I have done work in the past few years for the NHS, who offer their staff a day out in Todmorden to ease their stress and, at the same time, guide them in a few areas to do with work. At the same time, they get to eat nice Thai food, plus hang out in a gorgeous town in the Calder Valley for a day, which to be honest would be what I would prefer over a day at the NHS in the current climate.

So this year, my job was to show people a video I had made out of footage I had recorded whilst making underwater video in Thailand. This was over 25 years ago, but I had recently found a way to upgrade the footage using ai whilst adding ambient music, this was to give people a sense of how it felt to be underwater for 30 minutes in a place such as Thailand. I found it relaxing, NHS staff seemed to have found this relaxing too, so am pleased to have done my bit.

I also took photos of the event, which was in a rather gorgeous building that was one of the first cooperative buildings in the UK. This building is opening soon as a temperance bar, along with a café and a centre that does courses for people who are recovering from addiction. I was rather amazed by the job that they’re doing to bring the building up to its former glory, feeling that this was the start of something that will change this part of Yorkshire in a way that we can only imagine right now. With recent news about the closure of the local Wetherspoons pub and whilst there is a temperance bar opening, the focus for this part of the world has rather suddenly changed from self-abuse to wellness. 

I chance to see the very lovely Todmorden after being away for a long time, plus this was a rather wonderful chance to catch-up with family. My daughter Isis has just become a fully licenced architect, built her first house, my mum also had her birthday recently, so I went on to Suffolk to see a rather wonderful house that she has just completed with her fella, Tom.