Sepsis: The Silent Killer That Can Strike Anyone

Sepsis: The Silent Killer That Can Strike Anyone

Sepsis: The Silent Killer That Can Strike Anyone

Real stories from Danielle Nicholls and Sophie Austin, plus expert insight from Dr Andrew Conway Morris

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What is Sepsis?

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that develops when the body overreacts to an infection, causing the immune system to damage its own tissues and organs. It’s a medical emergency that requires immediate treatment — yet it remains poorly understood, under-recognised and underfunded as a field of research, despite being one of the UK’s biggest killers and a public health emergency.

Sepsis maternal
Danielle Nicholls & Dean Holden

“Cici was gone within three hours.!”

– Danielle Nicholls

Shayne Ward and Sophie Austin

“I had 12 hours to live!”

– Sophie Austin

Recognising the Symptoms

Early detection is crucial. Symptoms of maternal sepsis can include:

  • Fever or chills
  • Rapid breathing or heart rate
  • Confusion or disorientation
  • Extreme pain or discomfort
  • uncontrollable shivering or rigours
  • Passing little or no urine
  • Cold or blotchy arms and legs

These symptoms can be mistaken for normal postpartum recovery, making awareness vital.

Danielle Nicholls: “Cici was gone within three hours.”

TV presenter Danielle Nicholls & Football Manager & Former Footballer Dean Holden tragically lost their 17-month-old daughter, Cici Holden, to suspected meningococcal septicaemia that rapidly developed into sepsis.

“She was gone so fast. We didn’t have time to understand what was happening.” – Danielle said

Cici’s condition deteriorated in just three hours. Danielle is now on a mission to raise awareness about how fast sepsis can take hold — and how vital it is for parents to trust their instincts and demand action.

Danielle’s Key Messages:

  • Sepsis in children can progress rapidly — within hours.
  • Trust your gut as a parent — you know when something isn’t right.
  • Don’t be afraid to speak up if you feel you’re not being listened to.
  • Awareness saves lives — knowing the signs makes all the difference
Danielle Nicholls and Dean Holden lose baby Cici<br />

Sophie Austin: “I had 12 hours to live.”

Actress and mum-of-two Sophie Austin developed sepsis following emergency gallbladder surgery. After being discharged from hospital, she began experiencing flu-like symptoms, fatigue, chills — and then her condition declined rapidly.

“I was freezing cold in the middle of summer, wearing a hoodie and joggers, and just wanted to sleep.”

Sophie’s family noticed her skin becoming mottled and rushed her to hospital. Doctors told her she likely had just 12 hours left without treatment.

Sophie’s Symptoms:

  • High fever and chills
  • Extreme fatigue and confusion
  • No urine output
  • Mottled skin
  • Rapid progression over just a few hours

     

Sophie’s Advice:

  • Sepsis can strike anyone — after surgery, childbirth, or even a minor cut.
  • Watch for flu-like symptoms that get worse quickly.
  • Be vigilant if your child or loved one is recovering and “just doesn’t seem right.”

Always consider sepsis when symptoms don’t make sense, seem unusually severe or are deteriorating rapidly  — especially in children.

Shayne Ward and Sophie Austin

You can read Sophie & Shayne’s Full interview with BROOD Magazine here

Dr Andrew Conway Morris: “Symptoms often overlap with those of other common illnesses, which makes sepsis incredibly difficult to diagnose.”

Expert Insight: Dr Andrew Conway Morris, Charity Medical Director

Dr Andrew Conway Morris explains why sepsis is still such a major threat:

“Although sepsis has been recognised by doctors for thousands of years, it remains incredibly poorly understood. The paradox at the heart of sepsis is that the patient’s own defences turn against the body even as they try to clear the infection that started the process.”

Despite its scale, sepsis research is still underfunded:

“Sepsis kills over 250,000 people in the UK each year — more than breast, bowel and prostate cancer combined — yet it receives far less research funding.”

He stresses that public awareness is vital:

“Symptoms often overlap with those of other common illnesses, which makes sepsis incredibly difficult to diagnose.”

“That’s why it’s so crucial for individuals to be aware of the signs and to seek medical help immediately if they feel unwell — even if they’ve already sought care and been sent home.”

 

Sepsis: Know the Signs

 

Sepsis symptoms can appear differently depending on age and situation — but early recognition is critical.

