26/10/2009 by admin.

It’s nearly 3 years since my Mum died, from lung cancer, on Boxing Day, 2006. We all still miss her terribly and I think about her a lot - especially her encouragement to me in much of my teens (ok that IS now ancient history!), when self-doubt seemed to be my default mode of operation.

She told me repeatedly: ‘You can do anything, if you put your mind to it.’ I dismissed it at first as just one of those platitudes that parents offer to cheer up moody kids! But as I got older I watched her try new things herself, stretch herself intellectually and continually strive to acquire new skills and knowledge. This role model has been one of the most amazing gifts that a parent could have given their child.

In her later years, when she wasn’t as mobile as she once was, she decided to teach herself how to use a computer and became an avid ’silver surfer’. She began our family history research, conducting much of it online! To exemplify her philosophy I wrote her a poem (I’m not a poet as you will see when you read it). But Mum’s you-can-do-it approach, which is summarised in my clumsy verse, has helped me so much and I thought that perhaps it might help someone else.

TO MY MUM
(Mothering Sunday, 2000)
Almost all of my friends’ mums, to occupy their leisure time,
Turn their hands to knitting, sewing, baking – that’s the paradigm.
It’s the kind of thing that ladies seem to want to do for fun,
When their children long have left the former family mans-i-on.

This may help to ease the gentle passing of the hours of light.
But I wonder, do they do it just to prove that they’re polite?
No such dross for my mum, she’s a budding expert with I.T.!
Taught herself to speak computer – gone and made a family tree!!

When the needlework and sweaters of the other Mums are junk,
My mum’s family tree will still be sprouting branches from its trunk.
So you see I’m proud of Mum - no ordinary parent, she.
Loves a major project challenge: GENEALOGY (and me!).

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25/05/2009 by admin.

A couple of months ago I decided to try to grow the number of readers of YES magazine, the music education magazine that I edit as part of my work with Yamaha. I have always enjoyed the challenge of turning negatives into positives (or at least giving it a shot) so the reduced budgets that most of the commercial sector has been enduring since the recession kicked in last Autumn provided a suitable trigger for that process to begin.

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25/05/2009 by admin.

A few years back, my Mum, at the age of about 75, phoned me to tell me: “I want a website.” After my initial shock she explained that that the research she’d been conducting into the Martin family history had got to the point where she wanted to share it with the world, in the hope that someone may offer some new leads to fill in some of the remaining gaps.I looked at some of the easy-to-use template sites but none of them really offered the facilities Mum needed.

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06/03/2008 by admin.

I’ve recently launched a new Yamaha Education online community site, designed to connect professionals working in music education.

Originally I just wanted a blog that people with something interesting to say could use and attract a community. However just before Christmas I came across Webjam, a social networking company - then not 12 months old - which seemed to focus much more on groups, communities, clubs, etc, and was therefore much better suited to my needs. Simply put, Webjam offered lots of interesting possibilities which the existing social networks just don’t have.

Setting up a Webjam is simply a matter of choosing from an existing design (basically a set of CSS scripts that control the look and feel of the site) then draggng modules on to each page. So you can have a forum, blog, profile, mp3 player, polls, YouTube videos, photos and loads of other neat stuff. Braver souls can then customise the design if they wish, simply using standard CSS.

You can set up the Webjam so that it is entirely public or so that people have to join to see certain modules or pages. It’s very simple to set up and the interface works brilliantly.

If you run a club, community or association, Webjam is a fantastic resource and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

www.webjam.com

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