Tag: fundraiser

127 Bald Eagle

We may all be in lockdown, we may have our whole lives on hold and my treatment may be delayed … but the fundraising continues! 

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I’ve been meaning to write this post for several weeks now, as there is a lot I want to say, but I’m struggling to write at the moment, in fact struggling with a lot of things, so have been putting it off.  I wanted to include an update on how things are going with my MS and my treatment plans, but that will have to wait until another day.  

Thank you to all of you who have been in touch to see how I’m getting on …your support is very much appreciated.  And I’m sorry for not getting back to everyone … I promise I will soon ❤️

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On Friday 3rd April, my brother, Jimmy and my sister in law, Gill, planned to shave their heads (and Jimmy’s chin!) in order to raise funds and to show solidarity with my treatment related baldness in Russia.  They also created a new beer, which was named Bald Eagle following a vote on their Twitter page 🦅

Before lockdown, a monthly beer tasting day took place at the brewery on the first Friday of each month – always a fun day, with tours of the brewery, beer to taste and buy, yummy food and live music. It was planned to combine the big head shave with the April tasting day and a local hairdresser was even roped in to do the honours with her clippers ✂️

Then Corona Virus hit and everything changed 🦠

By this time, Jimmy’s hair was rather overgrown and he decided to go ahead with a lockdown head shave in the back garden instead.  Gill decided to hold on to her hair a little longer, so Zeb bravely stepped up to take her place, with Gill and Anna on clipping duties.  To add a bit of an edge to the event, they decided to broadcast the big shave on Facebook live 🎥

Hair cut video 💇🏼 1

It took a few attempts and stylist swaps to remove all that hair and it all took a little longer than anticipated.

Hair cut video 💇🏼 2

By the end of the night, Jimmy and Zeb were looking fantastic! 

Over the next few days, they found that having a mohican is much more high maintenance than it might seem, so eventually they went full skinhead instead.

Sponsorship money has been coming in and the big head shave has raised a fantastic £220 already.  A massive thank you to our two handsome skinheads, Zeb and Jimmy and also to our super stylists, Anna and Gill 👨🏻‍🎤

If you would like to sponsor Zeb and Jimmy for their fantastic head shave, please visit our GoFundMe page and mention them in your comment ❤️

You may have noticed that Jimmy’s beard remains untouched.  I wondered if he was keeping it in case he needed a second job in December, but he tells me he is going for a full shave when the brewery eventually reopens 🍻

Due to the pandemic, the brewery is no longer holding tasting days or delivering beer to pubs, but they are brewing a small amount of beer for home delivery to the local area, which is proving very popular. You can find out more about this on the Swan Brewery website here … Swan Brewery

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I hope you’re all coping ok with this weird world in which we are now living and most importantly, keeping as safe as you can ❤️

Swan Brewery website

Swan Brewery on Facebook

Swan Brewery on Twitter

GoFundMe

122 Tea Party thanks

What an amazing afternoon we had on Saturday!  Thank you to everyone who contributed or attended. 

It was a busy few days on the run up to the event, finalising numbers and ensuring we had everything we needed.  Lots of people donated bottle bags and bottles or lent us cake stands …many thanks.  If your cake stand doesn’t come back to you soon, please let us know and we’ll make sure it does 🍰

St Mark’s Church allowed us to use the church hall at low cost and arranged to give us the key on the afternoon. Many thanks to Ruth and St Mark’s for supporting us.  It took a little over an hour for our hardworking team to get the room set up and ready for guests.

Niamh, Connor, Sophie, Callum, Glenda, Sharon, Lauren and Karen did an amazing job to get everything in place to welcome 80 guests for afternoon tea. Thank you to you all 😘

Sharon was our “creative director” and prepared the lovely tea shop style table decorations.  Thank you so much Sharon 😘

We also had a glass of fizz available to those who wanted it 🥂

Meanwhile Heather and Nick has already put in several hours preparing a delicious afternoon tea, with a range of dietary needs catered for.  They continued their hard work in the hall kitchen, including arranging all our many borrowed cake stands!  Thank you so much Heather and Nick …you guys are awesome! 😘

A couple of friends offered to run stalls at the tea party …thank you to Sheila, Emily, Gemma and Gemma’s lovely mum (apologies, I didn’t get your name!).  Thank you also to Beth who came along to help.  Both stalls made some good sales and added funds to our total 😘

It was soon 3.30 and our guests started to arrive.  It was so lovely to see so many friends from all sorts of areas of my life and friends of my children too. I really am touched that you all wanted to come and support me.  

