Sophie Mei

Sheffield played host to eight thousand runners as part of the Bupa Great Yorkshire 10k Run last Sunday. One of whom was Eastender’s Nasty Nick who hurtled to the ground during the race.

The incident happened as the runners headed for Hillsborough football ground to reach the 5k mark. John Altman AKA ‘Nasty Nick’ sprinted in front of Richard McCourt “Dick” (from ‘Dick and Dom’) and tripped on a pothole, which sent him to the ground.

Altman who had his bleeding hand bandaged at the finish line said:

“It was quite a shock as I had just been gazing up at Hillsborough football ground and like them, I too went down.

I do hope to be in Sheffield again however, either for next year’s race or with my band at the 02 Academy.”

John Altman has now left the East End for a career in Rock music as he has recently set up his new band ‘Heavy Metal Kids.’ You can watch their first single ‘Uncontrollable’ here.

Amongst the elite athletes, running clubs and amateur runners were a few other familiar faces from Emmerdale, Coronation St and Eastenders.

Bupa’s nominated charity this year was the Alzheimer’s Society, which I ran for along with eight hundred others.  One of whom was Sheffield’s Richard McCourt AKA ‘Dick’ from the duo ‘Dick and Dom.’

Richard McCourt was back on home turf for the weekend to participate in the run and see his Sheffield-based family, which includes his mother who suffers from dementia.

Alzheimer’s Society Director of Fundraising and Marketing, Jo Swinhoe, said: ‘We really appreciate the efforts of everyone who fundraises for us as we rely on voluntary income to support people with dementia and their carers and undertake our vital dementia research.

The 10k race was finished off by a fun run for kids and a ‘Bands on the Run’ stage in Sheffield’s Peace Gardens.

By  Sophie Mei

Sheffield played host to eight thousand runners as part of the Bupa Great Yorkshire 10k run on Sunday 6^th September 2010.

Amongst the elite athletes, running clubs and amateur runners were a few familiar faces from Emmerdale, Coronation St and Eastenders.

Bupa’s nominated charity this year was the Alzheimer’s Society, which I ran for along with eight hundred others. Two of whom were Eastender’s John Altman AKA ‘Nasty Nick’ and Sheffield’s Richard McCourt AKA ‘Dick’ from the duo ‘Dick and Dom.’

The pair has experience of close relatives suffering from Dementia and avidly continues to support the charity.

John Altman has now left the East End for a career in Rock music as he has recently set up his new band ‘Heavy Metal Kids.’ You can watch their first single ‘Uncontrollable’ here.

Richard McCourt was back on home turf for the weekend to participate in the run and see his Sheffield-based family, which includes his mother who is currently suffers from dementia.

The 10k race was finished off by a fun run for kids and a ‘Bands on the Run’ stage in Sheffield’s Peace Gardens.

MEI INTERNATIONAL FROM YORKSHIRE MAKES STARTUPS 100

MEI International Ltd. from Sheffield, South Yorkshire makes it into this year’s Startups 100, which identifies UK’s most innovative, inspiring and ground-breaking new companies.

Startups 100, organised by the startups.co.uk, the UK’s most popular website for small businesses, celebrates the 100 most exciting, promising, disruptive new businesses and entrepreneurs shaping the start-up market right now.

MEI International Ltd is the umbrella company for Sophie Mei schools and Creative Octopus Media Services (COMS) specializing in media relations, campaigns and entertainment, events and social marketing.

One of our company’s key purposes is to work with the Public and Private Sector to increase their profile, product and service awareness amongst identified target audiences and particularly to encourage health literacy and well-being in the general public, and in seldom-heard groups, through media campaigns, training, diverse entertainment and events.  We are a social enterprise and we pride ourselves on insight gathering that provides a solid foundation to our campaigns.

Sophie Mei Co-founder of MEI International says;

“We are thrilled to win our first award as we are so new to the market.

“We’re incredibly proud to have MEI International on our list of the UK’s most innovative and dynamic new businesses and look forward to watching its continued success.” Sara Rizk, editor, Startups.co.uk

In choosing the Startups 100, the team were looking for businesses and entrepreneurs that demonstrated:

• Innovation, in concept or delivery
• Ability to disrupt existing market places
• Growth potential
• Strong management, bright thinkers
• Evidence of existing or future revenues

For more information or to see the full Startups 100 list please visit: www.startups.co.uk

Media Contact:

For more information, or to interview any of the Startups100, please contact Ella Gascoigne at ella@startuppr.co.uk.

London Love

I never thought I’d say It but I feel a slight love for our capital – London. This month seems to have been London centric with the launch of the Olympics – London 2012 Open Weekend, the famous closure of ‘democracy village’ and I worked down south to get my dance teaching qualification.

Open weekend

We had our very own London 2012 Open Weekend launch in Leeds. The national theme was to ‘take on a challenge’ and be active. So in true Yorkshire style myself and several over performers gathered in Trinity Square to launch Yorkshire’s Open weekend. I was joined by cricketers doing Tai Chi, a Bollywood flashmob and Fellow Britain’s Got Talent finalist – Christopher Stone.

