I haven’t let you have a look inside my bag yet. This one is about ½ full.

Before you start muttering about  MacDonalds. They are one of the most active of the big take away companies in attempting to control litter. They schedule collections around their outlets, get involved in community litter initiatives as well as providing bins etc. The company is massive with incredible sales and so, proportionately, rubbish from their outlets is likely to make up a larger proportion of street litter.

But has littering anything to do with the company selling the product? Perhaps they could work harder at using less packaging and ensuring that it is all readily biodegradable. However, lets lay the blame where is belongs – with the few customers who don’t care what happens to the rubbish left after their meal. By buying the products, they take responsibility for making sure our wonderful World is not blighted with the disposable packaging, napkins, cups cutlery, hand wipes etc they own and chuck down without thought.

Middle aged woman stomps down from her soapbox. Wonder when I can raise the subject of cotton buds?

 

Did you know?

Usain Bolt ate a chilli chicken wrap the night before 100m final at the London Olympics in 2012. Didn’t do him any harm as he raced to his second gold medal in the event.

During 2012 Olympics the 2 MacDonald restaurants on the Olympic Park served
2.5m meals.

1 in 8 workers in the US has been employed by MacDonalds. 1 in 8 men in the UK will experience Prostate Cancer

You would have to walk continuously for 7 hours to burn the calories in a Big Mac, fries and a supersized Coke

The last time I ate MacDonalds I decided never to do so again.
I haven’t altered that intention.
(Editorial opinion which is not the view of Clean up Prostate Cancer)

Single or Double? - Read it for Prostate Cancer research

A totally fantastic novel idea. Julia Horton-Powdrill lost her husband, Brian, to Prostate Cancer in April 2014. She has decided to donate proceeds from her new novel Single or Double? to Prostate Cancer research. The reviews on Amazon are unanimously excellent, praising the light hearted and wacky readability of the plot with larger than life characters. If you can’t afford to buy the novel don’t forget the Public Lending Right means an author gets a small payment when their books are borrowed from the public library system.

Well done to Julia, having endured this dreadful experience while supporting your husband and the family through it, this must feel like such a fulfilling and uplifting way of making a contribution to the battle to beat Prostate Cancer. Best wishes for the future.

You can buy Single or Double? at any good bookshop or online outlet. For a resume visit  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Single-Double-Julia-Horton-Powdrill/dp/0993086241

Huge round of applause - the unsung heroes

Oncology lab http://wellcomeimages.org/

Thinking about the many people who have helped us over the 10 years since Prostate Cancer entered our lives, I’m particularly keen to draw your attention to the wonderful people who work in our medical services. From receptionists, radiographers, GPs, phlebotomists, nurses, secretaries, doctors, we’ve relied on dozens of special people in so many different sectors and centres.

Cancer brings fear, depression, pain, panic. It also brings isolation. No matter how strong the character it cannot fail to reek havoc. Until, that is, you walk into a clinic where everyone is at some stage of the same experience or else doing everything they can to beat the disease. You chat and begin to understand there's a massive community and for some there could be answers. Suddenly the World is not quite as small. You realise too that there is no standard treatment, there seem to be plenty of variations, so maybe it isn’t such a good idea to make assumptions or to listen so closely to well meaning sympathisers. It is your prostate gland and no one else has an identical copy. Your appointment time overruns but hey this is serious stuff, maybe someone needs more than their 10 minute slot. There are people around in a bad way but calm prevails, we all understand and recognise the dignity of the individuals and their companions. People know your name, no formality, it’s first names, they also know your situation. You are called, measurements, tests are explained and taken.

Operation prostate cancer using minimal invasive robotic surgery
http://wellcomeimages.org/

As you leave, having learned the next stage in your private battle, you realise your Consultant may already be talking to another man about controlling his pain and monitoring the progress of the cancer as it moves further through his frail body and into his bones and organs. I have no idea how a Doctor copes with this conversation over and over again. I don’t know how the case nurse sits down and discusses treatments and homecare and hospices over and over again, knowing the outcome will not be good. I don’t know how the MacMillan team goes into the man’s home, meets his family and gently does what is necessary to support him as the invasion of cancer gains force. In the UK over 30,000 men are diagnosed annually, over 10,000 men die annually. That’s an awful lot of bad news to carry around with you. If only he had come to you sooner.