I was planning to do some sort of speech during the tea party, but was a little bit of an emotional wreck, so decided against it!  Some of this post has been written using the notes for my speech. 

I want to thank my sister, Glenda, for coming to stay for the weekend, helping on the day, bringing her calmness and providing me with lots of support 😘

A big thank you, also to my brother, Jimmy and his family, Gill, Anna and Zeb, who travelled from Herefordshire to help and to support the event.  It was lovely to see you guys, though not for long enough this visit! 😘

My lovely friend, Karen, was a fantastic help on the day in getting everything ready and making sure everyone got the right food.  She also surprised me with a tree of messages which guests added to throughout the afternoon.  The messages are now in an envelope to take with me and I will read them at some point when I’m in hospital.  Thank you so much Karen 😘

Thank you to each and every one of you who came along on the day, the kind people who donated, despite being unable to attend and also to the friends who planned to come but decided to stay away, when they felt a little unwell on the day, just in case I caught something 😘

The afternoon tea was delicious and I received so many compliments to send to the chefs. Niamh and Sophie were a fantastic team, making sure everyone was fed and with the right food!  Thank you all of you 😘



We ran a bottle lucky dip stall, which was an amazing success and used only donated bottle bags and bottles.  Connor and his great friend Finley, were in charge …thank you both 😘

We perhaps should have thought about making this a little more child friendly, but I’m sure there were some happy grown ups who were able to enjoy the prizes won by their kids! 

It was a very emotional day for me. I initially thought I’d avoid hand shakes, hugs and kisses in order to protect myself …as you probably noticed, that soon when out the window!  I was touched by your kind words, messages and cards and really did feel lifted by all your encouragement. 

There were a couple of noted absences …

My dear friend Anne who has been an amazing support over the last couple of years, was needed somewhere else and was very much missed.  Thank you to her family members who still came along 😘

Another friend, Glynis, was unable to make it and had the best ever excuse … on Wednesday after several years of illness and regular dialysis, she received a kidney transplant.  She is recovering well, but not quite well enough for tea and cake just yet!  Get well soon, Glynis 😘

Clearing up was thankfully much quicker than setting up and we were soon on our way home.  It has taken me a couple of days to recover (which is why this update wasn’t posted sooner!).  Thankfully, Glenda is a maths wiz and was able to count the cash and do the sums.  Amazingly we made a grand total of …

How amazing!  Thank you to everyone mentioned above, everyone who came along, donated or supported us in any way.  I really am blessed 🙏🏻

Obviously I am now up to my ears in finalising travel plans, packing and preparing. There has been a lot going on with that too, but I’ll save it for another post.

GoFundMe

111 Mrs Bump

There has been a lot going on over the last couple of weeks so thought I’d come back with an update.

Sheila ran another stall at the Vintage Village on Sunday and raised a very respectable £116.  Alan very kindly sold a few items of clothing through his vintage shop, 20th Century Stores and raised a further £90.

So the vintage sale fundraiser had brought in a grand total of …

Thanks again to Alan and the Vintage Village, but most of all, to my lovely friend Sheila for so much hard work and for all your support 😘

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Thank you to family and friends who have decided not to send Christmas cards this year and to make donations to my fund instead.  This has raised a total of £470 …absolutely amazing!  Thank you everyone 😘

We had hoped to hit £20,000 by Christmas, but with all these amazing efforts, our grand total now stands at …


I had an appointment with my neurologist on Monday …always a bizarre experience.  Neurology services are obviously over stretched and trying to summarise a year’s worth of symptoms, concerns and questions into a rushed 10 minute appointment isn’t easy.  By the end of the appointment, it was agreed that he will refer me to occupational therapy, write to Professor Sharrack and prescribe medication to address my fatigue and brain fog (assuming liver and kidney function tests are all good).  He also suggested I stay off work until the end of term. 

I have heard nothing further from Professor Sharrack and will find the energy to chase him again soon. 

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Today I managed to fall down the stairs …I’m not quite sure how this happened, but I think my legs just gave way beneath me and before I knew it, I was on the floor at the bottom of the stairs!  

Luckily I only have bruises, but I must admit I’m feeling a bit shaken by the experience.  Steep Victorian staircases are not best ever for MSers it would seem! 

