The Jam Pact

08/12/2021

On this day in 1660, Margaret Hughes became the first woman to act on stage in a play by Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s plays have been performed in London since 1592, but, until Margaret Hughes, all female characters were played by men or boys.

Samuel Pepys claimed she kissed him!

06/12/2021

If you had a magic finger but could only use it to do one thing, what would it be?

05/12/2021

I’m counting this year’s white butterflies before putting them up on my wall to photograph. I have made 150 so far. I can’t help but have a minute’s silence for them. Each one represents a woman killed by a man this year. There are many more not even counted.

04/12/2021

During lockdown Avening WI, Gloucestershire Federation, hosted a Zoom talk from a member of staff working at their local refuge in Stroud. After a very interesting presentation they asked if there was anything they could do to help as a group. They have since been contacted by the refuge on three occasions to help by providing clothes and shoes for survivors who have arrived at the refuge with very little. In two cases they had just the clothes they were wearing on arrival.

The members responded quickly and are now keeping a small stock of clothes in a variety of sizes to be able to help whenever required. When contacted they meet at an agreed location and have been grateful to be able to help. They also are planning to collect some Christmas goodies for the residents in December.

03/12/2021

This is me seeing myself in the magazine for the first time ❤️
I was going to retake this picture as I’d not been well that day and felt pretty rough around the edges, but that smile says it all 😀
I’m so proud to have had the chance to tell my story, as well as talk about the incredible but incredibly isolated chronically ill people I know.
Thank you for listening, The WI (National Federation of Women's Institutes).

PS. If you are are a woman and have experience with chronic illness or isolation (for whatever reason) and would like to talk about it on the podcast, please do get in touch.

28/11/2021

How you feel before listening to The Jam Pact podcast vs how you’ll feel after 😛

27/11/2021

It feels VERY grownup to be on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

23/11/2021

While I am riding out the suspense of seeing my interview in WI Life Magazine, I will tell you about something close to my heart.

(Warning for domestic abuse)

Last year I made dozens of white paper butterflies.

Each butterfly represents a woman killed by a man in 2020.

By the time I had reached my goal of 88 butterflies, the deaths had already risen to 95.

I made these butterflies for Broxtowe Women's Project Ltd. They’d been looking for ways to raise awareness of their work on social media during the .

This year, they contacted me to say that the National Justice Museum wants to display them in a new exhibition about violence against women and girls.

I’m incredibly honoured.

Of course I said yes.

They will be displayed there until January.

Over the next few days I will be making around 140 more butterflies for women lost in 2021.

I have no doubt that this number will rise between the time I start and the time I finish.

These new butterflies will include one for Sarah Everard, and one for Sabina Nessa.

I didn’t know how affected I would be by this project when I started.

It seemed like such a small idea at the time.

I feel so much more connected to this issue, so much more aware of how individual and precious these lives were.

If you’d like to support the project, you can make a white butterfly of your own and send it to me on Facebook or Twitter.

I would love to see how far they can spread.

22/11/2021

I redesigned the website a few days ago. I am so pleased with this page in particular - I couldn’t get it looking right for AGES and then suddenly I had an idea and it just 🤩 I keep looking at it 😂 What do you think? 👉 https://www.thejampactpod.com

20/11/2021

The Anatomy of a WI Member:

Key traits

1. Formidable
2. Creative
3. No nonsense
4. “We read that at book group”
5. “Can I have a go?”

19/11/2021

There are a LOT of assumptions and stereotypes about autistic people. I didn’t tell people for years about my own diagnosis. I’d get the old, “not… YOU? Well… it must be very mild… or a mistake…” 🙄

That’s why I’m so pleased to see more REAL people being identified as autistic.

When people don’t understand, do you tell them about yourself and risk being misunderstood as well? 😬

That’s what the first episode of this podcast was about. It felt like a real moment as I hadn’t told most of my friends yet.

Link to that episode in the comments!