I just know every victory must do some good and fuel the determination to go on for those who work and volunteer in oncology settings. The euphoria of being able to tell a man you don’t want to see him again because the treatments you set in motion have worked must be beyond measure. Maybe a flash of intuition based on decades of learning, seeing good and bad outcomes just made you suggest that one route of treatment or someone spotted that tiny detail on a scan which opened the door to success. It must be like stepping into Geoff Hurst’s boots scoring the hat trick for England in the World Cup and better. Then there’s the team, the family, the supporters, everyone who has the slightest interest, they’ve played their part as well and the euphoria cascades. But there is no end to the line or to the bad news.

It is time to praise those who care and share their expertise, doing everything they can to make Prostate Cancer bearable.

Crazy World

At 4pm this afternoon Liverpool will be at the Britannia Stadium to play Stoke in the first match in their attempt to win the Premiership in the 2015/16 season. During the transfer window they signed Christian Benteke from Aston Villa for a fee of £32,500,000, hoping he would be the answer to their dreams. Liverpool were able to pay this extraordinary amount of money because earlier in the window they had sold Raheem Sterling to Manchester City for £49,000,000 Tomorrow, West Brom will face up to Man City at the Hawthorns. Contrast this with the Prostate Cancer UK figure of £19,500,000 having been spent on research into Prostate Cancer last year.

They are talented young man. Over 10,000 other equally valuable men with a vast range of talents lose their lives to Prostate Cancer each year, not forgetting the many more who live with the consequences of the disease. I’m not blaming the players, it’s the world they live in. I could make similar illustrations about banking, celebrity, property, personal wealth etc. For me the bewildering part of it all is how we tolerate and accept that Prostate Cancer and many other diseases just are not worth the same kind of investment. Remember over 50,000 fans will be watching the encounters. Don't know the gender split of a football crowd but we can be sure several thousand men at the 2 matches will already know they have Prostate Cancer or receive the diagnosis in the course of their lives.

The summer transfer window is still open with plenty more deals to be completed. Last year the Premiership total spend was £835,000,000. Need I say more.

Climbing down of my high horse, hope PNE flourish in the Championship.

Back home

Headed back to the Fylde today, to the village where I grew up, Greenhalgh. My brother still lives there and it seemed an appropriate spot for me to branch out into new areas. Had to make arrangements with Fylde District Council to have the bags collected. They are encouraging residents to join the Flag iniative, that’s the Fylde Litter Action Group. Notices are issued to be stuck on bags to identify them and a central total is kept. My brother can now put the bags out with his normal waste next week without question.

Got 2 bags, one is featured in the photo. Behind is the field which I could see from my bedroom window. It belonged to neighbours and as children we used to go out at haytime to help or, more likely, hinder. In fact I met one of the family who owned the field again today. As I passed their gate Harry was taking milk for the calves. I reintroduced myself, 30 years has left its mark. He is such a lovely man and gave me a warm welcome. Coincidences crop up continually and when I explained why I was there, collecting litter, he told me he had been diagnosed a couple of years ago. He had been having checks for a number of years and a biospy confirmed the cancer was present. After hormone treatment everything seems to be going well. I didn’t realise that his father had died of prostate cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer had not been discovered soon enough to be successfully treated and this is why Harry had been so active in monitoring his PSA. He knew the risks for all men who have a close family member diagnosed with the disease.

Speaking of close family members, I finally got round to giving Bob, my brother, a Know your Prostate leaflet, his father in law got one too. Bob took a couple of spares which he will put up at Inskip Bowling Club. I’ll send him a poster as well. Thanks for all your help, Kid, we need everyone to get active in spreading the message and you have done your bit.

I'm not alone after all

Had a message from Conor today, my knight in orange t shirt. Collecting rubbish is nothing new to Conor and he’s been busy since we met the other week. This is where he's been –

 Bye Lane, Clieves Hill Lane, Shepherds Lane and Dicconsons Lane also received a little TLC too – Conor (posted to the facebook page)

It’s can’t just be me who appreciates Conor’s contribution. I’m sure the locals must be noticing how much tidier their part of the World has become. It's also nice to know I'm part of the great clean up network. 

PS to this post Conor contacted me on the 4th to say he'd been out again and collected 4 more carrier bags from the area where I met him, they'd cut the grass revealing even more rubbish.

 

 

 

 

July accounts exceed all dreams

July 2015 Accounts

11 collections

14 bags of rubbish

£3.01 for Prostate Cancer UK

17 leaflets

2 posters

2 appearances in "media"

Thank you to supporters, both established and new, as you can imagine I'm thrilled.