I have only lived in this house for a little over 2 years and I was obviously aware of the unusually steep stairs, but had no idea how much of a challenge they would become for me. I mostly go up them on all fours, which seems to work well. Coming down stairs is a different matter and I really don’t feel safe a lot of the time.

I’ll add it to the list of things to worry about! 🤪

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You may remember a while ago I posted about Scott McCormick (From Gogglebox) undergoing HSCT at Hammersmith Hospital. Scott has been recovering well and has been keeping us all informed of his progress. He recently had an MRI scan – an insight into whether his MS has halted or not – today he got the results …

I am absolutely delighted for Scott. He has shared his journey on twitter and through videos he has made for MS-UK and the HSCT community has been following with interest. It has been wonderful to see him get better and better and to know that he is now looking forward to a happy healthy future with his family. I’m sure Scott will be a powerful voice for HSCT going forward and we are all very grateful to him for sharing his experience.

GoFundMe

108 Fundraising update

After a busy week I have finally found some time to update you on the total raised at last week’s Vintage fair …

We are absolutely delighted with this total and had a fun day at the fair as well ❤️
You may recall from my previous post that a very kind lady on a neighbouring stall gave us some advice on some of the jewellery items we were selling … this turned out to be excellent advice.  These items are now being sold through a jeweller and have raised around £230.  Thank you so much Ann, for your expert knowledge and kind advice ❤️

We will be back at the next Vintage Village fair, hoping to sell the rest of our items.  Please come along if you can ❤️

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I had my PIP assessment on Monday.  On the surface, it wasn’t a bad experience, but I don’t feel much happened during the assessment to truly assess my limitations or to support my claim.

For those that don’t know, “Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can help you with some of the extra costs if you have a long term ill-health or disability”.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

Numerous charities and organisations that support those with medical conditions and disability are critical of the government’s approach to the assessment process for PIP and other disability benefits.  The MS Society is currently campaigning on behalf of those with MS who need this payment and is reporting on some of the difficulties MSers face with the process. 

PIP doesn’t make sense

“The assessor rushed through the questions and didn’t give me a chance to explain anything properly” …this was entirely my experience too. She stopped me going into detail about my difficulties and there were several times when I mentioned a particular issue but she didn’t even write it down. 

“It makes me really angry. You have a diagnosis of MS and there are clinical records that back that up. And then you get a report that completely contradicts it. It doesn’t make sense.

You don’t want to prove you have MS, but you have to prove how badly it affects you. To have someone judging you for a chronic illness is terrible.”

So, I’m not holding out a lot of hope that I will be successful.  I’ve had to reduce my working hours because of my illness and struggling financially as a result.  Life with a disability is expensive and stressful.  I will definitely appeal if I am turned down and have some kind offers of support with this from friends with expert knowledge.

You can sign the MS Society open letter to the next UK government on this subject here … link 

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Other than the vintage fair, we don’t have any further fundraising events until after Christmas.  

I haven’t sent Christmas cards for several years now after I started to become concerned about the huge amount of waste they generate and amount of money they cost, which I’d rather spend elsewhere.  Instead I donate the money I save to charity (Children in Need, the NSPCC, the RSPCA, Myeloma UK and the MS Trust have all been recipients in the past).

This year, I’ll be paying into my HSCT fund. 

There is a growing trend to stop sending Christmas cards and it is thought that many more people will be choosing this option this year.  An unbelievable 1.5 billion Christmas cards are thrown away by UK households each year, (according to researchers at Imperial College) and it would be amazing if we could reduce this figure. 

If you do decide to stop sending a Christmas cards and donate to a worthy cause instead, I do hope you’ll think of us.  Even small donations can make a big difference and I would be very grateful for whatever you can spare ❤️

GoFundMe

Thank you for your continued support ❤️💚❤️

107 Vintage Village day

It’s been a long and tiring day so please forgive the shortness of this post.

Today was Stockport Vintage Village Fair and after all the hard work over the last few weeks (mostly by Sheila) we finally had our stall up and running.

We have received donated items from a host of sources over the last few weeks and are so grateful for the kindness and generosity of friends, family and strangers alike.  Sheila had the tough job of sorting through and pricing everything, with Alan’s expert guidance.  On arrival this morning, a more experienced stall holder also gave her expert opinion on a few items and as a result we kept some back and will be taking them to a jeweller later this week. There are also a few items that didn’t sell today but which may achieve a greater price at auction.  

We had a steady stream of visitors throughout the day and the takings purse was looking rather full by the end of the afternoon.  I have left the counting in Sheila’s capable hands and will update you on the total raised once I have it.  