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/16/tv-presenter-melanie-sykes-announces-life-affirming-autism-diagnosis

Sykes says being diagnosed as autistic at 51 has helped explain struggles during broadcasting career

19/11/2021

I love Emma’s gentle optimism. She isn’t backing down from fighting against the £20 cut, either 💪

Whenever the state of things feels overwhelming and bleak, I think of the wonderful women like Emma.

It’s people like her that need our attention - we’ve had well enough of them lot who bring us down.

Link to the full interview in the comments.

18/11/2021

This is a photograph of me being photographed by a photographer for a photography feature 😂 I’m going to be in WI Life magazine talking about the podcast! 😱
I NEVER would have had the confidence to do this even a few months ago.
I’m fact, when the magazine got in touch my first thought was “that is a fun thing to be asked!” but I almost didn’t even reply.
I didn’t think it was the kind of thing I could do, to put myself out there.
In the interview, we talked about how I grew up with a severe chronic illness.
Of course I wanted to talk about you all, my life support system and my chronic illness gang.
Apparently the article is published on the web already… I am waiting for my print copy before I have a look 😳

13/11/2021

✨New episode! ✨

Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-jam-pact/id1587487511?i=1000541661423

Sistah Space is a community-based non-profit initiative created to bridge the gap in domestic abuse services for African heritage women and girls.

It was founded in 2015 by Ngozi Headley.

Ngozi created the space after the murder of Valerie Forde and her 22 month-old baby daughter.

Ngozi said that sitting through this court case "was the final straw for me."

Sistah Space expands on their website:

>> This tragic event highlighted the need for an organisation to tackle domestic abuse in African heritage families and was the catalyst for the creation of Sistah Space.

>> Sistah Space combines the specific needs of African heritage families with expertise in domestic abuse services.

>> We can provide a safe space for anyone who is concerned about domestic abuse.

In this episode, I am joined by Ivy of Sistah Space.

We do talk about some aspects of domestic abuse, but we don't go into detail. Nevertheless, you might want to avoid this episode if this is an issue for you.

Despite the serious nature of this topic, I actually loved this conversation and felt really uplifted by it.

I hope that this is one that you will share!

Ivy and I talk about

- Why it is important to have a space where you can be around others like you;
- How difficult it can be to communicate your needs as a minority;
- The similarities between talking about the rights and lived experiences of Black women (as Ivy does) and talking about the rights and lived experiences of disabled people (as Rosa does);
- Why services need specific training about Black women and Black culture.

You can find the Sistah Space website here: https://www.sistahspace.org/

And you can find The Jam Pact's website here: https://thejampactpod.com

Find and follow me on Twitter to tell me what you thought of the episode: https://twitter.com/TheJamPactPod

Please do share this one to support our new Sistahs.

Spreading awareness can make all the difference to making the dream of Valerie's Law a reality.

Thank you! https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-jam-pact/id1587487511?i=1000541661423

22/10/2021

✨New episode!✨

Ecotherapy, in Mary-Jayne's words, weaves together "psychological, political, ecological and spiritual understandings."

We talk nature, climate change, feeling better, wild women, wild swimming, and our wild animal selves.

Listen here 👇

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-jam-pact/id1587487511

24/09/2021

New episode! 🥳

Episode six: Save A Bumblebee, Save The World with Gill Perkins, the CEO of The Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

We talk about reconnecting with nature through food, how caring for bees can engage communities in dealing with climate change, and what we might have got wrong about honeybees and conservation… 🤔

Listen below!

https://thejampact.podbean.com/e/gill-perkins-ceo-of-the-bumblebee-conservation-trust/

11/09/2021

✨New episode!✨

In 2008, Pam Warhurst founded Incredible Edible in Todmorden in West Yorkshire. By 2016, there were 100s of Incredible Edible groups in the UK and over 600 worldwide.

Their vision was to "create kind, confident, and connected communities through the power of food. [...] If you eat, you're in."

They do this by growing and celebrating local fruit and vegetables.

They grow them in parks, in car parks, by the side of the road, in front of GP surgeries and police stations, and more.

They do most of this without permission on public land.

