Thank you & Merry Christmas xx

On behalf of Woking Foodbank I would personally like to say a massive thank you to each and every one of you that have either taken the time to read my blogs (you can read them all again here, just keep scrolling down the page), I can't actually believe how many I have done!!! listened to my radio interviews with Jon Andrews at Radio Woking, carried food parcels, pulled the sleigh, donated cash or food parcels and generally having the thought of sharing your Christmas with someone else this year.  

Your generosity has been absolutely overwhelming and it has showed yet again this year by the Foodbank closing its doors for donations.  It just goes to prove that we can achieve great things when we work together and as a village we most certainly pull together when it is needed most.  

This year the campaign has been a massive team effort, I am not really sure if this was due to my unexpected stay in hospital right in the middle of the campaign (it couldn't have happened at a worse time, but sometimes you actually have to put your own health first) anyways, I couldn't have done it without all your help and for that I am truly grateful.

I am pleased to say that although the campaign officially finished on the 8th December with the closing night at Brookwood Club, I am still receiving cash donations and of course I am more than happy to collect any food parcels that you would like to donate, so if you have a food cupboard full of goodies following Christmas and you have desires of starting a DIET, yes a diet, drop me an email at trudifletcher@rocketmail.com and I will be more than happy to come and take away all of those temptations to help you with your New Year's Resolution.

Talking of donations, I had lots of food parcels delivered without name tags, so if you have not yet received a card from me, please do let me know because one of those parcels could have been yours and I do believe in thanking people.

My  Last radio interview can be heard by clicking here with the fabulous Jon Andrews of Radio Woking. It's always such great fun doing the radio interviews I really enjoy them despite being nervous and worried that I am either gunna miss something or say something that perhaps I shouldn't, but I don't think I have fluffed any up yet.  Scroll to Shawn Mendes - lost in Japan. I am just after that!!!

Just so you know the total amount of cash that we managed to raise was a staggering £1,243.00 and we had in excess of 100 food parcels, I actually lost count of the food parcels especially on the closing night and the amount of parcels everyone brought down to the Club to fill up the sleigh, which of course was full several times over...Most of the cash has already been spent on supplies, but we still have £737 to spend in the New Year which will help replenish stock, so I will post another update in the New Year for you all once the foodbank let me know what they require.

Food parcel from Fulk Butchers 

So here are a few piccies of the local companies that have donated to refresh your memories.

Goodies donated by Brookwood Pre-School

East West - Indian Restaurant
£20 voucher which was sold within
seconds of me putting it online

Carrier bags kindly donated
by Julie of Co-Op, St Johns 

 Sleigh kindly donated by
Homebase - Brookwood

Fletcher Autos
Motorcycle repairs - cash injection 

Our local painter/decorator - cash injection

Brookwood Club, one of my drop off points. Brookwood Club also provided the funds raised from the sale of mulled wine, hot dogs and raffle on the closing night of the event, they also provided a cash injection.

Walk the Walk, breast cancer charity
provided a lovely food parcel 

Jon Andrews, provided weekly
air space for me to promote
the campaign

Mr Kringle, the very kind gentleman
who provided a large donation, but wished
to remain anonymous!!

Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen,

one of the drop off points for food parcels!  Shaun Roker, owner

also loaned us his van to get the first distribution of the food parcels to

the Foodbank and very kindly donated 

the rolls at the Brookwood Club event.

There were of course more, including the help from Linda Moss at CSG International - Woking, Brookwood Pet Care Services, Surrey Wood Floors and Doors - Brookwood, this week, we have been busy picking up food parcels and cash donations and even yesterday we picked up a food parcel so you can see that they are still rolling in which is absolutely fantastic.

And to finally finish the campaign this year we were on the front page (left, is me, just in case you didn't know by now and right is Alison Buckland from the Woking Foodbank), yes I know, the front page of the Woking News and Mail, click here to see more News and Mail article .

I have to say I have had an absolute blast with this year's campaign, despite the emotions attached to the campaign its great fun. I have particularly enjoyed picking up food parcels from other villagers and getting to know them a bit more and their reasons behind giving, they are all different.

Don't forget the foodbank is open on Christmas Day, so if you feel you are unable to cope on your own give them a shout, get registered and you could be enjoying a Christmas meal. music and games with like minded people.  See poster below for more details.

