Helen W

Tweets mainly about air cadets, fundraising and volunteering.
#AskMe Community Ambassador.
Lover of the great outdoors, good food and bad dancing 💃

[Helen W @northernhells]

1156 (Whitley Bay) RAF Air Cadets are recruiting!
If you're in year 8 and above and are interested in joining as a cadet, staff, or civilian committee member; reach out here or visit the facebook page - and you could soon be doing all this! ⛺️ ✈️ 🚀
https://t.co/q7DuqvsDmm

[Helen W @northernhells]

#BlossomWatch @nationaltrust Seaton Delaval Hall

[The Husky @Mr_Husky1]

A 7-year-old boy slept under a bridge in London. No shoes. No food. No one who knew his name. A young stranger stopped and asked him a simple question — and what the child said next changed history forever.

His name was Jim. The year was 1866. London was choking under black factory smoke, and the East End was a maze of sewers, starvation, and invisible children. Jim was one of them — filthy clothes, matted hair, eyes that held pain no child should ever know.

Thomas Barnardo was just a 21-year-old medical student, quietly preparing to travel to China as a missionary. Then he met Jim crouched in a doorway, shivering.

"Are there more like you?" Thomas asked.

"Heaps of 'em, sir," Jim whispered. "More than I can count. We sleep where the dogs won't go."
A few days later, Jim was dead. He died alone in the cold, another child the city had simply forgotten to notice.

Thomas Barnardo never boarded that ship to China.

Instead, in 1870, he opened a small home for abandoned boys in East London. Above the door, he hung a sign that read:

"No destitute child will ever be refused admission."
One night, the home was full and he turned a boy away. Two days later, that same child was found dead from hunger and cold. Thomas wept. He made a vow he never broke: the door would always open.

When critics told him he was crazy and would run out of money, he kept building. More homes. Foster families. Vocational training. He gave street children — children people called "rats" — a trade, a name, and a future.

He didn't ask for papers. He didn't ask for backgrounds. He simply opened the door.

By the time Thomas Barnardo died in 1905, he had rescued more than 60,000 children from the streets of Britain.

Today, Barnardo's is still one of the UK's largest children's charities — still keeping a dead boy's whispered words alive, 160 years later.

Everything began with one man who stopped walking, looked down, and truly saw a child that the rest of the world had decided wasn't worth seeing.

Tag someone who still believes one person can change everything. 💙

[JCP in NTW @JCPinNTW]

Step into RAF World: Start Your Story, the Royal Air Force’s virtual event on 22 April at 6.30pm, created to give you a complete insight into life, careers and opportunities across the #RAF.

For more information and to register a free place, click here: https://t.co/DyDoD17smf

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

Reid Wiseman told his two teenage daughters where to find his will before he got on this rocket. He’s raised them alone since their mom died of cancer six years ago. Right now, he is 252,757 miles from home, farther from Earth than any human being has ever been.

Wiseman grew up outside Baltimore. Got rejected from the Naval Academy, went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute instead, studied computer engineering. Became a Navy fighter pilot, flew F-14 Tomcats (the jet from Top Gun) on combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan. Two Middle East deployments by his mid-twenties. He saw a Space Shuttle launch in person in 2001 and couldn’t let go of it. Applied to NASA while at sea on the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. They picked him. Nine people out of 3,500 applicants. His astronaut class, nicknamed “The Chumps,” included Jeremy Hansen, the Canadian who’s floating next to him right now.

Wiseman’s first trip to space was 165 days on the Space Station in 2014. Two spacewalks. Thirteen hours outside the hull in nothing but a suit. He climbed all the way up to Chief of the Astronaut Office, the person who decides which astronauts fly and which ones sit. Then he gave it up in 2022 to put himself back on the flight list.

His wife Carroll was a nurse in a newborn intensive care unit. She got cancer. Fought it five years. Died in May 2020 at 46. His mother died from Alzheimer’s just weeks before that. Wiseman raised both daughters by himself after that. NASA’s own bio says he considers being a single parent his hardest challenge and the best part of his life. Even while she was dying, Carroll told Reid not to step back from his career. She made him keep going. His brother is a Navy SEAL. His father is 83 and battling cancer too. The old man told reporters he wanted to stay alive long enough to see his son launch.

Before liftoff, Wiseman’s daughters snuck homemade cookies into his flight bag. He posted a photo with them in front of the rocket and wrote “I’m boarding that rocket a very proud father.”

The previous distance record from Earth belonged to the Apollo 13 crew. 248,655 miles, set in April 1970, and it was an accident. An oxygen tank blew up and the emergency route home happened to swing them farther out than anyone before. Wiseman broke that record by 4,100 miles, and his distance is on purpose. Today he flies within 4,600 miles of the Moon, photographs stretches of the far side that were too dark or at the wrong angle for any of the 24 Apollo astronauts to see, and watches a solar eclipse that nobody on Earth can see, only the four people inside that capsule.

