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Taxes on travel are making it difficult for any but the rich to be able to afford to move around. Whether you travel by car, train, bus, boat, or plane, the government are making it too expensive to move.
It's the big TRAVEL RIP-OFF!
Train and bus fares are taking a big slice out of the wages of commuters. For some, it's hardly worth going to work!
Petrol tax is currently an outrageous 57.95p per litre and the government are intending to use the budget to raise this to 60.95p per litre! Not surprisingly, instead of petrol being relatively cheap, the UK has the most expensive fuel in Europe, crippling our economy by making all goods stupidly expensive and preventing people from being able to go where they wish. Many are now calling for petrol tax to be abolished completely so that the private sector can boom and make the country successful again!
Flight taxes are an obscenity. Unethical and unfair - steadily making it impossible for any but the rich to be able to afford to enjoy an international holiday! In our view, this is an utter disgrace! Travel is one of life's greatest pleasures and both educational and a boost to health. In short, it's good for everyone! It's not the role of the government to stop everyone but the rich from being able to afford an international holiday!
We are supportive of a lot of what the government are trying to do, but we don't feel they are considering just how tough they are making life for people who don't earn over the average wage of £20,000 p.a.
According to reports on Twitter, the UK Government's increased spending and refusal to cut the wages of those earning £100,000+ in the public sector, has made the national debt even worse. It is now over £1,000,000,000,000 ONE TRILLION POUNDS DEBT!
Quite simply, the government have over-spent and given away billions to the banks.Now they are ruining the economy and robbing you of a holiday to pay for their mistakes - while greedy bankers continue to be paid vast sums in bonusses, evn though their banks are not even making a profit!
Please support our campaign to abolish all tax on travel.
The British people work hard and are industrious and successful - they don't need the travel tax boot of the state on their backs!
We're currently pretty obsessed with the BBC sitcom Outnumbered, which is just wonderfully funny. Superb cast and wnderful writing. Not to be missed - and ideal for all the family! A first series has just been commissioned by the BBC, who know they are on to a good thing!
There was a really entralling film on Sky Movies called Hereafter, featuring three strands of a story about life after death experiences. Recommended! Also, if you haven't seen it, don't miss Despicable Me!
On Twitter, Milton Jones, Jack Dee, Jimmy Carr, Adrian Edmondson, Nino Firetto, and Steve Death have been making us laugh. While Julian Clary's insights into Plymouth where he is in panto have been lots of fun. Also, Ant & Dec have been a great addition to Twitter, as entertaining as ever.
Muscially, Adele seems to be everywhere still and must surely clean up at the forthcoming Brit Awards. This week saw a rejuvenated Madonna return to the spotlight in the UK with a guest star spot on The Graham Norton Show.
In the realms of sci-fi & fantasy, an advance trailer for December's The Hobbit has been released, and we are looking forward to seeing Edgar Rice Burrrough's John Carter Of Mars in 2012. Karen Gillan's Amy pond looks set to leave Doctor Who in the 2012 series, with rumours of something special for the show's 50th anniversary looming - possibly a multiple Doctor story. Terra Nova on Sky One looks like it might have legs, although Fringe appears to have lost it's way a bit.
Drama-wise, Treasure Island was great, with Eddie Izzard hinting at a follow up as Long John Silver. Also, the second series of the new Hawaii Five 0 is now underway on Sky One. Look out again for the comedy legal drama Franklin & Bash.
So plenty to get everyone through the winter months and to look forward to in 2012!
You may be interested in featuring the people who first came up with the name "social" for social networking / social media.
The initial Devon Social Group (now known as The Social Group) was set up as a provider of social networking and social events 7 years before Facebook and 10 years before Twitter.
So social networking is in fact British!
It all started after former ski technician Andrew Haglington suffered an injury, was registered disabled, developed ME Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and was left really ill and weak, and in a lot of pain. Following divorce, Andrew spent the best part of 5 years pretty much confined to bed and a wheelchair. Life was very tough for him and, unable to work, he became isolated and still in his 30's was left in the care of home helps from Social Services.
When it occured to Andrew that he could not possibly be the only person on his own, in 1997 he decided to try to gather together a 'group of friends' that anyone could join in and go out with. He decided to shorten the word "socialising" to "social", setting up Devon Social Group to run social events across a social network of people in South West England - thus naming what has grown to become a whole new sector of the economy!
With his idea being so very new, Andrew initially found lots of misunderstanding and resistance, with numerous people not getting it and doors slammed in his face. People he approached for investment to back his brand new concept failed to realise the vast potential of what he was talking about. It was just too far ahead of it's time and there wasn't a culture in the UK to back such a venture. As a result, Andrew and his second wife Cathy were left to try to build up social networking in the UK by themselves, leaving the Americans to claim the multi-billion industry as their own, as detailed in the movie The Social Network.
