We can rebuild her, but don't spend a lot of money!

Skyride

RoboJo — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 19:13:10 +0000

Really enjoyed the Birmingham Skyride last week, we had a wonderful day for the event and over 15,500 people attended, a great atmosphere as people of all ages and abilities took to the streets of Birmingham.

Expecting trouble?

Waiting for the start of Birmingham Skyride 2011

More waiting for the start

With my friend Steph I managed a few laps of the circuit (with an ice cream break or two) A really enjoyable day!

Cannon Hill Park

Pershore Road No Cars!!!

Details of my total miles for the event for NRAS can be found on my JustGiving Page. A big thank you to everyone who supported me.

RA Get together

RoboJo — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:25:41 +0000

Sorry for not posting this sooner, been busy with various things!

Back in May members of the NRAS forum and Health Unlocked invited people with RA, their family and friends to the annual get together, which this year took place at the Hilton in Warwick.

RA Get Together 2011

It was great to catch up with long term friends and to make some new one’s too. A lovely lunch was laid on by the hotel and met up with people they might have only known via the net previously.

RA Get Together 2011

Everyone who attends seem to enjoy them, as it lets them know they’re not alone in dealing with the RA and that the families of those with RA make friends with people who care for their loved ones too.

At the same time as the lunch some brave souls were skydiving to raise money for NRAS’s 10th Birthday, we sent this little message to them but they didn’t get it in time

Good Luck Sky Divers

The plans are already in motion for next year’s get together, and everyone is welcome, come along, have a meal and be with a wonderful group of caring people.

Next NRAS Fundraising event – Birmingham Sky Ride

RoboJo — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 08:46:42 +0000

After completing my Rail Race and only now fully recovered from it, I’ll be taking part in the Birmingham Sky Ride, where some streets in Birmingham will car free for the day to allow cyclists freedom of the route.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of cycling lately as I often find it easier than walking (due to the problems with my feet due to the RA) and as it’s non impact also gives me some exercise. I’m hoping to do as many miles as possible on July 3rd, and would love to raise some more money for NRAS (National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society) in the process.

Donations can be made via my JustGiving page, which I’ll be using for all of my 2011 NRAS fund raising activities.

A big thank you to everyone who supports me with my fund raising!

Another weekend of government lies

RoboJo — Mon, 30 May 2011 09:08:58 +0000

After the government and their media puppets latest salvo on the sick and disabled of this country at the weekend, could it have a negative impact on charity fund raising?

Saturday morning and they happily trot out distorted figures which the media seem more than happy to distribute, without checking them, and name people they claim are “scroungers” . Every year in the UK millions of long term sick and disabled people do all sorts of activities to raise money for charities that mean something to them. It might be to support a charity that offers them help and advice on dealing with their condition, or they might pull on a pair of trainers after the death of a family member from a whole host of conditions.

I heard the tale of a woman who did a skydive and attended the gym touted across the papers and the BBC, and it made me wonder what impact it could have. You only have to look on twitter at the thousands of people who raise money for charity, many of them with a disability or long term condition. There are also a huge number of people who are advised to go to a gym for some low impact exercise as it may help their condition. yet activities such as this were singled out as the activities of a fraudster.

Despite what the government and certain areas of the media want you to believe the majority of people aren’t scroungers, while I have no doubts that there are a few people fiddling the system, but tarring everyone with the same brush is nothing short of a hate crime.

It’s also interesting that often the media fail to report that Disability Living Allowance (DLA) isn’t an out of work benefit. So there are millions of people getting DLA to help them with their mobility or for the additional costs of care who are working, and also paying their taxes.

With the latest round of lies, could people who like to give something back to society despite their limitations stop for fear of being branded a “scrounger” and losing the financial support they need? I feel that not only will charities start to lose out, as fund-raisers reconsider that challenge they’ve set themselves, but people’s health and well being could also deteriorate as a result.

It all flies in the face of Dave’s Big Society scam, which he’s try to sell to us 4 times now and failed. Charities often provide the support the NHS would love to give patients, but with the limited time and resources they can’t always do so. Charities provide play groups and youth activities for their local communities, yet it’s all under threat from funding cuts, and by bullying people into being too scared to fundraise we’ll probably see these services get hit hard, or disappear altogether, something that will affect us all in some way.

It’s no secret that Dave and his millionaire minister buddies hold money as the priority over everything else. It’s about time he woke up to the fact that people should come before profit because without them, you’ll have nothing.

Rail Race 2 date set

RoboJo — Fri, 13 May 2011 08:23:06 +0000

I’ve finally set the date for my second Great NRAS Rail Race, it will start on Wednesday 8th June. For full details of the trip please head over to https://nrasgreatrailrace.wordpress.com/

I’m planning some other more strenuous activities too, I’ll post here what I’m up to it will also be on my 2011 JustGiving fundraising page

Good luck to the NRAS Skydivers!

