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Shelly Dennison

@dennisonshelly.bsky.social
640 followers 1.1K following 1.8K posts

I help not-for-profits write things. I also write other stuff. shellydennison.co.uk

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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 2h
The BM have always overbooked their slots - it's why we stopped going to their exhibitions.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 2h
I'm beginning to think that this week's migraine has been masking the start of a cold...
static.klipy.com
Dumbo's Allergies
Alt: Dumbo's Allergies
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 3h
Earlier this year a competition shortlisting for one of my poems got me thinking about the ways that my creative writing and my work with charities feed into each other. shellydennison.co.uk/2026/04/13/c... #NationalPoetryDay
shellydennison.co.uk
Creative writing and charity comms
Helping you find the right words.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 5h
This month's 'A brief history of Bedfordshire in plants and animals' post focuses on the hedgehog. This was a really interesting one to research because it shows how and why our attitudes to wildlife can change. shellydennison.co.uk/2026/10/01/f... #NatureWriting
shellydennison.co.uk
Friend or foe?
There’s a chill in the air for the first time this autumn, the leaves of the trees that line the field are turning red, gold and amber. In the pale pink light of early morning a snuffling can be he…
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tea, cake, and a nice day out - travel writing about mini adventures. This month @nationaltrust.org.uk's Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire. shellydennison.substack.com/p/tea-cake-a...
shellydennison.substack.com
Tea, cake, and a nice day out at Wimpole Estate
Featuring a parkland walk, sleepy piglets, late summer blooms, and a distressing lack of books.
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Laura Parker @lauraparker.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Has AI ever 'felt the crack of the season's first acorns uner its boot...contemplated whether its handful of blackberries is full of heavy metals...cooked beetroot from its mother's allotment.' Some brilliant examples given by @divaeh.bsky.social on shunning AI and being a human in nature.
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Mr and Mrs Trellis @thenorfolkcoast.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Make your voice heard on the issue of pesticides! Help us get the dangerous herbicide glyphosate out of our gardens, parks, playgrounds and public spaces... www.gardenorganic.org.uk/get-involved...
gardenorganic.org.uk
Garden Organic | Sign our Growers Against Glyphosate petition!
Garden Organic promotes organic growing and composting, citizen science and research, and seed conservation through our Heritage Seed Library. We want to…
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The first post in Tea, cake, and a nice day out features an old favourite – the Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire. There’s a parkland walk, sleepy piglets, late summer flowers, and tea and cake. shellydennison.substack.com/p/tea-cake-a...
shellydennison.substack.com
Tea, cake, and a nice day out at Wimpole Estate
Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire is our nearest day out sized National Trust property so it’s a lovely one to kick off Tea, cake, and a nice day out with because it’s an old favourite.
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Gregory Norminton @gregorynorminton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
We got the wrong Mayor for PM, didn't we?
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Trying to work out what I've done to convince the Facebook algorithm that I might be interested in content from Bear Grylls.
static.klipy.com
Schitt's Creek: David's Hard Pass
ALT: Schitt's Creek: David's Hard Pass
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
My latest book review for JRI is of How to Survive a World in Crisis (And Not Grow Weary of Doing Good) by @drruthvalerio.bsky.social TLDR: Great for activists and campaigners looking to feel seen and supported, with clear and practical suggestions. jri.org.uk/book-review-... #BookSky
jri.org.uk
Book review – How to Survive a World in Crisis (And Not Grow Weary of Doing Good) by Ruth Valerio – The John Ray Initiative
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The BBC have a live feed about giant vegetables. You're welcome. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c6...
bbc.co.uk
Growers going head-to-head at giant veg competition after exceptionally hot summer
The national championship, held at the Malvern Autumn Show, often sees world records broken. This year, UK growers faced a summer of dry ground and drought.