Instead, Andrew & Cathy have focussed more on people connecting and socialising on a more local basis, over the last decade enabling many thousands of people to make friends and enjoy a better social life. Many who have met through the couple's efforts have even gone on to get married and start families. And at the same time, lots has been done to support good causes and charities, raising awareness and raising funds.
The Social Group is now in the process of going national, with new branches opening across the UK.
Through their work as social entrepreneurs via The Social Group, and with them having such high profiles on the internet, Andrew & Cathy Haglington are recognised as social media celebrities. The British Library has preserved copies of their early web sites as being of historical importance, and there is widespread recognition of the vital role Andrew & Cathy have played in making social networking and social media what it is today.
Andrew is currently writing his story of overcoming illness to start up what has grown to become the social media sector - with a working title of "The Man Who Invented Social Networking".
Andrew & Cathy Haglington 08456 121 770 (12noon -7pm)
Nothing helps see a situation for what it is better than getting away and taking a break. The resulting view from the outside usually makes things clearer.
After a tough year of all manner of difficulties, including illness, injury, family bereavement, problems caused by the government, and a challenging economic climate - not to mention the constant rain, cloud, and dark days of the British winter - we really needed a holiday.
So it was great to be able to get away from it all and head off to the sunshine of a Caribbean Cruise with Social Group Holidays.
Landing in San Juan, Puerto Rico (think Majorca/Cuba/Miami), we soon found ourselves immersed in a local festival of flamboyant colour and passion, with stalls on the grass by the beautiful palm-fringed Condado beach, offering everything from mojito cocktails and tasty snacks (e.g. Caribbean Whole Roasted Pig) to live entertainment from a steel band and even a belly dancer!
Fun in the sun, and people making the most of being happy!
And no-one panicking about the collapse of the currency or the government imposing obscene levels of taxes guaranteed to destroy any chance of economic prosperity!
Yes, it's amazing how much better life can seem when you disconnect and escape being fed a constant diet of despair, fear, and panic by the media. It struck us at once how much less aware and how less worried the Americans we met seemed to be. Strange that, when the British have always prided themselves on how resilient we are.
Off then on the 18 storey cruise liner, 3200 passengers, 1200 staff/crew, with all you can eat for the duration, and different ports of call each day at exotic tropical islands off the coast of Venezuela. Beautiful white sand beaches, warm seas, wonderful snorkeling, blue skies, extravagant palm trees, and some exciting day excursions. But best of all, lots of good company and good times. And lots of smiles.
It does make a difference.
And isn't that the whole point. That life is very much a matter of perspective.
If you are in a room full of depressed people, the world outside seems a lot worse. If you are in a room full of happy people, the world outside doesn't seem so bad.
What do they say... "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"? If anything at all can make you appreciate home, it's being away from it for a while.
On a cruise ship in the southern Caribbean Sea, amidst 37 different nationalities, we met some very nice people from America, Canada, Puerto Rico, Russia, France, Germany, Romania, Denmark and all over the world! But there was always a special thrill to meet someone from back home in the UK and that special bond of being countrymen.
The one thing that really stood out for us was being reminded just how special our nation is and of the unique standing we have in the world.
Here's hoping the opening ceremony of the Summer 2012 Olympics in London is not a complete cringefest and instead manages to be a truly classy "Cool Britannia" affair that gets over to the world what a rich culture, past and present, we represent and embrace.
So keep smiling people! The darkest days of winter are now behind us and it will soon be spring.
Summer lies ahead.
So let's all try to have some OPTIMISM and do all we can to BRING BACK THE GOOD TIMES!
And please everyone... do all you can to defeat government plans to further increase taxation on travel and flights! Because, especially when times are tough, we all need to be able to take a holiday. And we can't allow them to take that away from us.
It's our view that for many modern society can seem pretty cynical and selfish at times. We feel the world would be a better place if people worried less about themselves and made more of an effort to help others and be nice to one another.
In recent years The Social Group has supported...
The Monkey Sanctuary
M.E.N.D.
Cancer Research UK
Paignton Zoo Tiger Conservation
Help The Bees
Arthritis Research UK
Help For Heroes
Children's Hospice South West
The Alzheimer's Society
Obviously, as a social enterprise, we are set up to help people be less lonely and enjoy a better social life, and over the years our efforts and dedication has helped countless thousands of people to make new friends, bringing our community closer together. As the people who thought up, named, and developed modern style 'social networking', we've been at the heart of this idea of enabling people to connect and come together to have fun and lead better lives.
