I was 13 years old visiting my estranged Dad. I remember the day clearly. I was in my Dad’s landlady’s house, she was there with her Son who was three years older than me. I sat down to eat my chicken nuggets and chips - they were good. when I had finished I stood up to take my plate out and the landlady’s Son said “you’ve got a red stain on the back of your skirt”. embarrassed, I said it must be ketchup and ran to the bathroom.

When I got to the bathroom I realised I didn’t have ketchup (although it would have made the chicken nuggets all the sweeter ;), that was when I realised what was happening. it started! my period had started! my mind raced with a million questions “what was I going to do? how can I get hold of my mum - id have to go to the pay phone” (do you remember those?) “who do I turn to?” “are they going to make fun of me? ahhhhhh this is so awkward!” I shoved some tissue where a sanitary towel should be and ran to the room my clothes were stored in to quickly change.

I slowly went back down stairs where the land lady and her Son were and pretended it was ketchup - I must have seemed like such an idiot, surely they knew I didn’t have ketchup. I couldn’t keep up the pretence for long though, this period wasn’t going away, in fact it was the complete opposite.

I didn’t have any money and even if I did I certainly wasn’t brave enough to buy my own sanitary products. so I finally built up the courage - through my racing heart and sweaty palms - to tell the landlady what was going on. Much to my surprise she was very kind. she discretely went and bought me some sanitary towels, albeit they were more like nappies, and I was able to clean up. oh how I enjoyed feeling clean and safe in the knowledge I wasn’t walking round with a ketchup stain on my rear.

the next day I managed to get some 20p’s and walked to a phone box to call my mum, to my relief she came and got me - finally back home. I was officially wrecked and confined myself to my room (in true teenage fashion). then a knock came, my mum came in with gifts, she gave me a teddy bear, some chocolate and some modern super absorbent, discrete sanitary towels. I don’t think anyone will ever know what that meant to me. I cherished that gift and I still have the teddy.

so the worst is over right? I can now go about my daily life in this new season of growing up. Wrong! the first year of my period was the worst. it was a blood bath! I was bleeding for 2/3 weeks out of every month and the pain was excruciating. looking back i’m so thankful I went to a girls school. I remember on more than one occasion standing up from my seat at the end of class and seeing the dreaded leakage on the chair. I will never forget always wearing my jumper around my waist, even in the depths of winter, to cover up possible overflows.

the worst thing about all of this, I never told a single person what was going on. not even my mum. I was so embarrassed and I felt deep shame about it. looking back I feel so silly for not just saying something - but as a teenager who wasn’t taught to love my body. who didn’t have any sort of relationship and sex education, I just felt isolated. “this was not something we talk about”. Thankfully the bleeding eventually calmed down and I learned to manage my period better. but I so often wonder “what if I had been given an opportunity to discuss this in class?” what if I was told “it’s ok to talk about periods to adults you trust” “what if I went to my GP and explained what was happening?”

I share this story of my first period in the hope that it will enable teens and tweens to speak about the period more freely and remove any stigma attached. we don’t need to be explicit or always talk about the gritty details but we do need to talk about it with our girls AND our boys. some people are more private and some are not - that’s OK - but do talk about it because according to ‘Plan International UK’ “40% of UK girls have had to use toilet roll because they can’t afford proper sanitary products” and “48% of girls in the UK aged between 14 and 21 are embarrassed by their periods”, finally “Almost 70%of girls in the UK aren’t allowed to go to the toilet during school lesson time”.

I feel its also important to acknowledge here that millions of girls around the world do not have access to modern sanitary products and no girl should ever have to miss school or hide because of her period.

this week we are going into one of our schools to deliver a series of session on the female body and periods to both boys and girls separately and we aim to give every girl a period Gift Bag. its our hope that every girl who receives will feel that love and value that I did when my Mum gave me my starting my period gift.