Friday, June 21, 2013

The Lab



Yesterday I headed off into London for an exciting day.  In the afternoon I had a meeting with representatives from ARUK and fellow Champions to discuss ways of encouraging people to engage with the research community.  

I'd taken these cute little owls, crocheted using the pattern from Bunny Mummy, for Dione and her daughters Beth and Ellie.  It is such a quick and easy pattern that I only took just over an hour to crochet all three of them.

Cute crocheted owls

Sadly though,  Dione was poorly and unable to make it so I shall have to post them to her.  I'd asked her what their favourite colours were so they each have their own unique colour combos.

In the end there were only 2 Champions there; myself and Mick, who I last saw at the Badminton horse trials.  Mick's wife Elaine sadly passed away on March 6th having developed early-onset Alzheimer's at the age of 52.  It was good having the 2 different perspectives and we bounced ideas off each other well.

In the evening we headed off to a reception at the Royal College of Physicians.


The modernist building looks a bit out of place alongside the beautiful buildings overlooking Regent's Park
Here's Mick looking as if he's doing a routine from Saturday Night Fever!  He's talking to Dr Marie Janson, Director of Development for ARUK

This was a launch party for  The Lab, a virtual tour of a laboratory to help people understand what researchers do to try to understand the disease.  There is lots of information to explore and there are interviews with lots of different people, including me.

I'd already looked at and commented upon it during the development stage and I think it's a fantastic thing and I really hope people will explore it.


This is Laura who helped develop the project

Here's Tim, head of Communications & Public Affairs, looking as if he's doing a karaoke song!
It was exceedingly hot in the room and I was glad to get out into the fresh air to head home.  It was a long walk from the venue to Charing Cross station and I had to walk really fast in order to catch my train.

I had a bit of an accident en-route when I was trying avoid a drunken man and I tripped on an uneven paving slab, fell flat on my face, grazing my elbows and hurting both knees in the process.  Ironically it was the drunken man who rushed over to check I was OK!

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