In addition, we do a great deal to offer help and advice to anyone who asks. Some people call us, just needing to chat to someone, never joining the group but grateful for someone to listen. Behind the scenes we do a lot to help people who are bereaved, recovering from serious illness, or trying to make a new life after separation or divorce. We also try to offer extra assistance to people who are far from home and new to the area, doing our best to point them in the right direction of whatever they might need.
In the past we offered assistance to helping organise a team of volunteers with the decoration of accommodation for students, creating a wildlife pond for a local school, and encouraging local councils not to use so many herbicides and pesticides, and to plant out more areas of wild flowers.
Each winter, we do what we can via our network of Twitter pages and local contacts to co-ordinate information during heavy snow, acting like an additional Emergency Service, making sure no-one is left isolated or cut off and in danger in the cold and passing on useful travel updates.
We also do our bit to advise sufferers, relatives of sufferers, and doctors about M.E. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, trying to promote a greater understanding of how serious this horrible illness actually is and how difficult this makes life for people when they cannot use any muscles without severe pain. Also, campaigning for proper understanding that M.E. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is the result of chemical poisoning, and for some serious research to be done to find treatments and hopefully a cure.
Earlier this year, we started and encouraged a campaign on Twitter to ask people to pop next door and offer help to their blue badge neighbours. We know from personal experience that, if you look okay, very few people ever think to help you. You hear lots of people bragging how many hours they put in at the gym or how far they ran or cycled, who never think to put just some of that energy to better use in offering to mow the lawn or paint a ceiling of someone next door who is less fortunate with their health and who finds it difficult to even stand up.
We also do what we can to support environmental campaigns. After the 2011 revolution in Egypt, our backing of Camel Dive School helped persuade the new authorities to secure protection for the beautiful Ras Mohammed Marine National Park coral reefs along the Red Sea coast, which some of our members will know from previous Social Group Holidays to Sharm-El-Sheikh. We also support all the good work done by Reef Relief in Florida. And we are also involved in campaigning for the protection of the unspoilt Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia.
Recently we were asked to give talks on social networking and helping others to a local primary school, doing our best to make it interesting to the children by telling them about our visit around the world to Exmouth Australia with The Social Group.
Fully behind the ideas of a Big Society, it's our view that whatever you can do all contributes to making the world a better place.
ALL DONATIONS TO HELP SUPPORT THE GOOD WORK WE DO ARE APPRECIATED. MANY THANKS.
So Strong. So Loved. The Best Of Men. Honourable. Inspirational. You Were Our Sunshine. You Take A Large Part Of Us With You, And Leave Us In The Shade. Your Wisdom, Guidance, And Good Humour Will Be Sorely Missed. Going On Without You Is The Hardest Thing. A Wonderful Husband, Dad, And Grandad. Forever In Our Hearts.
The funeral was held on 11 August 2011. Thank you to the large gathering of family and friends who attended.
Thank you to everyone for all the cards and kind messages of support for the family during this most difficult time.
OBITUARY
BRIAN HAGLINGTON
Andrew's Dad, Brian Haglington, a former accountant and businessman, will be known to many of our members from the various dinner dances, weekend breaks, and holidays he took part in with The Social Group. As one of our "behind the scenes" team, Brian also acted as business advisor to Social Group Enterprises Ltd and had considerable input in helping shape social networking here in the UK. Everyone who has made friends via The Social Group or benefited from it in any way over the years, owes a great deal to Brian's input and his invaluable help and assistance, which has been sorely missed since he fell ill.
Brian Haglington was the son of Thomas and Evelyn, with a younger brother Jim and a younger sister Jill.
Brian Haglington grew up in Attercliffe in the industrial East End of Sheffield in World War Two, often recalling to Andrew how he woke up one morning during the Blitz to find the fish and chip shop at the end of the road demolished by a Nazi bomb. With the then considerable achievement of passing his 11+ exam, Brian was educated at Firth Park Grammar School where he achieved a record number of what are now GCSE's.
During his time in the Royal Air Force, Brian became an accomplished boxer and there was even talk of him turning professional. Instead he embarked on a career in accounts, being office manager and company secretary in the steel industry, motor trade, and wholesale fruit and vegetable business, before he started up his own company Stocktaking And Business Services, which he ran successfully for three decades.
Brian enjoyed a long and happy marriage to his wife Maureen who worked in the health service in suburban Sheffield, and together they raised two children Andrew and Beverley, to whom they were always very close and loving.
