As someone who up till very recently cared full-time for a family member I can help you.
The gift I am about to suggest is very cheap, it may even be completely free.
You can’t wrap it, post or deliver it.
You can’t purchase it in any shop, market or even online.
Mock-up of Bishop of Norwich skydive
Mark Shields Friday, November 15, 2013
2:44 PM
The Bishop of Norwich is no stranger to leaps of faith.
One performed thousands of feet in the air with someone strapped to your back is rather a different matter.
But that is what the Rt Revd Graham James is preparing for, to mark the 30th anniversary of Norfolk charity the Matthew Project, which supports people with drug and alcohol issues across the county.
He said: “Christians have often spoken about taking a ‘leap of faith’. I’m doing so in a tandem sky dive next May as patron of the Matthew Project.
“When I came to Norwich 14 years ago it was one of the first local organisations to ask me to become its patron.
Warwickshire County Council plans to cut £1.7m from its budget could leave carers at breaking point, reports Mary Griffin
“My whole world revolves around Aleisha,” says Rebecca Page. “It has to.”
Rebecca’s life plan has changed dramatically since her daughter Aleisha was diagnosed with severe autism at the age of three.
Seven years on, Aleisha is never left alone, needing one-to-one attention 24 hours a day.
Rebecca, who lives near Southam and left her career as a specialist teacher to become a full-time mum, says: “She headbangs until she’s stopped, she kicks and punches and she is extremely active, climbing up furniture.
“She’s a physically fit 10-year-old who functions somewhere between a baby and a two-and-a-half-year-old.
“She has no language but communicates through Makaton (a system of signs and symbols).
“You can’t turn around from her to run a bath. If you’re not holding on to her she’s gone.
“I can only sleep when she sleeps and then it’s like sleeping with a newborn – that half-sleep where you’re always listening out.”
