LIFE ON ONE LEG.
Hear about my varied experiences as an above knee amputee and why I find designing and making walking sticks so fulfilling and challenging.
Quite a Month…
I used to be so scared of talking into a camera. Filming. However it really helps if someone is pointing a camera at you, just talk straight back to the 'someone'. It gives you a pair of eyes to bounce off and connect with. That’s my advice for the month. I didn’t say...
Randomly Acting Kind
You may or may not know this, but today is random acts of kindness day. I don’t often buy into particular days being for a particular something, but I do particularly like this one. I think depending on who you are, where you come from and also your age, the term act...
Necessity is the Mother of Invention.
Supporting and championing disabled designers is one of my happy things to do. It’s up there with cuddling puppies and drinking the perfect temperature hot chocolate. You know what I mean you chocolate officionados. London Fashion Week starts this week, and it gives...
We’ve Been Expecting You.
It’s funny, whenever I call for a taxi or try to shout one from the street, you can instantly see the drivers face drop when they spot my wheelchair, and often a dog aswell. They see me as awkward, needy and what the hell will they have to say to me. It sometimes...
Neo Walk Effect
Many of you have spoken glowingly about the effects of using one of our gorgeous Neo Walk sticks. Lots of people leave reviews, a handful not so nice, but 99% of them talk about how they feel confident, stylish, proud and safe when they have been using one of our...
What the Ferrule is That?
At Neo Walk we believe it's all about choice, customisation and making your walking stick reflect your personality. So you can choose colour, clear, curvy, quirky, and you can even choose the colour of the rubber tip that goes on the bottom. Let's call it a ferrule....
Confidence is the answer, what was the question?
Confidence is the answer. What was the question? What is it that glows from the inside and makes you look and feel great on the outside? Here’s some of my hard earned tips on how to get some. Take one tip, take all or take none, or share your tips with us. Get...
Normal or Not.
We recently attended the Naidex Exhibition 2022 in Birmingham, and what a fantastic time we had. We had the privilege of meeting so many Neo Walkers walking proudly with their gorgeous acrylic walking sticks. A joy to see. They stood out from everyone else. They wore...
Tales of a Small Business Entrepreneur.
I recently said to someone I wasn’t born a designer, but after I said it, I had to stop and think if that was true. Maybe I was. Maybe all those junior years on the plasticine and crayons were my training ground, and the years of being a make do and mend mum...
I had the best week last week. What happened you may well ask. Did I pick the winning lucky lottery numbers? Nope. Did I unearth hidden antiques in the loft among the Xmas decorations and the cobwebs? Nope. Did an ancestry search reveal I am actually descended from...
I have secrets. I have secrets you would love to know. I know some secrets of Dragons’ Den I can’t tell, but I am ready to tell some others! I never knew anyone that had been in the Den before I did it, so although I had seen the programme, I didn’t know what to...
All the things you ever wanted to know but never dared to ask. About phantom limbs and pain. I’ve got one. Or rather I haven’t got one. You can’t see it, but It’s there. MY LEG OF COURSE! I lost my left leg above the knee in 2010 following a catastrophic MRSA...
Instagram isn’t very honest. We all know it, but we still let it pump our heads full of perfect pictures of perfect sexy people living their gorgeous Insta lives. I’m actually jealous of my own profile pictures! I wish I could be bothered with painting that make up...
If our paths have crossed you’ll know one thing about me. I am passionate. About this community. About advocacy for equality, visibility and respect for people with all disabilities. About presenting you with excellent quality, beautifully designed handmade...
I think one of the most common questions I am asked, apart from how is Team Neo Walkies, is what difference does the shape of the handle make to a Neo Walk stick. Well my friends, give me your ears and allow me to tell you everything. I think the only two things the...
Do you ever wonder what it would be like to spend a day in the life of someone else or be a 24 hour fly on someone’s wall? The Queen maybe, or Boris Johnson? Actually Boris can keep what goes on behind his closed doors to himself! How about Tom Cruise then? Get a look...
Smile – it’s free therapy.
In a time where our futures seem uncertain, one thing remains for sure. A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles. Here are some little things that made me smile this week. Taking Team Neo Walkies to the doggy play park...
Why is it important to use the right length of walking stick? Using a stick can help relieve the pain and fatigue you feel while you are walking, and therefore the pain and fatigue you feel after. It acts as a balancing aid, letting your core muscles need to...
