6th January, 2011 Press Releases

National Family Week Seeks Partners for the UK’s Biggest Family Event

National Family Week is back 30 May – 5^th June 2011 and currently seeking charitable partners and not-for-profits to get involved in helping to make the UK’s largest family focussed week bigger and better than ever. With the recent appointment of Ann Brookes as Head of Not for Profit Partnerships, National Family Week is looking forward to growing the involvement in the third sector. Anne  has over 15 years experience working in the Not for Profit sector both in the UK and North America working in a diverse range of organisations from the Arts to the Charitable sector, most recently as Director of Fundraising & External Relations for The Frank Buttle Trust.

With family time becoming eroded due to time, money and inspiration (the average UK family spends 49 minutes per day together), National Family Week is the ideal platform for charities and not-for-profits to demonstrate how they support families, by offering activities and services for families, developing family-friendly policies, or engaging in other ways in the promotion of family life. Organisations can run activities as a fundraising exercise, publicise their work, recruit more members, or simply have fun.

 This year National Family Week is offering an income generator to key partners through their soon-to-launch Family Value Club, a cash back club that allows members to receive money back on high street and online purchases. Members will be allowed to choose a charity of their choice to receive a donation from their purchases.

Last year’s National Family Week event was supported by 180 national and thousands of local partners.

These included:

National Literacy who launched their latest campaign, Tell Me A Story, to coincide with Family Week Story Time. To mark the launch they released results of a study of over 17,000 young people exploring family engagement in learning.

The Association of Chief Police Officers sent a letter and an ideas sheet to all Chief Constables across the UK encouraging them all to organise events and activities for families in their local area. This lead to a large number of safer neighbour teams running picnics, story time sessions and general family fun days.

Make-A-Wish Foundation granted their 6,000th wish to Luke Taylor from Molesly. He made his film debut as a superhero in The Elementor when he shared the red carpet with Spiderman and signed autographs at the premier of his film to coincide with The Week.

The new National Family Week website (http://www.nationalfamilyweek.co.uk) features a selection of downloadable “Idea Sheets” to get charities started with their planning for this year’s activities.

For more information about how your charity can get involved please contact:

Anne Brookes at abrookes@nationalfamilyweek.co.uk or see the website http://www.nationalfamilyweek.co.uk

For media enquiries please contact: snoble@nationalfamilyweek.co.uk

12th August, 2010 Press Releases

Are you Damaging your Body with Exercise?

Are you doing the exercises that are right for you or are you feeding an existing injury or imbalance in your body? Chances are that unless you’ve had a full functional movement assessment, you may be doing more harm than good at the gym. Greg Brookes, a personal trainer and teacher of over 15 years, believes that only by having a full Functional Movement Assessment can you know your strengths and weaknesses .

He says, “There is a simple rule when it comes to correct movement patterns – get it right then add resistance to lock it in. By performing thousands of reps with a muscle imbalance you are locking in a faulty movement pattern. This will take on average 13 times the amount of reps to undo.”

Greg’s movement assessment runs the client through 7 movement screens and 3 clearance tests. Following on from the assessment he then knows all their strengths and weaknesses, and so knows which areas need attention and which areas are clear for further exercise. For example, lets say that your Squat Pattern or Lunge Pattern are faulty then these exercises would be avoided until mobility and stability modifications have been made elsewhere in order to correct these patterns. Single sided exercises with a kettlebell or dumbell will greatly help to level out muscle imbalances but you need to know which movements need more work. Greg believes the body is designed to move in a number of primitive patterns. So we squat when we are sitting and standing, lunge when we are walking and running, bend when we are lifting, twist when we turn to look at something, push and pull as we use our arms. Now. Lets imagine you go to the gym and start to squat and press a barbell over head. What happens to the weaker side and movement pattern? It doesn’t get used as much.  You compensate. So you may press the weight overhead with only 35% of your left and 65% of your right. Over time this will get worse and worse and usually without you knowing it.

Remember adding weight to a dysfunctional body will only “lock in” faulty movement patterns and make them worse. The result is always injury and a compromise that means uneconomical training. Get it right and burn more fat and grow more muscle, it’s as simple as that.

For a complimentary fully functional movement assessment with Greg Brookes, please contact: Suzanne@stunningpr.com, 07957 371840

9th August, 2010 Press Releases

Students need to ‘wake up’ to what gets them the right job

8^th August 7, 2010. Next week thousands of students will find themselves without a place at University and having to seek employment, many for the very first time.

