I was asked to chair last night’s meeting of Headway Cambridgeshire Trustees. Regular readers of my blog will know about my fear of public speaking, so it was a tremendous personal achievement for me.
I won’t say I was brilliant, but I managed to steer the meeting through without any hiccups. I think my previous experience in this role when the Archbishop of York spoke in Cambridge gave 
me added confidence. I now quite enjoy these challenges, getting out of comfort zone.
I was also fortunate in being given some advice on this by the very accomplished and handsome star of stage and screen Simon MacCorkindale when he visited our Headway centre this week. I’d forgotten he was married to the gorgeous Susan George. He was brilliant and spent three hours talking to our service users, sharing some of 
his acting experiences and passing on his winning tips to the drama group about performing in public.
He has offered to visit Headway centres around the country while on tour with Sleuth to help raise their profile, wanting to support brain injury survivors, saying: "There for the grace of God could we be".
He was so patient and allowed me to take photos of him with service users from different regions so I could target different local media with our press release and pic. He then popped off to have lunch with his mother who lives locally. What a very, very nice man he is.
That’s a rather lovely story. I always thought he had a kind face but you never know, do you, what people are really like.
Well done on your public speaking. I rarely do any these days but I go to pieces at the very thought of it every time I do. I am to give a speech at a wedding over the weekend – and I am already not sleeping properly!!! My speech will probably be OK but I”ll look a complete sleep-deprived wreck.
I like your pieces.
Susan George! Sigh. That takes me back to another lifetime seeing the mention of her. And congratulations to you on the speaking. It is challenging but I’ve always found the worst part is ‘before’. Once I get into the swing of it I actually quite enjoy it.
Are there no limits to you, Ellee?
Headway is a great place. I’m delighted to see it getting some publicity.
Well done you!
Michelle
Well done to you, Ellee, on your accomplishment. Good for Simon in visiting as well.
Reluctant blogger, Good luck with your wedding speech. My advice to you is practise, practise and practise, just as an actor would practise his lines before going on stage.
James, yes, I do have limits, but I feel very privileged to have a role in the Headway organisation.
Michelle, thank you, and yes, I agree with your comment.
Ian and Jean-Luc, thank you too.
Well done Ellee, I’m sure you’ll get better and better as you get more experience. Simon does sound like a nice fellow.
Congratulations on successfully chairing the meeting, but even more congrats for your caring role at Headway.
well done Ellee – I hope you are proud of yourself!