
Mental health day for Kempston Send pupils 'incredible'
Ms Breare said being able to host the event was "unthinkable" and her pupils had called it "party day" . "To have the names and the activities that have been offered- it's inexplicable," she added."Our children wouldn't necessarily go out on trips to see Mr Bloom and they wouldn't necessarily spend much time at the farm with their families, so to have it in a safe place, with safe adults, and know they're going to access something that's just incredible for their wellbeing, I cannot tell you how excited I am."
Children from Grange Academy also took part. Lily played football and basketball and said the day had made her feel "happy".
Cody, 11, said he liked visiting a new school and said it made him feel happy as he had made new friends. Samuel, 12, made some art and said it was "good to see the animals".
Mr Bloom, from CBeebies, held a number of gardening workshops. He said gardening can help your mental healt,h and children tell him that it makes them feel calm, happy, positive, good and relaxed. "Nature is absolutely fantastic, we depend on it, and it gives us everything we need," he said. "It just makes us feel good, if we take care of nature, nature will take care of you."
Catherine Assink, the chief executive and executive principal of Bedford Inclusive Learning and Training Trust, which runs the school, said the "ethos of mental health and wellbeing" was in everything it does. She said the day was amazing and added: "What an opportunity [we've had] to share with our local community our schools, and having other main stream schools coming in to share the day and to celebrate mental health and what we can do to belong as a community and to raise the profile of our Send pupils."
Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Sun
33 minutes ago
- The Sun
I'm wheelchair-bound at 54 after my cancer symptoms were blamed on gardening – I had tingly toes
KAREN Davey has been left wheelchair-bound after her back pain and tingling toes were blamed on a gardening injury. They turned out to be signs of cancer that robbed Karen of her ability to walk and left the previously active 54-year-old "completely reliant" on others. 3 3 In February 2024, Karen began to feel more tired and achy than usual. As she was hit with fatigue, hot flushes, and loss of appetite, she assumed she was experiencing symptoms of menopause. But by March, Karen had developed pain in her kidney. When she visited the GP, she was told she had back pain due to gardening, despite only having done 20 minutes, well within her capabilities. Over the next two months, her symptoms worsened. Karen stopped eating properly, lost weight and developed a temperature. She eventually lost all sensation in her legs, as well as bladder and bowel function. After being hospitalised for two weeks, she was diagnosed with stage four non-Hodgkin lymphoma in her kidneys, with a tumour wrapped around her spinal cord. After one round of radiotherapy and six rounds of chemotherapy, Karen is in complete remission, but her tumour has had life-changing effects. Due to the spinal cord injury it caused, Karen cannot walk and is now a full-time wheelchair user. Two signs of cancer that could be mistaken for cold weather symptoms - and when to see a GP Karen from Launceston, Cornwall said: "I'd gone from somebody who was quite active before. I'd do a lot of hiking across the moors, I used to go cold water swimming all year round. "One of the last things I did before I got ill was an abseil off a 120-foot viaduct. "This isn't what I'm supposed to be doing at this time of life. I've not yet been able to get back to driving or anything like that. "I'm completely reliant on my husband, it's messed up my social life, just going out to meet friends or going swimming or popping into town to look around the shops. 3 "Emotionally, it's just completely messed me up." Since returning home from hospital in February 2025, Karen, who works as an administrator for an online psychiatry company, has had to reduce her hours to eight hours a week. Her husband has had to give up work altogether to become her full-time carer. For Karen, the delay in getting a diagnosis is particularly frustrating, and she is keen to spread awareness of her situation to help others experiencing something similar. Karen said: "I had no idea that hot flushes would lead to all this. "The symptoms you've got aren't always menopause symptoms, and we need to be more mindful of that." Karen felt her symptoms were also dismissed by her GP and continued to be dismissed until she was eventually sent to the hospital. According to various studies, only 20-30 per cent of people with spinal cord injuries are women, which Karen believes has contributed to her struggles. What is non-Hodgkin lymphoma? Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is a type of blood cancer that affects white blood cells called lymphocytes. It starts in lymph nodes or other parts of the lymphatic system. You can get NHL just about anywhere in your body, as the lymphatic system runs through your whole body. It most often starts in the lymph nodes and can affect several groups of lymph nodes around your body. You can also find lymphoma in other body organs outside the lymphatic system, for example, the stomach or bones. The most common symptom of NHL is one or more painless swellings in the neck, armpit or groin. These swellings are enlarged lymph nodes. You might have other general symptoms such as: Heavy sweating at night Temperatures that come and go with no obvious cause Losing a lot of weight (more than one tenth of your total weight over 6 months) and you don't know why Source: Cancer Research UK She said, "It's difficult getting information as a woman, I think because most spinal cord injuries are attributed to men. "I just get annoyed that it was attributed to menopause and doing gardening when it needed looking into a bit more. "I didn't know anything about spinal cord injury and when my toes started going tingly, it didn't occur to me that that's what it was. There's not enough information." Karen was put in touch with Spinal Injuries Association while in hospital. The national charity supports people living with spinal cord injuries and is currently running a women's health campaign, advocating for better access to medical settings for disabled women. Dharshana Sridhar, campaigns manager at Spinal Injuries Association, said: "Karen's story is a powerful reminder that women's health symptoms should never be dismissed or explained away without proper investigation. "Too often, women with spinal cord injuries face delays in diagnosis and unnecessary barriers to equitable care, leaving them to cope with life-changing consequences that could have been prevented. "Across the board, women's concerns are frequently overlooked and when disability or other intersecting factors are involved, the barriers to timely diagnosis and treatment become even greater. "Through our women's health campaign, we're calling for better awareness, earlier diagnosis, and accessible healthcare for every woman, no matter her disability."


