Port Talbot Charities fair

On a wet and windy day we set up our Awareness Stand and goods for sale, in a marquee in the Aberavon shopping centre. The horrible day did not deter the good people of that town. They came in large numbers to see us and all the other people with stands at the fair. We talked to a lot of people about Breathe Easy and how it helps to join us if you have a lung condition. And we sold a lot of toys, aprons, peg bags ang other goodies made by our group, raising £60.

Discrimination for oxygen users on planes

On Thursday we were delighted to welcome Hywell Griffith, from BBC Wales, and Kevin Sullivan, from British LUng Foundation Wales, to our home to film an article about the discrimination encountered when trying to fly away for a holiday break. Some airlines charge to use oxygen, around £100 per leg of the journey and others provide it free. Some won't let me use my battery operated portable concentrator, which is approved as safe by the Civil Aviation Authority, but on the same flight I may see people using laptops, mobile phones or Gameboys - what's the difference?

You can hear the article via the link on the right, or read the Welsh version.
This really must stop. All we ask is to be able to visit places in the same way that other travellers can without extra charges.

Neath Fest Community Fair

This took place in St David's Church, Neath, on Saturday 8th May. Unfortunately the day was cold and wet, not unusual for this year, but the people who came enjoyed themselves. We sold a few toys and bits and bobs, and talked to lots of people about our Breathe Easy group - new members ? I hope so.

Cath Harper talks about exercise and other stuff.

We had a very lively chat with Cath about the benefits of exercise, the downward spiral into inactivity and depression if you don't, and the upward spiral into better muscle tone and feeling better if you do. Whichever way you look at it, exercise is the way to go.
Then, as our meetings often do, we ended up discussing all sorts of things and booked Cath to come back later in the year to talk about shifting sputum. It's amazing how many laughs you can get out of such a disgusting subject. We all loved her paint chart of sputum shades though - very useful in an exacerbation to be able to call the nurses and say "I am producing number nine today."

HSBC Bank and a BIG CHEQUE

Last night we were presented with a large cheque, both size and amount. Two employees of HSBC Bank abseiled with us last Sunday and HSBC Bank have matched the amount of sponsorship they raised, much to our delight. Also, good news, we recruited quite a few more people for next year's abseil event.
A BIG thankyou to the abseilers, their sponsors and the bank, for their generosity

This was our fourth year staging our fundraising event and it just seems to get better and better. This year we had sunshine, showers, hail and wind, but no one cared about the bad stuff as they all seemed to be having such a good time.

We had sixty one adults, abseiling the big rock, and fourteen children.
Lots of spectators and supporters came too.
At the end of the day we had already collected £2,546 and there is still a lot of sponsorhip to be collected, what dizzy heights will we reach?
It's what we call a great day !
Many thanks to Call of the Wild who don't charge us for putting on this event each year, which means that every penny raised is spent to help the one in five people in Wales who are living with a lung condition.

Birds in our gardens

We spent a delightful afternoon with Amanda Skull, talking about the rise and fall in numbers of bird visitors to our gardens. I think we surprised ourselves on our knowledge of the birds we see regularly at our bird tables - we scored ten out of ten on Amanda's top ten chart. It's amazing to think that starlings, which used to be the thugs of the bird tables, are now on the endangered list. Let's keep on feeding them and enjoying them in our own back gardens.