I’d like to say a special thank you to my lovely friend, Sheila, for all her hard work and to Alan for providing the stall space.  Thank you also to family and friends who called by this afternoon and helped to keep our spirits up.

The next Vintage Village event is the Merry Little Christmas Fair on Sunday 8th December …we’ll be there with the rest of our items and anything else donated before then.  

You can find out more about the Vintage Village on their website … Vintage Village

You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter @Vintage_Village and on Instagram @vintagevillageuk

You can find out more about Stockport’s beautiful historic market hall and the regular market here … Visit Manchester – Stockport Market Hall

For a huge array of vintage items available 3-4 days per week, 20th Century Stores on the market place is well worth a visit  … 20th Century Stores

In other news, I have my dreaded PIP assessment tomorrow (2nd attempt) …wish me luck! 

GoFundMe 

107 Fundraising plans

Thank you to everyone who has got in touch since we relaunched our fundraising efforts – your offers of help and support and your good wishes mean a lot 🧡

  • Stockport Vintage Village

We will have a stall at the next Stockport Vintage Village, which takes place from 10am till 4pm on Sunday 10th November. If you have anything you could donate, please get in touch.

Please also pop along on the day.  The Vintage Village is a great day out and there are some lovely shops, bars and restaurants nearby too.

  • I am looking at arranging some sort of ladies afternoon tea event towards the end of the year, maybe with music, games and a quiz thrown in!  I’ll let you know more about this as my plan comes together. 
  • Seed Beauty Team Walk Challenge

The lovely team at Seed Beauty have volunteered to take on a sponsored walk challenge.  Katy, Kate, Yssy, Jules and Vicky are just at the beginning of putting  together a plan for a sponsored walk.  Watch this space for date, distance and location.

You can find out more about Seed via their Facebook page … Seed – Beauty Therapy.

  • My sister, Glenda, is planning to get her Nordic Poles out and complete a Nordic walking challenge.
  • Our cycling team have expanded and are exploring a route for their cycling challenge.  This is likely to take place in March when the weather is a little brighter and the day slightly longer, but Alex, Connor, Carl, Sophie, Niamh and Callum will be in training throughout the winter.
  • We have a team in Leeds who are looking for a Tough Mudder event.
  • Lots of people have asked if we will be doing another evening fundraiser – I know everyone really enjoyed the last one and those who couldn’t make it would love to come to the next one   I’ve even had a 5 year old ask when my birthday is, as he loved my last party so much! We are working on a plan for another one …no details yet, but watch this space!
  • We would like to get some t-shirts printed, for people to wear when completing challenges.  Do you know anyone who may be able to do this for us at no or low cost? 
  • If you have any fundraising ideas or anything else you could do to help, please get in touch with one of us 

GoFundMe 

106 Vintage items wanted!

I have some exciting news I want to share with you …

My lovely friend, Sheila, will be running a stall at the next Stockport Vintage Market to raise funds towards my treatment. 

The Market takes place on Sunday 10th November from 10am till 4pm at Stockport’s beautiful historic market hall.  

Do you have anything you could donate to our stall? 

  • Vintage clothing
  • Collectibles 

If you do, please pass them on to one of us, or let us know so we can arrange collection.  If you’re not sure if something you have would be suitable, please get in touch and we’ll let you know. 

You can find out more about the Vintage Village on their website here … Stockport Vintage Village

And on their Facebook page … Vintage Village at Stockport Market Hall

Both are well worth a visit for their fabulous photos alone!

Thank you so much to Sheila and also to Alan for making this happen.

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We are working on a few other fundraising ideas and will share those with you once our plans are a little clearer.

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My plans for treatment in Russia in March are coming along nicely.  I have updated the hospital with my most recent medical information and the process for a travel visa has begun.  I’m feeling very positive about my plans now and can’t wait to destroy the MS beast! 

Thank you all for your ongoing support 😘

GoFundMe

99 The story so far …

Today, 16th September 2019, is exactly one year since we launched our fundraising campaign, asking family, friends and strangers to help raise a massive £40K to fund HSCT for me in Moscow.  I know I have many new readers since then, so thought now was a good time to write a bit of a summary of the story so far and also to reflect on how far we have come.  

I was diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis in 2017, after at least 5 years of worrying symptoms and concerning finds on MRI scans.  I also have Hashimoto’s Disease, autoimmune thyroid disease, which was diagnosed in 2006. 

