Well done Gracie!

My longest standing friend, Jennie, has a beautiful black Labrador, called Gracie, who is now over 14. In human years that equates to 98 years old! Jen has a daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren who live in America and the only way for her to visit them for Christmas was for someone to look after Gracie. Fortunately, I have an understanding husband who agreed that we could dog sit for the two-and-a-half weeks Jen would be away.

Gracie is very arthritic, totally deaf and, like every Labrador, adores her food. Jen has prolonged her life by encouraging Gracie to play dog-tennis (she knocks the ball back to you when you bounce it towards her nose) and with an abundance of love and care. Gracie is obedient – even with sign language now she’s deaf. I have become used to getting up early to let her out, to encouraging her to go for a gentle walk to keep her mobile and to give her the occasional treat for good behaviour. Well-behaved she most definitely is and she has a bright spirit that I totally admire for someone of her age.

We are now at day 17 of our 19 day stay and Gracie has lost weight. She has a waistline and her arthritis has improved. She is perky and instead of going for a five minute plod around the garden where I was anxious that I shouldn’t take her too far in case we couldn’t make it back, we can now easily manage a 30-minute walk every day. And she’s loving it! All that’s happened is that I have cut back on the treats, (because I don’t give them to our dog Waise so I just didn’t think about giving them to Gracie!) and have gradually increased her activity. It wasn’t a planned strategy. It just happened, but the benefits have turned out to be huge! And it set me thinking about humans. It doesn’t take a lot to turn a lifestyle of snacks and inactivity around to one of no snacks and increased activity to see a massive improvement in our health.

In just over two weeks Gracie has her figure back, has significantly improved her mobility and has loads more energy. She is wagging her tail all the time. I know she will be ecstatic when her mum returns on Wednesday but maybe this has been a break from habit, a bit of a watershed, to help her on her way to her 15th birthday. Perhaps we should all take a lesson out of Gracie’s experience!

New Year Preparations

I know it’s Christmas Day on Friday but we’re all chasing our tails trying to get everything ready for the New Year. There is SO much happening!

Firstly, my new and highly effective diet book – Amazing Inch Loss Plan – is about to be published. It is very exciting to have written a book that I know people will love because I know there are lots of people out there who would love to lose a stone in a month and that is what you can do with this plan, (that’s assuming you’ve more than a stone to lose!).

Next, my latest and last (yes, really) DVD is due out on 28th December. It is a brilliant programme and I know folk will love it. It has great music, fun routines and it is all extremely effective.

Then there’s our brand new food range called Solo Slim. It is only going to be available by mail order or through our classes as I’m disillusioned with the supermarkets and feel we can give a better service and lower prices, if we deal with the customers direct. There are fabulous ready meals and soups, all fresh ingredients, specially packaged so they have a long shelf life. They taste amazing and we can supply a week’s worth together with my fab low fat cheddar cheese and low Gi nutrition bars, and with a diet plan, all delivered directly to your door. I know this is going to be a real hit too.

Lastly, but by no means least, we launch our online television channel. www.rosemaryconley.tv on 5th January and people will be able to enjoy a vast array of interviews, inspiration and information, expert advice, exercises, recipe demonstrations and much, much more! It is fabulous and the biggest project we have undertaken since we launched our magazine back in 1996. Which brings me to...

Our 100th edition of Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness magazine is on sale 31st December with the first four of our eight Slimmers of the Year stories. It is our biggest and best issue ever and includes a pull out booklet of my 100 favourite recipes.

I know my feet won’t be touching the ground as soon as Christmas is over as the publicity tour takes full flight. The book has no less than three serialisations running in national publications! Very exciting.

I’ve also invented something that I think you’ll love. It’s called Magic Measure and it is a clever bit of kit that shows you how many inches you lose as you progress on your weight loss campaign. Log on to www.rosemaryconley.tv on 5th January to see how it works or join your local Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Club in the new year and you will be given one for free. Classes re-open from 4th January.

If I don’t blog again before Christmas, have a truly fabulous time. Enjoy love, happiness, the joy of giving, having fun and being with your loved ones. Happy Christmas!

What a wonderful day!

I’ve been in the weight loss business for 38 years now and I’ve been fortunate enough to have enjoyed so many exciting events and activities, privileges and performances but on Friday I experienced something for the first time.

I held a reception for a very special group of VIPs at Quorn House, (our offices). The guests were my Trial Dieters.

At the end of May I met for the first time a group of overweight, unhappy, timid folk who desperately wanted to lose weight. They had responded to an appeal on BBC Radio Leicester for volunteers to try out my new diet. I remember them as they sat on the chairs in our Drawing Room, filling every inch of the seats on which they were sitting.

A month later, the mood was completely different. In just one month of the trial this group of 50 volunteers lost no less than 50 stone! An average of a stone in a month! That proved to me that you could lose a stone in a month if you combined a healthy calorie controlled diet and exercise, no matter what your age. The youngest Trialist was 18 and the oldest, 70 years young. They were thrilled and I was totally delighted plus I had the basis on which to write my new diet book.

After the initial one month trial, all the participants were given the option to continue a weekly weigh-in and measuring session at Quorn House with my Trial Manager, Sue. Six months on, the Trialists had lost significantly more weight and a monumental number of inches, and on Friday everyone was invited to return together for a celebration of their success. This time it was their smiles that filled the room, not their size. Their newly-found confidence and fitness was in abundance. Conversation was flowing as they shared their stories of improved self-esteem and health-improvement – and some were dramatic.

For instance, Bill Wiltshire was our Champion Trial dieter after one month having lost a gob-smacking 1st 10lbs in the first four weeks. But shortly afterwards Bill became very ill, was admitted into hospital and diagnosed with cellulitis. The surgeon told his spouse that he may have to amputate the leg as Bill’s condition was so serious. However, because Bill had been exercising and eating healthily as part of the Trial, even in that short time his circulation had improved so much that the blood-flow was working more efficiently and Bill could, after all, keep his leg! It was great to see him again when he joined the party.

So, on Friday I was standing amongst a group of Trialists who had followed a new diet, exercised regularly, transformed themselves health-wise and shape-wise. And they looked fantastic. John Newcombe was the overall Champion having lost 4st 1lb in the six months.

This was the first time I have ever run a large Trial where all my Trialists had been so closely monitored every step of the way and over such a long period. And now the evidence was standing there in the room looking at me. That was why it was a unique experience. It was brilliant!

I will write more about the health benefits they all enjoyed on another day but for now, be encouraged that this new diet, my Amazing Inch Loss Plan, has been proved to be unbelievably effective and it will be available for you in the New Year. Enjoy what it does for you.

Christmas really has arrived in Quorn House!

Our offices are situated in a beautiful Georgian property in the heart of Quorn in Leicestershire. We moved in there to create Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs back in 1993. We were the first folk to buy the house as it had been previously owned for centuries by the Farnham family.

When we bought Quorn House it was in a pretty neglected state but now it is in prime condition and every square inch of the house is used for offices and our new television studio is housed in our old warehouse next door. Our forty five or so staff love driving up the magnificent tree-lined drive to the house which sits in 150 acres of unspoilt park land. The cows graze happily and contentedly on the grass. It is an idyllic setting to work and we are all very grateful that we are surrounded by such picturesque working conditions.

This year my artistic friend Jennie has spent a couple of days decorating the house for Christmas. It looks truly magnificent. Garlands are draped up the fabulous staircase, and over the hand-carved fireplaces that feature in every room. Bowls of baubles, a 10 ft Christmas tree with its twinkling lights and wreaths adorned with bows and berries finish off this festive extravaganza. And everyone is loving it.

On Friday my 50 Diet Trialists are coming for a party and BBC Radio Leicester and the Leicester Mercury (our local paper) are coming along to meet them. They will be celebrating losing a significant amount of weight this year and the fact that their lives and, more importantly, their health have changed dramatically. This year they won’t be dreading the office party. This year they will go there feeling confident and fit, happy and content that this year they have achieved something special. A new body. And that’s the best Christmas present any of them could have had.

It’s December and I love Christmas!

This year Christmas is going to be special. It’s not that we are doing anything exotic or different, it’s just that it’s been a pretty tough year in many respects and now it’s all coming good!

I knew this year would be busy. I had to write a new diet book and record a new fitness DVD. We also decided to build a television studio and launch a new online television channel. To do that, you also need to film a lot of stuff! Then we decided to launch a range of ready meals and soups and sell it by mail order. In the Spring I had a brain-wave and had an idea for a motivational gadget so we set to work to make it. In the midst of all this my lovely mum-in-law became really poorly and we thought we might lose her – thankfully, we didn’t. She’s moved in with us now and she is positively flourishing! We haven’t had a holiday since early June because we couldn’t leave MIL – but that’s fine.

So now it’s December. The book is written and, having tried and tested the diet with a team of 50 Trialists, I know it works better than any diet I have ever created. It will be published on 6th January. My 30th (and last) DVD was recorded in March and will be released on 28th December. It is a cracker and I think folk will love it. The television studio is finished and is fabulous. rosemaryconley.tv is being tested right now and will be available to everyone, 24/7 in January. My range of Solo Slim meals is complete and will launch after Christmas. With no ‘E’ numbers and a shelf life of up to 12 months, this is a very exciting proposition for dieters. And my motivational gadget will be launched in January. You’ll love it and everyone who joins one of our classes in the New Year will get one free.

To top it all we have 8 Slimmer of the Year titles to announce in the New Year with the very best slimming success stories you will have ever heard. You will be able to read about them in our 100th edition of my magazine, Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness, which will be out in the New Year, together with a free 44 page recipe book of my favourite 100 recipes from across the years included in every copy. You’ll love that too!