But while the prospect of getting a first time job that will lead to an enjoyable career may seem limited, David Royston-Lee, a career strategist, believes students are further being sold short by school career counselors and out-of-date psychometric testing that have barely evolved since the tests were first invented at the beginning of the 19^th Century.

David has been a career strategist for 20 years, advising senior executives, those taking early retirement or having been redundant, in how to transition their career and find new jobs that are right for them. Formerly, head of career management services at KPMG, he has successfully helped thousands of people to find the job that was right for them.

Now he has turned his skill to graduates. In his new book, ‘How to Win from the Start (amazon.co.uk, £7.19)’ he concentrates on something you are rarely taught in school… a way of finding out ‘who you are’. The book is a refreshing departure from the usual tomes written for students on how to get a job.

The book addresses common problems such as how to write a CV when you have had little to no work experience or if the work is not relevant to the path you wish to pursue, how to focus and get what you want, the path to successful employment.

David is dismissive about Psychometric tests believing they tend to confuse more than they help. “How does knowing that the test results show you should look at hairdressing and becoming an aircraft pilot help!” Psychometric tests have not changed since the digital era, therefore omitting a huge range of employment opportunities.”

He says, ““The art of career management is quite simply answering 3 question. Who am I? Where am I going? How am I going to get there? Students need to wake up and focus on who they are, what they enjoy doing and not just at what they are good at. Social media has paved the way for enormous opportunities to connect with people in every type of job in every field. The CV is on the way out. The use of networking to gather and give information is the way forward.”

“Instead of staying in bed until midday because you have heard that there are no jobs,” David adds, “Graduates need to WAKE UP and talk to people. That is the best way to get a job and not just any job but the right job.”

David is available for interviews. Contact Suzanne at Stunning PR, 07957 371840 or suzanne@stunningpr.com

‘How to Win from the Start’  (Artesian Publishing) is available from Amazon, price £7.19, http://www.davidroystonlee.com

9th August, 2010 Press Releases

Indoor Play Centre at Mansfield the setting for pop single launch

Mansfield might not be the first town that springs to mind when it comes to launching a new song, but it will be, when, on 25^th August, Jango’s Indoor Play Centre hosts the stars of hit TV show LazyTown who will be performing their first single release ‘Go Step Go.’

North Nottinghamshire’s premier play facility, Jango’s, that opened in October 2009 is expecting over 300 children most of them dressed as LazyTown characters – Sportacus and Stephanie – to attend the event on 25^th August at 3pm.

Magnus Scheving, who is both the star and creator of LazyTown will fly in from his native country of Iceland to perform as Sportacus. Meanwhile, Julianna Rose Mauriello, who plays Stephanie will be taking a break from her studies at an American university, to sing the song to the children.

This is the first time Julianna has visited the UK and the first time that both Julianna and Magnus have been together since LazyTown collected a children’s BAFTA in 2006.

LazyTown is currently shown daily on Cbeebies and Nick Jr.

Magnus Scheving has been very busy since his last appearance in the UK back in 2009. He has appeared in the Jackie Chan film ‘The Spy Next Door’ as a Russian villain released in March 2010, met Michelle Obama as part of the launch of her ‘Let’s Move’ campaign and been back and forth to Los Angeles many times negotiating with film producers who want to produce a LazyTown movie.

Julianna Rose, starred as Stephanie in LazyTown and LazyTown Extra before taking a place at an American University where she is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Dance.

The Single ‘Go Step Go’ encourages children to get up off the sofa and get moving, which is especially important during the summer holidays when sitting at home and playing computer games may seem far more appealing! Written by Mani Svavarsson, LazyTown’s resident hitmaker, the song is an upbeat, infectious tune that has all the potential to be a summer hit single as the Macarena was way back in 1995. The single will be available for free for 30 days from 24^th August at www.asda.co.uk before it goes on general release.

Tickets are only available from reception at Jango’s priced at £7.50 per child, £2.50 per adult.

limited numbers apply.

Where:

Jango’s Indoor Play Centre, Sandlands Court, Fulmar Close, off Old Mill Lane, Forest Town,  Mansfield, Nottinghamshire,  NG19 0GG Tel: 01623 465 465

When:

25^th August – doors open for entry by ticket only at 2pm

Performances commence at 3pm

What:

Sportacus and Stephanie from LazyTown perform their new song ‘Go Step Go’ to be followed by fitness session with Sportacus, meet and greet/autograph signing and photo opportunity

For interview requests, please contact Suzanne at Stunning PR, 07957 371840 or suzanne@stunningpr.com