see which proportions work best with your image. It only takes a few moments yet will enhance your picture immeasurably. As a rule portraits with little foreground can look a little odd. 8. CROPPING PORTRAITS: There is a rule of thumb when framing a portrait that if you are looking at the framing, try to keep the cropping point near a limb joint if you don’t want the whole arm or leg in the image. If you crop it mid-calf or forearm for example the result can appear unbalanced. 9. EYE LEVEL: Using children as an example, a large majority of people photograph children by angling the camera downward. This gives a distorted perspective of the subject (and usually misses out on lots of character). If you are taller than your subject try to lower yourself to the level of your subject’s eyes as this will dramatically change the way your photos, especially of your children will appear in print. 10. TAKE IT ALL WITH YOU: Keep a notebook. Don’t expect to remember everything you want to try out. You can easily make short notes on a piece of paper and stick it in your pocket (I used to write crib notes on the inside of my hands) or type/write out prompt cards, or do little drawings of stick people to use as reminders for poses or setups..

As with all pastimes and hobbies it’s important to have fun.

Be creative and enjoy yourself. Don’t be disheartened by getting things wrong at first, I certainly used to, and don’t think you can’t learn something from a lower level camera. One of the most common demands asked by professional photographers is for natural, low light coaching – in other words, how to get a better image in low light without flash. I learnt how to shoot in low light because I couldn’t afford a better camera. I’ve shot weddings with a Canon 40D but it was a semi professional camera with very limited ISO capabilities. But with perseverance I successfully photographed weddings with that camera for over two years. I learnt how to improvise, and move slightly and change my position to obtain a far better image. Always embrace what you have to hand rather than fretting for what you haven’t. Over time I acquired a camera that had better attributes and capabilities, and my low light images became more creative. Remember, you paint with light.

Next time I’ll be giving you some tips on framing, leading lines and depth of field, and how a little experimentation and anticipation can change a mundane picture into an outstanding picture. 81 TWITTER.COM/NICKEDMAGAZINE

GADGETS

SMOOTH OPERATOR

Top six portable chargers

Joosa Charger - £29.99 from ﬁrebox.com The latest arrival on the portable charger scene is this highly tactile, well-ﬁnished piece of kit, laying down the standard for the next generation. Power yours up from the mains and it'll charge your mobile up to eight times before it needs attention itself. As you only plug in your USB cable, it's also compatible with almost everything.

STONE ME

Pebble Verto - from £21.49 at dabs.com This compact range of portable chargers comes complete with a range of power pins for various devices, and manages to store enough power inside for about two full reﬁlls of your smartphone. Not as revolutionary as others, but neat and eﬃcient - which is actually all you need.

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YES YOU CAN

Fuel - £24.99 from ﬁrebox.com Not much bulkier than a box of matches, it'll come as no surprise that the diminutive nature of this re-juicer means it must compromise on power reserves. But saying that, it can still give you a much needed 20 minutes of extra chat time.

is just ge Or maybe your mobile the ubiquitous e’s lot of use. Then ther ers. tablet and e-book read

the chances are that Whatever you’re doing, er handy, and unless you won’t have your charg tually make it work, you have a battery to acless, isn't it? it's all a bit point r stations have Thankfully, portable powe ter Jenkinson Pe d the answer, so we aske gadgets that will to take a look at some e and other help keep your mobil devices running.

It also looks like a jerry can, so it's up to you if you want to make the glug-glug sounds as you ﬁll up your phone.

POWER STICK

Pebble Smartstick - £14.99 from mobilefun.co.uk Available in a few diﬀerent hues, this dinky charger is about the size of a lippy, ideal for carrying in - and probably losing down the dark recesses of - your handbag. Once located though, it'll oﬀer a full recharge for that vital extra talktime.

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TurboCharger 7000 World Pack - £59.95 from proporta.co.uk A very nifty idea this one - well, if you're an iPhone 5 owner, anyway. This slim outer case both doubles the life of your mobile, and protects it from the inevitable meetings with solid surfaces. Put it on, ﬂick the switch and oﬀ it goes, doing its work without any work from you.

Clever...

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