So yes, I’m looking forward to Christmas for the fun and relaxation with all the family – and particularly having my mum-in-law here with us. I’m looking forward to the New Year because I know it’s going to be really, really exciting. We’ve worked our socks off this year but in January I know that all that hard work will have been worth it. That’s why I love life so much - because it’s fun!

Launch of rosemaryconley.tv

Last week I carried out a very interesting interview with a gastric weight loss surgeon for my forthcoming rosemary conley.tv channel, which is launching on the web on 5th January next year. I felt it was important for viewers of rosemary conley.tv to be able to hear from a surgeon who actually performed gastric banding, gastric bypasses and so on because I think many folk consider taking these drastic measures when they feel a hopeless failure after they have fallen off the wagon from yet another diet.

Mr Chris Sutton is well-known for his gastric obesity surgery and it was extraordinary to learn how the various procedures are carried out. Whilst he stated that they were not particularly dangerous procedures, I would imagine that undergoing such an operation and a general anaesthetic had to present some risk to the patient.

I was assured that gastric surgery was only carried out as a last resort and was only undertaken under the NHS if it was thought that the patient was at serious risk of death without the surgery.

Whilst it was fascinating to hear first-hand what was involved with each of the operations, how they were done, how long they took, how much they cost (when done privately), and the dangers, I couldn’t help feeling it was an enormous shame that people needed such surgery. By cutting back our quantities of food by 20-25%, taking more activity, joining one of our classes and moderating alcohol consumption, weight can be significantly reduced and our health dramatically improved. There is no short cut or quick fix answer to obesity, it has to be a lifestyle change otherwise we will forever be battling the bulge.

You can watch my interview with Mr Sutton from 5th January 2010 on rosemaryconley.tv.

You’re never too old!

You’re never too old!

Last night I went to my diet and fitness class as usual. It is very exciting to be meeting lots of new members now that I have changed my venue from the centre of Leicester where car parking fees were extortionate to a suburb where parking is free.

Last week two new ladies joined - one in her mid-eighties and the other a little younger. With new hips and knees their mobility was somewhat restricted and whilst I tried to show them how to exercise sitting in a chair, it was obvious that this wasn’t really working. I had given them our Kick-start diet to follow but I couldn’t help feeling that with the cakes in the afternoon, the chocolate that they both confessed to love greatly, that were part of their life, I wasn’t too optimistic about either their success on the diet or with their activity. I even doubted whether they would return this week. I had suggested that walking was a really good form of exercise and the more they could do the more it would help them.

Imagine my delight when they both arrived last evening. Walking over to me at the scales they were full of excuses. ‘I don’t think I’ve lost anything but I have stopped the chocolate and I have been walking – and we won’t be staying for the exercises’ said June with a sense of disappointment at letting me down. Elsie, the older of the two, added to the pre-scales-excuses with ‘I’ve not done any exercise but I have stopped eating chocolate!’. I was impressed that they had made at least some effort and made some changes. June stepped carefully onto the scales, closed her eyes with a face that said she was bracing herself for the bad news but she had lost 4 ½ lbs! She couldn’t have been more thrilled if I’d told her she’d won the Lottery! She stepped off the scales and would have done a jig if it hadn’t been for the two new hips and knees!

Then it was Elsie’s turn. I held her hand as she stepped gingerly on to the scales. Elsie had lost 3 ½ lbs and shrieked with delight, smiling from ear to ear like a teenager! The two of them almost skipped to their chairs and were truly thrilled and encouraged. There was a feeling of ‘new beginnings’ about them.

When June came forward with a spring in her step to collect her Slimmer of the Week certificate the room cheered and applauded. It was a magical moment. That’s why I love my job!

The value of team spirit!

Last week our lovely staff went on a challenging bike ride together to raise funds for Steps Leicestershire Conductive Education Centre in Shepshed, Leicestershire, which is the main charity that Mike and I support.

The bike ride had started in the Spring of this year with the idea that, cumulatively, the staff would cycle the 2,775 miles which is the distance of the circumference of the UK and, by doing so, raise sponsorship to support Steps. With the end of the year approaching it was decided to hold a half day bike ride and the more folk that joined in the fewer miles everyone had to cycle to meet the grand total of 2,775 Miles. In the end the distance to be cycled by everyone was 17 miles.

So, last Wednesday, in the middle of a gale and torrential rain, it was decided to close the office and mount the bikes. Sadly (?) I couldn’t participate myself as I had a prior speaking engagement in Essex that evening, but the majority of the office staff did cycle with a few volunteering to prepare refreshments - faggots and mushy peas and soup and bread - when the cyclists returned.

Of course there were a few punctures, minor accidents when riders fell off in the mud, but all in all it was, by all accounts, a fantastic afternoon. Our housekeeper and our gardener were the marshals on the course, and indeed everyone was involved. Despite them all returning back at Quorn House totally frozen, soaked and exhausted, the overall feeling was that of elation! They had pushed themselves, encouraged and supported each other and had a lot of laughs. People’s roles within the company were totally irrelevant and there is nothing better for building camaraderie than putting everyone on a level playing field and letting them interact – particularly for a great cause.

As I was being driven down to Essex in my warm and cosy car and dictating replies to letters and emails from my in-tray, I felt a mixture of relief that I had a legitimate reason for not participating in this physical and presumably unpleasant activity, combined with a feeling that I’d missed out on all the fun. And I was right. They had had enormous fun and the aching limbs and sore back-sides evident as folk walked around the office like John Wayne the next day were testament to that. Everyone enjoyed it so much they’re now looking forward to the next staff bike ride and, yes, next time I want to do it too. Hopefully it will be in the Spring!

Look out for the warning signs!

Every week I meet wonderful folk who have lost weight and transformed their lives. And they all wish they had done it earlier.

Weight creeps up on us. Half a pound here and a couple of pounds there and, before you know it, half a stone has gone on – then a stone. Nobody who has lost 10 stone ever, in their wildest imagination, anticipated that their weight problem would become so great. Folk go through the stages of moving along their wardrobe to the clothes that used to be loose that now fit. When they get a bit worn, they are replaced with new, at possibly the next size up, telling ourselves that that particular brand ‘obviously comes up a bit small in their sizing’.

Relaxed eating habits, little exercise (if any), over-indulgence on occasions, too much alcohol, snacking between meals and whilst watching television, all massively affect what we weigh. And we have to make choices.

I was in M&S on Saturday and ready-made traditional favourite puddings were on offer: Sticky toffee Pudding, Spotted Dick, Treacle Pudding – the selection was fabulous. I could feel my mouth salivating as I picked up a couple of options wondering whether they could come in useful when we have visitors at some time. WHO AM I KIDDING! I didn’t buy them because I really do want to stay slim but it took a lot of willpower.

Food used to control me, thankfully, now it doesn’t. If you are thinking about food too much, and your size is creeping up, why not consider joining one of our classes or our online slimming service? We do understand your needs and we really want to help you – and we offer unbelievable value too! Just log on to www.rosemaryconley.com for details of how we can help.

Poor Gordon!

Whilst I’m not a huge fan of our Prime Minister, I do feel really sorry for him today. Amongst his vastly hectic, globe-trotting, life Gordon Brown found the time to write a personal, hand-written note to a fallen serviceman’s mother offering his condolences at her sad loss. Unfortunately, Mr Brown addressed the letter to Mrs ‘James’, not Mrs Janes and as a result Mrs Janes is very upset and has publicly stated that she would rather he ‘hadn’t bothered’. How very, very sad.

The guns are out for Gordon Brown and the media are ready to jump on anything and everything they can but I don’t think they do themselves any favours when they appear so plainly vindictive. Having heard the complaint from Mrs Janes, Gordon Brown did no less than pick up the phone and call her to apologise. He is reported to be ‘utterly mortified’ by the fact that he made the mistake and that Jamie Janes’ mother has been offended rather than comforted. What else can the poor chap do?

Sometimes I receive letters that I feel I want to reply to ‘by hand’. It will not be a long letter, probably just a note on a post card. My handwriting is not pretty or stylish. I hope that the person who receives it is able to read it and I hope that they are pleased, and maybe surprised, that I have taken the time and effort to put pen to paper. But I may have to think twice in the future. Maybe I will have to show my notes to my PA to check that everything I have said is correct and appropriate. Such a concern takes away the spontaneity of the moment of goodwill and I think that’s sad.

So, I hope that on tonight’s 6 o’clock news Gordon Brown’s letter will not be the lead story and that emphasis will be given to other, much more important matters. Let’s move on.....

Simple Rule of Life

Last Wednesday evening I was asked to present the prizes at a local school and to address the invited audience. I love talking to young people who have gone through the major part of their school lives and who are just off to college. It is such a significant and exciting time of their lives.

These are the lessons I passed on to them:

Be nice to people – it makes you happier.

Always tell the truth.

Dress smartly – people will respect you more if you do.

Own up to your mistakes (everybody makes them) and be prepared to say ‘sorry’.

If you know you’ve made a mistake, confess it immediately. It saves your worrying.

Try your best, work hard and don’t be frightened of asking for help.

No one becomes successful on their own. We get there because others help us.

Don’t expect to be good at everything - nobody is.

Treat others as you would like to be treated.

A ‘no’ now doesn’t mean a ‘no’ forever.

Decide on your goals – and write them down.

Follow your dreams and keep persevering. Never give up.

Don’t fear failure. Learn from life’s tough times and do it better next time

We should all have dreams, and we should find a career that we love so that we enjoy every day. I have loved every minute of mine.

