Goodness last week seemed to whizz by, there was so much happening from starting with a catch up with lovely @BevMatthewsRN from @NHShorizons as we considered how to keep promoting the NHS to young people and grow opportunities for engagement.
Then there was hearing from fabulous @nancywhiskin our Head of volunteering talk about her commitment to ensure meaningful and fulfilling volunteering opportunities in the NHS.
It was also Baby Loss Awareness week and the fabulous @Rosamund1010 has been leading a wonderful team touring the sites to promote resources and to signpost the public and staff to help and support when it’s needed. 
We also had visits from students and also our local council lead for Children Danny Hassell, @dannyhassell thanks to Neil @nellyfletch71 and Angela @angy_wangy1 our Clinical Nurse Specialists for teenagers and young adults, funded by the Marvellous Ronald Dahl Children’s Charity @RoaldDahlFund.
There were catch ups about young people entangled in youth violence thanks to Michael Carvers leadership @ldnvrn, ongoing work in meeting NICE Guidance in end of life care, strengthening opportunities for our students and future Children’s Nurses to benefit from our incredibly experienced and knowledgeable Clinical Nurse Specialists was also on the agenda. Along with a visit to St George’s to share the good stuff that’s happening across organisations and to plot opportunities for collaboration.
We also continued to think about workforce development and finalise our our response to ‘accidentally dropped babies in hospitals’ Patient Safety Alert https://improvement.nhs.uk/news-alerts/assessment-and-management-of-babies-who-are-accidentally-dropped-in-hospital/
Yet it was Friday afternoon that offered a moment to pause with women of the Ascend NHS Leadership Academy that allowed some personal time for reflection about priorities and this was really valued, as we met at Mile End it was a lovely reason to treat ourselves to Cronuts which were delicious! 
They were a perfect element to the carb loading for the Yorkshire Marathon which was my 31st. Team #NHS1000miles and #10kforNurses for @CavellTrust came together and sustained the fund raising for Nurses and Midwives facing hardship. It was a 
weekend that certainly demonstrated Twitter at its very best! We were all brought together by a passion to make a difference.
Here are some of us along with a very tired #CharlieDog at the end of the Yorkshire Marathon on Sunday afternoon. It was certainly a weekend of fun and friendship!
So as I head into the week ahead, I’m wondering if there was a theme, a golden thread that ran throughout last week? Perhaps it’s the impact of people… people doing their thing, going above and beyond, stretching themselves to do more to support each other and reach across organisational and geographical bounties to keep making things better for others?
Kath Evans Connecting 