The Institute of Directors Young Directors’ Forum had organised a visit to the facility after a very successful trip last year. The visit started with a series of short but very informative presentations from the LNT Group Chairman, Lawrence Tomlinson, covering each of the companies within the group. This lead into his explanation of how the companies worked in line with his vertically integrated philosophy, with each company providing products and services to compliment the others. Numerous questions were fielded by the delegates, and the answers were extremely thorough, giving a deeper insight into his thought processes relating to the businesses.

Next was the part of the day that most people had been waiting for. A guided tour of the Ginetta factory.

Everyone was split into a number of smaller groups, and guided by various members of the LNT team. They were shown everything from the design room, where computer aided design (CAD) is used to develop the designs, to the preparation of wiring looms and gearboxes, through to the spit used for rotating complete chassis structures while they are being welded. This gave people a much more detailed understanding of the work involved in building these high-performance cars than most people will ever know. Having completed the tour, everyone was then taken back to the board room for food and drink. If only I hadn’t had my hands full of camera equipment, I could have single-handedly cleared the table!

So that was the end to another day, and one that I’ll look forward to repeating before too long. Thanks to everyone involved at both LNT Group and the IoD, for hosting such a fantastic and unique event, and allowing me to be part of it.

A few of the photos are below, but the full set can be found at www.lmx-creative.co.uk

The cars on site for the day were as varied as you could imagine, with everything from MINIs an VW Polos, a rare Renault Alpine A610, all the way through Ferraris and Lamborghinis to the Ford GT. The only other place I’ve seen such a wide variety of cars is in the AutoTrader!

Jonny, the owner of Pure Detail, not only gave demonstrations of his work, which involves restoring paintwork to better-than-showroom condition, but also extended his demonstration to show how everyone not to light a barbeque. The level of care and attention to detail that Jonny has for his work is second to none, and that can easily be seen in the results. Minute swirls in the paint, that are just enough to make the paint dull and lifeless, are completely removed, leaving a glass-like finish that has to be seen to be believed.

See some examples below, or the full set at www.lmx-creative.co.uk

Having no previous involvement in the funeral industry, I had no idea what Dying Matters was all about, or that it was Dying Matters Awareness Week May 16^th – 22^nd. Apparently it’s a national campaign and coalition, with over 14,000 members, all trying to change public knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards death, dying and bereavement in the UK. So this event was to try and encourage people to talk more openly about death and dying.

There were a number of organisations with display stands, including Access to Health and Healing, Alzheimer’s Society, Carers Leeds, Change and the Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre, and guest speakers from Leeds Palliative Care Team, Macmillan Cancer Support and Leeds Bereavement Forum, all talking on the theme “Why dying matters to me…” from a personal or professional perspective.

Taking the event in a slightly different direction, the author of the Good Funeral Guide, Charles Cowling was there, speaking about his book and answering questions from the audience. While this didn’t always give the answers people were expecting, I found him to be extremely informative and thought that he gave a much more light-hearted perspective to what could be considered a very solemn subject. I was also impressed to see a showing of a DVD produced by Change, giving their thoughts on planning your funeral. It was something that I hadn’t been expecting to see and not only was the content impressive, but the whole production seemed very professional too. This was later followed with another video, featuring Emmerdale’s Billy Hartman, who gave us an insight into his perspective of why dying matters.

Given the quality of the event (and the food!), I found it hard to believe that it was FREE for all the attendees. Overall I thought the day went extremely well, and it was a pleasure to be involved!

Below are a few photos from the event, with more available to view in the gallery on my website. Feel free to have a look around and I hope you enjoy looking at the photos as much as we all enjoyed the event!

As strange as that might sound to anyone that’s planning a wedding, although we’re all involved in your big day and all have very important parts to play, it’s rare that we actually get chance to speak to each other for more than a passing “Hello”.