New class venue and a new era!

On Monday my Monday night classes moved from the Holiday Inn in the centre of Leicester to Birstall Golf Club, on the outskirts of the city. This may not be headline news but it was significant for my class members and very significant for me.

I have held classes at the Holiday Inn for almost 24 years. To put this into perspective, I have known my husband for 26 years and been married to Mike for 23 of them. Running my classes in the same venue for 24 years is a very long time.

In January 1986 I closed down a business that I had lovingly created and developed. This had not been my choice but in 1981 I had sold my business to a national magazine publisher who had retained me to carry on running the company. It proved to be a nightmare. The whole experience had been painful and exhausting and I learned from that situation that I never wanted to be employed by anyone else ever again. And I haven’t. I had been naive and inexperienced. I had bitten off more than I could chew and no matter how hard or fast I chewed, somehow this ‘business marriage’ just hadn’t worked. Four and a half years later, they ditched the enterprise and I was left bruised, battered and disillusioned.

The only saving grace was that I transferred my own personal diet and exercise classes across the road to the Holiday Inn. I was running 8 classes each week, including aqua-aerobics, and this was my new job. All the income I had came from those classes – and I was happy.

Around 20 of those original members who crossed the road with me are still attending my classes today. They are friends and we meet every Monday evening for a good time - keeping fit, chatting, laughing, and having fun. So when I announced to them six weeks ago that I was thinking of moving the venue, this was significant. Going to the Holiday Inn on a Monday evening had become part of our lives. It’s just what we did on Monday evenings.

So, when I woke up on Monday morning and thought – ‘ Tonight’s a new venue. What if nobody comes?’ I felt a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I even spring-cleaned my kit box ready for the big occasion. I visited some of the local business to offer a poster in case any staff members wanted to come along – something I hadn’t done since I started my business 38 years ago!

So when I turned up at the Golf Club early to set up my equipment, I was so thrilled to find a new member awaiting my arrival. She helped me carry my kit up the stairs and into the room. Within 30 minutes all my ‘old’ members had arrived. They were as excited as I was. This was a new beginning. I loved teaching my class and remembered my routine for once! It was an exciting change for all of us and we had embraced the challenge with optimism and I thanked them for their positive attitude and support.

For someone who has reached a time in her life when change is often resisted, this was definitely a change worth making. I’m looking forward to next Monday – and hopefully - so are my members.

What an achievement!

Over the last couple of days we have been celebrating the achievements of some wonderful folk who have lost massive amounts of weight to be crowned Slimmers of the Year. For the first time we are giving awards to slimmers in different categories because it is impossible to place all great achievers on a level playing field. So in January we will be announcing our Yummy Mummy Slimmer of the Year, our Mr and Mrs Slimmer of the Year, our 40+, our ‘young’, our ‘student’, our Male, our Super Fit and our Action Woman Slimmers of the Year 2010! All of them are amazing and all together the eight winners will have lost in the region of 75 stone!

Because of lead times in putting together our new year edition of our magazine we have to get well organised ahead of time so, over the last couple of days, we have shopped for the clothes that the winners were to be photographed in and then they have enjoyed a total make-over of hair and make-up before being photographed yesterday by a top photographer. It is one of the most exciting days in my calendar. Hard work? Yes, certainly, but so very, very satisfying.

One of the winners lost all her unwanted weight in just this year and when she looked at the shots taken of her today on the computer afterwards, she was visibly shocked. “I cannot believe that’s me!” she exclaimed. “Do I really look like that?” and the tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at this stunningly pretty, super-slim gorgeous creature looking out at her. And this is not an uncommon reaction.

It happened on Tuesday too. We were in M & S trying on loads of different dresses for the women, dinner suits for the men and assorted outfits all round. Every one of the female Slimmers of the Year said ‘I would never have dreamed of trying on this – but it looks lovely!’. The men were more reserved but obviously felt comfortable and confident in the clothes I had selected for them. And they were smiling!

Losing massive amounts of weight doesn’t happen overnight – nor does it go on that way either. It is a ‘work in progress’, either up or down! If you would like to be a potential Slimmer of the Year for 2011, why not start to turn your life around right now! Whether you have 10 stone or 10 lbs to lose, we all have to start somewhere. These amazingly successful slimmers lost their weight through attending Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs. It worked for them, and it can work for you too. Check out www.rosemaryconley.com for details of your nearest class or www.rosemaryconleyonline.com if there’s no class near you. You will be so glad you did.

Convention Celebrations

Last Friday was the day of our Annual Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs Franchisee Convention and what a fantastic day it turned out to be! Tears and laughter, inspiration by the bucketful and lots and lots to look forward to in the new year. Everyone was buzzing!

As well as sharing the new diet plan, which is based on my book due for publication in January, and lots of exciting products due to launched then, we also celebrated the successes of our top franchisees. Our reigning Franchisee of the Year, Sarah Skelton, gave an awe-inspiring speech about how she ran her business, as well as other brilliant presentations from our Training and Marketing Departments. We heard from Nicky Hambleton-Jones, Celebrity Stylist, about making the most of ourselves to build our confidence and all in all, it was a truly fantastic day.

We give out four Awards including a personal award to a franchisee who has unselfishly given a lot of herself for the good of the business. This year I gave my Rosemary Conley Award to Caroline Pitt from Merton, for running our original pilot scheme with the NHS, which has now been rolled out across the network. Our Newcomer of the Year Award is given to a new franchisee who has only been running for the last 12 months and there were three finalists: Philippa Aldridge, Corinne Stevenson and Tracey Telfer. The Award went to Corinne Stevenson from Gloucester.

The Business Development Award is given to the franchisee who has dramatically grown their business in the last 12 months and the five finalists were Philippa Aldridge, Kay Fletcher, Karen Murrie, Francine Vickers and Caroline Willey. The winner was Philippa Aldridge of Abingdon and Oxfordshire.

Franchisee of the Year is for the overall top franchisee in the network. We have ten finalists: Mandi Davidson, Kay Fletcher, Adele Howlett, Jill MacGregor, Lindsey Peters, Sarah Skelton, Jayne Stone, Lisa Thatcher, Sandra Todd and Audrey Zolnierowicz. The winner was Kay Fletcher from Ipswich, and a very worthy winner she was too.

As well as these awards we also gave away a dozen 5 year Awards to our franchisees. I then presented six 10 year Awards to franchisees and two to staff members, plus they were each given a magnificent Christopher Ward diamond studded watch. Then it was time for the 15 year awards. We had three franchisees who had reached with momentous milestone – Wendy Boardman, Judith Sell and Karen Smith, plus two staff members – Mary Morris our Training Consultant and Denise Harriman, our House Keeper at Quorn House. They were each presented with a very beautiful diamond necklace. I love this bit because they are so appreciative that we appreciate them!

Then it’s time for our Convention Ball. A great time was had by all and we danced till 1 am and we had a not-for-real-money Casino which was perfect for those not wanting to boogie! Everyone looked so incredibly glamorous and I do not believe there is any other gathering of women in the UK who are so fit, so confident and so gorgeous. I am very proud of every single one of them!

Exciting times

Every year we hold our Annual Convention when all of our franchisees from across the United Kingdom come together to hear of the plans for the next twelve months. This year is going to be particularly exciting as my brand new diet book will form the basis of the diet plan offered to members of Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs in 2010. It is a fantastic diet that is massively effective so there will be an air of expectation on Friday when I tell our franchisees all about it.

The event is well organised and thoughtfully put together and everyone attending, hopefully, will go away fully motivated and firing on all cylinders. We work very hard to make our business effective and fun for everyone. On Friday we will have lots of fun, tears and laughter.

You may think it’s strange that I say there will be tears but I get so emotional at these events! We give Awards to our top performers and as I read out their citations I fill up because I know how hard everyone has worked and how much it means to the finalists and particularly the winners! We give Awards for Newcomer of the Year, Business Development Award and Franchisee of the Year. I also give a personal award to the person who I feel goes the extra mile for the good of the company and her members – though most of the franchisees do that! We also give awards for franchisees and staff who have been with us for five, 10 and 15 years and that is very exciting too.

In the evening, after the Convention, we have a Gala Dinner and everyone gets dressed up to the nines. You will never see a room so full of super fit, beautiful women who just love dancing! As soon as the first song is played on the disco, the dance floor will be full! The husbands and boyfriends are invited too so it is a very lovely evening. I’m really looking forward to the whole day.

Watch those portion sizes!

We live in a super-sized society when everything to do with food seems to be getting bigger! Cereal bowls, soup bowls, plates, wine glasses, dessert dishes – they’re all much larger than they used to be and it isn’t good for us.

I am sure that those fabulous and enormous platters that your haute cuisine is served upon in a stylish restaurant were not designed to be full! So when we see them in John Lewis or Harrods, we delight at their magnificence and buy them for those special occasions when we want to impress our guests and make our dining table look impressive. The problem is that, whilst some wondrous chef creates a work of art on 15% of the plate’s surface in the restaurant, when we serve it up at home it doesn’t quite work out that way. To present such a dish would cause ridicule. So we fill it!

Last year we launched Rosemary Conley Portion Pots as an aid to help folk quickly measure their appropriate size portion of cereal, rice, pasta, baked beans, peas, wine, orange juice, and so on. They are brilliantly simply and extremely helpful.

Each morning I use my yellow Portion Pot to measure my serving of Fruit ‘n' Fibre and it is enough to keep be going – just – until lunchtime. When we are serving rice with our evening meal, if I’m cooking for just me, I can use the blue Portion Pot to measure enough basmati rice for one. If I’m cooking for the family then I drain the cooked rice and can take a red Portion Pot for the equivalent quantity of rice but measured now it is cooked. Simple!

