Today's theme for #MyBeadingYear is 'What makes me & my beading unique'.

When I wrote the prompts for #MyBeadingYear I was looking forward to seeing what people wrote and chose the theme of 'What makes me & my beading unique' for Day 4 as I wanted everyone taking part to realise how unique & special they & their work are and hoped it would make for some thought-provoking posts... and it really has which you can see via MyBeadingYear on Instagram.

However I wasn't clever enough to think far ahead and realise that I'd be answering it too...

I was really tempted to skip today but having read some of the lovely posts others have written I decided to commit to the whole week and got thinking.

This is a really tough one to think about but in the end I realised that one thing that's always been important for me is that my beading & work in the beading world can be more than just pretty beading and good instructions.

Over the years I've found that through my work & contact with beaders I can try and put good into the world and I work hard behind the scenes on projects with individuals & groups on physical rehab, dealing with isolation & mental health issues, getting new people beading, and running a website to promote shops & bead-related events in London (plus this #MyBeadingYear project).

The most public side of this is that every year I spend months running a Summer Secret Beadalong and I'm delighted to say that over the 6 years it's been running it's raised over £20,000 ($25,000+) for a wide variety of charities and social causes and knowing that my beading & work directly leads to people being fed, clothed, housed and social issues addressed makes me unendingly happy