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Emma Cameron @ecameron.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Good news! Sandilands, a former golf course on the Lincolnshire coast, has been transformed by the National Trust into a 2km-long nature reserve with wetlands, wading pools, rough grassland & coastal scrub. Fairways and bunkers were turned into shallow pools and islands for shore and marsh birds.
theguardian.com
Skylarks and sandwich terns among new birdies on reserve created from ‘boring old golf course’
National Trust has transformed Sandilands in Lincolnshire into a nature reserve with wetlands and wading pools
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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I was delighted to be one of three judges for this year's Conversation Prize. Huge congratulations to @emilyrobinson.bsky.social, our unanimous choice as winner for her brilliant work on the vanishing island of Ravenser Odd. Congratulations too to Alison Garden on her powerful writing. Read more:
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Madeleine Sugden @madlinsudn.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
In case you need a good news boost. Here's my latest round-up of campaign, fundraising and impact successes. Stories you might have missed and comms inspiration.
madlinblog.wordpress.com
Good news round-up – autumn issue
A round-up of good news from charities and others – autumn 2026
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Little Green Space @lgspace.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A request! We can't grow this account fast enough. So please follow us if you aren't already, and please share this post to spread the word. Help us do our bit to share positive solutions to the nature & climate emergencies, and bring more nature into people's lives. Thank you 😊🐝
A bumblebee on a yellow dandelion
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Why is it that the first few days back at work after a holiday always make you feel like you need a holiday?
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I've just evicted an ENORMOUS spider and would like some sort of reward now please.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I'm giving Shelly's Scribblings an autumn refresh. Each month there will now be: - Reading journal - Writer's diary - Tea, cake, and a nice day out FInd out more: shellydennison.substack.com/p/what-next-...
shellydennison.substack.com
What next for Shelly’s Scribblings?
An autumn refresh
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I've reviewed How to survive a world in crisis (and not grow weary of doing good) by Ruth Valerio for @johnrayinitiative.bsky.social. jri.org.uk/book-review-...
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Excellent haul from the second hand bookshop at Blickling earlier this week.
Unseen things above - Catherine Fox
Hangman's Holiday - Dorothy L Sayers
The heretic's apprentice - Ellis Peters
The Grasmere and Alfoxden journals - Dorothy Wordsworth
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Nicola Kelly @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I have spent weeks shadowing the RNLI and I can tell you, they do it out of nothing more than compassion. Wrote about the heroes I've met over the years in this free-to-read post. nicolakelly.substack.com/p/the-rnli-a...
nicolakelly.substack.com
The RNLI aren't traitors; they're heroes
I have spent weeks shadowing lifeboat crews. Here's what they do and what it's like.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Seeing as The Magician's Nephew is in the news at the moment, I thought I'd reshare a piece I wrote about rereading the book as an adult. shellydennison.substack.com/p/return-to-...
shellydennison.substack.com
Return to Narnia: part I – The Magician’s Nephew
This post is part of a series revisiting my favourite childhood reads.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Can I interest anyone in sleepy piglets as a timeline cleanser? Taken at Wimpole Home Farm today.
Lots of small black spotted piglets lying on straw.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A few days under North Norfolk's big skies was good for the soul. Also good for birdwatching, curlews, skeins of geese, oystercatchers piping, snipe, avocets... you get the idea.
Beach from top of sand dunes, water channels curving out to sea under blue sky with clouds.Same beach at sunset.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This is very good indeed.
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Martin Hodson @martinjhodson.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
If you are in the Bedfordshire, UK area, then this event might appeal to you!
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
For those of you following the dull saga of non-delivery of the Radio Times, would you like to hazard a guess as to whether tomorrow's copy has arrived yet? It took 6 days for them to reply to last Friday's logged missed delivery. I think we'll probably just cancel the subscription this time.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Planned data centre near me on a County Wildlife Site 😬
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The tomatoes keep coming! #TinyJoys
Tupperware tub of cherry tomatoes
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Fascinating stuff as ever but with my charity sector hat on the BCF accounts and governance section is eyebrow raising. tswyatt.substack.com/p/suffer-the...
tswyatt.substack.com
Suffer the little children
A church goes to war with the state over its schools, the big brain of British Christian Nationalism comes a cropper, while we take a look through Big Church Festival’s accounts
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Margaret Brown @magstheobscure.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
New P.G Wodehouse novel just dropped
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I wrote essays on this kind of question at university. It's a particularly stupid one to reduce like this because it requires thinking through a whole alternative history where the Conquest didn't happen and needs nuance on how impacts affected different levels of society over different time frames.
