My childhood memories at Bletchley Park

Posted by Ellee on Jun 17, 2013 in Blog | 0 comments We had a Father’s Day outing yesterday to Bletchley Park and one of the stewards, Jean Cheshire, told me what it was like living there as a child with the code breakers when her father worked there during World War 2. I asked her if she had met Alan Turning. You will need to listen to her reply in my Audioboo interview (she is now 79) to find out her answer:   listen to ‘My childhood...
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Dennis Radar, my psychic and The Fall

Posted by Ellee on Jun 9, 2013 in Blog, Ghost writing | 0 comments I’ve just read in today’s Sunday Times that The Fall, the gripping series on a serial killer, was inspired by Dennis Radar, one of America’s most notorious murderers who bound, tortured and killed 10 people, mainly women, over 30 years. I recognised similarities because while watching this because like the drama’s creator, Allan Cubitt, I also read the same book by Roy...
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The holy grail for early cancer diagnosis takes a huge leap forward

Posted by Ellee on Jun 6, 2013 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments The quest for the holy grail for early cancer detection has taken a huge leap forward following a major collaboration between Cancer Research UK, Cancer Research Technology and Abcodia, the biomarker validation company with a focus on cancer screening. Through Abcodia, CRUK and CRT will be able to access one of the world’s largest prospective collections of serum samples available for biomarker...
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The world’s first tweeting garden

Posted by Ellee on May 27, 2013 in Blog | 0 comments I met two ingenious guys at the Chelsea Flower Show, the Harfleet brothers, Paul and Tom, who introduced social media into a garden theme in collaboration with the University of Lincoln – winning a coveted gold medal too – by designing the world’s first tweeting garden called Digital Capabilities. It certainly attracted considerable interest. They took a huge gamble too as many...
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New ryegrass can help prevent flooding

Posted by Ellee on May 20, 2013 in Blog | 0 comments Congratulations to researchers at Aberystwyth University who have developed a new ryegrass species which could help reduce the impact of flooding through its roots system. The hybrid can capture more water in soils than is possible with current agricultural grasses. This then reduces run-off which could help minimise flood generation. I was fascinated by this because I have not heard of changes...
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Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy

Posted by Ellee on May 14, 2013 in Blog | 2 comments I am stunned to learn that the beautiful actress Angelina Jolie has had a double mastectomy because she was at risk of developing breast cancer as she she carries the gene BRCA1 associated with this. Her mother had died of cancer at the age of 56. Angelina broke the news in The New York Times, it is an incredibly moving and courageous story and she selflessly hopes it will help other women faced...
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Wendy Cope’s poem for the Poets House, Ely

Posted by Ellee on May 3, 2013 in Blog | 3 comments I joined Ely’s beautiful people yesterday for the opening of Ely’s first boutique hotel called Poets House - complete with copper baths in the bedroom – and sipped my champagne with a local bishop, our MP, my dashing potato farmer friend, a few councillors and local dignitaries, some media folk – and even a couple of poets! In fact, these were two very distinguished poets...
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Colon cancer – have you been checked?

Posted by Ellee on Apr 25, 2013 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments The first time I met Jola Gore-Booth and Julia Kennedy from EuropaColon in Brussels in 2008, they quizzed me closely about my medical background to see if I needed to be screened for colon (bowel) cancer. They say people find it embarrassing to talk about bottoms – but don’t waste a moment in bringing this into the conversation. When you meet these two women who are passionate about...
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YourEly is now live!

Posted by Ellee on Apr 19, 2013 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments YourEly is now live – and it looks amazing! I enjoy shopping, but I also love a bargain. So I am one of the 2,000 community members who signed up to YourEly to be updated about promotions and special offers right on my doorstep. While working with Caroline Bailey to promote her innovative concept, that of having a single social media platform to promote local businesses among its...
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The Margaret Thatcher legacy we really need

Posted by Ellee on Apr 18, 2013 in Blog | 1 comment Love her or loathe her, whichever political colours you endorse, there is one way that Baroness Margaret Thatcher could make a positive difference for countless people’s lives, and that is by donating part of her estate for research into dementia, the disease which she was cruelly inflicted with for the last 13 years of her life. Those close to her know only too well the devastation it can...
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Rachel Johnson’s Eddie Mair moment in Cambridge

Posted by Ellee on Apr 14, 2013 in Blog | 1 comment Our glittering literary stars descended on Cambridge this weekend for Wordfest 2013, always a highlight of my year. Using St John’s College as a venue for the first time worked brilliantly – who couldn’t feel inspired and in awe each time we walked across the famous Bridge of Sighs, watching tourists glide by on their punts! I have summarised a snapshot from some of my...
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Cambridge Samaritans celebrate 50th anniversary

Posted by Ellee on Apr 7, 2013 in Blog | 0 comments As a former dedicated supporter of Cambridge Samaritans, I was delighted to attend their 50th anniversary today where the city’s Mayor, Coun Sheila Stuart, praised volunteers for their listening and non-judgemental skills. “Bereavement, redundancy, poverty, the loss of a home, illness, the breakdown of a relationship – there are so many things that can cause acute anguish and...
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North Norfolk’s links with Winston Churchill and Southern Rhodesia

Posted by Ellee on Apr 1, 2013 in Blog | 1 comment We have just returned from a short Easter break to a fabulous North Norfolk hotel, somewhere I always wanted to stay after first setting sight on it back in 2009 when I joined Conservative European parliamentary candidates on a fact finding coastal erosion visit to Overstrand. We stumbled across the hotel as we walked back to our cars and stopped to admire its Elizabethan style exterior with its...
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Community support for YourEly tops 1,000

Posted by Ellee on Mar 17, 2013 in Blog, PR client | 4 comments More than 1,000 people have signed up to YourEly within a month of dynamic Ely business woman Caroline Bailey announcing plans to launch a unique initiative for businesses in the city to engage with their community.  It has also been ‘liked’ by more than 1,000 followers on Facebook. This is a fantastic achievement and endorsement of YourEly. YourEly is a unique website and social...
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What is the alternative to ineffective antibiotics?

