Earlier this year I won one a place in a charity calendar organised by The Launchpad Academy. This calendar was to raise well needed funds for their organisation which supports people of all ages into employment, business start-up or retraining. One of the areas they (Directors Jo Cameron and Beverly Sherratt) are passionate about is working with those who are struggling with burnout, a massive hazard, and something that a lot of people battle with on a regular basis.

I received this fantastic video to tell me that I had won… 

The charity calendar, which is entitled “Howay Homeworkers” is a great way to raise the profile of The Launchpad Academy as well as having lots of fun along the way. Homeworkers were invited to submit in no more than 200 words a story about their daily life as someone who works from home. The winners of the competition were from a diverse range of business areas and all had fantastic stories to share.

The best part was working with Laura Pearman and Nichola English who styled and shot the photos to be used in the calendar. Laura and Nichola came to the farm and did a pre-shoot visit to see what we were going to do and how the end shots would look. Without giving too much away, my shot involved, wellies, jam tarts and a rather large sheep… But other shoots involved spaniels, guinea pigs, chickens, wigs, scooters – see I told you we were a diverse bunch!

A couple of weeks ago we (all the finalists and judges) were invited to the Thought Foundation in Birtley for the Christmas shot – this is a little bit odd in October, but everyone entered in to the festive spirit, even Molly the dog had her fluffy red coat on! We had the final group photographs taken and then all enjoyed a lovely lunch and chat to hear about each others businesses and how the photo shoots had gone.

Anyone who knows me will know that this whole project is something that has taken me WAY outside of my comfort zone, I am never one to be in front of the camera, that is something I avoid if at all possible. But I have learnt that sometimes taking a step to do something that you wouldn’t normally do is not a bad thing and can be a huge learning curve as well as really great fun. I am looking forward to seeing the finished article after all the hard work of the team organising and putting the calendar together, wonder which month I will be...