If you are eating healthily and cannot understand why the weight isn’t shifting as quickly as it should, I bet you it’s your portions that are too big.

Treat yourself to some small cereal bowls, smaller wine glasses and plates and watch the lbs slip away. If you would like some Portion Pots, log on to www.rosemaryconley.com to buy them or join one of our classes when you will be given some with your New Member’s Pack.

Amazing weight losses - amazing people!

Last Thursday we had a very exciting day at Quorn House. Fifteen delightful folk descended on our offices for the judging day of our Slimmer of the Year competition. We had invited three men and twelve women to come and meet me together with my Magazine Editor and Art Director. The place was buzzing in anticipation and excitement.

After a welcome cup of coffee I took them on a tour of the house, with all its remarkable history – we are the first people to own Quorn House since the previous owners who had lived in the present Georgian property from when it was build in 1920 and, before that, the previous house, since 1238! Set in 147 acres of magnificent parkland, it is a really special place to come to work!

As the Regional Slimmers of the Year sat in the drawing room with their friends and, in some cases, their RCDFC franchisee, it was brilliant to see this sea of smiling confident faces on super slim bodies. It would have been a very different story if they had been sitting there a year ago.

Our Regional winners had lost a variety of amounts of weight – all significant weight reductions but some were massive losses. First we invite them to workout in our studio so that we can see them in fitness wear. It is helpful to ascertain figure shapes and sizes. Then it’s time for a personal interview with myself and the other judges. The ‘before’ photographs are crucial at this stage and we are always eager to hear their stories of their successes. All will appear in our magazine over the coming months.

The 15 folk present had lost a total of 126 stone! And they looked toned and healthy – which is very important. The results of the judging will be announced in the New Year and this time our line-up of awards will be a bit different from previously. All very exciting!

One day in these wonderful peoples’ lives they decided enough was enough. They needed to lose weight and go on a diet and do some exercise. And that they did – brilliantly! If you are thinking you need to lose weight and you’re serious about it, then join one of our classes as soon as you can. That’s what they all did and it changed their lives. Nobody can lose your weight for you but we can certainly lend you a helping hand to make your hopes and dreams turn into reality. Just do it!

Check out our website www.rosemaryconley.com or slim online with www.rosemaryconleyonline.com. It’s easier than you think!

When change can be fun!

For the last 24 years I have held two diet and fitness classes at the Holiday Inn in Leicester city centre on a Monday evening. It has been a long and happy relationship and five years ago the Holiday Inn have even named a meeting room after me – The Conley Room. Hundreds of ladies and some men have happily come along to enjoy a workout and dietary advice every week during that time. In fact the classes were being held there even before my famous Hip and Thigh Diet was written or published. Today, 15 or so of my members have been attending for over 20 years! And yes, they do get a concession!

This Holiday Inn was built in the 1960’s and right next door is an NCP car park. This is a perfect scenario. Lots of parking next to a large hotel in the centre of a city. However, the problem that has arisen is that NCP have decided to increase their tariff to a level that makes parking there just too costly. For one of my members to park for the 1 ½ hour class duration, it costs £3.10. That means that for someone paying the full class fee (i.e. not someone who has been coming to me for the last 20 years) has to pay £5.50 + £3.10! The Holiday Inn has no control over these charges and it must be really tough for them. If you stay as a resident at the hotel you obviously get your ticket stamped and the hotel pick up the tab. If you are attending a function or meeting, obviously they don’t. I dread to think what the increased cost must be doing to their business.

Anyway, back to my class. I have now taken the decision to relocate my class slightly out of town. I have found a beautiful suburban golf club who are happy for me to book their function room and offer free parking, and my members have been amazingly accommodating. Some have had a trial run in their cars, some have consulted the bus timetables and others have arranged car-sharing to get there. I am grateful to them. We start in our new venue on 2nd November.

The funny thing is that I’m actually quite excited about it all. I am looking forward to welcoming new members from the locality as well as continuing to support my long standing and loyal ‘Gold Star’ members. If it were not for their loyalty over the years maybe I would not still be taking classes but we have a fun time and we are all slimmer, fitter and healthier as a result. They provided the model for the creation of Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs that now run all over the UK today – almost 2,000 classes a week attended by around 80,000 members. Our fabulous franchisees, all highly qualified, are doing exactly the same thing for their members and making a difference to their lives. Long may we all continue!

For details of your nearest class go to www.rosemaryconley.com or visit www.rosemaryconleyonline.com if there is no class near you.

Awesome Women!

Yesterday I was honoured to be invited to the Women of the Year Lunch at London’s Intercontinental Hotel on Park Lane. It is always a prestigious affair with an array of women who have achieved all kinds of success in any manner of fields of life. Of course you have your celebs such as Esther Rantzen, Maureen Lipman and Katherine Jenkins as well as household radio names such as Sarah Kennedy and Sue MacGregor, but it is the non-famous special women who you find yourself talking to that make the event even more special.

On my table I found myself sitting next to one of the original WI Calendar Girls from Yorkshire. Since that original calendar was launched, over £2m has been raised for Leukaemia Research. Next to her was a woman who took over the Woolworths store she had worked in for 18 years after it closed down in January and is now making a success of Wellworths, in partnership with the landlord. On my left was the General Manager of Sadlers Wells and next to her, a lawyer and barrister who has helped launch a charity called Family Law Services. They advise on divorce in a practical way. The charity explains the facts of life about divorce and many families go away and sort out their differences rather than proceed towards that terminal split.

The lunch was a celebration of women who made a difference. Awards were given to Hilary Henriques for Outstanding Achievement for, 19 years ago, co-founding a charity called Nacoa to provide support for young and adult children of alcohol-dependant parents. The Window of the World Award was given to Jane Walker who founded the Phillipine Community Fund. Jane has managed to build a school for 1000 pupils to teach them up to college level. The Women of the Year Award was given to 23 year old Emily Cummins – an inventor. Emily has invented a solar-powered refrigerator suitable for use in the third world. Emily has taught the villagers in Africa how to build it and has given them the design free of charge. Such achievements were humbling for everyone present.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Dame Vera Lynn. At 92 she is as bright as a button and gave an incredibly moving speech and made us all feel encouraged that perhaps we had hope of many more years in our own lives than we thought possible, and still be 100% mentally and physically fit.

This is the last year that Joan Armatrading will be President of the Lunch, and Sandi Toksvig is standing down as compere for the event. Both have served the Charity brilliantly for the last five years. The charity owe a great debt to these wonderful women who, with their fellow committee members, do a brilliant job. Well done to them and to all the wonderful women who attended yesterday. Keep up the good work!

The inspiration of meeting successful slimmers!

You would be amazed how often we are asked by the press for a before and after photograph of one of our slimmers who fits into a specific profile: eg in their twenties, forties, who’s lost 6 stone, who can wear a bikini, etc., etc.

Last Thursday we had a wonderful day at Quorn House when we invited some fabulously successful dieters who had attended our classes to be photographed specifically for the press. So at 9 o’clock I met the first three at Marks & Spencer at Fosse Park in Leicester, so that we could sort out a perfect outfit for them to wear. At 10 o’clock three more arrived and at 11, two more.

One by one we found a dress or suit or skirt and top or whatever, found the perfect shoes and jewellery to complement them, and then sent them over to Quorn House, our offices, to find the make-up artist to be made up and have their hair styled before being photographed by a top photographer.

The cumulative weight loss of these eight lasses amounted to 50 stone! They looked fabulous and perhaps the most exciting message that came out of the day was that they wore clothes they wouldn’t normally have dreamed of even trying on let alone believing they would feel fabulous wearing it. When each one saw themselves in the finished photographs, they were astounded at how beautiful they looked. All of them.

Every one of these successful dieters had attended Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs. It works. The combination of a healthy diet, a fitness class, camaraderie of other class members, plus the instruction and support of a qualified teacher makes for a winning formula. If you want to start your diet today, check out our website for your nearest RC class or join our Online club. Go to www.rosemaryconley.com for details of both services. It really, really works!

Only do the things that only you can do.

This is the advice I gave myself 20 years ago and also to some very enterprising women I have had the pleasure of meeting in the last couple of days. Let me explain.

I actually enjoy cleaning. When I do it I think I do it well but twenty years ago I realised that there was stuff I should be doing, that only I could do, that I didn’t have time to do because I was cleaning. So, I decided to employ someone else to clean while I wrote books and presented fitness videos.

When I meet young women who are starting their own businesses, working incredibly hard and having great and worthy aspirations, I suggest they stop and think what they want to achieve. Money? Fame? Recognition? Respect? The interesting response, and one that I relate to totally, is that they want to ‘enjoy’ what they are doing and, without hesitation, they say that once the job becomes a chore, they will jack it in.

The problem for women is that we have to juggle home life with work commitments. Someone I met yesterday said that she didn’t believe in child care. She wanted to always be there for her little girl, during the school holidays, after school, at weekends. That’s tough if you’re also going to build a successful business because not all business appointments and commitments fall in to school hours!

One of the most useful decisions I made a few years ago was to employ a freelance driver. It may sound incredibly indulgent but actually, it’s not. I use my own car and employ a professional driver to drive it. Because I use time in the back of the car as office time, I can achieve SO much work while someone else takes the strain of finding the right location, coping with the frustrations of traffic, speed restrictions, direction and safety. Could I go on the train? Probably, but I find carrying all my kit (computer, briefcase etc) on to a train too tiring and I only need to find myself sitting next to someone who wants to talk for England and it’s hard to concentrate on the job in hand. No, working in the back of the car is brilliant for me.