Posted by Ellee on Mar 12, 2013 in Blog | 3 comments It is terrifying to learn how resistant bacteria is becoming to antibiotics. They have been used as a last resort for both my sons, and I cannot bear to think of the pain they would have continued enduring without them, and what their recovery would have been like without them. Last month I had to collect my youngest son from Nottingham and bring him home after his red raw sore throat refused to...
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How to beat ageing – ask Roy (86)!

Posted by Ellee on Mar 7, 2013 in Blog | 2 comments I always enjoy reading  Jerome Burne’s articles on health topics, and his latest, Ten top tips to boost your disease free survival, reminded me of my father-in-law Roy who, having just celebrated his 86th birthday, is enjoying a new energised lease of life – and it’s all thanks to love! Surely that plays a vital part in ensuring good health too. Roy lost his Vera, the land army...
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Cambs Police and my FOI request

Posted by Ellee on Feb 26, 2013 in Blog | 3 comments I was stonewalled when I asked Cambridgeshire Police for migrant crime figures in Wisbech – my home town which has witnessed murders among its new Eastern European community – after submitting a Freedom of Information request for this information which I believed they would keep a record of. I was told: It is estimated that it will take a minimum of 25,000 hours a t a cost of £25 an...
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Anglesey Abbey’s snowdrop walk

Posted by Ellee on Feb 16, 2013 in Blog | 2 comments Now the weather has picked up, I recommend that all garden lovers visit Anglesey Abbey, just outside Cambridge, to enjoy the National Trust’s first ever winter walk designed by their inspirational retired head gardener Richard Ayres. It now attracts thousands of visitors each year who admire the mix of winter flowers on an all-weather path, including more than 240 varieties of snowdrops....
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Terence Stamp’s big regret, Vanessa Redgrave and his favourite East End mango

Posted by Ellee on Feb 14, 2013 in Blog | 2 comments Perhaps it was because I had just been to a funeral that afternoon that Song for Marion was particularly poignant for me at its Cambridge preview.  I was feeling the loss of a dear friend whose smile always lighted a room, she had a cheerfulness similar to Marion, the terminally ill character played by Vanessa Redgrave in this heart rending film. It was a delight to later hear Terence Stamp, who...
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YourEly plan for city’s businesses to unite

Posted by Ellee on Feb 12, 2013 in Blog, PR client | 1 comment Ely may not have Mary Portas, but it is fortunate in having business woman Caroline Bailey in its midst to lead on the challenge of ensuring that local businesses and the city’s high street remains vibrant for years to come. This is not the time for businesses to sit back and bemoan their fate, but to take matters into their own hands, like Caroline has, and, hopefully, she will inspire...
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When will Sir Richard Branson and Prof Stephen Hawking head for space on Virgin Galactic?

Posted by Ellee on Feb 10, 2013 in Blog | 2 comments Just over a year ago I recorded this video of Sir Richard Branson at Prof Stephen Hawkings’ 70th birthday symposium in Cambridge.  Branson told me he was planning to enter space on his Virgin Galactic by the end of 2012 with his children, and that Prof Hawking would follow on one of the next trips. Although delayed, it shouldn’t be long before the countdown begins as test flights...
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How independent book stores can succeed

Posted by Ellee on Feb 8, 2013 in Blog | 2 comments With the spotlight firmly on saving further shops in our high street from closure following the demise of HMV, Blockbuster, and, a favourite of mine, Jessop’s, there is one independent store in Ely that shines like a beacon and has the support and admiration of its local community, and that is Topping bookstore. I placed my Christmas orders there instead of Amazon, and their helpful staff...
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How far has cancer screening progressed in the last 60 years?

Posted by Ellee on Feb 6, 2013 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments Abcodia, the award winning biomarker validation company with a focus on cancer screening, highlighted some interesting data in its latest newsletter which I thought I would share here. It published fascinating figures about research growth in cancer screening from 1952 – 2012, and the most studied diseases, following a search of the PubMed website by COO Chris Hodkinson. This is what he...
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Eric Schmidt on UK foreign policy, Julian Assange, and what worries him

Posted by Ellee on Feb 1, 2013 in Blog | 0 comments Connecting the world may be Eric Schmidt’s dream, but it is one which could dramatically change the shape of the internet today as we know it, dominated as it is, by western users from affluent countries. I had never considered this before, the impact of  digitally empowering repressed citizens who are currently denied access to cyber space; these are the next 5 billion users who are...
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My OXYjet experience

Posted by Ellee on Jan 29, 2013 in Blog | 2 comments When I worked as a journalist and wrote a weekly health and beauty page, I used to love visiting spas to test them out. In fact, I first started writing a Woman’s page when I was 16. I still avidly follow updates about what’s new in the beauty industry and enjoy being pampered and trying out new treatments. We have booked a P & O cruise this summer and I was looking forward to...
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