Two very inspirational women

We are sad to be losing two very inspirational ladies from the Aliathon Holiday Village. They have devoted their lives to helping others and it is their stories that make you put things into perspective.

I am referring to the lovely Joyce Sheriff and the lovely Wendy Watson. They both won the Tesco Mum of the Year 2011 award and their stories are these:

Joyce Sheriff

Joyce aged 54 from East Lothian works as a foster mum. In 1999 Joyce and her husband lost their 15 year old son Pete to a brain tumour. Unfortunately Pete underwent serious surgery and passed away from brain damage.
Joyce decided after this traumatic experience to devote her life to fostering babies and as she says she will carry on until she is too old to do so. Joyce and Jim to date have fostered 33 babies, many of whom were born with drug or alcohol addictions. Joyce uses a variety of strategies to help the babies cope with their withdrawal symptoms and gives them as much love and stability as possible.
Joyce also works closely with the babies’ families, both biological and adoptive, to ensure things move forward in the best possible way. As Joyce states “These children deserve to be treasured”.
We wish Joyce and Jim the best for their future and we want to tell her once again how amazing her job is and we believe she doesn’t get the praise she deserves.

 Wendy Watson:

Meet Wendy 55 from Derbyshire who has changed over 80,000 lives. For the past 20 years she has played a vital role in our knowledge of hereditary breast cancer as well as offering support to thousands of women across the UK.
When Wendy was 16 she lost her mother to breast cancer. After researching her family history she discovered that the disease was hereditary. At the age of 37, Wendy fearing that history would repeat itself decided to undergo the first preventative mastectomy in the UK. Soon after the operation, Wendy launched a campaign to raise awareness of the genetic link to breast cancer and the options available to those at risk. Over the next few years she spoke to hundreds of TV stations, newspapers and GPs to spread the word.
In 1996 she set up the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline to offer support to women 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Wendy has also set up 24 local groups in the UK and now offers a group for the under-25s for whom there is little support.
We wish Wendy all the best and congratulate her on her success she has had helping others.


To both of these inspirational women CONGRATULATIONS just doesn’t seem enough! It has been a pleasure having these ladies here with us and we hope to see them again very soon. You have been an inspiration to al lot of us here at the resort and we are very proud of you.