The progression and accumulation of disability of my MS has been rapid.  At the time of diagnosis, my EDSS score was around 1.5 and by December 2018, my neurologist assessed me as 6 (I think I am nearer 5 or 5.5).  I have other long term problems and don’t want to get any worse.  

In May 2018, I saw a BBC news report about HSCT (Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant) being successfully used to treat MS and halt its progression (HSCT does not cure MS or undo previous damage to the brain and spinal cord).  Since then, I have been reading, researching and talking to others in order to learn everything I can about HSCT and find out whether could be a viable option for me.  

Click here …

Stem cell transplant “game changer” for MS patients – BBC News 18.03.18

By the Summer of 2018, I had come to the conclusion that it could and began looking seriously at how to access the treatment.  I was aware that some MS patients have been successfully treated in the UK, but that the criteria for inclusion were very specific.  I also knew that I did not meet the criteria, so began researching options abroad.

To cut a long story short, I identified a clinic in Moscow, the AA Maximov Department of Hematology and Cellular Therapy, as my best option.  Well over 1000 international MS patients have been treated here, with several hundred from the UK. 

The cost is €45,000 and with the exchange rate at that time and the additional cost of flights and visas, we worked out that we would need £40K to get me to Moscow for the treatment I need.

We launched our Go Fund Me page on 16th September 2018 and began organising events and taking part in challenges to raise money.  Thanks to the generosity of friends, family and kind strangers, we have raised ….

In the mean time, I also applied to the clinic in Moscow, sent them my full medical records and was accepted for treatment.  We had hoped that I could have HSCT in April 2018, with a plan to borrow the rest of the money needed and to continue to fund raise afterwards.  Then, a couple of months before this, I heard about a new HSCT trial planned to take place in the UK, being led by Professor Sharrack (neurologist) Professor Snowden (haematologist) and at Sheffield Hallamshire Hospital.  This is the team mentioned in the BBC link above. I contacted both directly and despite not meeting their published criteria, they agreed to see me.

I had my first appointment with them in June, followed by an MRI scan in July.  I was told I’d have a follow up appointment in August, but I’m still waiting.  They tell me I will be allocated an appointment on Monday (16th September) and will receive a letter soon after.  

The last few weeks have been very difficult for me.  I’m not good at being patient or at not knowing what’s coming next.  I also feel that all other aspects of my life are in limbo …I can’t plan anything!  I must admit this has really got me down.

Hopefully by the end of this week, I’ll have an appointment date and feel a bit calmer about it all!   I think once I have a date, I will be able to throw myself into other things until the date approaches.  

The decision on whether to treat me in Sheffield or not, all hinges on the outcome of my recent MRI scan …if there is current disease activity, then the answer could be YES.  If there is no current disease activity, then the answer will definitely be NO.  My last 3 scans (most recent in May 2018) all revealed current disease activity, which was upsetting and worrying at the time.  Now I’m in the strange position to be hoping for disease activity! 

I am still in touch with the clinic in Moscow and they are aware of my situation.  If I receive a NO from Sheffield, I will ask for the next available date in Moscow (likely to be early 2020).

Here’s a summary in numbers, of all we have achieved …

  • Funds raised … £18,646
  • Number of donors … 147
  • Go Fund Me followers …145
  • Blog posts … 99
  • Blog subscribers … 22
  • Blog views … 5,283
  • Facebook followers … 107
  • Instagram followers … 208
  • Twitter followers … 262

Never in my wildest dreams did I think we could achieve this much, so thank you to everyone who has donated, helped with events, provided support, shared online and who have been there for me through this journey so far.

Hopefully I’ll have an appointment update by this time next week!

GoFundMe

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Instagram @anothermswarrior

Twitter @AnotherMSWarrio

75 Oh what a night …

We had such a wonderful night on Saturday and managed to exceed our fundraising target!  I thought I’d post an update on the whole weekend …

A few of us arrived at Bonis Hall at around 9am on Saturday morning. We came in assorted cars and vans, loaded with equipment and drink and took on the task of converting a staff canteen into a stylish party venue. Furniture was rearranged, decorations, technical equipment and fairy lights put in place and within a couple of hours the room was really starting to take shape.  Sharon (Spoilt for Choice, Cheshire) lent us her expertise and resources and we were delighted with the end result. 