So. Back to the day. It was a pretty early start for me, as I was meeting Victoria (the “Bride”) at Essentials Beauty Studio in Garforth for an appointment to have some new eyelashes especially for the day (by that I mean Victoria was having the eyelashes, not me ). Now maybe it’s just because I’m a bloke and have never had this done myself, but I was AMAZED at the work involved in doing something which I thought would be so simple. The care and precision that Catherine had while she was placing each lash, one-by-one, was remarkable. All the time Victoria was laid there relaxing, while being made to look even more beautiful, Catherine was making sure each lash was placed in just the right way to look fuller, but still very natural. Again, with me being hardly an expert on these things, apparently it’s common for people’s eyelids to get stuck together while they’re having this kind of treatment (is treatment the right word?) but Catherine prides herself in making sure this doesn’t happen, and with the level of care that she takes, it’s hardly surprising that the results look absolutely fantastic.

Next on the agenda for the day, was a trip to the shop right next door to Essentials, to pick up the veil from Alison at Precious Bridal. It was only a flying visit as Alison would be meeting us later at 3 Albion Place with the dress, but we needed the veil earlier so that it could be used by Alison Clegg (yes another Alison) from Beauty Call, so that she would be able to sort Victoria‘s hair, knowing how the small Linzi Jay veil would fit.

Finally, it was time to pick up Chris (the “Groom”), get all my kit together and get down to 3 Albion Place in Leeds. Luckily, although it’s right in the centre of Leeds, there’s a car park less than 100 yards away, so it wasn’t too far for us to lug all my bags! We got there, had a quick lunch, and started to get ready. Alison got to work on Victoria‘s hair and make-up while Chris made the most of the internet access, and kept us all amused with Britain’s Got Talent clips on YouTube. This was another point where I was seriously impressed with the work someone was doing. Not only was Chris a whizz on YouTube but the amount of skill it needs to apply makeup properly, not only to look good in person, but also on camera, is unbelievable. I can understand why they’re called make-up artists, there really is an art to it and Alison‘s a natural.

While Victoria was getting ready, Alison arrived with the Ellis Bridals dress, and I helped Niki (Florescence) carry the flowers into the venue. The furniture was laid out for a reception and while Charlotte carried the (ShakeBake)cake in and set it up on the stand, Lindsay Chalfont from Ambience Leeds sorted all the chair covers. Once Alison had helped Victoria into her dress and Chris had had his make-up done, it was time for the photos.

This is where the real work started Wanting to give it a ’40s Hollywood feel, the dress, hair, make-up, veil (and Victoria) all combined to make the perfect bride. With Chris in his black tie they seemed an ideal couple, even if they did struggle to keep a straight face in each other’s company. After getting all the photos we wanted, we had a sneaky slice of cake and called it a day.

Thanks to everyone involved in making it such a great day!

See the full set at http://www.lmx-creative.co.uk

Like my page at facebook.com/lmxcreative

More details and the full set of photos will be here later in the week!

Thanks to Essentials Beauty Studio, Precious (Garforth), Florescence Floral Boutique, Shake Bake Cake,Beauty Call, Ambience Venue Styling, and most importantly Victoria and Christopher. (Not forgetting me here at LMX Creative!)

The Bride and Groom

When the guests started arriving, we moved to the area that had been reserved for the party and waited for the food. It didn’t take long for it to arrive, and while it was still being laid on the tables, a certain person thought they’d be able to get away with helping themselves without being noticed. He must have forgotten that I was there.

Like most good parties, people soon finished with the food and stuck to the drinks for the rest of the night. To say so much alcohol was drunk, they all did a good job of hiding it! Overall the party seemed like a great success, with everyone having a brilliant night and celebrating until the early hours of the morning.

So to Laura and Mark, congratulations on your engagement and thanks for letting me be a part of your celebrations.

A few photos from the night are attached below, with the rest available at www.lmx-creative.co.uk

(and don’t leave it too late to place your order. Sam needs this operation sooner rather than later, which is why there’s the March deadline.)