In his private life, Brian had a keen interest in astronomy, once supplying a theory to Stephen Hawking that the expansion of the universe was spherical. He also enjoyed travel and the great outdoors, and playing cards and all kinds of board games. To Brian, spending time with his family was most important of all. He was always so very proud of Andrew and he had a special relationship with his daughter-in-law Cathy.
Brian's strong moral compass was tempered with a terrific sense of humour often compared to Stan Laurel, Michael Palin, and Eric Morecambe. His favourite comedy acts included The Goons, Dad's Army, and One Foot In The Grave. Favourite music included Humphrey Lyttelton, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles, amongst many others.
During the 1990's when Andrew was seriously ill and mostly confined to bed and a wheelchair, suffering terrible pain with M.E. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Brian spoke to Andrew almost every day on the telephone, keeping him alive. Andrew says that brought the two of them especially close, and he credits his Dad's exceptional humanity, patience, consideration, and kindness for supplying the strength to bring him through some really tough times.
Following retirement, Brian Haglington battled Alzheimer's for almost a decade. The last two years have been very difficult, the last eight months seeing a dramatic decline in his health, which was difficult for everyone close to him. Brian passed away in Northern General Hospital in Sheffield on 2 August 2011, with Andrew at his father's side.
A gentle and intelligent man, Andrew says that almost everyone liked his Dad, and feels that those who got to know him better loved him even more. Finding it hard to bear his passing, Andrew is devastated to lose not only his father, but the closest of friends.
At the funeral, the chapel was completely full, with over 100 people attending the wake. With so many tributes to a "lovely man", "a true gentleman", and a "great man", the world was clearly a better place for Brian Haglington being in it and he is sorely missed.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, known as M.E. or C.F.S.
This horrible illness which can last for decades is thought to result from poisoning, possibly from chemicals in day to day use in the environment all around us. Possible culprits are drinking water fluoride, additives in food, amalgam fillings leaking toxic metals, deodorants, herbicides used by local councils to spray roadside verges, pesticides used by farmers on crops and livestock, and organo phosphates used to treat new carpets, curtains, timber, etc. to prevent insect infestations. It is thought to be similar to Gulf War Syndrome or Nerve Gas Poisoning.
Apparently, anyone under stress naturally loses magnesium from the body, making them more susceptible to poisoning from the chemicals we are all exposed to. Underlying stress from every day life can cause people to get run down, and severe stress, such as the trauma of divorce or bereavement, or after a serious viral infection, can put people at risk of developing M.E. Healthy fit and active people can suddenly find themselves sentenced to solitary confinement within their own bodies, unable to use any muscle without extreme pain resulting.
M.E. sufferers sometimes look worn out, and sometimes they look fine. However, the illness is there all the time and any activity at all, even just standing up or walking, will result in extreme fatigue, pain, and exhaustion.
If a typical M.E. sufferer was to try to go out, say to go shopping, they could probably manage a short drive to the supermarket and strangers seeing them get out of the car in the disabled parking bay might well think they were faking needing a Blue Badge. Because a M.E. sufferer looks normal and able to walk, a casual observer might believe they are able bodied and healthy.
Unfortunately, the muscles soon start to feel tired, with the oxygen not being transferred to the cells as it should be. After just a few minutes of walking around a supermarket, the M.E. sufferer would be finding his muscles in his legs starting to feel strange. After 10 minutes, he would be feeling fatigued. After 20 minutes, it could feel really 'wrong' in his legs, like the flesh is wet beneath the skin. After 30 minutes, he could be really struggling. After 45 minutes, he might feel no longer able to stand, his back feeling broken and his chest heaving, as well as his leg muscles being so depleted. An hour or more of exercise without any rest will certainly always cause intense pain in the muscles. Even more walking might even result in collapsing to the floor and loss of consciousness.
The sight of a M.E. sufferer returning to the disabled parking bay after just a couple of hours doing some shopping would worry many people into thinking they needed to call an ambulance. Unfortunately, this is only the start of the effects of the exertion. For anything up to 48 hours afterwards, the muscles will hurt more and more, the suffering increasing in intensity, with explosions of agonising pain, accompanied by symptoms of sweats, fevers, acute cramps, pins & needles, and burning along the nerve endings, before finally it subsides and our typical M.E. sufferer begins to feel more normal again, at which time they might just be able to attempt to go shopping once more.
Please remember, not all disabled people look disabled all the time! Our typical M.E. sufferer will need his disabled Blue Badge for the times he his in enormous pain and hardly able to move, even if when you see him he may look to move just fine. Not all disabled people need a wheelchair or crutches all the time - the condition of M.E. sufferers varies from hour to hour, depending on what they have done. The M.E. is still there and the M.E. sufferer is still ill. So please have sympathy and show compassion.