Pam a rocket of positivity.

We talk about how small actions can help us come to terms with and do something about climate change, and how the power of growing food can connect people to each other, and human children to "the children of other species".

A key message of the movement is to focus on your strengths and to not wait or seek anyone's permission to use them: "Don’t wait for permission or funding – just do something today, however small and the result will grow."

This is about finding new ways to live.

Pam told me, "Food is our Trojan Horse."

If you eat, you're in.

Listen here: https://www.thejampactpod.com/podcast/episode/864b04fd/incredible-edible-with-pam-warhurt

05/09/2021

New blog post (4 minute read):

Throughout our conversation, Emma spoke of the need to call out the problem “behind the symptoms of poverty”.

I asked Emma what the number one myth she would like to bust about poverty would be.

“We need to stop thinking of poverty as an individual issue and start thinking of it as structural.”

She added that we often get “distracted” from recognising the inequality that drives people to food banks.

https://www.thejampactpod.com/post/we-need-to-stop-thinking-of-poverty-as-an-individual-issue-and-start-thinking-of-it-as-structural

This article is based on the podcast interview with Emma Revie on The Jam Pact. Emma Revie believes that her job should not exist. Revie is the CEO of The Trussell Trust, a charity that supports a network of thousands of food banks in the UK and has, as its core mission, the goal to render itself ob...

03/09/2021

✨New episode!✨ Emma Revie is the CEO of The Trussell Trust. We talk about food banks, the power of a cup of tea, and the structural changes that need and can happen to end poverty in our country.

This episode left me feeling surprisingly hopeful and very determined! Emma has that magic quality about her that shows you the solutions when many people think there are none.

Please give it a listen and share it to spread the Trust’s mission to make British food banks a thing of the past.

🍓 Listen here: tinyurl.com/kbrt3jhs

This episode was recorded with a live audience of WI members.

11/08/2021

I wrote an article about 5 Things I Wish for the Mental Health Movement. It's inspired by my conversation with Emily from Wish.

Read it in the link below (the link includes the interview with Emily, too!).

https://www.thejampactpod.com/post/5-things-i-wish-for-the-mental-health-movement

If the mental health movement is to succeed, we need to learn to talk about poverty, policy, abuse, prisons, and the importance of relationships and community spaces.

08/08/2021

New!

Listen to me and Emily talk about why conventional mental health services leave so many women to struggle alone, and what we can do about it.

Emily works for the women's mental health charity Wish.

Wish is the only national, user-led charity working with women with mental health needs in prisons, hospitals, and the community.

It is independent and unique in its long-term commitment to the women who come to Wish for help.

This was a great conversation and we covered loads of ground. I don’t think I will talk about mental health in the same way again.

Click the link below to listen 👇 and please like and share to support the podcast.

https://www.thejampactpod.com/podcast/episode/80540c48/wish-for-womens-mental-health

04/08/2021

New episode coming at the end of the week! Listen to the clip below where Emily, from the women’s mental health charity Wish, introduces me to the “trauma informed” approach to mental health 👇

Podcasts are uploaded to thejampactpod.com

29/07/2021

“Finding out I was autistic was like finding out I was a cat in a world built by and for dogs.”

You may not think I “look autistic”, but look closer at this picture of me below…

This blog post is about what happened when I first started telling people that I am autistic, why I stopped, and why I started again: https://www.thejampactpod.com/post/autism-podcast

The post also contains a podcast episode of a conversation I had with Laura James, author of Odd Girl Out about her late diagnosis of autism.

(Audio description of the image: a ginger cat wrapped in a fluffy grey blanket.)

26/07/2021

62% of working age people referred to food banks are disabled. We need to listen to disabled people when we talk about hunger, poverty, and where Government funds are spent and cut.
Hunger and poverty will only make disabled people more disabled.

21/07/2021

Sound on! 🙂 This clip is from my most recent interview with Dylan Yamada-Rice about art, storytelling, and mental health. Listen to the whole episode here: https://www.thejampactpod.com