“It’s time for honest conversation”

I WAS FINISHING A creative writing class with 30 boys from Year 10 when it happened: a massive and totally unexpected bleed through my light blue trousers. It was the first of several horrible flooding experiences that characterised my perimenopause, along with hot flushes, rollercoaster mood swings and acid reflux, which made me terrified to stand up as a soloist and sing. But I soldiered on. No one talked about the menopause, did they?

One day I was driving to an event and came on the radio. It was Menopause Week and the phone-lines were jammed with women desperate to share their experiences. I began to email