When I spend a day with trainee RC franchisees I ask them what help they would love to have to help them to cope. Someone to do the ironing is almost always top of the list. For around £10 most of us can get the majority of your ironing done for us and it can free us up for a couple of hours that can transform our weekends. Think about it.

There isn’t a working mum in the world who doesn’t feel guilty that she works. We all do. But, with a little thought and planning, we can achieve more than we thought possible and still have a good home life!

Fat parents = fat kids?

It is very rare that I will use the ‘f’ word ‘FAT’. It’s not very PC in the world of diet and exercise and one that often causes offence. It’s a word we use on ourselves but not one we like people to use to describe us.

So how about ‘obese’? That is a much more offensive word, in my opinion, and one that we would never use to describe ourselves yet it is a word used every day in the media and by medical professionals. By way of definition, if you are about three stone overweight, you are probably obese.

So, whilst we are all only too ready to describe ourselves as ‘fat’, if someone describes us as ‘chunky’, ‘well built’, or ‘a bit overweight’ we take great offence. In fact I remember going for a medical when I was about 20 years old and considering taking out a life insurance policy. When the doctor left the room for around 20 minutes I couldn’t resist the temptation to read his notes detailing my medical status. He described me as ‘well covered’. I was deeply hurt. ‘That means I’m fat!’ I thought to myself. At the time I weighed 8st and was 5’ 2” tall – a very healthy weight – yet that remark switched a switch in my head that made me very conscious of food and over the next two or three years I gained two-and-a-half stone!

Whilst part of me is grateful to the doctor, for without gaining the weight and learning how to lose it again, I would not be in the situation I am in now, of helping people to get in shape with a healthy diet and exercise, but nevertheless, his words had a profound effect on my life and how I felt about myself.

So when the media talk about overweight parents being much more likely to produce overweight children, there will be some kids out there who are now seriously worried about their size. For some that may be completely counter-productive, as it was in my case. And it is for precisely that reason that we started Kids2 which helps to educate parents and children together toward a healthier lifestyle, irrespective of their size. Instead of making the children feel guilty, we should be encouraging children to eat healthier food and for the whole family to be more active.

Why cereal is still the best breakfast

I heard on the news this morning that it has been recognised that some breakfast cereals contain a lot of salt. By ‘a lot’ I think they are meaning ‘more than you would imagine’ rather than a ‘salt-pot-full’. The majority of breakfast cereals offer less than 1 gram of salt per serving and we are recommended to restrict our daily salt intake to around 6 grams a day. So what’s the fuss?

We are consistently told that we should eat breakfast. Cereal is a low fat, quick and mostly healthy way to start the day, AND it gives us the opportunity to consume almost 190ml ( 1/3 pint) of milk which is full of calcium, protein and lots more. Cereal is often high in fibre, and all cereals are fortified with vitamins so offer a really great meal at the beginning of the day when the body is crying out for nourishment.

We know that skipping breakfast will result in our not only lacking concentration at school or work, research has shown that breakfast-skippers are likely to be fatter than those who do eat it.

So, we hear on the news that cereal may not be as good for us as we thought. What are the alternatives? Toast with butter and marmalade? There’s salt in bread and the butter/margarine/spread. Sausages, eggs etc.? There’s salt in sausages. Bacon contains salt.

Recently I was with a group or children talking to them about healthy eating. I asked each of them what they had for breakfast and the answers were alarming, varying from ‘nothing’, ‘crisps on the way to school’, ‘chocolate bar’ to ‘my mum and I eat biscuits for our breakfast’! Some did eat cereal, thankfully!

Eating cereal is one of the most nutritious ways to start off our day. It is my breakfast of choice and I use my own branded Portion Pots* to ensure I don’t eat too much as I want to stay slim.

Whoever is behind this latest report, I hope they realise that the media are only looking for a story. They are quick to spread the news which just leaves the consumer confused when we are all - including the government - trying so hard to educate the general population to eat healthily.

*Rosemary Conley Portion Pots are available from our website or given to members free when they join Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs, see www.rosemaryconley.com for details.

Free parking for hospital visitors

So the government are talking about allowing free NHS hospital car parking for those visiting their loved ones. Good! Let’s hope it happens. For anyone who is visiting a hospital the whole experience is difficult. Knowing where to go, worrying about getting there on time, queuing up for visiting, taking time off work – the whole experience is stressful and tiring yet incredibly valuable to the patient’s recovery. For the one or two hours a day, seeing familiar faces and chatting with family is a tonic and a lifeline. To charge car parking fees in NHS hospital car parks is scandalous and the sooner they are scrapped the better.

But I’m puzzled. Why this sudden gesture of goodwill when only two weeks ago plans were being discussed for charging employees to park in their employers’ car parks when they go to work? This is planned to be tried out in Nottingham and the whole scheme is outrageous in my view. Are the government trying to disincentivise us to work? I don’t think so! I could go on at length on the wider issues here but this isn’t the time or place.

Anyway, I’m not a politician, I’m a diet and fitness expert so perhaps I should stick to that. Or maybe I’m becoming like Victor Meldrew and just thinking, ‘I can’t believe it’ every time I hear of a new proposed political policy being discussed. Let’s hope that in the next few months the country isn’t messed up too much in a desperate attempt to win voters at the next General Election!

Exciting times!

This is a very exciting time for us. It is the run up to January which is the busiest time of our working year as everyone wants to lose weight after Christmas. Next January is also a new decade and that makes it special. On top of that my 30th video/DVD will be published, my brand new diet book (which works unbelievable well) will be published and we officially launch our online TV channel which has been 18 months in development. Now that I’m back from my summer break it is time to get the promotional wheels turning ready for a very busy and productive January.

We are fortunate to have a fantastic team who work so well together. We have a common goal – to help people to lose weight and to enjoy themselves while they do. We want to do everything in our power to support our wonderful franchisees who run Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Club classes and to that end in three weeks’ time we hold our Annual Convention. It is then that we will unfold all our hopes and plans for the new year and it is always fantastic fun. Over the next three weeks we will be working our socks off to ensure that we convey the information and enthusiasm that we have over to our franchisees so that they are all ready for January too. We also honour our top franchisees at our annual awards ceremony.

Yes, it’s exciting times and today will be busy.

I can't believe it's almost October!

We have had an amazingly dry summer here in the UK with lots of sunshine. We have enjoyed it but now it is well and truly autumn and the leaves are turning golden and the conkers are ready for gathering. The harvest is in and the fields have been ploughed ready for a new crop next year.

As we get older we realise how fast the months pass by and as I was sitting with my mum-in-law yesterday in the outpatients department as she awaited her blood test, it struck me so strongly how immobile some folk are just because they are carrying a load of excess weight. My mum-in-law is not one of them. She is very slim – always has been – but she has eaten carefully and healthily and has remained active all her life. As I watched men and women walk in to the hospital with their sticks and frames, manoeuvring to sit down, obviously with aching hips and painful knees, I realised the immense benefit of losing our excess weight, exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet.

We cannot buy health but we can invest in an account of common sense and responsibility. We have choices and we need to make wise ones if we want to live beyond our three score years and ten. Being a healthy weight, being fit and independent is priceless and yet we just assume it is how life will be for us. If you are very overweight, smoke, drink to excess and do no exercise and also don’t bother about what you eat, you could be in for a shock that will profoundly affect your life in years to come. Make a choice today to take a few small steps towards a healthier and happier future. You can find some help from our website: www.rosemaryconley.com. I hope we can help you on your journey to a long and healthier life.

Back to work!

Last year I decided to take a sabbatical for nine weeks in the late summer to have a complete rest and enjoy some quality time with Mike, away from the pressures of work. It was great and four weeks of the nine were spent in Portugal and the remainder were spent doing some much needed work at home and having a completely chilled time. I loved it. But I wouldn’t want to do it all the time – so no, retirement does not appeal to me.

This year I decided to have a break again – five weeks this time – and I was looking forward to it. But this year’s break turned out to be very different – but rewarding, just the same.

On the first day of my break my lovely mum-in-law became poorly and she came to stay with us. She’s 87 and she has been a total inspiration to me over the 26 years I have known her. Six days after coming to us she was admitted to hospital with a variety of problems and over the next ten days in the hospital she appeared to be deteriorating, looking very frail and we were seriously worried about her health. I was so pleased I was on holiday at home that we could visit her every day and try and boost her up. Mike and I soon discovered that hospital visiting is completely exhausting, as we were trying so hard to jolly up his mum when she felt so despondent. But her deterioration was more to do with her fear of not recovering rather than her health and suddenly she was released from hospital and allowed home to us again.

It was wonderful to be able to be available, cook her tasty food, chat and encourage her. Mike and I sit and chat with her about her life, how she met her husband and lots of things often not discussed with parents because we just don’t. And she has rewarded us with her positive attitude, not moaning once and being appreciative of everything Mike and I could do for her.

Yes, our holiday in Portugal had to be cancelled but that didn’t matter. The reward of seeing this wonderful woman, who had given her life to supporting her husband, (who died nine years ago) and her three sons, was worth it. We were so proud of her when we sat alongside of her when she was being asked questions relating to her life at home when she was being admitted into hospital. ‘Do you have any walking aids?’ ‘No’, ‘False teeth? ‘No’, ‘Hearing aid?’, ‘No’, ‘Help in the house?’ ‘No’, and when she was given the Alzheimer’s test, she answered the questions better than I could have done.

