Eileen Weaver - It's The Little Things In Life

Eileen Weaver spent her career looking after students as the manager of a halls of residence at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Forced to retire early due to ill-health, Eileen found a new passion. When joint pain threatened to take it away, she found the perfect solution...

This is Eileen’s story….

For years, I was a manager of a hall of residence at Manchester Metropolitan University. It was the best job ever, quite intense, but I absolutely loved it. I was terribly sad to give it up but after a series of cancer scares that required treatment, I just couldn’t keep it up. I feel great now, although I’m always wary it could come back.

I’m an avid reader, I’ve almost always got a book in my hand, but in retirement I knew I’d need something else to occupy my mind. In the end, I took up miniature making after reading an article in my local newspaper about a lady called Jane Harrop who ran classes. Nearly 20 years later, I’m still making miniatures and Jane continues to teach me and my friends.

You have to gird your loins with miniature making. The first project I tried was a miniature Victorian kitchen, most recently we’ve been making a barn. Since Covid, we’ve been doing the classes over Zoom. I’ve had to shield for four months due to my past health issues so the group calls have been so important. We’re like a family.

We prop each other up through all sorts; someone’s husband died, a couple of the girls have had cancer and we’ve all been there for each other. We can talk to each other about anything. We’re from all walks of life but we just get on so well, we’re the best group of friends.

When you're working with such small materials your hands are so important, so you can imagine, it was very frustrating when I started to find it hard bending my knuckles. Losing dexterity in your fingers due to pain forced me to adapt my miniature building techniques, but using tweezers was quite difficult.

I also found I had a lot of trouble holding books, especially hardbacks. It was a real problem for me. The pain in my joints feels like someone has put a knife in my joint, turned it and pulled it out again. If you catch the joint at the wrong place it’s a horrible shooting pain that's worse than any toothache I’ve ever had.

Because you use your fingers and hands so much on a day-to-day basis, you really start to notice the pain. Mundane tasks like pouring the kettle, cutting up food and opening doors all led to pain.

My doctor recommended FlexiSEQ because I said I couldn’t take Ibuprofen due to asthma. She said she bought it for her own mum who swears by it. I went straight online and bought some. Honestly, it’s been incredible.

The fact it's drug-free was the biggest selling point to me. I can't take some things and others I have to avoid, but with this, I knew there would be no adverse effects. Within a week, I started to notice my finger joints were feeling better. I'd put it on every morning as part of my routine. It allows me to do the things I want to do.

Now, I tell everybody about FlexiSEQ. I know we live in a world where people want instant results, but even though it takes a bit of time, stick with it because when it works, it’s worth it.

If I’d gone through lockdown unable to read or do my miniatures it would have impacted my mental wellbeing. I’ve been doing miniatures for twenty odd years, if my joint pain had stopped me doing that it would have robbed me of a part of me that makes me, me!