Tag: Autistic Spectrum Conditions

Yesterday’s #SaveOurNHS action in King’s Lynn

A good turnout helped ensure the success of yesterday’s signature collecting session in King’s Lynn. Although it was grey with the King’s Lynn ‘lazy wind’ (cannot be bothered to go round you so goes straight through you) blowing the response was excellent. Even I, though I rarely fare particularly well gathering signatures (this is one area where having an Autistic Spectrum Condition does make things difficult), collected over 20, and received some kind comments even from some of those who did not sign. The total number of signatures gathered in central King’s Lynn yesterday will certainly be in the high hundreds.

Here some pictures from yesterday’s activities, some of them taken for me by the photographer from the Lynn News who took team pics for that publication…

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There has been a lot of sporting action this weekend. In the six nations there have been wins for Wales against France and for Italy against Scotland. Italy should have won by more than three points but Kelly Haimona had another shocker with the boot. Likewise, the principal difference between France and Wales was that Camille Lopez had a poor game with the boot whereas Leigh Halfpenny was up to us usual stratospheric standards for Wales. The Frenchman who kicked Ireland’s Jamie Heaslip in the back has deservedly been banned for the rest of the tournament – if he ever plays international rugby again he will luckier than he deserves to be.

In the cricket world cup, England suffered another humiliating defeat, this time at Sri Lanka’s hands. Having tallied 309 from their 50, England should have been capable of putting up some sort of defence of that total, but Sri Lanka had nine wickets and three overs to spare at the end. In the battle of the co-hosts New Zealand emerged victorious. The margin was only one wicket, but with more than half of their overs unused! Australia’s batting having done a passable impression of a house of cards, their bowlers fought back well to make a contest of it.

I have some other pics from yesterday…

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This clock adorns one of the towers of King's Lynn Minster
This clock adorns one of the towers of King’s Lynn Minster
This is in between those two towers....
This is in between those two towers….
...And this adorns the second
…And this adorns the second

An Important Press Release, A Successgul Auction and Some Other Stuff

An important press release, a brief mention of yesterday’s auction and some other stuff

Starting with the biggest news: The Great Centenary Charity Auction will now have its first instalment at The Prince of Wales Stand, Fakenham Racecourse on June 28th, sale commencing at 10AM. A full press release is reproduced below:

AUCTION FOR BLAST INJURY RESEARCH BOOSTED BY 100 OLD UNIFORM AND HEAD-DRESS DONATION

The Great Charity Auction for The Royal British Legion Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London has received a valuable collection of uniforms and head-dresses. The collection, from an anonymous donor, includes uniforms from the Crimean War through to World War I and World War II, National Service and later. It covers Royal Navy,  British Army and Royal Air Force.

“This collection, added to the many uniforms, medals and militaria already received takes the number of lots to 600 and we have brought forward the auction date to June 28th” said the delighted auctioneer, Colonel David James. “We have also moved the venue to accommodate the large volume of lots to the Prince of Wales Stand at Fakenham Racecourse.”

“Viewing will be held on Saturday 27th June from 3pm to 7pm and from 8am to 11am on the morning of the auction” he added.

The auction will include live internet bidding worldwide on the-saleroom.com.

“We are pleased to announce that the-saleroom.com has joined the Eastern Daily Press and I-Post as sponsors.”

I-Post will, through The Royal British Legion collect and deliver cartons of donated items to Fakenham virtually free of charge from United Kingdom donors. Details are available from the auction website, www.greatcharity.org

Catalogues for the first Centenary Auction will be available from June 5th post free for a donation of £10.

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The original document and a full image gallery can be viewed here:

AUCTION FOR BLAST INJURY RESEARCH BOOSTED BY 100 LD UNIFORM AND HEAD Combo 1 Helmet ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????Yesterday’s auction at the Racecourse (a regular James and Sons affair) was overall very successful. A combination of a matchday brochure, team sheet and ticket from a Spurs v Chelsea match of the early 1900s (in which the legendary Vivian Woodward appeared for Chelsea) fetched a credulity-stretching £600. There were many other notable successes, fuelled by a substantial number of people registering for online bidding via http://www.the-saleroom.com

SDC18154One of my favourite Autistic Spectrum Condition related bloggers is Autism Mom, and one of her recent posts, which I have already tweeted to my followers I found particularly impressive:

http://blog.autism-mom.com/2015/01/dinosaurs-to-the-rescue

Christmas Meal and Continuing Twitter Success

Last night was the Christmas meal of the King’s Lynn Asperger Support Society, and an excellent time was had by all. We were delighted to welcome two new members to the group. Although the food was not by any stretch a triumph, the bill came to less than expected as £10 was knocked off it by way of acknowledging a particular fail with one of the main courses (a roastie that was still solid in the middle and in consequence the dish was sent back and replaced with something else.