On top of all this, M.E. brings with it hyper-sensitivity and a host of allergies. Some people cannot go near animals, some have to avoid all chemical wipes, detergents, perfumes, deodorants, and air fresheners, and some cannot go in swimming pools as the chemicals in the water would burn off their skin. Other sufferers have damaged or whitened skin develop. Once you have M.E. nothing in your body works properly - anaesthetics for dental work or operations are unlikely to work as they should, possibly not at all. Plus, the weak muscles in the tummy means that most M.E. sufferers also have irritable bowel syndrome type symptoms to have to cope with as well, sometimes with hugely swollen tummies.
So all in all, M.E. is very unpleasant and it's ramifications prevent most people from having any sort of normal life. People with M.E. are severely curtailed in what they can manage to do. Following exercise, after attempting pretty much anything, the resultant extreme and intense, often agonising pain and suffering makes them disabled.
Much of the time, sufferers are so ill that they cannot go out and are not seen. Friends can think sufferers have moved away, as often they are confined to bed for years on end. Sufferers are only seen on good days, when they are actually well enough to go out. The rest of the time, they are out of sight, out of mind.
Most people spend several years pretty much confined to bed when they first get M.E. Around 5 years lost from their lives would be fairly typical. As this is very hard to come to terms with, most M.E. sufferers get very isolated and depressed, especially when doctors offer no treatment or cure. Most M.E. sufferers don't get taken seriously by doctors after they are diagnosed with M.E. and many are treated abominably. The NHS do NOT help anyone suffering with this illness. It's even common for doctors to suggest tests that actually make the M.E. much worse - for instance, there is a standard test that hospitals do to check heart pains by asking people to run on a treadmill, which is impossible if a person has M.E. and cannot stand much of the time, let alone attempt to run!
Most M.E. sufferers feel they have an illness as severe as Cancer or AIDS. Indeed, it does lead to many dying young, with secondary health problems usually put down as the cause. Yet most M.E. sufferers are not treated with anything like the same degree of kindness or compassion as people with other serious illnesses.
Bizarrely, sometimes doctors, friends, and family can adamantly refuse to believe there is anything wrong and just try to ignore M.E. like it doesn't exist. Sometimes close relatives find it easier to think the M.E. sufferer is just feeling sorry for themselves. Acknowledging the true horror of M.E. and realising just how dreadful it actually is... well it seems to be just too much for some people to contemplate. For the fortunate ones, having the support of good people around them is the only thing that makes anything resembling a normal life possible. Someone to care for them after doing anything, even if they are in lots of pain, does at least mean they can do something.
After some years, the condition does tend to lessen, with many finding they can do a bit more than they could before exhaustion and pain set in - but for most, the illness never goes away completely. Some never get out of bed again. Some take their own lives rather than face living with it. It takes enormous courage and strength of character to keep going and attempt to come through it all.
Years later, our typical M.E. sufferer may still spend part of the day having to lay down and rest, may find several days a week it is impossible to do anything, and may find stress causes the severity of M.E. to get worse again. Catching a cold or flu virus for a normal healthy person is inconvenient - for an M.E. sufferer, it can result in explosions of pain, burning nerves, and feeling terrible.
Because M.E. is not being taken seriously by many governments, and very little research into any sort of treatment or cure is being undertaken, 12 May 2011 has been designated 'INTERNATIONAL M.E. AWARENESS DAY'.
According to recent research announced by Dr. Montoya at Stanford Hospital in California, USA, the illness seems to revolve around the immune system's response to pathogens found inside cells throughout the body - you can watch the full video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Riybtt6SChU
Dr. Montoya is emphatic that ME / CFS is not anything to do with anything psychological and says that in the end the medical community will need to apologise to the patients they have treated so badly.
Dr. Montoya reports how many people are only 30% of what they should be for decades of their lives, and details severe disabling fatigue, muscle pain, joint pain, twitches, a complexity of symptoms, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, and a whole host of very nasty, very real symptoms people are forced to live with - with no help from doctors!
Stanford Hospital, who are now researching this and according to Dr. Montoya, working on it very hard, have set up a specific ME / CFS website http://chronicfatigue.stanford.edu/
On 2 February 2011, ME / CFS was debated in the British Parliament. You can watch this on BBC Video at http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/house_of_commons/newsid_9382000/9382412.stm
Ian Swales MP for Redcar began the debate with a breath of fresh air by reading out an honest statement of what ME / CFS is really like...
"I begin by reading what a constituent of mine, Jan Laverick, who suffers from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, wrote to describe her condition:
ME is sudden and extreme muscle weakness to the point of not being able to lift a glass.
