MENUNITED's Don Latham Talks New Developments and Tells Men How To Cope With The Stresses of Christmas!
Don Latham, the man behind the increasingly popular 'cringe free' men's breakfast with a Christian heartbeat that any man can enjoy - MENUNITED!... talks to us about new developments with MENUNITED, including the December event with speaker Neil Denny!.. How men feel at Christmas.. And gives men some great tips to diffuse those seasonal stresses!..
Read Don's entertaining 'Q&A's!..
(PICTURES: DON LATHAM, MENUNITED LOGO, WAYNE MCMASTER, DIVORCE, MAN ON BEACH)
Please tell us the recent developments for MENUNITED?
MENUNITED continues to meet on the first Saturday of every month from 7.30 am to 9.00 am at the 'Slug and Lettuce.' We have 550 men on the email list and get between 80 - 160 men at the breakfasts. We have brilliant local, national and international speakers.
December 3rd will be our 44th breakfast and we have Neil Denny - a local solicitor and expert on conflict resolution - speaking on 'Breakthrough.' He is excellent. On January 7th we have John Wright of Norwich who has remarkable stories to share and will be ideal to help men recover from Christmas and get focussed in for the opportunities of 2012.
The relaxed informal format works well and provides an ideal opportunity to invite friends and work colleagues as guests. There is no prior booking required and no charge. Costs are met by voluntary donations on the day. There is a good sound and visual system (TV screens) throughout the bar.
Have you got new members on your team now?
The event is organised by me and a team of a dozen younger men who look after 
publicity (emails, Jonathan Sherwin - publicity, Wayne McMaster - web site, Paul Skelton - media consultant and Sam Holliday. The finance is looked after by Colin Goater. Richard Sexton will arrange mentoring. The Gideons supply free New Testaments, Ian Argyle and we have a brillant team who front up the event and arrange prayer ministry if required - Matt Wheeldon, Neil Denny, Grant Sheppherd and Graham Massey.
We are not planning a change in format for 2012 but we are looking for a real breakthrough in the lives of men. We want MENUNITED to be at the heart of revival in our City.
Do you have special plans for Menunited for Christmas?
Many Christian ministries break for Christmas. We don't - but we have no special plans. We are simply looking for consistency and quality in our monthly events.
Looking at the Evangelical Alliance statistics on Christmas. January is cited as a peak in the year for divorce... Is Christmas a time of 'pressure' for men?
Sadly Christmas has become a great retail experience and a real pressure on men can be meeting family expectations and the need to make funds available to fund the festive season. But this is probably nothing like the pressures that women 
experience in buying, preparing, and working to make things happen. Men need to be sensitive to these enormous pressures on their wives and should seek to share the workload in particular in dealing with relations and children. We have a family tradition that those who get do not put away!
role - 'the closer you get to the end the faster it goes round.' In my experience men tend to go silent and let their imaginations take over. We try to imagine we are on the beach having a barbecue and saying 'no worries' without a Christamas tree or Christmas Cracker to be seen anywhere. Then reality creeps in and the shock of having to make New Year resolutions. Including dealing with the outstanding jobs list. No wonder January is a difficult time for relationships.