The Pulse September / October 2009 - NHS Lanarkshire
The Pulse September / October 2009 - NHS Lanarkshire
The Pulse September / October 2009 - NHS Lanarkshire
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20<br />
the<strong>Pulse</strong> ACHIEVEMENTS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2009</strong><br />
THEY’RE A GLASS ACT<br />
Monklands<br />
theatre<br />
group has<br />
a vital<br />
message to<br />
get across<br />
TALENTED mental health nurses<br />
at Monklands have written and<br />
produced a fascinating play which<br />
will feature during the Mental<br />
Health Arts Festival in <strong>October</strong>.<br />
As if that was not enough, the <strong>NHS</strong><br />
<strong>Lanarkshire</strong> colleagues will also act<br />
in the play, Alice Through the Shot<br />
Glass, along with local drama<br />
students and graduates recruited for<br />
their theatre group.<br />
Writer and secretary of the Spiked<br />
<strong>The</strong>atre Group Gerry Hessan<br />
explained more about the play –<br />
which is a modern adaptation of<br />
Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s<br />
Adventures in Wonderland.<br />
<strong>The</strong> mental health staff nurse said:<br />
“It stays faithful to the original story<br />
but with an underlying<br />
drug and personal safety theme.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> story is simple: a trusting girl<br />
is slipped an unknown substance<br />
and falls into a coma.<br />
“What happens during the coma,<br />
depends on one’s life, lifestyle and<br />
recent experiences.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> last thing that the girl sees<br />
before going into the coma is a<br />
Batman strippogram.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> traditional characters take on<br />
CURTAIN UP: top, from left, Sean Curran, Garry Curran, Gerry Hessan,<br />
Martin Hannigan, Graham Kane and Patrick Stratford. Bottom row, from<br />
left, June Copeland, Carine Lamb, Karen Collins, Stacey Bradley and<br />
Nichola McKeown. Due to work commitments Margaret Bradley, Darren<br />
Bradley, Philip Spencer and Katie Currie are not in the photograph<br />
a bat-twist with the Cheshire cat<br />
becoming catwoman and all of the<br />
well known Batman characters,<br />
including the Riddler, the Joker, the<br />
Queen of Diamonds and the<br />
Mad Hatter and Two-face making<br />
an appearance.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re’s a shock ending but you’ll<br />
have to come and see the play to find<br />
out what happens to Alice and<br />
her companions.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> Spiked <strong>The</strong>atre group has<br />
been formed especially for the<br />
Mental Health Arts Festival and<br />
consists of local health care<br />
professionals and local actors.<br />
Gerry and the group are hoping<br />
to put on a dramatic performance<br />
Anaesthetist shows what can be done with dedication...<br />
each year with a mental health<br />
issue portrayed.<br />
<strong>The</strong> play will be performed on<br />
20 and 21 <strong>October</strong> in the At Home<br />
Centre, Airdrie.<br />
For further details, email Gerry at<br />
locutus@borgcollective.plus.com<br />
<strong>The</strong> Scottish Mental Health<br />
Arts and Film Festival, led by<br />
<strong>The</strong> Mental Health Foundation and<br />
partners, runs from 1-22 <strong>October</strong>.<br />
Details of the festival can be found<br />
at www.mhfestival.com and<br />
www.lanarkshirementalhealth.org.uk<br />
WATER RELIEF: Bill completing<br />
the Edinburgh Marathon last May<br />
‘Seniors’ can follow<br />
Bill’s fast footsteps<br />
A HAIRMYRES anaesthetist is<br />
proving that life really can<br />
begin at 50.<br />
Consultant anaesthetist Bill<br />
McCulloch, 56, only donned<br />
his running shoes three years<br />
ago, but has already completed<br />
a marathon in under five hours.<br />
Now Bill is encouraging<br />
other <strong>NHS</strong> <strong>Lanarkshire</strong><br />
“seniors” to follow his lead.<br />
He said: “I took up running<br />
for health reasons as I was<br />
pretty horrified by my own and<br />
the general health level of<br />
men my age.<br />
“I then decided to run my<br />
first 10k in 2007, and then a<br />
half marathon in 2008 and I<br />
completed my first marathon in<br />
Edinburgh at the end of May<br />
this year.”<br />
Bill finished in four hours 51<br />
minutes, not bad for someone<br />
running in a blazing hot day,<br />
the last seven miles of which<br />
were completed without water<br />
after some Edinburgh scallies<br />
sabotaged water stations along<br />
the final part of the course.<br />
He continued: “Running has<br />
given me a new lease of life,<br />
and nothing would please me<br />
more than finding out other<br />
middle-aged men had followed<br />
my example and dusted down<br />
their training shoes.”<br />
Bill is now planning to run<br />
another marathon, although he<br />
was forced to pull out of<br />
the monstrous Loch Ness<br />
marathon in <strong>October</strong>, due<br />
to injury.<br />
He said: “I wanted to run the<br />
Loch Ness Marathon on behalf<br />
of Macmillan Cancer Support<br />
and hoped to raise £1000.<br />
“It’s a shame I can’t now but<br />
I do intend to run another<br />
and would really appreciate<br />
any sponsorship.”<br />
Find out about Bill’s planned<br />
run in future editions of<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Pulse</strong>.<br />
High way to<br />
get in shape<br />
A HILLWALKING group is<br />
looking to encourage <strong>NHS</strong><br />
<strong>Lanarkshire</strong> colleagues to get<br />
in shape in time for Christmas.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Strathclyde Hillwalking<br />
and Activity Group is a<br />
<strong>Lanarkshire</strong>-based group that<br />
promotes the health,<br />
environmental and social<br />
benefits of hillwalking and<br />
other outdoor pursuits.<br />
<strong>The</strong> group has a selection<br />
of walks running up to<br />
Christmas – with distances<br />
from seven to 11 miles.<br />
For more details, visit<br />
the group’s website at<br />
www.strathclydehillwalking<br />
group.co.uk or call 01698 833383.