Today I go back to work. My five weeks have been very different from any five weeks I’ve ever had in my life but it has been so rewarding. My mum-in-law is now in relatively good health, still living with us and we have no time scale on that, nor does there need to be, and we are very happy to be able to care for her. She is now well enough to be able to busy herself through each day, eat well and sleep well.

And the icing on the cake? Our dog Waise (pronounced ‘Visor’) and our cat Tom have completely fallen in love with our new house guest. Waise is allowed to sit on the settee (previously forbidden) and she sleeps alongside her new ‘auntie’. She loves it and mum-in-law thinks it’s wonderful too.

Yes, I’m looking forward to going back to the office. I have had a real break and I’m all fired up for the next 12 months. The last five weeks have been fantastic for a very different reason than I anticipated.

Are you starting your diet today?

Most people start their diet on a Monday because it is the beginning of a new week and, psychologically, a new week. Often the shopping is done over the weekend and you will have no doubt decided towards the end of last week that today you would make a real effort to lose weight in time for Christmas.

Before you start the day, step on to your scales in your birthday suit and note what you weigh. If you are planning on joining a slimming class this week, check out our website www.rosemaryconley.com to see if we have a class near you because we include an exercise session with our weigh-in and a weight-loss talk so it’s basically better value than just joining a basic slimming class, plus all our instructors are professionally qualified.

We need motivation to lose weight and research has shown that losing weight with others is significantly more successful than going it alone. We are motivated by different things and we need to use every trick in the book to inspire us into action. Here are my quick ten top tips to get you off to a good start:

Clear out any food that will tempt you off the straight and narrow
Make a plan of what you plan to eat this week, particularly your main meal
Make a pledge not to eat between meals except one small piece of fruit
Cut your alcohol consumption
Drink plenty of water
Get active. Decide to do something reasonably energetic every day
Avoid adding fat to any food that you prepare or eat
Avoid eating as much fat as possible. It will make you fat!
Find a reason for wanting to lose weight and write down you goals
Each Monday, measure yourself as well as weighing yourself and write down your measurements

Do these ten things and you will lose weight remarkably quickly and if you join a class and try and lose weight with others you will find you lose even more! Happy slimming!

MY TRIBUTE TO JULIE PIDGELEY

Today I attended the funeral of one of our franchisees – Julie Pidgeley. It is the first time one of our franchisees has died and Julie will be greatly missed by us all – particularly the members of her classes who so loved and respected her. They loved her zest for life, her encouragement, her energy and her unfailing support. Julie totally loved her job of teaching aerobics and helping her members lose weight.

Julie was only 44 years old and it was so sad to see her two lovely daughters, Jennifer, who is 26 and Jemma, who is 24, say good-bye to their mum who they obviously loved so much. It was also heart-breaking for her father and Paul, who had been her husband. Her illness had been very sudden with such devastating consequences. Her sudden death is a shock to everyone who knew and loved her.

The crematorium was overflowing with folk wanting to pay their last respects. We knew Julie loved yellow roses so all her members, fellow franchisees and Quorn House staff who were present, wore a yellow rose in her honour. All the seats were quickly taken and it was a very special sight to see so many kind and caring people standing in every corner and crevice of the room. From the number of yellow roses being worn, it was clear to see that there were many of her RCDFC fans present.

Julie qualified as an aerobics instructor in 2000 and she worked as an employee for our local franchisee in part of Surrey. When the existing franchisee decided to sell her franchise, Julie stepped in and took the big step of becoming a franchisee herself. It was at this stage that I met Julie for the first time and I warmed to her immediately. She attended our Franchise Presentation Day and, after the brief interview that I have with every potential applicant, I filled in the initial form with my comments. I just wrote ‘Will be great!’ I was so confident that Julie would make a success of her franchise and soon she came on the training course at Quorn House.

The extra training rather daunted her as she didn’t feel confident about taking exams so when she received a Distinction for her Nutrition Theory Paper we were all thrilled – particularly Julie!

As soon as Julie took over the franchise her confidence grew and grew and the support she gave to her members was rewarded today. To see so many lovely ladies proudly wearing their yellow roses would have made Julie smile. As one of them commented to me, ‘If Julie had seen this she’d have said: ‘ surely this isn’t for me!’. Well, it was Julie!

But Julie will never be forgotten. We are planting a beautiful tree in her memory at Quorn House. One of Julie’s members said it all when she wrote to us and said: ‘Julie was a wonderful lady and very highly thought of, her classes were so much fun and I will miss her dearly.'

God bless you, Julie.

Enjoy today!

Over the weekend I was reading some philosophical thoughts of a 90 year old. I thought I would write my own – some have been said to me, some are my own creation. You could add your own to the list:

The greatest thing is to love and be loved in return
Live for today but remember tomorrow
I want to be slim more than I want that Mars bar
How will you feel about today’s crisis in 6 months’ time?
Remember, a ‘no’ now doesn’t mean ‘no’ forever. Circumstances change.
Be persistent. Failure cannot live with persistence
Dream your dream and find a dream-catcher to help you
Treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself
Write down your goals
When things get tough, talk!
Always remember there are two sides to every story
Act in haste and repent at leisure
There’s no such thing as a quick fix – not for money, weight loss or in relationships
If a thing’s worth having, it’s worth waiting for
Develop the habit of complimenting people
Make an effort to remember people’s names
Always remember to say ‘thank you’
Write letters when you want to say something nice to someone. They can read it again and again and keep it
Send ‘well done’ cards when others achieve something special, win an award or do something good
Nothing tastes as good as being slim feels

Making the most of your loved ones

Thirteen years ago our wonderful and much loved German shepherd, Nikki, was diagnosed with heart failure and breast cancer having nearly collapsed and had been left at the vets for tests. By late afternoon, the vet broke the news to us that she was too ill to treat and there was really only one course of action to consider. I rang Mike immediately to break the news. This was a pet who was more than just a dog. She was part of the family and fundamentally responsible for Mike and I getting together in the first place thirteen years previously.

Thankfully, Mike said we should go and see her to say our farewells. We were prepared for the worst. But when we arrived at the vets and were shown through to the boarding area there was Nikki Noo, (it sounds daft now but that's what we called her). She was so excited at seeing us and I swear that if dogs could talk she was screaming ‘I’m OK! Please take me home! Please don’t put me to sleep!’. We challenged the vet and we pleaded with him for us to be able to take Nikki home. The vet, Mike Hayes, was a kind man and an extremely compassionate veterinary surgeon. He really loved animals and treated them wonderfully. He told us that medically, Nikki was extremely poorly. Mentally, she was doing well so, yes, we could take her home and see how things progressed.

Over the next month Nikki received so many cuddles and treats. Every day we made her feel special. We loved her and appreciated her and spent many a happy evening remembering the many antics she had got up to during her life. It was four weeks until her health finally gave in and we had to say good bye, but we were so grateful for the fact that we had been given that opportunity - those precious last days to make her feel really special.

Two weeks ago today, my mother-in-law was really poorly and was admitted to hospital. Our doctor warned us that it could be touch and go, particularly as she is 87 years old. As we visited her every day we could see her deteriorating and we were seriously worried about her. Thankfully, medically she was recovering and on Tuesday she came home to us and each day she has improved dramatically. We are so grateful for the excellent care she received in hospital to get her well enough to come home. We are hopeful of a significant recovery.

Over the next weeks, months, and hopefully years, I want to make sure that this very, very special and lovely lady knows how much we love her, appreciate her and respect her. She is a remarkable woman who is extremely capable, motivated, and always looks elegant – to the point that folk stop her in the street and tell her so! She never moans, never criticises, and she is a wonderful friend and mother. She is a true inspiration to us all. I am so pleased that we have the opportunity to say those nice things we think about her to her face and to make her feel really special during the last chapter of her life.

September - an important point of the year

In the diet and fitness business there are three main points in the year when folk join slimming clubs and gyms to lose a few pounds and get themselves in shape. The main one is January – after the Christmas blow-out and it’s time for new year resolutions. The second peak is after Easter as folk realise it is time to slim down for their holiday and for wearing lighter, sleeveless clothes for the warm summer months. The third peak is September.

People came back to classes in September after their summer holidays and when life takes on some routine and normality again after children return to school. We also want to look our best for the Christmas party season and going to class is something beneficial to do as the nights start drawing in.

Now is a good time to make the most of the warm sunshine and go for walks and enjoy the tail-end of the summer. Making some September resolutions and writing them down is good for us and helps us to focus on achieving more with our diet and fitness. Our classes will be offering free membership at this time of the year, (some may attach some conditions) and everyone will feel a sense of a new start. If you need help and fancy coming along, just check out our website www.rosemaryconley.com and if classes aren’t for you, we offer an online slimming club.

We all work better if we are with others aiming for the same goals so make September a special month for you to get back on track and make the most of yourself and your health.

Why are we so keen to criticise?

Last week it was reported in the media that inmates in prisons were served a healthier diet than patients in NHS hospitals. As my mother-in-law, aged 87, is currently residing in our local hospital, I considered very carefully the reports being made across the nation.

When Mike, my husband, and I visited his mum we enquired what she thought of the food. “Very good” she responded without hesitation. “I have a menu brought to me each morning so that I can select the lunch I want each day”. “Is it hot enough?” we asked. “Yes. Very hot. It’s a bit bland but there is always salt and pepper if you want to add to it”.

The next day she left me the menu to examine. It is obvious that the lunchtime menu is the main meal of the day and the following was on offer. Patients only had to tick what they wanted: Carrot and Leek soup, fruit juice, Turkey and seasoning sandwich on white bread, cheese and tomato sandwich on brown bread, sweet and sour chicken, corned beef hash, cauliflower and broccoli bake, gravy, creamed potatoes, boiled rice, swede, sweetcorn, choc chip sponge and custard, rice pudding, yogurt, ice cream, fresh fruit. Optional snacks also offered listed chocolate mousse, cheese and biscuits, blueberry muffin, or apple/orange/banana snack bar.