ME is collapsing with exhaustion and not being able to move for hours.
ME is struggling to sit up long enough to eat a meal that has been placed in your lap.
ME is tachycardia, seizures, paralysis and black outs.
ME is sensitivity to light, sound and touch.
ME is extreme abdominal bloating, nausea, loss of appetite, excruciating stomach cramps...
ME is daily fevers and sweats.
ME is inflammation and horrendous joint, nerve and muscle pain.
Imagine suffering from these symptoms only to find there is little research into the cause or cure, that you might not be taken seriously by your GP or the benefits system.
Your condition might even have been dismissed as 'yuppie flu'.
I welcome the fact that the Department of Health now accepts ME as a genuine medical condition. However, it is clear from speaking to sufferers and medical professionals that diagnosis can still pose a problem because ME symptoms are similar to those present in several other medical conditions. I recognise that one of the main obstacles to the adequate treatment of ME is the lack of knowledge and consensus about the disease, and I will argue that funding and research must be focused on the biomedical factors involved, and not simply on managing the psychological symptoms."
It was fantastic to hear an MP stand up and speak these words. For sufferers of ME / CFS, this speech was akin to William Wilberforce standing up against the injustice of slavery. Congratulations to Ian Swales MP for being brave enough to declare the emperor isn't wearing any clothes!
Over 17 million people around the world suffer from this appalling illness, with hundreds of thousands ill with it in the UK alone - yet the UK government spends almost nothing on research. In fact, the latest thinking from the UK health minister is to encourage people to have "graded exercise". Imagine the furore if cancer research was no longer funded, and the government just told sufferers to do a bit of exercise!
For years, ME / CFS sufferers have been fobbed off by the medical establishment, given terrible advice by hospitals, laughed at by doctors, ignored by nurses, and generally ignored by the NHS who couldn't be bothered to treat anyone with this appalling illness with seriousness or any degree of sympathy or civility. ME / CFS sufferers were not believed. ME / CFS sufferers were treated as malingerers and scroungers. ME / CFS sufferers were even referred to psychologists and told they were imagining being in appalling pain!
Every practitioner of medicine should hang their heads in shame. It is clearly time for the medical establishment and governments to come clean and give ME / CFS sufferers a formal apology.
NHS Health Minister Burstow needs to do much more than say a miserly million quid will be spent on looking at the symptoms. It really is such a disgrace, there is no wonder that many suspect the government knows exactly what the illness is and conclude this must be a cover-up to prevent mass compensation claims. Surely, they say, no government could be that stupid to actually think this is not a serious physical illness? One which needs some serious funding to solve, on par with Cancer or AIDS? Then again, surely no human being could be that cruel and callous to leave people with a terrible ultra-painful physical illness to suffer?
Lives are being wrecked and human beings abandoned, left to suffer and treated like they don't matter. If you live in the UK and hear politicians, activists, doctors, and nurses defend a "wonderful National Health Service" on the telly, if you have ME, you look at screen with a mixture of incredulity and anger. In the UK, as soon as you are told you have ME, the NHS is mostly not available to you any more and you will never get treated properly again. Sufferers report being ignored, being ridiculed, and being treated in a condescending manner, as if you have a mental illness and need a pat on the head to help you calm down. You don't get any treatment. You don't get any real help. You don't get any cure. On top of that, the NHS doesn't recognise your illness, and doesn't treat you like you are even ill. For many, doctors and nurses become people to avoid and fear - you learn not to treat most as people who will help you. Doctors and nurses are not the friends of people suffering from ME, one of the worst and most painful illnesses it is possible to be afflicted with. Many in the medical profession know nothing about this illness whatsoever, many can't be bothered to learn, and many more won't ever take you seriously.
The British as a nation pride themselves on justice. When will it come for sufferers of ME, the last of the second class citizens waiting to be recognised as having being treated appallingly?
Good feedback from the ME community on my speech today. They don't seem quite as happy with Minister Burstow's response. 8:34 PM Feb 2nd via HTC Peep Retweeted by you and 8 others
NO HELP for sufferers of #me#cfs#mecfs ABANDONED BY THE NHS! Not a single penny being spent on this terrible illness caused by poisoning! 36 minutes ago via web Retweeted by you
It is important to bring everyone suffering from #MECFS#ME#CFS together to share experiences - so please follow us and share your story! about 1 hour ago via web
#mecfs CASE: http://t.co/knzcVbw research - lots of focus on why the illness lasts so long, often for decades, without killing the sufferers about 1 hour ago via web
#CFS#ME#MECFS If this illness is caused by environmental poisoning from chemicals (after stress), that explains why NO virus is found! about 1 hour ago via web
#ME#MECFS#CFS Name "Myalgic Encephalomyelitis" is too long; the name "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" is misleading as this is more than fatigue about 1 hour ago via web
In 1992, following a skiing injury and suspected poisoning, Social Group founder Andrew Haglington was diagnosed with M.E. and he spent the next 5 years seriously ill and largely confined to bed. His situation was made worse by being abandoned by his first wife of 14 years and the stress of an acrimonious divorce.
