More Ladies Wot Lunch!

Let me introduce you to 4 of the most wonderful women in the world.

Starting on the left and cutting into the most sumptious pavlova made by her own fair hand is Lyn, then Sheila, Anna (aka Mrs That'll be That Then!:-) at the head of the table and last but definitely not least!! is LJ.

There is so much I could say about these women I hardly know where to begin! How we met is probably a good start!

In March 1997 I was a struggling first time mum. Alan was 7 months old and recently diagnosed with CP. We had many people visit us at home to provide services to Alan...physiotherapist, speech therapist, Occupational Therapist, Play Therapist, dietician to name a few, and whilst I welcomed them at first, I was soon overwhelmed by conflicting advice, negative attitudes and a feeling that Alan didn't really belong to me but to this group of professionals who had taken over our lives. It was not a happy time.

Then one day our wonderful Health Visitor told us about the Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments (The Craighalbert Centre), which specialises in working with children with CP and which happened to be right on our doorstep (all the other professionals knew of the Centre but didn't bother mentioning it to me but that's a whole other story!) We arranged to visit with Alan and from the moment we walked in the door our lives changed - for the better!

We were greeted by LJ a formidable but twinkly eyed Swede who was the Director of the Centre and given the grand tour of the place. To say we were impressed is a complete understatement. We were completely blown away by what we saw and heard. For the first time we actually dared hope that Alan had a brighter future than was being painted by those professionals we'd had contact with so far.

Alan started attending the Parent & Baby Group led by Lyn (who was Depute Director) and over the next 6 years worked his way through the Centre's Parent & Child Group , Nursery 1 (Led by Sheila) ad Nursery 2 (led by Anna) onto School Group and eventually mainstream Primary School.

When Alan was 2, LJ gave me the most wonderful opportunity to set up and run a Family Support Service for Craighalbert families which I continued to do for 13 years until May this year. I jumped at the chance, handed in my notice and started working at the Centre and so these wonderful ladies went from being not just saviours of Alan and me but work colleagues and friends.

They are all retired now and until recently I didn't get to see them very often but now that I am a lady who lunches too for the time being I am hoping to see a lot more of them.

Alan's face was a picture when he got in from school and they were here. For a second I think he thought they were here to make him work! He as a real soft spot for Anna and reserved his biggest smile for her.

So a wonderful afternoon spent catching up over a long, leisurely lunch with a glass or two of pinot grigio.

No wonder I'm ready for my bed!