⚠️ Common Signs of Sepsis:

  • Very high or very low temperature
  • Uncontrollable shivering or cold extremities
  • Slurred speech or confusion
  • No urine passed in 24 hours
  • Breathlessness
  • Mottled, pale, or discoloured skin
  • Feeling very unwell or like “you’re going to die”

Act Fast. Save a Life.

If you or someone you know is showing signs of sepsis, go to A&E immediately or call 999. Sepsis is treatable — but only if caught early.

Sepsis Research FEAT: Leading the Fight Against Sepsis

Sepsis Research FEAT is the UK’s only charity dedicated to funding research and raising awareness about sepsis, with a particular focus on maternal sepsis. Their initiatives include:

  • Funding groundbreaking research into sepsis detection and treatment
  • Raising public awareness about sepsis symptoms and risks
  • Providing resources and support for those affected

One of their key campaigns, “Mums Matter Too,” aims to ensure more families are aware of maternal sepsis and its risks. You can get more information about the work they do here.

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Interview with Mother Pukka – AKA Anna Whitehouse

Interview with Mother Pukka – AKA Anna Whitehouse

Interview with Formidable and powerhouse, Mother Pukka AKA Anna Whitehouse

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“54,000 women every year are locked out of the workforce for daring to have a baby!”

The inspirational Anna Whitehouse aka Mother Pukka is a Mum of two, soon to be three girls, a writer, podcast host, campaigner for flexible working and founder of Flex Appeal.

Anna is formidable in her pursuit for equality in the workplace, fuelled by her passion to ensure that her girls, or any girls, don’t face a future where you can have your career snatched away from you just because you dared to have a baby; sadly this is something that Anna experienced first hand.

Flex Appeal
Ashley James
Mother Pukka Breast Feeding

Mother Pukka Images © BROOD Magazine Limited

Anna’s unwavering passion, eloquence, honesty and relentless campaigning have led her to gain a loyal following that amasses over 400k on Instagram alone. Anna is admired and appreciated by so many parents far and wide for being a much-needed voice around flexible working, childcare costs, and maternity and paternity packages. We sat down with Anna to discuss the challenges she has faced since becoming a parent and why this time around she’s not going to return to work with any apologies.  

At what point in your career did you first become a parent? And how did you find that transition? 

Anna: “I first became a parent just as my career was really taking off. I think this happens with a lot of women actually; you’re at that junction where your career is going like this, [Anna gestures an upward movement] and then suddenly you have a baby [she meets and connects the other hand] and it kind of cuts you off a bit. And this is not because of a lack of your own enthusiasm, your own experience or your own brilliance, but because of the ceiling that the world of discrimination puts upon us mothers. So yeah, my eldest came along as I was rising [up], I then just hit a complete wall. 

Where did your inspiration for ‘Mother Pukka’ come from? 

 

Anna: “Mother Pukka came from a really primal, visceral, maternal, angry place. That’s why it was quite blue at first. It was Mother something else! [She laughs] So it was watered down and became Mother Pukka. But initially, it came from a place of just ‘hacked-off-ness’. I’d seen so many baby magazines and so many articles that were aimed at parents, all of them talking about what nipple teat to have and what ‘bugaboo’ to get, and what nappy changing bag worked, but no one was talking about the motherhood penalty. No one was talking about the lack of flexible working for parents. No one was talking about the quiet swathes of women who are disappearing from the workforce just because they assumed that’s what needed to happen because of the status quo. And so mother pukka, just came from this place of frustration that I’d had my flexible working request denied for really vague reasons.

Like ‘it would open the floodgates for other people to have flexible working!?’ And I was like, I’m sorry, let’s open the floodgates because people are drowning behind them! Specifically mothers – 54,000 mothers every year are discriminated against. So, yeah, that’s where it [Mother Pukka] came from.”

jmw

You’ve recently posted, I’m not sorry, where you mentioned that when you returned to work after having your first two children, you returned almost ‘smaller’ and quite apologetic. You have shared your understandable frustrations around that. How different will the experience be for you this time around? Do you feel stronger than you did previously?