To say there was less than one week’s notice, there was a huge turnout for the coffee “morning” and with everyone there being members of various car forums, including VAGOC (Volkswagen Audi Group Owners Club), SciroccoCentral and Mk5GolfGTI it was a great opportunity to put a few faces to names.

So after setting off half an hour later than I’d hoped, I arrived just before 10am and the coffee was there waiting for me, along with biscuits, chocolate and cakes. What more could I want?! By the time I’d tested the food and had enough coffees to start to bring me round, there were quite a few more cars in the car park, and they were running out of room.

One of the cars belonged to a member of VAGOC that couldn’t make it to the event, but had left his car there for some work to be done, and had asked me to fit a couple of VAGOC stickers for him. It isn’t until you do something like that, that you realise how little room there is in the back of a TT, but at least it was a TT-RS, so I got to practice my skills as a contortionist on the plush leather seats, safe in the knowledge that thanks to REVO, there was a ridiculously powerful engine only inches from me.

Once it got to the point where I’d finished all the coffee (ok, maybe a couple of others had helped me along the way) the decision was made that we needed to take the cars for a drive while more was made, along with lunch. As I had absolutely no idea where we’d be going, and hardly had the car to fit in, I decided it’d be best to jump in with someone else and hang the camera out of the window. (Thanks Callum!) When we got back it just got better and better, more coffee, more food, chilli, baked potatoes, and best of all, chocolate eclairs!

Throughout the day people were having new software uploaded onto their cars or generally planning how to spend as much disposable income as possible, to make their cars that bit more powerful. All with healthy discounts being handed to those that turned up, for them to use on a date that suited them.

At the end of the coffee “morning” (around 3pm) I headed back up home and spent a few mins recovering from overeating and too much coffee, before heading out to a surprise 30th, for yet more eating and drinking!

To everyone that organised or helped out on the day, thanks for having us and I can’t wait for the next one!

As ever, here are a few shots from the day, with the full set available at http://www.lmx-creative.co.uk.

Well we had a an absolutely brilliant day, so thanks to everyone that organised the tour, it was very informative and not something that happens every day. My wife was lucky enough to win a passenger ride in one of the F400s and she absolutely loved it!

I’ve attached a few the photos from the day below, but I’ll have to apologise up front for them not being up to my usual standard. I didn’t think they’d want everyone taking photos (as most companies don’t) so I left my camera at home, but they were more than happy for people to take them, so I had to make do with my wife’s little point and shoot, and half the time it just refused to focus! And the last photos are thanks to my daughter wanting some with us both wearing the freebies. The full set of photos from the day is available in the galleries on my website.

Let’s not forget the reason this was held. The tour managed to raise just under £5,000 but there’s still a long way to go, so please donate whatever you can afford through the PayPal link on this page: What’s wrong with me?

Quote from Save Sam’s Spine Facebook Page

Save Sams Spine from Spinal Suffering

Someone i love very much once told me if i can say something in a sentence, i’ll say it in thirty, so im keeping this as concise as possible.

2 January 2009. Wake with an almighty pain in neck.

15 January 2009. Admitted to Sheffield Neurosurgery and after extensive diagnostics was diagnosed with two prolapsed discs. This is extremely painful.

20th July. Readmitted to Neurosurgery Ward with worsening pain. This admittal to hospital resulted in the spinal disectomy operation I had booked for August being cancelled due to more diagnostics leading the neurosurgeons not wanting to perform the operation, citing outcome Vs risk clash.

From this point I spent much time in bed or in a chair. Everyone knows what i was like, but for those that dont, in short…Im in excruciating pain. Every day and night. I now have enough focus to not show it as much, but it’s taking a terrible toll in that the medication is destroying my health as well..but back to the chronology..

15th Feb 2010 Neck goes very bad again. MRI reveals continuing prolapse, but after requesting second opinion of case, Sheffield Neurosurgery discharge me saying to attend pain clinics to deal with the pain.

