KATIE BULMERCOOKE
Sunderland is gearing up for an exciting event, as Question Time is set to be filmed in the city. There has been lots of speculation that I would be appearing on the panel, which definitely isn’t true (in fact my own mam burst out laughing when she heard the rumour- thanks mam!)
As you will probably know, if you read my column regularly, I like a good old debate as much as the next person, but I’m not sure that it would be my cup of tea.
That said however, I would like to discuss with someone, at some point the fact that I’m more than a little disgruntled that my wheelie bin won’t be emptied as often in the very near future…but I’ll save that rant for another day.
I’m personally really looking forward to watching the show, and seeing who will be representing the city and also who will be in the audience asking the questions.
No doubt there will be talk of Brexit, with Sunderland’s link to the ‘leave’ vote, but it will be interesting to see what else is discussed on the show.
This past week or so I seem to have developed an environmental conscience, and have decided, on several occasions, to ditch the car and get on my bike instead.
It is unreal how much time and hassle it saves. Twice this week I’ve cycled into the city centre, and surprisingly it was quicker to cycle than drive!
You get through the traffic so much quicker and as a bonus you burn some extra calories too.
I can even feel that I’m becoming more comfortable and a lot less nervous when I’m cycling on the road, which I was terrified of initially…and it’s certainly less stressful on a bike than it is sitting around in rush hour traffic.
There is however a down side to reducing my carbon foot print…there are very few places that you can park your bike and leave it chained up safely.
So far I’ve only found one place that is any good…so if we want to get more people cycling to work in the city or simply travelling into the city centre on two wheels, rather than four, there needs to be better provision for cyclists.
We can’t keep banging the physical activity drum if we aren’t making it easy to get involved. On the flip side, if you know of extra places to leave your bike, then please feel free to share!
This week also sees the celebration of International Women’s Day.
There are various events happening in our city and across the region, and it’s always ace to celebrate success.
Sunderland is home to many successful business women and women who have made a big impact on the city and International Women’s Day is an excellent opportunity to give them a high five!
There is what looks to be a very interesting event, the Women’s Conference, taking place on Wednesday at the brand new Hope XChange Building by the Premier Inn.
Speakers at the event include Fiona Simpson, founder of Art Venturers, a business which started in Sunderland and has since become an international franchise business, so if you are looking for inspiration and motivation the it’s definitely worth checking out.
You can’t beat a bit of girl power to get you fired up to go off and achieve great things!
“You can’t beat a bit of girl power to get you fired up”