Anna: “I’m just not taking it anymore, you know. [Anna talks passionately] I think things have and are changing; it’s not a case of employers changing things, I think women are changing things because we’re 50% of the population and we’re just saying ‘No!’. We’re saying, ‘No, call my daughter’s father as well as me when she’s in nursery!’ (And that’s nothing against the amazing key workers who work with our children.) But the expectation, the bulk of childcare, is still strapped firmly to female shoulders. It’s not that we’re fighting some revolution. It’s evolution. That’s the difference. And I think people see that, with the work I do, the work the ‘Pregnant Then Screwed’ group does, the work that the Fawcett Society does – all these amazing organisations shine a light on this. People say to me ‘Oh my God, this is big what you’re all doing!’ and I’m like, no, it’s what it should have been there in the first place! That’s what equality is. It’s rebalancing a system that is structured and built for women, specifically mothers to fail. So I am not apologising anymore for a system that is set up for me, for my daughters, for my daughter’s-daughter’s to fail. It’s not my fault. It’s not your fault. and it needs fixing!”

Is it that personal experience that inspired you to start Flex Appeal? (The campaign for more flexible working for everyone)   

Anna: “I think when I started speaking about the other side of the motherhood story, which wasn’t just about what maternity bag to buy or, ‘how to pack your hospital bag.’ It was about the real-time frustrations around giving up, not just work, but your purpose, of yourself, the expectation that you just step back. I decided, actually, do you know what this needs? Governmental change. This needs structural change. So that is when I launched Flex Appeal, which was our lobbying body/platform/organisation for the exhausted women in the street shouting, ‘ I don’t care what you want to call me [for being me]!’ It’s that drive to change not just the narrative, but legislation. I just thought, there’s no way through this unless legislation changes for men and women. And I think that’s the big point here. This isn’t just about mums. This is about parents! It’s about dads who are just desperately frustrated that their employer won’t enable them to work flexibly because it’s seen as a ‘her-in-doors’ job still.  

I say, the unconscious bias, but it’s a conscious bias that sits right there. So I needed a campaign to hook this on. That would have me, my little daughter at the time, my second daughter, and maybe this one now [she points to her unborn child] knocking on the doors of Whitehall and just saying, what are you doing about the 54,000 women every year that are locked out of the workforce for daring to have a baby? Like, that’s a ridiculous amount. And  that doesn’t even include gagging orders, NDA’s, etc, so you could probably quadruple that number you know.”

 

After 10 years of campaignin, how are you feeling now that it was recently announced the current government has decided to start the ball rolling? And how long do you think it will take to be implemented?

Yeah. Three babies, one decade, and one campaign [she laughs.] I will say the proof is in the pudding because there’ve been so many governmental, political promises and until it actually happens, I don’t and I won’t believe it. So in some ways I’m taking it with a pinch of salt. 

It’s quite monumental, but until flexible working is by default, that it is just assumed across the board instead of fought for, the onus is still on the employees. Until that structure changes, I won’t see any level of success. But what I would love to see, before that time is don’t wait for the laws to change if you’re an employer. Don’t take the stick approach, take the carrot approach. Why aren’t you thinking about how you can retain this brilliant talent? You’re not doing us a favour. We’re great. We’re talented. You’re cutting us out at our prime when we know so much and then you have to get somebody else in and [have to] train them up. So it’s about businesses too really. I want to see cultural change. I want to see. For example a dad messaged me, and he told me that he had put his request flexible in and it was rejected on the basis that they said, ‘Can’t your ‘missus’ do that?’ That was in 2023? [she sighs in disbelief and goes onto answer the question herself…] ‘You know what, No. His ‘missus’ might be working elsewhere, or might be a brain surgeon, or you know, might be doing something else. So no, the assumption that ‘her-in-doors,’ ‘ya missus,’ ‘the mum’, the ‘primary caregiver’ should automatically pick up that childcare slack, is so inherently wrong. So I want to see a cultural change around that employer going, yes, absolutely, pick up your daughter from nursery because of the old hapless dad trope, you know, ‘daddy daycare’ or ‘babysitting my children.’ any of that – we’re done with it! Like you’re parenting. I think that it’s language like that that we need to start using: parenting, parental leave, not just maternity leave. Lets unite the two sides of the procreation coin. It takes two to tango. So you know there won’t be equality unless we recognise those two sides. 

Mothers Day gifts

“…My daughter initially said to me, ‘Mummy, sometimes I think you don’t like me very much when you’re on the phone.”

What has been the most challenging time in your life since having to juggle both work and parenthood?

