Finally, it’s light when I leave the house to go to work and what a difference it makes to how I feel. The urge to go back inside and hide under the bedcovers until the sun comes up has gone and I’m interested to see what other signs of Spring are out there to find. Lambs in the fields – check, daffodils on the side of the road – check, birds singing - check. And it’s reminding me that at some point I will leave the house without a jumper and a coat.

Mr H has planted up his veggies in the greenhouse and I even joined in this year with some experimental coriander to add to my pots of herbs around the front door. Fingers crossed it will grow; I did what it said on the packet and have now left it in Mr H’s green fingered care. My only worry is invaders; I did find a bean in one of the pots Mr H gave me to plant the seeds in, so they will not be alone.

We did manage our first BBQ of the season this month, albeit with two windbreaks, a chiminea and a few coats and woolly hats. We just got finished before the wind increased a bit too much and nearly blew over all the glasses.

COVID caught up with us again this month but interestingly it was the eldest and Mr H who got it this time, whereas the youngest and I had it last time. Thankfully it didn’t disrupt too many things, although the eldest missed all of her termly assessments at school and is now having to catch up.

SRP is busy as usual – I am catching up on my actions (after getting behind due to work being busy). Issue 3 of Radiation Protection Today is coming together nicely – all of the three articles I am supporting are written and waiting review by the rest of the team (not that I am smug!).

The second membership questionnaire has gone live and is focussing on SRP’s overall communication strategy and the arrangements in place to provide information to SRP members and, to some degree, the public. As such, the questionnaire covers the events SRP offers (whether attending in person or online), the resources available on the website, the Weekly e-newsletter and our various social media platforms. It took me about 15 minutes to complete but I did it at work and kept getting interrupted by people so that it was more like 3 lots of 5 minutes. The link to the survey is here.

The SRP Annual Conference scientific programme is out and there is a wider range of talks than usual as the sessions focus on individual themes rather than an overall conference theme. The meeting is in Llandudno in North Wales, a beautiful part of the World. Mr H studied at University of Wales, Bangor just down the coast and I used to get the train out to North Wales to visit him when we were students. That was a lifetime ago, but the stations don’t change.

We have finalised the SRP Platinum Jubilee Outreach book article which was approved at the AGM last year and arrangements are in place for SRP to be represented at the book launch over the Platinum Jubilee weekend. The book will reach huge numbers of people within the UK and the Commonwealth and increase the impact and awareness of SRP with groups we don’t routinely get the opportunity to influence. Not often we get that chance.

As the month draws to the close, it’s Mother’s Day and the clocks change. Shame they happen on the same day and I get an hour less sleep as well as my cards; still, it brings lighter evenings and heralds the start of the move towards warmer weather (we all hope).

You can get in touch on the usual details.

Jennifer Humphries

Director of Engagement
Twitter @jenkhumphries
engagement@srp-uk.org