RoboJo — Fri, 06 May 2011 14:48:55 +0000

Tomorrow a few brave souls will be doing a skydive to raise money for the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) As well as some of the members of the NRAS staff, there are also a number of members taking part including my friend Helly.

NRAS is celebrating its 10th Birthday this year, and any donations can allow them to continue their wonderful work raising awareness of the condition and supporting people with RA, their families and carers.

Rheumatoid Arthritis affects people of any age, even children, please consider making a donation no matter how small it all helps.

You can make donations on the following pages

NRAS Team 10

Helly Copeland Just Giving Page

Good luck to everyone taking part, and a BIG thank you from me!

My 2011 fundraising for NRAS

RoboJo — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 08:40:30 +0000

As it’s the 10th Birthday of NRAS this year I’m hoping to do a number of fundraising events to raise some well deserved funds.

I’m hoping to do 10, though I’m still arranging some of them, but I’ve got the first two organised one of which I’ve been doing since January

So without further a do.. I bring you..

1) Jo’s Lose the Lard Challenge

As some of you will know I’ve been trying to shed the pounds since January, and I hope that in by me losing them, NRAS can gain a few!
Current loss so far

2) Great NRAS Rail Race 2

Some of you may remember my fund raiser from 2009 where I travelled around the UK in a 36 hour non stop train marathon. This year I’ve made it bigger and I’m hoping to visit the capital cities of Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England. I’ve worked out my route, I’m just now trying to finalise a date for it. Full details can be found on https://nrasgreatrailrace.wordpress.com/

I’m also looking at an indoor skydiving session some more abseiling and a few other events which I’m still trying to organise.

I’ll add the other challenges here once they’ve been arranged!

My just giving page for this year can be found HERE

Thanks to everyone for all their support in the past events

Others fundraising for NRAS can be found HERE

South Birmingham ARMA Group

RoboJo — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:29:24 +0000

South Birmingham Arthritis and Skeletal Alliance (SBARMA) meetings for 2011.

ARMA aims to:

Raise awareness of the need for high quality services for those with arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions

Promote the development of treatment, prevention, rehabilitation and relief

Foster co-operation, understanding and mutual support between all individuals and organisations concerned with these conditions

Provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information between member organisations

For more information, please visit the ARMA website: http://www.arma.uk.net/

SBARMA are a friendly group, and we meet on Wednesday lunchtimes at

King Edward VI High School for Girls, Edgbaston Park Road, B15 2UB

Meetings are from 12.30 – 14.00

The dates for 2011 are as follows.

23 March 2011

18 May 2011

6 July 2011

14 September 2011

16 November 2011

In the case of..

RoboJo — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:17:26 +0000

The Missing Blubber!

As some of you will know I’ve been trying to lose some weight since January and that new little widget to the right there (under the Archive section) shows my current progress. As you can see the combination of using MyFitnessPal (MFP) and EA Sports Active 2 are certainly having a benefit.

The weight gain started while my mobility was reduced waiting for my knee replacement, then the stress from my neighbours from hell didn’t help. I found myself with increased pain from the stress and I started eating more (silly I know) Thankfully that’s all in the past now and while I’m still affected by my RA, I’m making the most of my current good spell.

While there are a number of exercises on Sports Active 2 I simply can’t even attempt let alone do, the ones I can manage are having a positive effect. I’ve also been sleeping better, only downside to that is missing some of the interesting features they have on the Up All Night programme on Radio 5 Live.

Watching the calories and sticking to the MFP recommendations has made things easier, and it’s interesting to see where all those calories were hiding. I’ve always preferred cooking my own meals, so I know what is in them, but when Arthur is acting up cooking can be difficult or impossible and it’s so easy to reach for those ready meals lurking for such occasions in the freezer, which is a recipe for disaster in many cases.

I’d like to add at this point that I have no connection with either MFP or EA Sports Active, and am commenting on them purely from my own experience with using them both.

Despite MFP being US based, most British food items from all the supermarkets and brands are in there, the service is free and they also do apps for most smartphones so you can keep track while you’re out and about. The bar code scanner in the Android version of the app has been most useful.

I’ll keep you posted from time to time, you can keep an eye on that little widget until then.

Now.. I wonder if it’s down the back of the sofa….

Birmingham NRAS Group

RoboJo — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 08:34:51 +0000

Dates for the Birmingham NRAS group meeting are now online, after the terrible weather this time last year, we decided against a meeting in January or February due to the unpredictability of it all. Once again will hold our meetings in the months when our neighbouring group the “Heart of England” Solihull NRAS Group doesn’t meet, giving people the opportunity to attend both if they wish.

The dates for the meetings are as follows

Thursday 21st April

Thursday 16th June

Thursday 18th August

Thursday 20th October

Thursday 15th December

All meetings are from 6pm-8pm and take place at

The Conference Room

The Hub, Hazelwell

318 Vicarage Road

Kings Heath

Birmingham B14 7NH

More details can always be found on the group website You can also follow the group on Facebook and Twitter