100 years ago women were allowed to vote in UK elections legally for the first time. Only women over 30 with property worth at least £5 (or a husband with property worth £5) were allowed to vote, but it added over 8 million to the electoral roll (more than 5 million men aged over 21 were also allowed to vote for the first time).

Allowing another 13 million of the population to express their opinion was a giant leap and it was only another 10 years before voting rights were extended to the entire UK population over the age of 21. There are many flaws in our electoral system, but it's the best one we've got and the closest to democratic that will probably ever happen in our lifetime.

Women's Rights were fought and died for, and although I was born over 40 years later, we've come a long way. Manchester was the key location during the reformation of elections and the Suffragette movement, and there are masses of special events planned.


Manchester Museum Of Science And Industry


Contact Young Company celebrates the 100 year anniversary of the Representation of the People Act (1918) with She Bangs the Drums. Based on research at the People’s History Museum and will take place in the Museum of Science and Industry’s characteristic 1830 Warehouse as part of the city’s Wonder Women 2018 festival.
She Bangs the Drums will explore voices and stories from Manchester’s rich and radical past as a centre of protest, from the Suffragettes to the Chartists.
She Bangs the Drums takes place at the Museum of Science of Industry, Thu 8 Mar – Sun 11 Mar, at 12pm, 2pm and 7pm (Thursday & Friday) and 2pm and 7pm (Saturday & Sunday). Tickets are on sale now priced £13/£7 concessions via contactmcr.com or by phone on 0161 274 600. Please note this show is for over 14s only.


Manchester, Pankhurst Centre

The heritage centre has information about the Pankhursts and the Suffragette movement and is open to the general public on Thursdays from 10-4 and on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month, 1-4pm.  Entry is free. For more information call on  0161 273 5673 or visit the website thepankhurstcentre.org.uk (Best to ring, the website is a touch out of date).

I'd seen Sphero Mini before, so I jumped at the opportunity to review. Sphero Mini App Enabled Robotic Ball is an amazing little table-tennis sized ball which is actually a very nippy little robot. You charge it, then control it and programme it, play games and guide it through obstacle courses or just drive around your table or room. It is tons of fun and we think it's awesome!


Sphero Mini is presented in a really smart plastic box which is great for storage and safekeeping afterwards. Inside you have your Sphero ball, USB charging cable, paper guide and a selection of gorgeous, brightly coloured obstacles. The Sphero Mini comes in a selection of 5 different, bright colours - great for knowing which is which if you have more than one!

Stargazey World is a crazy, wild ride of a book. It is full of everything that you can imagine - or that the main character Sheena can imagine anyway. A fiction book for children aged around 8+, everything starts ordinarily enough with a trip down to Cornwall for her cousin's wedding.


Sheena has naturally green, untamed hair and is teased by bullies because of it. She isn't exactly academic and struggles to pay attention in school, so the teachers find her a challenge too. She escapes into her imagination maybe a little too often, but in the unfamiliar setting in Cornwall, sharing a bunk bed for the first time and staying with relatives she barely knows, her imagination runs riot.

I was going to do a post about some of our favourite books for 8 year olds today, but, along with a lot of the country, we have had a snow day and our local weather has been so exhilarating that it's basically filled all my time.

Tuesday 7am - not enough to close school darnit

My young boys have yearned for their own snow day since they started nursery. We had snow on Tuesday and it was pretty impressive to look at, but not quite enough. Today though, they got one. Double bubble because they have another snow day tomorrow, although they don't know that yet.

When your child first learns to read it's easy to become excited about all of the books you can share with them, but some children take longer than others to become confident readers. It can easily be a couple of years before you move from books which are mainly illustration with a few words on each page, through to big books with pages entirely full of text.

While one of my younger boys leapt off into the world of books, his younger brother just hasn't had that confidence. I've put together a few ideas for anyone who wants to encourage their children through this stage and build their skills and speed without making reading become a chore.

Where Peacocks Scream is a thrilling book aimed at children aged around 9+. A more grown up read, reminiscent of children's stories written when our Grandparents were children, it'll suit confident readers who like their tales with a lot of mystery and a degree of peril.


Our main character is 12 year old Daniel, who lives in a Pub named The Riverside. He has free run of the grounds, including a large island that is mainly overgrown and unused. Most of his free time is spent sculling (an unfamiliar term to my children) and looking after the boats at the local boatyard. His life is turned upside down by the arrival of a stranger at The Riverside - one who very quickly outstays his welcome and proves to be unlucky for everyone.

Our latest toy review is something we are very familiar with - Hexbugs! These have been popular here for a good few years now and the Hexbug Nano Space range is something we saw at Digital Kids Show and loved, so we were more than happy to accept a Discovery Station set for review.


Inside the box everything is wrapped in plastic packages. I understand that it is easily scratched and needs to be protected, but I'd like to see less plastic and more recyclable card. This is a 55 piece set and there seem to be absolutely loads of pieces, it's very impressive.

Staggeringly it's exactly 2 years since Gary turned up on my doorstep, howling and terrified and unable to pee, but we gloss over that nowadays. I've discovered a lot about cats in the last 2 years, or maybe it's just Gary, I have no idea and never intend to. As it's his Garyversary, and the internet saved my cat, I thought I'd share what I've learnt.


1. Cats can sleep anywhere. Gary has his luxury Amazon Prime Cat bed at the end of our bed, and a smaĺler, cosier box on the floor for when he doesn't want to risk being kicked in the head at night. He will however sleep anywhere. Window ledge, under the bed, on a cushion, clothes line, bag of marbles, IN the LEGO box. Whatever cats are made of, it's some sort of pain resistant cloud magic in a loose bag, and if we can harness it then we can be pain-free millionaires. Forget Tesla, this is where the real future lies.

I've used property locator devices in the past, but they've never been ideal. Tile is a really gorgeous bluetooth fob with a minimum guaranteed 1 year battery life and it is supported by the world's most popular Bluetooth tracking app. You can attach the fob to keys, toys, cats, bags or anything else you might lose. More than that, if you can't find your phone, you can even use your tile to find that.


Utterly gorgeous, you know you have something carefully designed before you even open the box. I'm reviewing the Pro Style & Sport double pack, which has one each of white/gold Style Tile and black/grey Sport Tile.


You download the app. and pair the Tile to your mobile phone. Give it a name, category, even a photo if you wish. Lose the Tile and you can ask your phone where it is, or where it was last spotted by anyone using the app.  If I can't find my phone, I can call it by double pressing the button on my Tile, even if it's on silent.

An R2L is a small, rubber, sticky-backed device, which can be fitted to the rear of any smartphone, laptop or tablet. It can even fit inside most cases. It's innocuous and you'd barely notice it, but tests show it can remove 70% of the radiation produced in normal use by phones and 3/4G enabled devices, thereby preventing it from entering the user's body.


Ever since mobile phones were first introduced to the public we've been aware that they produce radiation and discharge it into their environment, and unfortunately that's often the skull and brain of the person using the phone. Despite massive improvement over the last 30 years, current advice is still that mobile phones should be avoided in children under 10 years old, because youngsters have thinner skulls and more of this unused power can seep into their brain. The World Health Organisation places mobile phone radiation in the same cancer risk category as lead, car engine exhaust or chloroform.