The event was organized by Yorkshire Gold who worked with LOCOG to organize the lovely carnival style event.

My favourite moment was when the head of Yorkshire Gold was introducing Christopher Stone: “this man to my right, has done so well for himself and for Yorkshire…” at this point a drunken man scuttled on to the stage shouting “what’s going on?”

Personally, two years too long – I cannot wait to host the games I think it’s going to be one of the most exciting events in the UK in this decade. Although, I’m sure Champion Jessica Ennis and other athletes are in no hurry.

Step to London

Reluctantly, I had to go to London to take my Exercise to Music teaching course. The latter I was pleased about as I have always wante an official qualification in sport but I’m not a big fan of staying in the Capital for more than one weekend.

Nontheless, I managed the tube, buses and crowds for the week and really enjoyed it. It helped staying with my sister who’s a fashion designer, so I spent the week borrowing her clothes and jewellery as well as training in the dance studio everyday.

Step up to Sheffield

I then spent my usual busy week in Sheffield – teaching dance, practicing in studio, running, radio and general admin bits.

Although, on thing I did do is see Step Up in 3d – so cheesy but you got to love it – we love falling for the dream from rags to riches and love… and with the advancement with 3d technology you feel as if you can live in these movies too!

Shake it like Shakira

When travelling BACK down South to complete my Studio Instructor course I came across this article in Look Magazine on Shakira… and low and behold… she thanks her toned abs to BELLYDANCE!

Criminalizing fake rape ‘victims’…

‘According to a news report on BBC One presented in 12 November 2007, there were 85,000 women raped in the UK in the previous year, equating to about 230 cases every day. According to that report one of every 200 women in the UK was raped in 2006. On average 1 in 6 women will be victims of sexual assault in their lifetimes.’

A staggering amount of men and women are victims of rape and sexual assault and what gives us greater unrest is the fact that many rape victims don’t come forward.  What’s more, is a few of those who have come forward have been accused of making ‘false allegations.’

One of whom is local woman – Faye Pendlebury, Rotherham’s fake rape victim, who has recently been sentenced to eight months in jail for making false allegations.

The burning question is – should we criminalize those who are accused of false allegations?

As ever there are two sides to every story but one side leaves me more uncomfortable than the other.

Let’s imagine that you invite your new partner over for dinner and things get steamy after the dessert but both adults consent. It’s only after that one of you regrets what you’ve done and the regret turns into resent and then low and behold that partner doesn’t get in touch. Well resentment doubled with regret is uncomfortable so to ease your own conscience you decide that the sex was not consensual and call the police.

Imagine being that innocent partner who gets named and shamed for a horrendous crime they did not commit? A nightmare I could never imagine but now let’s imagine a different scenario…

You go round to your new partners house for dinner and start to feel uncomfortable as no dinner has been made and there is just a bottle of wine on the table. You oblige and have a drink and start to feel more comfortable.

Before you know it your new partner is leaning in for a kiss. Again you oblige until your new partner starts touching your leg – you let this happen a bit longer until your new partner goes even further. You whisper ‘no’ but they continue – you are paralyzed but again you utter to them ‘don’t’ and again they carry on until they tug at your clothes… we can only attempt to understand the nightmare that then entails.

The next day you are left in a state of shock and a feeling of guilt, anger and dirtiness. These emotions may dwindle eventually but will now become a huge part of your life and yet you don’t tell the police. Why?

It is this latter question that is the most difficult to answer as it can be one of numerous reasons from feelings of guilt and ‘it was my fault’ or ‘I was wearing the wrong thing’ all of which hare many feelings that victims have but can only begin to understand with the right support. The last thing we want is for rapes and sexual assault’s to go unreported as victims are not only petrified at the thought of court but that the hand may turn against them and even worse they themselves maybe prosecuted.

I can’t imagine the shame and torture it is to be wrongly accused of a crime you did not commit especially one as vulgar as rape but surely what is even worse is the thought of being the rape victim yourself … any victim of any crime needs support and strong foundations put in place to help them survive the crime. The last thing any genuine victim needs is to be accused of making false allegations if the perpetrator is not convicted in court.

We must remember the courts have to find the accused person, guilty ‘beyond reasonable doubt,’ therefore, the chances are that they won’t be prosecuted especially for crimes such as rape and sexual assault as they are very hard to convict and find absolute evidence.

Nonetheless, those who wrongfully make allegations are vial and deserve their comeuppance but in a contained and controlled way. We must be cautious so that we do not scare away genuine victims of rape and sexual assault from reporting the crimes – after all it is the victims we must put before the perpetrators.

For more information for victims of rape and sexual assault please see:

http://www.rapecrisis.org.uk

Address:

Rape Crisis (England & Wales)
BCM Box 4444
London
WC1N 3XX

Co-ordinator: Christine Bennett
Email info@rapecrisis.org.uk or chris@rapecrisis.org.uk

Policy Officer: Angie Conroy
Email policy@rapecrisis.org.uk or angie@sericc.org.uk