Author: Sharon Holland
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A Covid Diary
Sunday 9th March 2025. On this Day of Reflection marking the 5th anniversary of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have decided to make my Covid Diary public for the first time. I have removed names of people and some of the places to protect my family and friends. It’s 12,000 words long, so…
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Can We Walk to the Moon? By Mark Dorey
This is the second of my reviews of children’s books written by local authors for World Book Day 2025. You can read the first here https://talkingyorkie.wales/?p=79 Can We Walk to the Moon? is the first of two beautifully illustrated, colour picture books for young children. Through delicious rhyming verse, the story traces the magical adventure…
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Pontypridd Chicken by Gerhard Kress
Saint David’s Day, 1st March 2025 and just ahead of World Book Day seems an appropriate day to publish my review of this children’s book by local author and friend to many of us, Gerhard Kress. Pontypridd Chicken is the seventh book in The Little Old Man With a Looong White Beard series. Pontypridd Chicken…
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Moonpig
The range and quality of Moonpig cards is unrivalled. Since first discovering Moonpig, whenever I want a personalised card, especially when I want to include a photo upload, Moonpig has always been my go-to. Because I have 3 special family birthdays coming up, I thought I would use Moonpig as I knew I could use…
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Time to Talk Day 2025
Okay, what is Time to Talk Day all about? The first “Time to Talk Day” was held in 2014. It was launched by the campaign “Time to Change”, which aims to reduce stigma surrounding mental health issues. Having experienced mental health stigma myself, I was keen to get fully on board with the campaign. (You…
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First Parkrun
Yesterday was my first Parkrun in our beautiful park, which is just down the hill from our house. Not only was it my first Parkrun, but it was the first time that I had run at all for about 7 years. When I was in my late 20s and into my 40s, I was running…
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Harmony
This week, 18th to 25th January, is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Since joining a small fellowship in our town 18 months ago (Hope Christian Community), this theme has been on my mind a lot. I am ashamed to say that, for 40 years as a Christian, to some extent I thought that,…
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My 40th Birthday
Today, 6th January 2025, I am celebrating my 40th Birthday. Okay, so those who don’t know me very well are looking at me and thinking, “There’s no way she’s only forty.” And those of you who do know me will know that I celebrated my 57th birthday last month. But I’m telling the truth. I…
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January
January is probably my least favourite month of the year. The days are short. The nights are long. It’s cold. We’re all a bit skint and there’s not much going on. Despite this, in every month of the year, I try to find something positive. January is all about new beginnings. Yes, I know the…