Anna: “I think this is probably something every one of your readers has gone through. Regardless of whether you are, I hate the term stay-at-home-mum because no parent stays at home, you’re out doing things all the time and everyone’s a full time mum. I think it’s really offensive when you hear, I’m a full time mum. Well no actually, I’m a full time mum too. Everyone’s a full time mum because even when you’re working, you’re still carrying the weight of parenting at the same time, That’s why it’s heavy for us all at times. The administration of that [parenting]. You’re carrying your child from birth to primary school even at secondary school and beyond. I think a lot of your readers would probably relate here, regardless of, if you’re a ‘stay-at-home mum’ or, you know, you work, in an office or away… when that moment where your child says ‘Mummy, why are you on your phone?’ And there’s this moment that happens, in every single parent’s day where you’re caught between everything you need to do and just being with your child. My daughter initially said to me, ‘mummy, sometimes I think you don’t like me very much when you’re on the phone.’ And it broke me. So that is the kind of thing that is challenging. It’s trying to mentally balance the love I have for them, knowing that my heart is with them, but my head is with my mortgage, with the things I need to add structure to their lives, safety, security and recognising that is also love for them. And I’m actually split in the middle and I think that our phones are quite representative of that split, that divide, that tension. Because what parent hasn’t said to their child. ‘Just a minute, just a minute.’ And then they look at you and they say, ‘has it been a minute yet.’ And you’re like, ‘just a second’ and then they’ll ask ‘Is it a second yet?.’ Then you can feel yourself rising and you feel that feeling in your chest, because what you’re trying to do is answer an email or message or a client request in the middle of maybe cooking their dinner, or do one of the thousand other things that need doing. You can then get to a point where you lose it. And I lost it the other day, I said ‘if you don’t stop fighting (over some toy that neither of them cared about) …if you don’t stop doing that, Mum is going to lose her temperature!’ And as I said temperature, they just burst out laughing. [She laughs] But that’s kind of how it feels. You’re kind of like a kettle boiling. And as you do lose your temperature, you lose your temper, you lose your marbles, you lose your mind! You know, there’s so much loss in motherhood. There’s loss of hair. There’s a loss of glow. You know, you go from pregnant to not pregnant. There’s lots of skin that used to be firm and isn’t anymore. There’s loss of self. There’s loss of conversation etc. But in all of that, in the fragments of that loss, you find yourself. The best bit of standing in the middle of what can seem like rubble is looking at my two little girls and thinking, ‘I get to be your mother, I get to be your parent.”  But yes, all that extra pressure that comes with being a mum I would say probably remains the most challenging job Mother Nature could ever bestow [she laughs.]”

And to end on a high note, what has been the highlight of your career so far?” 

Anna: “I think the highlight of my career is actually, moments with my two girls. I’m really trying to carve that time out. I think it’s really easy to go to kind of accolades or moments or legislation or, you know, maybe hosting something or quite big tangible things, but the biggest thing for me is reclaiming time with them. That’s my success story. Time that I know a more archaic employer would have taken from me. So I think it’s probably sitting on the sofa on a Sunday morning, when we’re all in our PJs, whilst they eat Cheerios and you end up with one in your bra stuck to you. Those moments where they are snuggled up with you, and you can feel the warmth of their little bodies, whilst watching some inane cartoon; those are the moments you live for.

 If I was going to say on a tangible level, it would be changing the law of flexible working. The flexible working bill that came into effect in April of this year. I didn’t do it on my own though, there were a hell of a lot of other organisations involved in that. But the reason that matters is because it’s something where I can say to my little girls,  I did that because I’m not letting you go through what I went through. [Anna voice quivers and her eyes fill with tears] I’m not letting you go through that. I just couldn’t. I couldn’t watch them go do their ABCs, and then their GCSEs and their A-levels and maybe get that first job. You know when you get a phone on a computer. Going from the excitement of that to then having someone take it away. I’m not letting them go through that. That’s what happened to me and it’s certainly not happening to this one [She rubs her stomach] So yeah, I think it’s to change the structure of the world that has written us, as little girls, off!”

You can follow the inspirational Anna Whitehouse on Instagram @Mother_Pukka or visit her website: www.motherpukka.co.uk/ 

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Interview with Ashley James

Interview with Ashley James

Interview: Ashley James 

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“there’s no such thing as Dad guilt, and we never shamed Dad’s for going back to work?!” 

Talented Ashley James is a TV presenter, model, DJ and Mum of two. Ashley is a familiar face on TV, but she is perhaps most well known at the moment for her presenting role on This Morning and her inspirational, honest and relatable content on social media which has led to Ashley gaining a large social media following of loyal fans. 