.

So once again, massive thanks to you all for getting involved, catch up with you all in the New Year, but in the meantime hope you all have an absolutely fabulous Christmas and wishing you all a healthy 2019.

Merry Christmas you fab-u-lous lot.....its a 10 from me all day long....

As we draw to a close for this year, can I say a massive THANK YOU to each and everyone of you that have been involved in my mad brain ideas, to everyone that has donated, your contributions will help over this special time of year, but more importantly will help the foodbank get through to at least the  New Year, you should be really proud if you have donated a food parcel/cash or just been involved.  This year the campaign has been a massive success, despite the fact that I have been in hospital, but everyone has rallied round and pulled out all the stops, its been a great team effort this year.

We have had a staggering 90 odd parcels and the cash donations have doubled since last year.  Our contributions have also enabled the Foodbank to close its doors for donations, yes can you believe that we have helped to fill it up.  

Talking of donations, I popped along to Brookwood Pre-School during the week who contacted me to say that they had two parcels for collection, now you may remember from earlier posts that I visited them last year, but had to take the wheelbarrow, well not this year, oh no.......the sleigh got another outing and I can honestly say it was so easy; 1 because my sister, Lisa had to pull it along and 2 no more lifting.  Success so again, massive thanks to Roger at Homebase, Brookwood for the trolley and massive thanks to Brookwood Pre-School, the children and parents for helping out yet again this year.

I know the pre-school currently have vacancies, so look them up if they can assist with child care needs they are a lovely and friendly bunch.

Also massive thanks to our local East West Indian Restaurant, in Connaught Road Brookwood - Miah and Imtiaz very kindly donated a £20 gift voucher which I put up for sale and it was literally sold in seconds of me putting it online so that tells you just how good the food is.  It's a lovely friendly restaurant and I can highly recommend it especially as it's my local.  They are always willing to help out in the community so if you haven't booked your Christmas party yet give them a shout I am sure they will fit you in some where or some how tel : 01483-472610, drop them an email : eastwestbrookwood@gmail.com or alternatively book through their website above.

Last week's Radio interview with Jon Andrews covered a lot, so if you were unable to tune in (shame on you), but luckily enough you can catch up here by clicking on the link: Radio Woking - scroll to 16mins in - just after Wham!!!

Its funny how you get talking to someone about one thing and literally end up talking about something else and that's exactly what happened with Linda Moss (you may remember Linda from a previous blog she very kindly stood in for me with the Radio Woking interview when I was unwell).

Linda  was invited by Jan - fundraising manager for Walk the Walk charity to pop along to their offices in Woking to see the new chemo bus and whilst Linda was there that got onto the conversation of volunteer work as I believe Linda may be volunteering for them in the future and Linda happened to mention the foodbank campaign which of course she very kindly gets involved with.  Well one thing led to another and before we knew it Jan had emailed the office to see whether the staff would like to get involved with regard to donating some items of non perishable food and to my surprise they delivered a very large box full of goodies.  Its fantastic that how something so simple like a 2 minute conversation can change everything and the fact that these guys work for a charity they are still prepared to help another charity in the community.

This WalktheWalk charity has been running for 22 years and for those of you that don't know its a breast cancer charity (you know the one where you walk for charity at night with just ya bra on, yes that's right a brightly coloured bra as pictured above......their next marathon or half marathon is on 11/12th May next year and guess what you can sign up now, so if you think this is something that you may be interested in, click on the link and get  Signed up ... but remember it's not just for women, so come on you guys why don't you take up the challenge after all its not just women that get breast cancer is it????

Having spoken to Jan on the telephone - she told me "the food parcel was very much staff led and they love being part of the community" - I personally think that its really fantastic that one charity can actually help out another.