It was the loneliness and isolation of the illness that caused Andrew to find out first hand how difficult it was to make new friends, and in turn led him to identify the need for a mechanism in society whereby people could connect. Fighting to overcome appalling ill-health, constant pain, and weakness, Andrew somehow managed to forge ahead to set up The Social Group in 1997 and invent modern-style "social networking".
Over the years since, Andrew's efforts have resulted in him meeting his second wife Cathy and the couple doing a lot of good for others, together enabling thousands of people to make new friends and enjoy a great social life.
Thankfully, although he still suffers, Andrew's health is by and large mostly better than it once was, and he has learned to live manage it as best he can. Andrew now uses much of his spare time outside work to advise and help others more recently diagnosed with M.E.
by Andrew Haglington B.A. (Hons) Environmental Studies
The whole
surface of planet Earth is comprised of tectonic plates, which are mostly
wedged against each other and stable.Where the plates are moving against each other, by each other, or under
each other, friction builds up until the pressure suddenly gives and earthquakes
occur.Vast areas of land can suddenly
move all at once.If this happens under
the sea, the ground can sometimes lift up, causing a mass displacement of water
- a bit like moving your legs suddenly when sitting in a full bath of water, but
on an enormous scale.Hundreds of miles
of sea bed suddenly lifting up can cause a tsunami tidal wave, which if
impacting on a stretch of inhabited coastline can be utterly devastating for
human civilisation, the rubble-strewn water relentlessly scouring away
everything in it's path.
The giant Boxing
Day Earthquake of 2004 off the coast of Indonesia, measuring 9.1 magnitude,
was the third biggest earthquake ever recorded (since records began in 1900)
and the resulting tsunami was responsible for the deaths of an estimated
300,000 people.You can view video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDOuwMj7Xzo
In some
parts of the world, earthquakes and tsunami are commonplace.Japan can sometimes get several small
earthquakes a day and 100 - 200 small tsunami a year.This is video of the tsunami which hit
Okushiri in Japan
in 1993 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlw-HvCu_5w
For years,
in Tokyo (as in Los Angeles
in California),
the populations regularly affected by small earthquakes have waited for
"the big one".In March 2011, in
Japan,
it happened.The 9.0 magnitude earthquake
under the Pacific Ocean off the north east coast of Japan was the sixth biggest
earthquake ever recorded and the biggest in Japanese history, causing a total catastrophe,
a massive earthquake, followed by a series of tsunami tidal waves, followed by
fires and explosions at nuclear power stations.Apparently, the impact of this earthquake was so massive that it even
changed the axis of the earth by 10cm.Video
of the 2011 tsunami in Japan
can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRDpTEjumdo
Widespread
ownership of digital cameras and video recording equipment have made it
possible for disasters to be seen by the entire planet for the first time.Recent earthquakes in Haiti and New
Zealand, and the utter devastation caused by tsunami in Indonesia and in Japan have left the human race in
shock and traumatised by our helplessness against such immense forces of nature.
It is hardly
surprising that the value of homes around the world which are inland, on higher
ground, and away from the sea has increased compared to those built in flat low-lying
coastal areas or those with a "desirable sea view".Clearly living near the sea can be an immensely
dangerous choice.
Here in the UK, I think
there is a general view of this being something that only happens on the other
side of the world. With the British Isles sitting on a relatively stable part of the
earth's crust and not near any major meeting of active tectonic plates, we get
very few earthquakes strong enough to notice, so this isn't something we generally
tend to feel is a direct threat to us.
Unfortunately,
that is not the case. With massive
faults and a geologically very active area deep under the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic shores are most definitely at
risk.Furthermore, there is evidence of previous
tsunami being generated which have affected the UK, which means it is probably only
a matter of time before we get another one.It may not be for hundreds of years or it may be next week, but at some
stage, it almost certainly will happen.
In the April
2005 Timewatch programme on BBC2, "The
Killer Wave Of 1607",Dr Simon
Haslett FGS, FRGS, of Bath Spa University College spoke of uncovering
overwhelming evidence of along the Bristol Channel, from Barnstaple to
Gloucestershire, both historical and geological, which suggested the Great
Flood of 1607 was in fact caused by a tsunami.The disaster hit the coast of Somerset in
England
on the morning of 20January 1607.An ancient fault in the Earth’s crust to the south west of Ireland
suddenly shifted violently, displacing enough water the generate a tsunami.Moving at close to 100mph, it seems the
killer wave rushed towards the UK
and up the Bristol Channel, it’s force
multiplied by the high tide and the funnelling effect of the local coastline geography.