Ashley’s openness about her mental health battles and her frank approach to the struggles of motherhood have provided comfort to many. It was clear to us that Ashley embodied everything that we are about at BROOD and therefore she would make the perfect cover feature. So we headed to London to do a photoshoot with Ashley and her two beautiful children. During this photoshoot and interview, Ashley further cemented the synergy between her and BROOD and it was a day to remember! During the shoot her son Alf, was getting very upset that he didn’t have a dress like his Mummy and Ada – we don’t blame him the dresses were AMAZING! Ashley promised that she would get Alf a dress when they got home, as none of the ones at the shoot would fit him. So we absolutely loved seeing Alf get his dress, when Ashley shared what had happened on social media. His little face was priceless! 

“Yesterday we had a photoshoot for @broodmagazine and I got to bring the kiddies. I’m SO excited to show you the pics! Tatiana was styling us as per usual and she dressed me in some absolutely knockout dresses – even Ada got some cute little frocks! We were so excited about Alf’s outfits too but when we got ready, Alf was SO upset that he couldn’t wear a dress.

Russell Kane and his wife Lindsey founders of Jolt my world
Ashley James

Ashley James images by Tom Pitfield © BROOD Magazine

Ashley James

He’s never really expressed interest in dresses before but we’ve always let him openly explore whatever makes him happy regardless of what gender they have been traditionally assigned to: dolls, pushchairs, pink etc. I’ve always thought it was weird that dolls and pushchairs are considered “girly” given that it’s also modelling being a dad!

Anyway, I promised him he could have a dress and texted Tommy asking him to pick one up. He didn’t question it and was so enthusiastic to share Alf’s excitement! It made me so sad to think of all the generations of boys that aren’t allowed to be themselves. But on a deeper level – why do we discourage boys from having female role models and from “girly” things?

Anyway, it turns out Alf decided that dresses are not that comfortable – but I feel so happy that he gets to grow up with such a strong male role model in his dad that he does not try to force him into a box of masculinity!

How wonderful would the world be if we allowed our sons and daughters the space and freedom to be whoever they want to be. 

And we couldn’t agree more! Now onto the interview…

At what point in your career did you become a Mum and how did you find that transition? 

 “I became a mum right in the middle of lockdown really. So my pregnancy and lockdown were pretty much In Sync. So it was quite a weird time because obviously the TV studios sort of shut down and I was doing a lot of things on Zoom, and then of course I lost all my DJ gigs overnight with lockdown because there wasn’t any. So then when lockdown lifted and I had Alfie I had to kind of like find my feet again in like a double sense of the word. And I felt this huge pressure to go back to everything really quickly because I’d already not worked for over a year. So I did feel pressure on myself more than anything, I guess, but I wanted to be back DJing. I wanted to see people dancing again, I wanted to be able to do what I loved and also I think it really hit me when the lockdown was lifted that everyone else’s world kind of went back to normal, but I didn’t recognise my world anymore. So, yeah, I think the transition was really hard. 

So when I had Ada, one thing I was quite certain about – which I think people can be quite judgmental of –  is that I was going back to work straight away, and obviously I’m very lucky in this industry, that that can be accommodated. So Ada has been to the Ministry of Sound, she went to all my fashion brand DJ gigs, and she was there with Dyson headphones on when I was digging for Dyson. She came to Steph’s Packed lunch back when I was doing that up in Leeds. So we’d get the train together, and obviously the great thing about the Doona is that it’s so easy to transport her anywhere. We would stay in the Holiday Inn, doing the TV shows. So she came with me everywhere for the first six months and then after that, I had her in full-time childcare, which again lots of people are quite judgemental of, especially given that she was six months old. But I think there’s no such thing as Dad guilt, and we never shame Dad’s for going back to work and especially in this climate where not all Mum’s want to work, but a lot of Mums need to work. And actually, she was in the best place for her and I was in the best place for me and I really think it has made me a better mum because I get to do what I love and get to be a Mum as well.”

What do you think the hardest thing about being a working parent is, especially as your career is rapidly growing, and going from strength to strength? 

