rivers2cross

April is bowel cancer awareness month. A time when the whole bowel cancer community comes together to raise awareness about this awful disease. With bowel cancer in the spotlight for this month it also gives us the opportunity to raise vital funds for the cancer charities.

This year I decided to write and record a song to raise awareness about bowel cancer and raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK. Check Your Poo! came together very quickly. I’d had the lyrics for the chorus for some time, but wrote the rest of the lyrics and the music at the beginning of April. I put out a request to friends in the bowel cancer community and beyond to send me their “poo” photos and this enabled me to put the video together.

This was an interesting project, as it wasn’t as successful as I hoped it might be. It only sold a handful of copies and the video didn’t get many views either. This can happen and not every fundraising idea is going to raise loads of money. I couldn’t help but try to work out what I did wrong. Was the song in poor taste? Was the song just plain rubbish? That is of course for others to say. I remain really proud of it and the support I received in making the video especially from those affected by bowel cancer was just amazing, and no more justification for the song is needed.

I always love seeing what else people do to during bowel cancer awareness month. Holly, the founder of Elysian Botanicals put together the Strength mini reTreat packages to raise money for Bowel Cancer UK. These were created with Natalie and Laura who is Holly’s sister. Both were diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer at the young age of 36. I have been using wellbeing products from Holly for the last year and the difference they have made to my sleep, especially, has been amazing!

April was also the month that Mike Peters used my guitar for an Alarm gig. I was going to their gig in Oxford, and received a message from Andy Labrow, the tour manager, asking if they could use my guitar, as Mike’s guitars were having technical problems and wouldn’t be repaired in time. I was of course more than happy to do this, and I actually thought they were having my guitar as a stand by just in case. To my surprise and delight my guitar was used for the entire show. Andy Labrow sent me this photo and a few others, and another friend Stuart Ling, who was doing the official photography sent me some brilliant shots of Mike playing the guitar on stage which I have framed in my living room. Aside from the guitar adventures it was another special show, and great to catch up with some more friends not seen since before lockdown.