There are reports of locals feeling an earth
tremor prior to the wave, which seems pretty conclusive that this was indeed a
tsunami. A wall of water, 10 metres high bore
down on the coastal villages of Somerset
with no warning and terrible violence.Eyewitnesses at the time spoke about people being washed away 4 miles
inland as the torrent ‘destroyed the whole country’ for mile after mile as it
swept across the lowlands, as far inland as Glastonbury Tor, 14 miles from the
coast.The 1607 ‘Great Flood’ was seen
as the apocalypse, with reports of ‘huge and mighty hills of water’.Another eyewitness of the devastation says, ‘the
sea fell with such violence upon the house that it bore away the whole
building’.
Professor
Haslett described the event as having been catastrophic for human civilisation
in South West England at the time.Accounts contain a long list of Somerset places that were badly affected, including
Berrow, Yatton, Puxton, Congresbury, Kingston Seymour, Worle, Kewstoke,
Banwell, Wick, Weston-super-Mare, Uphill,
Kenn, Combwich, Burnham, Lympsham, East Brent, Mark and Brean.In 1607, around 2,000 people were killed by
this UK
tsunami.If history were to repeat
itself, and similar were to happen again, the devastation and loss of life these
days would be much greater, as the area is now heavily populated, with numerous
towns where there were once just a scattering of quiet villages and farmland.
A 2005 government study looked at tsunamis, and
also identified another possible threat from an earthquake under the North Sea which
might affect the east coast of England, and another threat from where the
Eurasian Plate meets the African Plate west of Gibraltar, which might threaten not
only Spain and Portugal, but also France, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Wales.
We do have a network of seismographs in place across
the UK, but there is no
co-ordinated tsunami warning system in place in the UK
and nothing around the Atlantic to match that
in the Pacific.Previous earthquakes in
the Caribbean have not generated tsunamis which have managed to cross the Atlantic, and with the likelihood of a very large
earthquake closer to home seen as unlikely, a public warning system has so far not
been deemed the highest priority in this country.As someone who has studied both Environmental
Studies and Atlantic Oceanography, my own view is that there must be some
degree of very serious risk.Also, if it
has happened before, it can happen again.So fingers crossed it's not in our lifetime.
FEELING DOWN WITH THE WINTER BLUES?
"Seasonally Adjusted Disorder" or S.A.D. syndrome is a cute way of describing people feeling miserable and down in winter.
Research has found the lack of sunshine has a detrimental effect on the body. The skin suffers from lack of exposure to UV radiation and the mind suffers by becoming less sharp, with feelings of fatigue and depression.
Suggestions for overcoming the WINTER BLUES include a diet which includes plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, keeping your spirits up, making sure you get some fresh air and "blow the cobwebs off" when it is sunny (even on cold days), doing some exercise, and plenty of good social contact.
Apparently social contact, having fun, chatting, laughing, and interacting with other people helps lift the spirit and stop people from feeling down.
A little of what you fancy is good for you - so indulge yourself - try to get out and have a good time!
The Social Group provides a great way to enjoy some good company and good times! Lots of fun, lots of laughs, and lots of trying to cheer everyone up! It can only be good for you!
WE ALL NEED SOME SUNSHINE!
Recent research has indicated that being in the sun for a time provides better immunity protection for your body than a Flu jab!
The easiest way to fix the winter blues and keep your spirits up is to fly off to warmer climes and take it easy in the sun for a week or so!
Next winter, come with THE SOCIAL GROUP on a beautiful Caribbean Cruise to the most wonderful tropical islands - with the ship giving you time in San Juan,
St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Grenada, Bonaire, & Aruba! Fly out to the Caribbean on 1st December with the rest of the group, with the ship sailing on 4th December for 7 nights. See lots of beautiful places, with plenty of good company!
TO BOOK NOW, CALL 08456 121 772!
SOCIAL GROUP HOLIDAYS
http://www.socialgroupholidays.com
http://twitter.com/iSocialHolidays
* UK short breaks
* Brittany weekends
* Crete
* Egypt & Red Sea
* Italy
* Thailand - Bangkok & Phuket
* Singapore
* Malaysia
* Western Australia * Central America * USA - Miami, Key West, & Caribbean Cruise
* USA - California * USA - Las Vegas & National Parks