“I think there’s quite a cliche quote where it says something like, ‘You have to work as if you don’t have children and have children like you don’t have a job’, and It does feel like you’ve got two full time jobs that run side by side, but you’re not allowed to tell the other one about the other!  So you find yourself trying to show that, when you’re at work – you’re at work, and that role doesn’t care really if you’ve been up all night, or that your kids sick or, about any of the things that you’re facing, because even if they’re in childcare, like the work doesn’t stop! Even if that thinking, ‘Oh, I need to get them some new clothes’, or ‘I need to book their vaccinations’ – which you can only do during office hours –  so you know all that maternal mental load that you carry around is still there. And equally then when you’re at home, your kids don’t care if you’ve got any work to do. Obviously, a lot of my jobs are on Instagram, and if I have to post at a certain time and that happens to be bedtime, my kids don’t understand, I can’t say ‘Sorry Mum’s just got work quickly’, they want your full attention and of course, they deserve your full attention. So it’s trying to find that almost impossible balance within that juggle. And what I find really hard is I think there’s a lot more expectation on the Mums, like there’s an almost impossible expectation and pressure. For example, if I’m ever out, the first thing people will say is,  ‘Who’s looking after the kids?’ whereas no one would ever ask Tommy that, and actually he went away for work for a whole week to LA and not a single person asked him who had the kids. So I think, you know, I feel very lucky that I’m in a very 50/50 relationship in terms of our co-parenting, but I don’t think personally that it can never be 50/50 because societal expectation is all on the Mums and we judged mums that stay at home, we judge mums for going back to work, we judged mums really for anything, which is why I always say that you may as well find your own lane and feel comfortable and confident in that. And if that’s what you want to be a stay at home mum, then I take my hat off to you, because I think it’s the hardest thing in the world. I think stay at home Mums don’t get enough credit. But if you want to be a working Mum, or if you want to do both, whatever it is, I think as a society we need to hold Mums in much more esteem, and give them a bit of a break. 

Ashley James

Ashley James images by Tom Pitfield © BROOD Magazine

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Do you think that’s why Mum’s feel so much ‘Mum guilt’ and is it something that you have experienced? 

“I’m going to say I actually don’t feel Mum guilt. I never feel mum guilt. And it’s funny because I think that’s always what people say when you are working, ‘Oh you must feel really guilty?’, but it’s like, well, no, I don’t because I get to do what I love and I get to be a mum. I know that if I was at home all the time with them, I would find it so overstimulating.

I could go into a talk at Parliament, I could go on live TV on This Morning and you know, talk about news topics that I only found out about 5 minutes before and I would find it all a lot easier than being at home all the time, especially with a three and a one year old, because I feel like they both love danger and want to kill themselves in separate places [she laughs] so I find out next to impossible. So I don’t feel guilty about pulling in resources and getting to go to work and as we’ve said there is no such thing as Dad guilt, so I don’t think we should have to feel guilty either.

Has there been anything in particular that you have found especially challenging?

“What I do find really hard though, is that, if you’re lucky, you get a year maternity leave, but I was self-employed so technically I was very lucky, but I didn’t get that maternity leave. And I mean I was lucky in the sense that I got to take Ada with me, but what I did find hard was that I ended up breastfeeding Alf for a year and Ada for 15 months, and I didn’t really have a plan with feeding, that’s just how it happened and that was the option that was easiest for me, Alf didn’t even take a bottle, but there is kind of this expectation that when you first have the baby, you sort of get six weeks where people are very kind to you and they kind of they know that you’re occupied, but then I feel like the patience runs out, people kind of expect you to be able to go out and to be able to do all the things that you were doing before. You kind of hear things like, ‘I hope you’re not going to be one of those Mums who only talks about their kids’ and I found myself when I was 8 months in with the perception that lots of other mums (who had given birth at a similar time to me), had got their normal life back because, they were able to share feeds or give the baby a bottle, therefore they can have babysitters and I did feel a real sense of frustration or loneliness and isolation that my body was still the source of food and it was really hard to navigate that. Obviously, retrospectively, you’re like, it’s just a year it doesn’t matter, but I feel like society doesn’t even give you that time and it doesn’t kind of have much empathy, because if you said it out loud you would just be met with well give them a bottle then, and obviously it’s not that simple. I don’t know, I just think feeding in general is such a sadly controversial thing no matter how you feed and I think it’s just a shame that we don’t support people no matter which way they choose to feed.”

Have you ever had what we call a BROOD moment where your career and parenthood collide?