BBC News
33 minutes ago
- BBC News
ME patient from Sowerby Bridge welcomes government care plan
A woman living with a disease that causes extreme fatigue has thanked the government for increasing support for those with the month, the Department of Health and Social Care announced a care plan for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) that included investing in research and offering new training for NHS healthcare Hallgarth, from Sowerby Bridge, welcomed the plan as she felt support had been "severely lacking" in the 14 years since her Hallgarth said at its worst her condition left her bed-bound for months and facing up 50 seizures a day, so the new plan was "wonderful". But she cautioned: "Time will tell because you can say all these things and I think we are so used to hearing empty promises."Ms Hallgarth said she felt like she was not listened to when she first went to the doctor with her symptoms and, after a "process of elimination" following a variety of tests, she was diagnosed with of the daily limitations of the illness, she said: "It impacts on a physical level in terms of mobility, moving around the house, leaving the house..."I use an electric wheelchair or a cane if I am going outside the house."When I was at my worst I was not able to sit up." At that point, Ms Hallgarth said she had to "lie horizontally in the dark for months", unable to tend to her personal care, with her partner and son supporting her."ME can affect you on a very severe level with people on feeding tubes or in hospital, completely reliant on care givers," she her condition is more manageable, Ms Hallgarth runs her own jewellery business, AH Jewellery, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Also referred to as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), ME is a complex long-term physical disease which affects many parts of the body, according to ME Research condition affects approximately 390,000 people in the UK, causing debilitating fatigue, sleep problems and difficulties with thinking, concentration and memory. The government's plan also includes new training for health staff and medical students, featuring up-to-date learning resources to increase understanding and ensure signs are not government said this would help combat the stigma faced by people living with ME/CFS, which stemmed from a lack of awareness about the Hallgarth said she welcomed many aspects of the plan including improved education for NHS workers and students, and better care proposed for children diagnosed with said she hoped the move would reduce stigma around ME, but warned: "It is going to take a while for those old attitudes to really shift." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.


BBC News
33 minutes ago
- BBC News
Royal Papworth Hospital pays out after bacteria-linked deaths
A hospital trust has paid a "six-figure settlement package" in the case of nine patients following an outbreak of a bacterial infection linked to its water patients died and two of these cases were as a result of complications connected to the outbreak at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, according to transplant patients Karen Starling, 54, of Ipswich, Suffolk, died in February 2020, and Anne Martinez, of Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, died in December Midlane, the hospital's chief executive, said: "Lessons have been learnt [and] regulations revised to seek to avoid a similar occurrence in the UK." The trust denied liability but resolved each of the claims in out-of-court settlements, which were secured following a civil claim pursued as a group action. Six further patients suffered serious complications that continue to affect them following the outbreak of Mycobacterium abscessus ( according to legal firm Irwin said the "six-figure settlement package" was agreed in connection with the nine is a bacterial infection which is a particular risk to people who are vulnerable and immunosuppressed, such as lung transplant patients. Solicitor Jatinder Paul said patients were admitted to "this world-renowned hospital... in the hope of a better life"."While the surgical care itself hasn't been an issue, the events that unfolded have been devastating for them and their families," he said. He added large public buildings with complex water systems, such as hospitals, can be at an increased risk of waterborne contamination. Inquests were held in 2022 into the deaths of Mrs Starling and Mrs Martinez, who both underwent double-lung transplants in 2019 and died the following year. Keith Morton, the assistant coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, found that their M. abscessus was a hospital-acquired a joint statement, Mrs Martinez's sons Tony, 43, and Andrew 38, said: "We hoped that when mum underwent her transplant it would be the start of a brighter future."Even six years on from mum's transplant, it's difficult to comprehend the events that unfolded."Mrs Starling's husband Derek, said: "Losing Karen in such circumstances is something our family will never truly come to terms with." Ms Midlane said her "thoughts go out to the patients and families involved"."We recognise this [settlement] has been possible due to the cooperative approach adopted by all parties, for which we are very grateful."Providing safe and compassionate patient care is our top priority and as part of our investigation in 2019, we worked tirelessly to investigate, understand, manage and control the outbreak."As acknowledged by Irwin Mitchell, we acted appropriately and complied with all the relevant said lessons had been learned at a local and national level."Clinicians at Royal Papworth Hospital are now at the forefront of research into the disease," she added. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.