After this i continue in looking for ways to cure my neck, knowing the diagnosis and decision of the surgeons to be incorrect.

22nd Nov 2010. Find and go to see Mr Manoj Krishna at Nuffield Hospital in York. You can check his site here (kspine.net) He examines my MRI from previous tries and comes up with a radically different view to the Sheffield Surgeons. he does however need a MRI and Xray doing that’s up to date.

15th January 2010. Two years to the day, Mr Krishna diagnoses my condition. from the images taken, he has found that my neck has collapsed and is worsening. The discs from top to bottom of the cervical region are very damaged, some entirely herniated, some slightly so, but altogether, my neck is heading for a worse fall than previously imagined. The vertebrae and discs are damaged and aren’t getting better on their own.

Basically, you all know me. You know what i was like. I charged at everything with a wild abandon and revelled in life, now reduced to a mind in a chair. I want my life back with all my added reflection thrown in to boot. For those that dont know me, here is what is going on with me, causation, effect etc.

Ok, so the prolapsed discs press on the nerve root and spinal cord at the area where they protrude. this protrusion then causes everything the nerve affects to be transmitted as pain and weakness. So i cant feel half my hand, i have 30% usage of the right arm. A breakdown of the medication im on and symptoms from them

Morphine (slow release)

Nortriptaline

Diazepam

Baclofen

Beta blockers

Morphine (fast acting)

metroclopramide

Tamoxifin??

Anything else?

Agonising, insanity brewing pain in the neck, worsened by any movement.

Twitches in thumb and finger, less in the arm, occasionally the right leg which often fails causing me to fall.

Paralysis and parasthesia in the arm.

No movement of head or body to a degree for causation of pain.

Shooting pains down the arm.

No sleep.

Skin Problem in extremities.

Migraines.

Burning pain in skin around neck on the back.

Difficulty swallowing.

Nausea.

Loss of memory.

Everyone that cares about me has to see me like this.

My PhD is on hold till i can get better.

Follow on effects from this-I now have heart problems (probably from medication and/or neck, breathing difficulty (potentially from the heart problems and possibly the nerve damage. I’ve also developed a potential ulcer and stomach problems (definitely from the drugs) and I’ve grown a very nasty lump on my chest that was suspected to be of a murky nature (which is now being dealt with by Big C medication, to add insult to injury.

So, now you’re more or less up to date with what’s wrong and my condition. I’ll stick up some pictures of my MRI etc so you can see what’s wrong, its pretty obvious, you don’t have to be a terrible consultant from Sheffield to see there’s something wrong.

Many of you have offered to help me in any way you can. So Ive set this up so you can all band digital heads together and see if you can help in anyway.

Heres what it costs. 20k. Twenty big G’s. I want this doctor to do it and i would rather be private than not, but i do have the option of NHS treatment, but I’ve been down that road. I need much help, whether it be money or support or help getting to appoinments. bang heads together. Firstly I know there is a skydive happening, of which Joe and Ritson will leak details of as it happens. Raising this amount of money isnt going to happen overnight, but its not an unattainable figure. I can take out a loan and if we keep fundraising we can do this.

The operation isn’t a cure. It will not cure me. But it will stop it. The damage done is done, Sheffield have made some big mistakes, but i dont want to focus any anger until im better, which is my main concern. So, lets get at that. This problem needs stopping, the recovery is going to take a hell of a long time, but i finally have an answer to what is wrong and an answer to why its happening and how to act now.

id love for some form of organisation to grow from this, some kind of charity for people suffering from chronic pain and neck injury. My surgeon is trying to change opinion, but it’s taking time. he works in a different way, placing the patient first and believes people should be able to have a life without pain. if we can help bring that, all the better.

Please invite as many people as you can that you believe will help, use the discussion boards to think of fundraising ideas..lets apply some Yorkshire Grit to this problem.