“Yes, it was when Alf was a baby, I was a new mum and I was battling identity struggles and I was paranoid I’d never work again, because I’d be written off as just a mum. So when Jeremy Vine invited me back on his show, I jumped at the chance! It was a chance to still be me, not Ashley the mum, just Ashley. But the problem was the logistics as Alfie was only six-month-old, he was still breastfeeding and wouldn’t take a bottle. So Tommy took a day’s holiday and said he would sit with Alfie in the green room, provided he wouldn’t have to be on camera. He wanted to support my career. But I was still scared that Alf would need me as he was a big baby and fed regularly, plus it had been lockdown, so I’d never really been away from him. The production team were amazing and they promised me if he needed me, we’d make it work. Things were going smoothly until Alf had a huge poo explosion all over my dress moments before I went live! Jeremy asked if we could introduce him to everyone on air, and whilst we were talking, Alf started to want to feed. At first, I panicked, but then my maternal instinct kicked in, and I thought his hunger was more important than anything else. Initially, I was gutted that it had happened as I wanted to be Ashley the professional, not Ashley the mum, and now I was being Ashley the mum on TV. I came off the show to so many comments about how I was attention-seeking, and it struck me as strange that I’d want attention, or that it was even worthy of something you do for attention. Feeding a baby should be unremarkable. But then I realised that’s why it’s so important to normalise breastfeeding, to fight against the hypersexualisation of boobs, and the stigma of feeding a baby in public, and to show the reality of juggling motherhood and a career. And now I’m actually really proud to have breastfed on TV!”

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Are you camp Dry January or camp Ginuary? Cocktail Recipes for both!

Are you camp Dry January or camp Ginuary? Cocktail Recipes for both!

Dry January or Ginuary? – Cocktail recipes for both

By Lolo Stubbs

Are you in camp Dry January or camp Ginuary? It’s the first year we’d heard about Ginuary, not sure how we’ve missed it in previous years, but we were keen to find out more about it – is it just another hashtag or is there more to it than? Effectively Ginuary is simply a counterpoint to Dry January or Dryanuary. 

Rather than campaigning for people to stop drinking during January, Ginuary – or Dry Ginuary – provides reasons to drink gin (in moderation of course!) 

Cocktails

As January is deemed one of the hardest months of the year, many of us don’t want to have a month without alcohol especially when we’ve already lost our Christmas trees, fairy lights and we’re on the healthy eating wagon. Gin lovers claim the juniper berries in Gin offer a wide range of benefits to our well-being, as the juniper berries contain antioxidants, flavonoids, and enzymes that may help with digestion, blood circulation, and heart health. so it’s another reason to sway towards Ginuary! 

But if you have stronger willpower than us we’ve asked our friends at George’s to include a mocktail in our Cocktail Hour feature, along with some cocktails to celebrate making it through Dry January with easy to make recipes, to add a little fun to your Valentines weekend! 

No-jito

All cocktail Recipes courtesy of @georges_worsley

No-jito 

Ingredients:

  • 7 mint leaves 
  • 50ml elderflower cordial 
  • 25ml lime juice 
  • Topped with soda,
  • Crushed Ice

Method:

Muddle the mint at the bottom of your shaker, Add the lime juice, elderflower cordial, and a handful of ice to the cocktail shaker, and shake it vigorously. 

Strain the contents of the cocktail shaker over a glass filled with ice. Top your glass with soda water, and garnish it with lime slices and more fresh mint sprigs.

Pink Gin 75

All cocktail Recipes courtesy of @georges_worsley

Pink Gin 75 

Ingredients:

  • 50ml pink gin
  • 3 muddled raspberries
  • 1 tablespoon of grapefruit juice
  • 1 tablespoon sugar syrup 

Method:

All shaken in a cocktail shaker

Vodka Martini ingredients

All cocktail Recipes courtesy of @georges_worsley

Classic Vodka Martini with added Blue Curacao 

Ingredients:

  • 50ml Grey goose vodka,

  • 25ml martini dry

  • Blue Curacao

Method:

All shaken in a cocktail shaker

Campari Spritz

Ingredients:

  • 50ml Campari

  • Top with Prosecco

  • Top with Sparkling water

  • Garnish with an orange peel

Method:

All shaken in a cocktail shaker

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Some Simple Ways To Make A Wedding Less Stressful

Weddings are famously stressful to plan for, but this doesn’t actually mean that they have to be. If you are planning a wedding and you want to try and make sure it goes to plan, but that it is also not so stressful throughout, there are a lot of things you might want to bear in mind here. If you can do the following, you should find that you are going to have a much less stressful wedding, and that it really makes a huge difference to your whole experience, so let’s take a look right now.

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Balancing Fatherhood Ambition: Danny Miller and Nige Clucas

Balancing Fatherhood Ambition: Danny Miller and Nige Clucas

Interview: BALANCING FATHERHOOD AND AMBITION – Dads in business – Danny Miller and Nige ‘Wingman’ Clucas

By Lolo Stubbs

__________________________________

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help, don’t be afraid to make mistakes and grow along the way!” 

