If you're fed up with the countless single-mum bashing stories in the press, and of hearing about how hard it is being a single parent - when in fact you wouldn't have it any other way right now - how does a social network for single parents sound?

There's every reason why single parents should enjoy life to the maximum, throw themselves into parenting, work and socialising with other single parents and love every minute. Stick two fingers up to the nay-sayers and log on to singleparentfun.com instead.


Launched in June 2007, singleparentfun.com is the ultimate networking community site for the 1.9 million single parents in this country. Founder and single dad Gary Spicer wanted to join single parent families together, to encourage friendships, share experiences and find out about the best attractions to go to.

The site already has more than 2,000 members from all walks of life and family situations, from working parents to full-time carers.

Wheelie-Chic!

Well, one of the distinct advantages of being my own boss now is the freedom to lounge around in my PJs watching Lorraine Kelly on GMTV. Usually it's just frothy stuff that dosn't tax my brain too much before I have to start working (and it beats waiting at the bus stop in the rain like I used to have to...)

This morning I was half watching while drinking my first coffee of the day when something caught my eye - it was Kerry McGregor (one of last year's X Factor finalists) helping to promote Wheelie-chix-chic - a new range of clothes designed for women in wheelchairs.

The idea was developed by Louisa Summerfield, who was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when she was just nine years old. The autumn/winter '07 and spring/Summer 08 collections have been designed by Swedish designer Amelia Ursache, a previous Elle Fashion Award winner.

Louisa says:

"We are a unique fashion concept designing clothes that are specifically tailored for wheelchair women. All our designs enhance and flatter a woman's body when sitting and yet at the same time are ultra fashionable, elegant and chic."

Brilliant idea!

Louisa applied to the British Fasion Council to be allowed to exhibit the collection as part of London Fashion Week, but they turned her down (and I thought they were supposed to be innovative and forward-thinking?) but undeterred, Louisa decided to go ahead with her own show.

"I took our designs to the British Fashion Council thinking they would jump at the chance for WheelieChix-Chic to exhibit on the catwalk at London Fashion Week, but when our application was unsuccessful I just knew the show still had to go on and so I set about organising our own fashion show.

I'm a wheelchair user myself and I'm sick and tired of making do with conventional high street fashion. I'm a big believer in that fashion should be for everyone and not just the standing up body beautiful".

Here's to that!

Well, it's not often that we have some good news about missing children...but little Alex Olver was found safe and well...and under his bed...following his a massive search for that involved a helicopter, sniffer dogs and dozens of neighbours.

The five year old crawled under his bed, fell asleep, and snoozed through the whole pandemonium as his frantic mother Claire panicked at the thought he'd wandered off on his own.

While worried neighbours, including the town mayor and the local football team rallied round and scoured the area around Alex's house in Saltash, Cornwall, he snatched forty winks...and was found by a sniffer dog.

Claire said, "We woke him up and he was very dazed and when we told him what had happened he said he wanted to see the police helicopter."

I bet he did. Oops .

Well, I have to own up to having been exceptionally lazy with this blog, but I have recently got back into the swing of things with the Queen Simply Be blog so I've decided that while I'm updating the site and giving is a brand spanking new make-over, it's about time I started posting.

I'm changing the angle of Relentlessly Positive - The Blog as well. I want to make it a bit more about life in general, and not about me. So I'm going to be scouring the web and the news for stories that are actually quite positive, and ignoring anything about the deluge of misery we seem to get swamped with on a daily basis. There's no escaping that!!!

Please take the time to visit the website, and if you've got any comments, give me a shout!