Passionate Blog

Photo blog: Urban Allotments help kids get their hands dirty

IT WAS was great to see the children at Highclare School in Sutton Coldfield get stuck in at the launch of their new allotment organised by online grow-your-own specialists  Urban Allotments.

Lessons in listening thanks to Uttoxeter speech expert

Language expert Libby Hill has been working with three Staffordshire nurseries to pioneer a programme aimed at helping young children improve their learning skills.

Libby, director of Uttoxeter-based Small Talk, carried out sessions with youngsters from Horn End nurseries in Stafford, Hixon and Rugeley, to help develop skills essential to starting school.

She believes the programme - which was developed thanks to funding in Staffordshire – is more important than ever now, following a report which highlighted serious communications issues in young school pupils.

The Bercow Report found that at least two pupils in every primary school class – rising to almost half the class in areas of social deprivation – are currently struggling to learn properly due to problems with basic skills such as listening and following instructions.

Why blog? Women’s business conference set to show how social media can boost your bottom line

ASPIRING and established businesswomen will be shown how social media can boost their bottom line at a major conference to be held in Birmingham next week.

The event, to be held at The Pavilion in Moor Lane, Perry Barr, includes an interactive workshop, led by experts from the Connect Culture initiative, based at Coventry University, on social networking phenomenon Twitter, plus blogging for business.

Carol stars in Someone Once Told Me video - bit of a tearjerker!

IT only seems like yesterday that Carol's tenacity and determination were recognised with a national award. (Okay it was three years ago, even if I still go on about it!) Now, here she is again - inspiring others, this time in the social media spotlight.

Thanks to Mario from Someone Once Told Me for all his time with us recently. Check out his wonderful website for lots more examples of the influential things people have heard. And watch this space for more images of the Passionate Media team with their own life-shaping messages.

Double the excitement as our twins blog is featured in The Times

By Linda Jones

I'VE been reading about how PRs are engaging with bloggers lately and some of the discussion has either been sparked by or led to mentions of a recent trip I shared with six other so-called UK 'mummybloggers' to Walt Disney World.

The trip was the subject of a feature in The Times by my fellow member of the so-called Disney Seven, Alice Castle.

You can also see this forward thinking post from travel journalist Jeremy Head and this interesting piece by Manchester's Sarah Hartley.

I'm included because of You've Got Your Hands Full, our blog for multiple birth parents, which has gained more than 11,000 returning readers since being launched in 2006.

Susanna, from A Modern Mother, recently shared guidance for PRs wanting to contact this group of bloggers and I have been meaning to add my thoughts on her excellent post for a while. The one point I disagreed on was that I write for other people, not for me.

The Greatest Freelance Writing Tips in the World: Book, blog and training

THE Greatest Freelance Writing Tips in the World, by Passionate Media director Linda Jones, was published in November 2007 and can be bought in bookshops and from Amazon here.

See a selection of reviews, plus feedback from readers, here.

Listen to a podcast about The Greatest Freelance Writing Tips in the World. A blog was set up to help publicise the book.

There's a round-up of around 20 posts with advice for writers here.

We also run training sessions for freelance journalists wanting to make more money. The following is feedback gained from a London session:

Great course. Up and at 'em now! Anne Marie Flanagan