Danny Miller

Dad of two, and Actor Danny Miller, and Dad of one, Capital FM’s Nige “Wingman” Cluclas joined forces to create Albert’s bookshelf earlier this year. 

Albert’s bookshelf is a delightful collection of children’s audio books brought to life through the magic of audio narration. Bringing popular timeless tales, vibrant characters, and thrilling adventures to life – all at the touch of a button perfect for helping your little ones wind down at bedtime on those days you’re not able to read them a bedtime story!

Inspired by the fact that Danny didn’t always make it home in time for his son Albert’s bedtime, we caught up with this dynamic duo to ask them about life in business and how they manage to juggle everything day to day!

Danny Miller & Nigel Wingman Clucas<br />

Danny Miller, Nige ‘Wingman’ Clucas. Images by Tom Pitfield for BROOD Magazine Limited ©

Oliver Piotrowski and Jorgie Porter

What inspired you to start Alberts Bookshelf? 

Danny: “Albert, was always at the heart of why I wanted to start it and so we chose the name based on that, and whenever we couldn’t find him in the house! He was usually working his way through his bookshelf in the playroom. So the two sat nicely together. Alberts Bookshelf. But the reason for starting it was because I was adamant to keep books and literature at the centre of his education. Nigel agreed, that a lot of the time these days iPads and tablets are used for the wrong reasons. Whilst it’s a good distraction for the children so the adults/parents can have some time to sort through house chores or catch up with each other – the two can marry up to allow the child access to tablets but in an educational format and we wanted to try and be a part of that by bringing some brilliant books to children’s homes and use their imagination to listen and invent what’s happening in their own heads. Rather than mindless videos on YouTube or other platforms that are proven to have no benefit other than distracting their attention rather than helping the mind grow.”

How do you manage the juggle of your busy work schedule, building Albert’s Bookshelf and your Dad duties? 

Nige: “We’re both lucky to be on the same page and whilst family undoubtedly comes first, we try to keep in mind we’d love to pass this business down to Albert and to my daughter Lyla as well as Danny’s daughter Edith and any more in the future to come. It means we can say that they were the reason for starting something so brilliant and unique in Albert’s Bookshelf that books and words and literature can be just as fun as anything you’d find on YouTube whilst helping to educate and carve a path of interest and love for books and learning. Whether that be on a tablet or in a hardback book, the two can go together”

BROOD Live

What have you found to be the most challenging part of running a business to be? 

Danny:: “The hardest thing, I’d say, is the distance between my house and the recording studio. Being in Yorkshire it can be quite hard whilst downtime from filming to balance family life and helping Alberts Bookshelf to grow. That said, it shows how much of a brilliant team Nigel and I are together, we manage to find time and work around each other’s schedules to get a batch of books done in one go so it becomes easier to release them weekly, whilst not needing to be in the studio every day. Something we hope one day will be a lot easier to do when we have our own facilities to record and entertain, educate and socialise with other like-minded children and parents – all under one roof!” 

What’s your favourite thing about building Alberts Bookshelf? 

Nige: “For me, it’s seeing the growth. From a small, almost silly idea of Danny’s, it blossomed into a huge and quite honestly, brilliant idea from both of us. In over 124 countries and now being downloaded every single day by thousands is mind-boggling as well as humbling and also, overwhelming. We try to keep growing because we know there is so much more to overcome and achieve. We’re not here for the short term.

What would you say to someone thinking of taking the plunge into the business world?

Danny: “I personally would say that if you have an idea then work on it and go for it. And learn along the way. That’s what we’ve done so well, we’ve learnt as we go. Trial and error. Not everything works, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work a different way. Family life can be busy, but if you find someone who can bounce off you like me and Nige, it makes it all the easier. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, don’t be afraid to make mistakes and grow along the way and finally, don’t expect it to be an overnight success, because when it becomes a success it’s all the more surprising and rewarding knowing that genuine hard work, commitment and determination, will pay off.”

Since the interview, Entrepreneur Ryan Williams has also joined Alberts Bookshelf after meeting at one of our BROOD Live Events

Danny Miller, Nige Wingman Clucas and their families

Danny Miller, Nige ‘Wingman’ Clucas and their family. Images by Tom Pitfield for BROOD Magazine Limited ©

BROOD magazine podcast

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