Lucy's blog

When I was a teenager, if I wanted to arrange to meet a friend at the weekend, I'd call my friend's home phone (having asked permission to use my home phone first, of course). In most cases, the friend's Mum or Dad would answer the phone and I'd politely...

I was chatting with a friend of mine today about her new job. She's now a "Play Specialist" at a Central London Hospital. The role has many different responsibilities but her major focus is on using "play" to prepare children for treatment, distract...

Having set up Perform almost 12 years ago now, I often get asked questions by other Mums who are looking to set up something of their own like ?How did you get the idea to set up the business?? and ?What was your business background?? This type of question always makes me...

One of the team at Perform - let's call her Jane - is dyslexic. I've been aware of this for a long time but I didn't realise until yesterday that she wasn't diagnosed with dyslexia until she was 21 years old and at drama school. It was discovered when she...

Because of my background as an actress, I've always mixed with people who are pretty confident speaking on their own in front of large groups of people. It wasn't until I started Perform and attended courses in Child Protection, First Aid and various other...

Like everyone else, I was shocked and saddened to read about Amy Winehouse yesterday. With hindsight, looking back at that footage from the Belgrade concert a few weeks ago, it was pretty clear that something was definitely not right - even more so than over the past few...

Developing concentration skills is a key part in a child's development - and succeeding in any field, be it artistic, sporting or academic requires the ability to concentrate on the task at hand. Concentration is one of what we call the Four Cs (along with confidence,...