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Polly Symondson @pollysymondson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Hiring: Individual Giving Manager at Keech Hospice 💙 Lead IG & lottery fundraising for a hospice supporting families across Beds, Herts & Milton Keynes. £43,863–£47,235, hybrid. info@pollysymondsonrecruitment.co.uk #CharityJobs #Fundraising loom.ly/AVojqcU
Keech Hospice nurse sitting with a patient.
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Minnie Rahman @minnierahman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Given what has happened to the RNLI, this is when wider civil society should speak in solidarity about the far-right and political parties attacking charities delivering vital services for vulnerable people. The voluntary sector is part of our social fabric, it needs protecting.
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Alan Matthews #ClimateCrisis #FBPE @alan-matts.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Two planned data centres will emit more carbon than the entire UK operations of ExxonMobil - and both plan to build their own gas power stations. Tell Andy Burnham to rule it out!
foxglove.org.uk
Andy Burnham: no gas power stations for data centres
Two planned data centres will emit more carbon than the entire UK operations of ExxonMobil. Both plan to build their own gas power stations. Tell Andy Burnham to rule it out
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I've spent this afternoon formatting a 23 page document and I think I might have broken my brain.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Geeky charity governance question. Does anyone have any intel on when the promised more interactive version of the Charity Governance Code is due to land? The website just says 2026.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Today I've been reading about working with heavy horses in the Victorian period as research for a thing. I'm wearing a jumper indoors for the first time in months and butternut squash is roasting in the oven for risotto later. It all feels very autumnal and wholesome. #TinyJoys
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
This is the first in what I hope will be an occasional series taking a literary tour round my family history. shellydennison.substack.com/p/prayer-boo...
shellydennison.substack.com
Prayer books, monastic murders, and parsonage children
A literary tour around my family history – Mirfield
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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I want the Prime Minister to look into a TV camera and say the RNLI are heroes, that we do not change policy by street violence in this country, and that he expects any criminal action to face the full force of the law. That's it. That's all he has to do.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Well, this is exciting. I've wanted to see something like this in Bedford for ages.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
This.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Lovely chilled weekend visiting the gardens at Rousham and putting my feet up with a book*. This week looks like being writing focused with a couple of pieces at the final edits and proofreading stage, and one at the exciting early research stage.
Small fountain in the centre of a circular pond with a path leading off through a green tunnel.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Lovely day at Rousham yesterday as a wedding anniversary treat. Took a picnic and enjoyed a potter round the gardens and church. Beautiful weather and very peaceful.
Greenhouse with line of geraniums in pots, cosmos filled border to the left and a round dovecote seen over a green hedge.Colourful Dahlia border.
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Thread 😂
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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It's Friday so obviously I'm once again reporting a missing issue of the RT. This is a Royal Mail thing - we haven't had *any* post for a fortnight but RT aren't been terribly sympathetic and there's no point subscribing to a time sensitive publication if we never get it.
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Lindsay @revteapot.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It's so frustrating that this needs to be said, but apparently it does (and @ellenhalliday.bsky.social has anew for @prospectmagazine.co.uk) - the cost of transitioning to a sustainable economy is vastly less than the cost of not. But too many interests are still chasing political capital instead.
app.prospectmagazine.co.uk
The real cost of net zero
Increasing numbers of people are concerned about the affordability of climate action. Are they right?
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Rhys Kaminski-Jones @rhyskamjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
What should a university do when their guy is deliberately using his position to recruit students into the organisation for whom he seemingly does electoral crime?
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Olly Benson @ollybenson.uk · 03/09/2026
Strong words from Charterpath on what @reachvolunteering.org.uk closing down means for the sector, and wider society.
charterpath.org.uk
Reach Volunteering is closing. We should all be worried about this.
An open letter to funders, policymakers and business leadersThe closure of Reach Volunteering is devastating news for the charity sector. And it is something we should all be worried about.Because Rea...
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