We are delighted to announce the appointment of Rachel Whiteley as Group Leader for Scunthorpe and Northeast Lincolnshire, replacing Debz who recently stepped down from the position.

Rachel is a long-term member who, together with Jules, will be responsible for running the Scunthorpe Group Meetings and main points of contact for Owlss members in the Lincolnshire region.

Here then, for those who have yet to meet Rachel is her introduction:

"I approached my GP in August '08, and asked for help with my weight. I was 35yrs old, weighed nearly 25 stone and was bursting out of my size 34 clothes. I was constantly tired, constantly in pain with my hips, back and ankles, every movement was an effort, I was depressed and had no confidence. I couldn't even look after my children properly- Madeline aged 7 had suffered several bad bouts of bullying at school because of my size, and I daren't even carry JJ aged 7months up to his cot as my legs often gave way and I was scared I would fall and hurt him. I expected to be offered the infamous pills that make you poop orange, instead she spoke about surgery. I was really shocked and it took a while to get my head around doing something so drastic, after all, I practically had shares in 'Slimming World' and in the past had successfully lost 5/6/7 stones, but unfortunately I had always put it all back on and more!