Then he turns around and spends four days flying home to his girls.

[Alex Svan @AlexSvanArt]

This thought just hit me hard…
Left photo, my father is somewhere there and I’m not.
Right photo - I’m there but he isn’t.
Time moves forward slowly and quietly replacing us - temporary passengers on this beautiful spaceship

[Helen W @northernhells]

Before he died, my Dad had an idea to establish a 10k run btwn two landmarks from @NTCouncilTeam - @N_landCouncil. I tested the route in aid of @RNLI last year while Dad was alive. I'd love to turn his idea into a regular run for local charities. Can anyone advise where to start?

[Helen W @northernhells]

@645VGS are recruiting!
Check out their post below and get in touch! ✈️
@AirCadetsNorth @DNWAirCadets

[Cedarwood Trust @CedarwoodTrust]

🌱 Lead Cedarwood Trust - helping our community to nourish, nurture and thrive.

For over 40 years, Cedarwood has stood alongside the Meadow Well and North Tyneside community – tackling poverty, building resilience, and enabling people to flourish.

[Helen W @northernhells]

Whitley Bay Air Cadets are recruiting!
As the dark nights draw in it's a perfect time to try a new activity.
If you love all things aviation and adventure, whether you're 13, 33 or 63 we've a role for you!
Come along tomorrow - it might be the best thing you ever do!
✈️🚀⛺️🎯🏊‍♀️

[Helen W @northernhells]

✈️ Recruitment Drive ✈️
We are now recruiting for our September Intake!
Come along to our Open Night on 16th September, or get in touch via Facebook https://t.co/EmwJXklNr6 , email or DM me here to find out more.
#whatwedo #aircadets @DNWAirCadets @AirCadetsNorth @aircadets

[Newcastle Cathedral @nclcathedral]

✝️ Today, 14 September, is Holy Cross Day and Battle of Britain Sunday. Join us online or in-person for Sung Eucharist at 10am and Choral Evensong at 3pm, featuring the signing of the Armed Forces Covenant & representation from @RoyalAirForce personnel: https://t.co/Vpi5MSg59j

[Helen W @northernhells]

@ClarksonsFarm1 you made Earsdon Scarecrow Festival!

[Defence Relationship Management @DRM_UK]

Did you know there are 138,000+ #Cadets and nearly 28,000 CFAVs in the UK? They’re building leadership, teamwork & resilience — skills valued by AFC signatories.

With the new school year starting, it’s the perfect time to show your support:
🔗 https://t.co/ACU3BkfKKU

[Helen W @northernhells]

Back in my Happy Place 😊

[The Air League @TheAirLeague]

What a day at #AirSpaceCamp2025 at RAF Syerston! Thousands of RAF Air Cadets explored careers in aviation, space and cyber.

Our stand was buzzing all day and lots of exciting conversations were had.

Sponsor a scholarship today: https://t.co/HMwo6WktQ6 ✈️

[2FTS National Air & Space Camp @2ftsCamp]

The careers fair at #AirAndSpaceCamp Industry Day is well underway. With over 2000 cadets engaging with 75 plus industry partners!

A fantastic chance for our brilliant @aircadets to discover careers in a variety of sectors including air, space and cyber.

#whatwedo #aircadets

[James Wharton @jameswharton]

Filming with the Army Cadet Force today – as the government announces £70m additional funding for cadet organisations.

Fact of the day: there are now more young people in the Army Cadet Force than there are soldiers serving in the British Army.

Our report is out soon.

[Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 @DefenceHQ]

Being a cadet doesn't just build character, it transforms futures.

It's why we are increasing numbers by 30% by 2030 with a new investment of £70m.

@AlistairCarns hears why that will make a difference at the National Air & Space Camp

Read more👉 https://t.co/tRWb1B2O4q

[Beyond the Barracks - Gina A @militarymemos]

The Air Cadets changed @MandyHickson life giving her direction & her love of flying.
She was one of RAF’s first female fast-jet pilots.
Cadets are a force for good setting teenagers on the right path. @ArmyCadetsUK @aircadets @SeaCadetsUK @AlistairCarns
https://t.co/PKScrLh4e5

[2FTS National Air & Space Camp @2ftsCamp]

Cadets on #AirAndSpaceCamp have been visiting the hangers at RAF Syerston to learn more about how Serco supports the @RoyalAirForce’s glider fleet, operated by 2 Flying Training School.

@aircadets

#aircadets #noordinaryhobby #nextgeneration #whatwedo

[Ushaw Historic House, Chapels & Gardens @ushawdurham]

🇬🇧 The Last Night of the Proms takes over Ushaw 🇬🇧

Experience the tradition and grandeur of The Last Night of the Proms in the breathtaking St Cuthbert’s Chapel.

📅 Sat 4 October, 7pm
🎫 £8 - £12: https://t.co/XiCBs8khsA

#Ushawesome #NorthEast @ThisisDurham