I do not believe anyone in hospital expects food to be haute cuisine but I think that is a pretty impressive menu by anyone’s reckoning and we should be grateful – as my mum-in-law is.

In prisons, inmates queue for their meals and within seconds of making their selection and having it placed on their plate, they are sitting at a table eating it. In hospitals, it is very different. The caterers have to pre-plan each serving according to the patient’s individual requirements, deliver it several floors up in many cases, place it on the bed table of each patient (who are pretty poorly otherwise they wouldn’t be in hospital), and make sure the right one is delivered to the correct patient, plus it has to be hot when it arrives!

As in all businesses and establishments, some are better than others, so I can only speak from personal experience. But in the hospital where my mum-in-law is being cared for, they deserve top marks. The nurses are friendly and efficient, the doctors attentive and I believe she is receiving the very best of care – and food. So, let’s stop having a go at the NHS. Nobody said it was perfect but with all of my personal experiences and now, this current one, I have nothing but admiration for everyone concerned.

As a nation I wish we could be more complimentary rather than critical. Let us be very grateful for what we have and be proud of it.

Who won our Fab Low Fat Food Awards for 2009?

Yesterday we held our champagne Awards Ceremony at the Marriott County Hall Hotel in London to applaud the winners of our 2009 Rosemary Conley Fab Low Fat Food Awards. It was great to be able to meet the representatives of the various companies and to personally congratulate the winners of the 14 categories to whom we gave awards.

Voted for by readers of my magazine, Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness, the winners of the various categories are as follows:

Best Cereal : Kellogg’s Special K
Best Meat Product : Mattesons Turkey Rashers
Best Ready Made Sandwich Range : Marks & Spencer Count on Us
Best Cheese : Philadelphia Extra Light
Best Dressing: Hellmann’s Extra Light Mayonnaise
Best Ready Meal : Marks & Spencer Ricotta & Spinach Cannelloni
Best Cooking Sauce : Dolmio Light Bolognese
Best Vegetarian food range: Quorn
Best Sweet Snack : Snack a Jacks Caramel
Best Savoury Snack : Ryvita Minis
Best Dessert : Mullerlight Yogurt
Best Low fat Supermarket Range: Marks & Spencer Count on Us
Best ‘I can’t believe it’s low fat’ : Hellmann’s Extra Light Mayonnaise
and lastly, ‘The low-fat food I can’t live without’ : Hellmann’s Extra Light Mayonnaise.

As Marks and Spencer also received a Special Commendation for their Vegetarian Food Range, they triumphed as the overall winner.

These awards are given to the companies because their products have been genuinely voted for by our readers. I have no doubt that the recipients were delighted to have received their accolades because they underline that the efforts they have put in to making their products what they are, have been rewarded by the general public. We all want recognition when we feel we have done a job well but there is nothing quite as satisfying as realising that the normal, regular, man or woman in the street has taken the trouble to vote for YOUR product. That YOUR product is making a difference to their health and their body. The manufacturers have every right to be proud of their achievements.

If we are to encourage the nation to eat more healthily and become slimmer and fitter we have to produce foods that they enjoy eating. Yesterday we acknowledged the very best of those foods and hopefully when folk go shopping they will select those foods that satisfy their taste buds without piling on the pounds.

Congratulations to all our award winners! For the full details of all the winners, Special Commendations and Highly Commended awards, check out our latest Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness magazine published today. Our Chef, Dean Simpole-Clarke has even created some extra special recipes utilising the winning products.

Fab Low Fat Food Awards

Today we celebrate the very best of low fat foods that are available in our supermarkets today.

In 2008 we launched the Rosemary Conley Fab Low Fat Food Awards because we wanted to find out which foods the readers of our magazine thought were the best. So, this is the second year of these awards and again they have been voted for by the readers of our magazine, visitors to our website and members of our online slimming club – rosemaryconleyonline.com.

When I wrote my Hip and Thigh Diet in 1988 the number of low fat foods available could be counted in their hundreds. Today, tens of thousands are available and selecting the best can be difficult because the labelling on the packaging can be confusing. But our Fab Low Fat Food Awards are designed to help the discerning dieter to be able to select which foods are the low-fat-cream of the crop!

Kellogg’s Special K, Marks and Spencer Count on Us and Hellman’s Extra Light mayonnaise will walk away with top recognition from our Awards Ceremony at the Marriott County Hall Hotel, London, this morning. For all the Awards check out the latest edition of Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Magazine which is published today.

We want to applaud the fantastic foods that are produced today to help us lose, or maintain, weight without losing out on flavour or the satisfaction of eating something delicious. Well done to our Winners! Keep up the good work and help us all to eat well and become healthier – and, as a nation, we certainly need you. Thank you!

Music in the Meadow - a fantastic success

What a fantastic success Music in the Meadow proved to be on Saturday evening with five bands offering a variety of music from R & B to Beatles to folk music - there was something to suit everyone’s taste, and the sun shone! For the first time in four years we had not one drop of rain which made all the difference to the enjoyment of the event and at one point hundreds of guests were dancing in front of the stage having a ball.

We had acquired hundreds of prizes for the tombola and people were rewarded with armfuls of prizes, much to their great delight. Companies like M& S, Co-op, John Lewis, Goldsmiths, Christopher Ward (the luxury watch maker) plus loads more had donated prizes.

Everyone enjoyed drinking Pimms in the sunshine and having their individual parties and picnics with the friends they had brought along. It was an amazing atmosphere.
One of the highlights of the evening was the drawing of the Mega Raffle. Of the fifteen prizes to be won, seven of them were won by people at the event but the winners spanned the country from Rochdale, down to the south coast. It has been great fun calling the remaining winners to tell them of their good fortune!
When I rang the winner of the top prize on Sunday morning and told her that she had won a week’s holiday for two people including flights and accommodation in a 4-star hotel, she cried with joy.

We still have a few of the winners to contact as I think they must be holiday and I can’t wait to tell them their good news.

Of course we mustn’t forget why we held the event. Steps education centre in Shepshed, Leics. will receive 70% of the proceeds and Matt Hampson, the young rugby player who suffered a severe neck injury whilst training for the England Under 21s will receive 20%. Matt was there on the evening to enjoy the music with us. 10% of the proceeds will go to support the Ashby Folville church and village hall and is a way of saying thank you to all the Marshalls who helped at the event and who are from the village. Of course the greatest news is that every single pound taken at the event goes to the charities as all of the expenses are met by the very generous supporting companies.

Despite the fact that the number attending the event was down a little on last year, which we put down to the economic climate, we still managed a phenomenal £22,500 - a fantastic achievement all round!

Well done students!

Yesterday was the day that thousands of young folk received their GCSE results. There were those that amazingly achieved 13 A* grades and those that struggled to achieve five passes – no matter what the grade. It is one of those days when there is published a measure of one’s intelligence for everyone to see. It’s great for the top performers, for their parents and their grandparents who all bask in the glory of their very bright offspring. And I wouldn’t want to dismiss the remarkable achievements of these young people who have obviously worked hard and done brilliantly. Well done to all of them.

But for the ones who have not had such exceptional results, yesterday was a tough day. Parents probably won’t say too much to them and the child may feel that they have let everybody down. And that’s a tragedy. Some children are more academically inclined than others and some children find taking exams really tough. My hope is that every parent will be proud of their child’s achievement – whatever their grades - because no child takes any exam hoping to fail or do badly. It is in our nature to want to do well and the people we want to impress most of all, and make feel proud of us, are our parents. I so hope that those students will move on from their disappointment and will realise that life isn’t only about passing exams.

I didn’t take my GCE’s, (as they were called then), because I left school a week before my 15th birthday so I have no idea how I would have done. But that didn’t matter to me, as it happened. By the time I was 24 I had found my niche in life and was running my own slimming business, so I have no regrets. Not going to University nor having any ‘O’ or ‘A’ levels did not hold me back. So for anyone who had a disastrous results day yesterday, don’t give up. Just find something you have a passion for, follow your dream and go for it.

Get active this Bank Holiday!

The weather forecast is good and this is the last Bank Holiday in the UK this summer so let’s make the most of it. Going for a hike and taking a picnic is a great way to have a fun time out with all the family. The dog will love it and so will your body. We all need to increase our fitness levels and having some fun in the sun is good for us all.

Often in families the children vary quite dramatically in build and weight. Sometimes one child takes after one parent who tends to be a little on the heavy side while the other is slimmer and more like the shape of the other parent. But the similarity of shape is not only about what is eaten, which could be very similar, but by how many calories are spent in activity. The slimmer child is probably much more active and sporty, just like their slim parent. The other may sit around more and not enjoy sport with the consequence that what they eat just doesn’t get burned off. So, using the weekend as a great reason to organise some fun activity as a family is really beneficial for everyone.

Dust off your bikes; find the kite; sort out some walking shoes; play rounders in the park; go swimming; go to an activity park – anything that gets you all moving about. There is nothing quite like that feeling of physical exertion at the end of the day when everybody feels stimulated but tired. It is a great feeling and one that might just get you all on the road to being more active into the future. It would be so good for all of you if it does. Happy Bank Holiday!

You only have to ask!

