Laughter In The Park for BHF Laugh-A-Thon

Submitted by tonyplant on May 28, 2006 - 18:41.

The weather was kind and it was just the sort of warm, sunny day that encourages people to slough their inhibitions and laugh, just because it feels good. I probably have more opportunities than most people to be part of a laughter train but it is always good fun. I ran several sessions and the age of the participants was from 18 months upwards.

One of the participants was in his 80s: he gave us a spirited rendition of The Laughing Policeman. Getting a licence for this events involves so many considerations that I have to confess have a momentary concern about whether or not I needed a licence that specifically mentioned singing - and then I decided that the guy was a participant, it was up to him whether or not he sang in public on a sunny day in the park.

I had some interesting chats about laughter and happiness with people after the sessions. I also had some wry comments from people who were laughing at themselves for smoking while they took the British Heart Foundation balloons for their children.

My next large-scale event is August. I've been invited to be the warm-up for the Concert in the Park: apparently one of the acts is a T-Rex tribute band that actually has two of the original members of T-Rex. Is this a special hybrid-tribute category? Selfishly, the best thing about this event is that it is my first opportunity to run a laughter event for an audience of several hundred people. It wouldn't be safe to run the Laughter Train exercise but there are some exercises (like the Laughter Wave - like the Mexican Wave but involving different pitches of laughter) that are made for large numbers.

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Laugh-a-thon for British Heart Foundation, May 28th And More Muda

Submitted by tonyplant on May 26, 2006 - 17:27.

The next big event on the laughter calendar is the national Laugh-a-thon on Sunday, May 28th which is being run in collaboration with the British Heart Foundation.

The Laugh-a-thon is sponsored in aid of the British Heart Foundation and is also an exploration of the health benefits of laughter. After some local difficulty, I managed to chat with my local BHF co-ordinators and organise an event for Spurriers Cafe, Harlow Park, this Sunday 28th at 1pm..

 

So, unless it is contra-indicated, and you have been warned off laughing - have a look at what is available in your local area and go along to a Laugh-a-thon event. Laughter really is good for you!

Never one to pass up the opportunity for a whinge, the local difficulty was that I went to my local BHF shop to find out more about the event, only to be told that the shops aren't allowed to participate in local fund-raising. I was told some probably-defensible but ludicrous-sounding story about how two local men had raised £1500 at an event and wanted to donate the money for use in the local area: anyway, you aren't allowed to make a directed donation for local use, so the shop couldn't accept the money. This whole area was obviously the source of ill-feeling but I am glad to say that the shop did accept some advertising material for the event once everything was sorted. I shall whinge about that in a separate paragraph.

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Another Booking For Happystance

Submitted by tonyplant on May 12, 2006 - 10:42.

What an exciting week. This is the second time that one of the people that I contacted has been in touch to book a Happystance event for her carers' group. Frabjulous day!

Only another 457 other people to get back in touch with me. I don't see any danger of being overwhelmed in the near future.

 

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Laugh-a-thon Interview on Radio 2

Submitted by tonyplant on May 11, 2006 - 10:57.

My Laughter colleague, Joe Hoare, is on Radio 2's Johnnie Walker show this afternoon, between 2 and 3. He will be talking about the Laugh-a-thon event. I'll see if there is a link that I can post later for anyone who misses it.

The next big event on the laughter calendar is the national Laugh-a-thon on Sunday, May 28th which is being run in collaboration with the British Heart Foundation.

The Laugh-a-thon is sponsored in aid of the British Heart Foundation and is also an exploration of the health benefits of laughter. I'm chatting with my local BHF co-ordinators to see if we can organise an event in my local area.

 

So, unless it is contra-indicated, and you have been warned off laughing - go along to a Laugh-a-thon event. Laughter really is good for you!

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