Although I am still without my Nikon P520 Coolpix I did get some interesting pictures during the day yesterday with my other camera.

My personal twitter account, @aspitweets continues to go from strength to strength, now having 637 followers.

Now some photos…

Moorhen in the Purfleet
Moorhen in the Purfleet

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The first of four shots I have included of "Cormorant Platform" - I have never previously seen this many of them all at once.
The first of four shots I have included of “Cormorant Platform” – I have never previously seen this many of them all at once.

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Taking Part in a Research Project

Yesterday I travelled to Norwich to take part in a research project relating to Asperger’s Syndrome/ Autistic Spectrum Conditions. The project, being run by Graham Bradley of UEA, involved three stages: an abbreviated version of the diagnostic test that confirms whether or not one is on the spectrum, then a two part intelligence/ reasoning test, first attempting to define words and then a pattern recognition exercise (I was got by one word, pavid, but as you might expect handled the pattern recognition exercise with considerable ease), the final part of the session being a computer based exercise, again themed on pattern recognition. This last involved identifying the letter H or L according to what came up on the screen. The two fundamental variants: sometimes the key letter was a large letter made up of a collection of smaller (irrelevant) letters organised in appropriate array, and sometimes it was the smaller letters that were key and the large letter they formed that was irrelevant.

Anyone who is able to get to Norwich and interested in taking part in this project can contact Graham Beales. His email address is G.Beales@uea.ac.uk and he can also be contacted on 07851 319347.

I do also have some pictures for you…

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This is a sample of my aunt's knitting skill - these pieces will form a blanket.
This is a sample of my aunt’s knitting skill – these pieces will form a blanket.
Swaffham church on a sunny but cold day
Swaffham church on a sunny but cold day
This is from just beyond Swaffham
This is from just beyond Swaffham
This shot was taken in Hockering.
This shot was taken in Hockering.
The first of the Norwich shots
The first of the Norwich shots

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Full circle - this set of pictures started in King's Lynn and we are back there now with the Christmas lights.
Full circle – this set of pictures started in King’s Lynn and we are back there now with the Christmas lights.

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KLASS Group Meeting

The King’s Lynn Asperger Support Society has its group meeting a week today, 6PM to 8PM, at the Lattice House in King’s Lynn Town Centre. Altholugh we exist to support people with asperger’s Syndrome anyone is welcome to attend our meetings, and we look forward to welcoming anyone who is interested in learning more about the condition.

Family festivities and a day in Cambridge

To start with getting a small item out of the way: I now have an official James and Sons email address: thomas.sutcliffe@jamesandsonsnorfolk.com. This is my work email, and only queries relating specifically to Jamers and Sons should be sent there – non work-related emails should still go to my regular email address.

Over the weekend we had various relations around – my Australian aunt was still in the country, and my other maternal aunt had a birthday on Sunday.

Yesterday I took part in some research relating to Autistic Spectrum Conditions in Cambridge, at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge. Most of this went exceedingly well, until it came to the last activity, which entailed being in an MRI scanner, and I could not cope with the level of confinement, so ducked out.

I have some splendid photos from Cambridge to share with you – all the plants are in the garden of the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit.

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This plant has leaves that are standard green on top...
This plant has leaves that are standard green on top…
...and royal purple underneath.
…and royal purple underneath.
This spectacular flower can be seen in the garden of the establishment I visited yesterday.
This spectacular flower can be seen in the garden of the establishment I visited yesterday.

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A trip to Cambridge

As planned yesterday I travelled to Cambridge to take part in some research into Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC).

This took me to a part of Cambridge I have not visited before, the Trumpington Road, where the Autistic Research centre is based. Unfortunately my astigmatism meant that I was not able to do most of the visual tests, but I did complete various other tasks, and following an email from one of the researchers I have just signed up as a volunteer so I can complete some online questionnaires.

Given my strong opinions about the levels of ignorance and prejudice that continue to exist re Autistic Spectrum Conditions I always accept any opportunity to contribute to increasing the level of knowledge about these conditions.

No pictures with this post as I have to leave for work.