Having Barclays as a client means that any banking related article merits more attention than it normally would, so this particular financial titbit in today’s Metro after further investigation made us feel slightly sad, slightly proud and quite in awe of how this unassuming man from Caithness in Scotland transformed how we get our money. We knew the first ATM was a Barclays ‘Hole in the wall’ but we never knew who really was responsible. Until now.

John Shepherd-Barron, we salute you.

We’re looking for people with unusual skills, hobbies or talents, who’d be happy to teach them to someone else (and learn something they want to in return.)
We’ve got a major national newspaper lined up to interview anyone who’s keen.
Hold the front page! (Well, the middle page.)
Contact Mark on mark.nicholls@clinic.co.uk if you’re interested
or tweet your unusual skill or hobby with #clinicskills to @cliniclondon

It’s not often we’d be happy to be axed by a client, but we are.

We’ve been doing advertising for Gibson Guitars and were glad to receive an Epiphone acoustic guitar as part of our fee. It’s now hanging on the wall available to all strummers and noodlers for gratuitous twanging about at lunchtimes and after work.

Ed Bussey, client and ‘Friend of Clinic’ is skiing to the North Pole.

He will be skiing and walking across the ice, pulling all his kit on a pulk (sledge) in what is one of the harshest climates on earth. More people have climbed Everest than have successfully reached the North Pole.

In Ed’s words, “I will be skiing between 12-14 hours per day, in temperatures ranging from minus 20 to minus 60 degrees, depending on the wind chill. And the proposed route cuts across an area which is home to 80% of the world’s polar bears, including one stretch called “Polar Bear Alley”.

“The biggest challenges are going to be the physical endurance, the cold, polar bears - and missing my wife Dilek, and our baby daughter Thalia, who was born in February.”

“I want to use this expedition to raise money for two inspiring Global Angels projects to help children which, having just become a father, really inspired me – a special equipped holiday home in the UK for children with life threatening illnesses and an orphan home and school for street children in Sierra Leone.”

Follow his progess on his blog here http://www.globalangels.org/fundraiser/edBussey/ (and more importantly, make a donation)

so true…