Thank you Sharon, Sophie, Connor, Niamh, Callum, Joe, Glenda, Jimmy, Gill, Anna, Zeb, Heather and Charlie 😘

There was a huge display screen on the wall and our favourite graphic designer had put together a slide show to tell our guests a little about MS, HSCT and all our fundraising efforts …many thanks Dave 😊

We whizzed home in the afternoon, showered, changed and glammed up, returning to Bonis Hall by about 5.30pm.  It was lovely to walk back in again with fresh eyes and see how wonderful it all looked.  

We finished a few last minute jobs and by 6.30pm our first guests began to arrive.  I was a bit of a nervous wreck by this time …like everyone else I’d been on my feet all day and also hadn’t eaten much, so was feeling decidedly wobbly! I was also a little worried about having anything to drink in case I just keeled over! 

An hour later I was feeling much better.  Lots of people had arrived and there was a lovely happy atmosphere in the room.  People seemed genuinely pleased to be there and I began to relax a little.

Our fantastic compère, Chris, opened the evening and welcomed our first performer, Ashleigh.  I hadn’t heard Ashleigh sing before, other than on a video on someone’s phone, but I had heard several people say how good she was.  This turned out to be quite an understatement!  What an amazing voice!  Thank you Ashleigh, for your wonderful singing – I’ve had so many people ask me about you and tell me how amazing you are! 😊

Next up was food time!  We had lots of discussions about food on the run up to the event and a number of small hurdles to overcome.  We wanted to keep the cost low and the quality high and we also had no access to the kitchen facilities.  Thankfully our wonderful friends, Heather and Nick saved the day with their expert catering knowledge and culinary expertise and the decision was made to provide a choice of curries, with naan bread and popadoms.  The food was delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Thank you Heather and Nick xx

After the food, I managed to shuffle up to the microphone to say a few rambled words of thanks (my thanks is heartfelt, even if I didn’t manage to articulate it very well!).  

The mammoth task of drawing the raffle was next.  We had received so many donated prizes and it took quite a while to work out.  I still have some prizes in my living room, so will be contacting more winners later in the week.  We had sold a few tickets ahead of the event but most were sold by my wonderful niece, Anna, on the night. Thank you Anna ❤️

My slightly tipsy friend, Karen, then decided to embarrass me with a few words of support (thank you lovely xx).  Karen is a wonderful supportive friend and will be coming to Russia towards the end of my treatment, in order to help me on the journey home.

Then it was time for more live music from Dan and Chris, who were fabulous!  Thank you both 😊

(By this time my camera skills had completely gone out of the window, so I sadly have no photos of Dan and Chris! Please send me one if you have any 😊)

Edit: photo added 27.02.19 …thanks Glenda

Chris was fantastic as our compère and managed to keep everything running smoothly, despite us going off plan more or less from the start of the evening …thank you Chris 😊

Whilst all this was going on, there was also a bit of face painting (thank you Tiah x), a kids activity corner,  selfie props and a football table. 


We decided to stock and run the bar ourselves, offering drinks at a great prices but still managed to make quite a bit of money.  Thank you to Jimmy and Gill from Swan Brewery who provided the beer and wine and did a lot of the leg work on the bar 🍻. Connor, Niamh and Sophie also spent a lot of time running the bar too …thanks all of you 🥂

We managed a token tidy up at the end of the night then all left for a few hours sleep.

By 9am a group of us were back at Bonis Hall for the big clean up! It was important that we got the room back to exactly as it had been, before the site cleaners arrived (otherwise we could have incurred charges).  After much hoovering, scrubbing, mopping and car loading, it was as if we had never been there at all! 

My sister, Glenda, was with me for the weekend and was a wonderful support, both practically and in helping to keep me calm!  It was lovely to have that bit of time together – Glenda lives in Germany and although we are in touch a lot, we don’t get together as often as we would like.  After taking Glenda to the airport, I went home and had a 3 hour nap!  

The busy weekend and the hectic build up have rather taken their toll on me and 3 days later, I am still exhausted, my legs are very sore and my right hand is having episodes of numbness and tingling.  

It was all worth it though …through everyone’s hard work and generosity we managed to raise …

Perhaps more importantly, it was so uplifting and heartwarming to see what can be achieved when a group of people work together with a common aim.  Despite our exhaustion, we all really enjoyed the evening and it gave us all a positive optimistic boost.  I really hope all our guests felt that too.  There really is an awful lot of good in the world ❤️

Thank you to everyone who helped to make it such a great night ❤️

GoFundMe