So why do people use and not use mobility aids? The former is for support, and the latter is because of shame. If you live with a disability you no doubt already know how chronic pain can make you feel. It’s exhausting and it’s depressing because it’s never ending. So...
Satan help us it’s a funny year so far. I never thought I’d use words like pandemic and quarantine in every day life, as easy as I say tea and toilet roll. What the hell has happened? Who knows who you can trust? I can’t watch the news too often, and I can’t have it...
You may remember I recently had the great pleasure of filming an episode of BBC Doctors in Birmingham, where I played a bitter arsey amputee. I am still relatively new to the acting thing and was very merrily swept along watching the process and secrets of filming - I...
Dear Booking.com I hope you can give me your full attention while I relieve myself of the anger, humiliation and frustration I have endured today as a result of booking through your website. We booked this room through you on 28/8/19 with a special request notifying...
Special orders and special requests. These are things I really enjoy doing, whether it's a bespoke colour, engraving, unusual shape etc, I love a challenge and a chance to get those creative juices woken up to make something different. I once made a fluorescent blue...
Today I mostly want to rant. I don't do it often but this is becoming an increasingly large and frequent beef with me and I am 100% certain that a lot of you will agree. PARKING!!! What gives anyone the right to look at me in my car and decide that I don't look like I...
Life is made up of several things I openly confess I could not be without. My list will be different yours. Yours may include gin, your washing machine or a mobile phone. While I love and entertain all of these choices on a daily basis, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs...
Imagine this if you will. You wake up, yawn, scratch (something) and greet the day. Today is Monday. But imagine this is your last Monday. No more Mondays. You are doing your no mores. Because it all ends on Friday. Whoosh. Curtains. Final call. You've got your...
Life at Neo Walk like anything else today has the internet at it's heart. I guess when you're nurturing a small modern business through it's growth period, it can sometimes feel like every week is an 8 day week and there's not enough hours in the day. So working in...
So my friends, why walking sticks, why Neo Walk? Well if you had asked me 10 years ago what I wanted to do, I would have said open my own super chic hair salon. I was a newly qualified dreamy eyed hairdresser with visions of big bouncy blow dries and perfect pin-up...
This week I want to tell you about the time I died on Salisbury Plain. I also died in Scotland, twice in Norfolk and several times in Birmingham. In fact I died twice in one day in Birmingham. I could have died in Norway too but I gave that one a miss. I’m talking...
Take yourselves back to the year 2012. The year Obama was re elected, the year the Mayan calendar ran out of days but the world actually didn't end, and the year the Queen celebrated 60 years on the throne. Oh yes, and the year I spent 6 months clowning around in...
I remember several big changes very clearly from when I became ill in 2007. When you're sat in a wheelchair, strangers feel entitled to talk to you or about you as if you're stupid. You have to learn to accept help with things you never dreamed you'd lose the ability...
A few years ago we were visiting Dublin en route to a wedding in Belfast. This was during a period when I didn't wear a shoe on my prosthetic foot, instead opting for nothing except fake tattoos. I found it more comfortable for some reason, although it was much...
Somebody once told me never to underestimate the power of the brain. Those billions of nerve cells sparking and coordinating thoughts, emotions, behaviour and sensation. Controlling everything from your heart rate to your mood. So while I believed and marvelled at the...
Footprints in the sand….
Author, Sarah Bush. I was scrolling through my Facebook feed at the hairdresser’s yesterday, and one of the pages I follow shared an announcement from the Crosby Beach Distortions page. ‘A textile project inspired by the textures, colours and shapes of Crosby Beach’,...
"I have six walking sticks and my favourite the moment is Bubblegum Pink as it gets a lot of people talking to me. My yellow clear one reminds people of Luke Skywalker. My blue one makes people ask the question 'does it have gold fish that come up from the bottom. I...
"I am a huge fan of these walking sticks, not because they look so wonderful but because they offer stability and assurance to those of us who need that bit of extra help. I have five of these sticks - opaque blue, transparent purple, candy cane, fluorescent blue and...
Just wondered if anyone else has ever bumped into a fellow Neo Walker? Because I post sticks all over the world I never really get to see anyone with one, I'm usually in one place most of the time. But last year I was going on holiday to Canada and while sat on the...
How fantastic is this!! This lady spotted herself on Street Maps in Brighton, stylishly walking with her clear bubbles Neo Walk stick!! So now she is immortalised forever, or until they shoot that street again! Have you ever spotted yourself on Street Maps anywhere?
I can’t believe it’s been almost one year since the Paralympic Ceremonies and those unforgettable, inspiring games.
