Celebrating an early Christmas in the Calais camp (My eighth trip to the “Jungle”)
Apologies for the tardiness of this blog post. I made my eighth trip to the refugee camp at Calais two days before Christmas, accompanied by my kids, Katie and Dan. We'd originally planned to go o... Read More
Life and love in the Calais Jungle: my seventh trip
Yesterday I made my seventh trip to the Calais refugee camp known as “The Jungle”. Last time we had a pretty horrendous time – conditions were atrocious, people were desperate, distr... Read More
Tears turned to anger … My sixth visit to the Calais Jungle
Yesterday I made my sixth visit to the refugee camp known as “The Jungle” in Calais. Usually I write about the people I've met or the stories I've heard: tales of horrors overcome,... Read More
Desperate times, desperate people: Stories from the Calais Jungle part 5
Having only been to Calais last weekend, I'd decided to opt out of yesterday's planned trip with the Swindon-Calais Solidarity group because I didn't think I could cope with doing the trip... Read More
Truth and honesty: more stories from the Calais Jungle
I opened up my writing app to start this blog post, stared at the empty screen and didn’t know where to start. After another day spent at the Jungle, the refugee camp in Calais, I find myself fe... Read More
More stories from the Calais Jungle
Last Saturday a group of us from the Swindon-Calais Solidarity group went on our third trip to “the Jungle”, the refugee camp just the other side of the English Channel in Calais. Some of ... Read More
Making friends at the Calais Refugee Camp
Yesterday Dan and I went back to the refugee camp at Calais with the Swindon Calais Solidarity group. It was a day of really mixed emotions, and a day when we began to make friends with some of the pe... Read More
#91 Make a list of 25 things I like about myself
I was going to write this in my journal on the grounds that it might come across as bragging but then I thought sod it! We all deserve to love ourselves once in a while!Totally self-indulgent, but at ... Read More
Swindon Calais Solidarity on BBC Wiltshire
When the Swindon to Calais Solidarity Group went to Calais last weekend we took a BBC film crew with us, and also a reporter from our local radio station. For the last five days BBC Radio Wiltshire h... Read More
Welcome to the Calais Jungle
So on Sunday 27th September 2015 my son and I left home at 4.25am to join the Swindon to Calais Solidarity group for their first trip to the Calais Jungle – the refugee camp at Calais. Althoug... Read More
Galvanised into action to help refugees
Bad stuff happens all the time but sometimes there’s something that grabs my attention, gives me a kick up the arse and makes me take action. And for me, that bad thing was baby Aylan being wash... Read More
Review: HomeRoutines App
Anyone who knows me knows housework is not one of my priorities. Partly it’s because I think life’s too short to spend it bleaching the toilet twice a day, but mostly it’s because I ... Read More
A bit of a break
So this blog has been sadly neglected, as has the Do Something Different challenges. Out of the blue we were given two month’s notice to quit our lovely house so the last few weeks were consumed... Read More