We have now made a second distribution to the Woking Foodbank which is absolutely fantastic so that means that lots of people who are struggling are going to get fed this Christmas and that's all thanks to you guys.

oooo gosh I almost forgot, an update on the fuzzy felt tree, well you can see for yourselves there are now lots of baubles on the tree and these are all local companies that have donated - look how much it has grown.  I am gunna leave it up over the Christmas period, in Brookwood Club ya never know someone else may want a bauble....they currently include:

East West Indian Restaurant as mentioned above
Brookwood Club
Fletcher Autos - motorcyle repairs, Woking
Surrey Wood Floors and Doors
Brookwood Pre-School
Decor-Mate Painting and Decorating - Brookwood
WalktheWalk who have just joined as above
PA Carpentry - Phil Bayliss (Brookwood) who very kindly created our gorgeous sleigh
CSG International - (Sheerwater) Linda Moss
Don't Just Sit There Sell Something (Guildford) - Liam Brennan
Co-Op in St Johns
Homebase in Brookwood
Tudor News - Brookwood
Brookwood Food & Wine
Brookwood Post Office, Bakers Dozen
Pirbright Football Club

Remember there are lots of eyes looking at your bauble we still have room for more, so if you are interested drop me an email trudifletcher@rocketmail.com and it can be organised in a jiffy!!!!!

Saturday night saw the Brookwood Club christmas tree light up event and I have to say it was an absolute success despite the terrible weather.  Alison Buckland attended from Woking Foodbank to turn on the lights and Anthony Gurr from The Woking News and Mail also attended to get some snaps.  All proceeds from the sale of hotdogs and mulled wine will be donated to the foodbank so will let you know in due course how much we raised, but in the meantime you can feast your eyes on some snaps from Saturday night.

Courtesy of Anthony Gurr

courtesy of Anthony Gurr

The sleigh was also in attendance Saturday night and do you know we probably emptied it at least four times thanks to the generosity of the locals....people struggling in Woking are going to eat a little better this year with the help of Brookwood Village.

Next week's blog will be the last for this year and I will update you all on how well we did once having updated my audit trail.  In the meantime again, many thanks to you all.

Giving away your bestest toy!!!

This is my penultimate blog so hopefully you will have by now learn't lots from this Christmas Woking Foodbank campaign, from the struggle all year round to feed the vulnerable to the free Christmas day celebrations as mentioned below.

Whilst recouping from my operation at home, I had a visit from the lovely little Summer.  Summer told me that she is not 6 years old, but in fact 6 & 3/4 years old, she was most adamant about that!!!! 

Summer is pictured here with some of her favourite cuddly toys and you may wonder why?  Well because she has lovingly given them all up and in her words "to give to children that don't have any toys"  Summer even gave up her most favourite toy and it just so happens to be a Reindeer...called Gilly.  Summer said "I have decided to give up Gilly because I would give Gilly to my best friend, but my best friend has toys so I am going to let someone else have my best toy and I am really, really, really, really happy because the other girl will be happy, excited and surprised, Summer also told me that hopefully this will mean that she wont be put on the "naughty list this year".....What an absolutely amazing thing to do, would you give up your best toy????? and I think we can all agree that yes Summer will be exempt from the naughty list this year!  These toys have already been taken to The Foodbank and they will be given to The Jigsaw Project which is located on the ground floor of The Foodbank.

We had a very generous donation last week from Surrey Floors & Doors, Brookwood.  I popped into the shop a couple of weeks ago to discuss the campaign with one of the co-owners Ed.  Ed told me that he knew the Foodbank existed as he had been to his kiddies school a few weeks previous and indeed had been told that all the food from the harvest festival would be going to the Woking Foodbank.  Ed tells me that Emma is the shop manageress and is the brains behind the organisation and also a local Brookwood resident!

It's actually really hard work asking for charitable donations as I get everyone has their own charities they give to or indeed have money commitments especially this time of the year. I always feel like the characters from The Muppets Christmas Carol (by the way this the bestest film ever in the whole wide world) asking Scrooge for the charitable donation, and having to accept that rejection, but I have to say Ed completely blew my mind, I was actually not prepared for his response at all and he completely took the wind out of my sails.  

Ed is a joint owner with Liam & Victor and they have had a shop in Brookwood for 5 years now, Ed tells me that it is not a family business, but it is run like a family business.  Surrey Floors and Doors specialise in high quality wood flooring and restorations and although they have a lot of their business in the village they also undertake high end bespoke work as they have plenty of talented craftsmen to undertake the work.  I personally love the fact that its not a family business, but run as such.  Many many thanks Surrey Floors and Doors for your donation this will help us buy those essential items that are required.

Now talking of which we had actually decided to make an interim distribution this year, so all was going to plan, until we suddenly realised that we didn't have a van this year to get it all there.  Couple of text messages later and Shaun Roker from Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen very kindly offered his van - saved by the van and the baker....phew....