As many readers of my Blog will know, on Saturday we are hosting a Music in the Meadow event in aid of STEPS charity and the Matt Hampson Trust as well as our local village hall and Church. It is a pop concert not a classical one and over the last few years the event has raised a substantial amount of money because, through the generosity of the companies who sponsor the event by offering goods and services for free, no expenses are deducted from the monies received. It works brilliantly.

Last year we added in a Tombola. Not a typical one where you might win a jar of jam, and if you’re really lucky, a bottle of Liebfraumilch, this Tombola is filled with amazing prizes that have been donated by all kinds of very generous companies. Christopher Ward, the luxury watchmaker has given us 15 watches; Fenwicks have given us a pile of lovely gifts; M & S have given us a Champagne Hamper with pink champagne, flutes, an ice bucket and five quality wines. The Co-op have given us a food hamper, Sainsbury’s - gift vouchers, local hotels have given us vouchers for meals for two, local entertainment destinations have given us family tickets, we’ve been given dozens of china tea sets, children’s toys and much, much more. Add into the mix that one in five tickets wins (instead of the usual ratio of one in ten) and it is not surprising that the Tombola is successful. Last year it raised £1500 on the night.

So why are people so generous? It is simply because we ask them. Most companies have items that are old stock, almost out of date, or hold little value to them but they are great for us! Last year people were leaving the Tombola tent laden with goods and that inspired massive interest for others to have a go. People were queuing for 1½ hours! No-one was disappointed.

So, today I’m off to cadge some more goods from shops I support throughout the year and now it’s my turn to ask for a favour. I have not been turned down yet!

If you think you might like to come to the event on Saturday, check out www.musicinthemeadow.co.uk. Tickets cost £20 for adults, £5 for children. Bring your own food and drink and you can buy Pimms or wine on the night if you wish. It’s free car parking. You can pay on the gate which opens at 5 pm and we expect it to go on till late. And the weather is looking good too! It will be a great night.

Improve your fitness fast!

The great thing about trying to get fit is that your body responds so quickly once you start, in a matter of days you feel fitter and healthier. It is so encouraging.

We tend to think of fitness in rather broad terms – we have to be either a ‘fitness fanatic’ and imagine going to the gym every day or running five miles before breakfast – or we ‘don’t do exercise’ because we don’t like it and it’s too much like hard work. But there is a massive middle-ground which is probably the healthiest anyway. It is just being more active and doing some form of exercise occasionally throughout each week to help increase our fitness.

If you are a follower of Twitter (you can sign up by going to http://twitter.com/RosemaryConley) at approximately 8 pm BST each evening I suggest a ‘Fitness Challenge’. I may ask you to do 10 ab curls or walk up and down stairs five times but whatever it is, it will challenge a group of muscles in the body. You can break off from what you are doing for three minutes while you do the challenge – or even do it with your friends or relatives who are there with you. There is something quite motivational to imagine that lots of us are doing the challenge together. And you will be surprised how quickly you begin to feel the benefits of your muscles becoming a little stronger. I know I have.

Obviously we need to do some activity that will challenge our heart and lungs to improve our cardio fitness and that’s where we are sometimes put off because it can seem too energetic, but it needn’t be. Just going for a fairly brisk walk for 20 minutes will give your body enormous benefits including increasing the fitness of your heart and lungs but also burning fat! Do some activity that elevates your heart rate for 20 – 30 minutes at a time, three to five times a week and you will transform your body. (If you are very overweight, just walk slowly for 20 minutes for a real benefit.)

I teach two diet and fitness classes a week and those workouts exercise most of the muscles in my body to keep me in reasonable shape. We have a fun evening out at the same time and it sets me up for the week. I just add in a couple of 30 minute walks at the weekend with Waise (pronounced Visor) our dog, plus an occasional skating lesson and I feel I am reasonably fit. Over recent weeks I have been working sitting down a lot and I felt I had lost my fitness but after just two weeks of being a bit more active, my fitness levels have leapt back and I feel great again.

We don’t have to aspire to running a marathon or training for a triathlon. We just need to do something active regularly. Check out our classes and if there’s one near you, why not pop along. Join me with my daily fitness challenge on Twitter too. It could change your figure and your life! Go to http://www.rosemaryconley.com/ for details.

The gentlemen of sport

I have a passing interest in sport, from that I mean that if it’s on, I might watch it but I’m not likely to look for the start time in the TV programme planner. But whether you are a sports fan or not, you could not have missed the drama and the English triumph of the Ashes Test.

Over the last few weeks the fortunes of England had reached all the heights and depths that make sport what it is – unpredictable. As England went into the last Test, the press were reporting their likely downfall as their performance in the previous one had been dismally disappointing. So what changed? Suddenly, our boys went into the last Test with hope and determination - and Andrew Flintoff. Barely fit and waiting for an operation for his knee, I believe Flintoff was brought back to give the up-and-coming young cricketers who now form the England team that confidence and experience that is what we all need in challenging situations. Someone we respect, believe in, trust and aspire to, to be there and inspire us.

We’ve seen it in football when David Beckham was in the England team, in Rugby when Johnny Wilkinson was playing. Whether they are getting older, or are suffering from relentless injury, whenever they played the confidence of the team seemed to be lifted to a higher level.

Yesterday, it was Andrew Flintoff’s turn. It was to be his last Test game and whilst he only scored 29 runs and took one wicket, from the field he threw a ball which knocked down the stumps and the vital wicket of Ricky Ponting was taken. It was a turning point for the game and it gave Andrew Flintoff a reason to remember something special from his last Test game. Well done Andrew! You have brought something special to the game of cricket and we wish you well as you go into hospital for your knee operation today, and ‘Well Done’ to England for regaining the Ashes. You did brilliantly.

But perhaps the most touching moment was after the game was over when Australia’s Captain, Ricky Ponting, had the grace and courage to come away from his devastated Australian team, to personally congratulate Andrew Strauss, the England Captain and the rest of the England team. It was a gracious gesture which said a lot about him as a man.

MUSIC IN THE MEADOW 2009

Their generosity know no bounds!

In a week’s time we will be hosting Music in the Meadow 2009. This is a highly professional gig which is more a mini Glastonbury than Glyndebourne, and we are hoping that everyone who attends will have a fantastic time but the icing on the cake is that every cost for staging the event has been met by the wonderful local companies who are providing all the equipment. Staging, lighting, facilities, marquees, printing, insurance have all been given to us, plus the bands are playing for no charge. Isn’t that brilliant!

In this economic climate I think it is extraordinary and inspiring that firms can be so generous and I hope that everyone will leave the event feeling that they have had a fun and entertaining evening, happy in the knowledge that every £ paid for an entry ticket, raffle ticket, Jug of Pimms or for a go on the Tombola will be given to the charities – STEPS Conductive Education Centre for children with cerebral palsy and Down syndrome,(70%), The Matt Hampson Trust (20%) and Ashby Folville Village charities (10%). Last year the event raised over £26,000.

So, on behalf of the charities, we would like to thank the following companies for their support. Without their help this event would not have been possible.


If you would like to join us on the evening, or buy a ticket for the Mega Raffle, check out the website www.musicinthemeadow.co.uk or call us on 01509 622022.

If you think you can do it, you can!

Today I will be spending time with our latest franchisees who are reaching the end of their training, ready to open their classes in September. They will have been undergoing training over the last four months to qualify as Exercise to Music instructors, nutrition consultants and business women. They have all purchased a franchise, passed their exams and now it’s time to flee the nest and run their own classes for their own members. They will be understandably nervous.

To have reached this point I have no doubt that there have been tears, heartache and sleepless nights – but they will also have grown as individuals, pushed the boundaries, stretched themselves beyond where they felt they could ever reach. And that’s great! Their confidence will have scaled new heights and their nervousness at running their own business will be matched only by the excitement of achieving something for themselves, by themselves.

My day with the girls today will involve them having a make-over with a professional makeup artist and being professionally photographed on their own and with me for their publicity photographs. (It’s a strange thing but lots of our members don’t believe that I personally know all our franchisees. Be assured, they wouldn’t have been offered a franchise if I didn’t!) Every one of these ladies has been selected because they are special. They will have come from a variety of backgrounds – some professional, some not – but that doesn’t matter. What is important is they genuinely care about people, are passionate about making their members’ lives better, are interested in the subject of diet and fitness and love exercising to music and can move with the beat!

In three months' time they will all come back for their Continuing Professional Development Training Part 1 so that they can share their experiences of the first three months of their business. They will learn and grow as a result of discussing the ups and downs of these all important first 12 weeks of their business. They will encourage each other and commiserate where necessary. Nobody said running your own business was easy but if you have the right attitude, are prepared to work hard and make that extra effort, you will succeed. And that is what I will be talking about with them after we have completed the photographs. Their ongoing training will not stop throughout their time with our Company and their lives hopefully will be richer for it. I’m not just talking about monetary reward, I’m talking about personal fulfilment – and that’s priceless.

The training that we give to our franchisees is awesome. I challenge any company in our industry to come close to the standard that we offer. Why do we try so hard? Because we want to do the very best we can to ensure that every single one of our franchisees is a success and that every member who attends one of our classes feels that they are receiving an excellent and personal service.

All of the girls have received the same training and some will be more successful than others. It won’t be anything to do with the area in which they live or the part of the country they come from. It will be down to whether they follow the guidance and advice we will have given them and how much effort and interest they devote to their members and their business. Their business is a career not a hobby. Today I will be trying to encourage them to believe that they can be a fantastic success. I truly hope they will be.

If you would like to know more about how to be considered as a franchisee for our company, please check out our website www.rosemaryconley.com or call Dawn O’Dowd on 01509 622000 for a free Prospectus and DVD without any obligation whatsoever.