By making this interim distribution of food parcels to the foodbank, will enable The Salvation Army to get involved.  The Salvation Army in Goldsworth Park is also a drop off point for food parcels, so if you cant get to any of my drop off points, being Brookwood Club or Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen during opening hours,  I am sure that they will be more than happy to help out.  The Salvation Army will deliver food parcels to vulnerable families and by us making the interim distribution now means that those people will get the food before Christmas which is absolutely wonderful.  As you can see its a large haul already, but we still need more, so keep those parcels coming folks, the deadline has been extended until 8th December; firstly because I have not been able to give it my full attention due to my recent operation and; secondly because a lot of people have asked me to wait until they have been paid at the end of this month, so who am I to argue with that.  

I have two lists from the foodbank for supplies needed and my little elves were round Thursday night sorting out all the bags into the same products and can you believe out of all the 40 odd bags we only had 1 bottle of Mayonnaise, yes just 1 bottle, that was such a surprise.  So my mum has been shopping and now we have a bag full of mayonnaise.  That's the good thing of sorting the bags you get some idea of what you are short on.  Now if you are interested, we are currently short on toilet rolls, tea/coffee and crisps, so if you are thinking of doing a food parcel and needed some ideas of what to put in it then these items would be fab, but here's the list just in case you are unsure of what else is needed. 

Don't forget next Saturday 8th December is Christmas tree light-up in the village, please do come along and support the event.  There will be hot-dogs, mulled wine and a live band to see you through the evening. Its an open event so all are welcome, it starts at 6pm so bring the family and soak up the atmosphere.  

Alison Buckland from The Foodbank will officially be turning on the lights so she can answer any questions you may have and we are hopeful that Woking News and Mail will also attend to cover the event.  The trolley will be in attendance so if you could bring an item of non-perishable food to help us fill up the trolley that would be amazing.

I had a very generous donation of three food parcels dropped off at Brookwood Club this week, unfortunately the person did not leave a name or contact details and was not recognised by the staff at The Club, if it was you, please do get in touch so that I can thank you personally.

This week's Radio Woking interview with Jon Andrew's from Radio Woking, which is located at Winston Churchill School can be heard here MixCloud - radio interview  - scroll to 24mins just after the Christmas tune - I believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake.  If you haven't learnt anything new about the Foodbank yet then listen on in you are bound to with this interview....Also remembering Liam Brennan referring to me as an amazing beacon of light for the local community....ha ha ha ha glad that someone thinks I shine brightly.

So Christmas day is fast approaching and Woking Foodbank are highlighting the Christmas Day celebrations which will be held at The Lighthouse again this year. If you, or anyone you know will be on their own on Christmas Day, please sign up. All free to join.  To book your place please drop an email to info@lighthousewoking.org the event starts at 9.30am and finishes at 3pm, don't be a stranger.

In the meantime my Christmas foodbank campaign will continue to run until the evening of Saturday 8th December 2018.

My drop off points are :

Brookwood Club 4.30pm-11pm &
Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen 8am til 5.30pm; or 
if you would like me to collect a parcel my email address is :

trudifletcher@rocketmail.com 

Save the date - 8th December 2018 - 6pm

Last year's Christmas Tree 

A date not to be missed - Saturday 8th December at Brookwood Club (it's where it all happens you know) their Christmas Tree light up event is on that evening starting at 6pm. I personally will be there with lots of other folk, including musical talents from Winston Churchill School and carols being sung by the children of Brookwood School - now that's gotta make you feel all warm n fuzzy...and if that don't continue reading.

Alison Buckland from Woking Foodbank will be turning on the lights this year, it's an event not to be missed.  There will be hot-dogs and mulled wine on sale, to ward off the cold and I have been informed by Brookwood Club that all proceeds from the sale of the hot dogs and mulled wine will be donated to the Foodbank so I need you all to come along eat as many hot-dogs as you can, don't worry too much about the mulled wine its one of my favourites so I can help out there, on a serious note it's an open event so anyone and everyone will be welcome it will be great to see and you will be helping to support this great event.  There is also live music to see you through the evening so once you have had your fill of hot-dogs and mulled wine, you can soak up the atmosphere of Stormy Waters whilst sinking some beers.

Also in attendance at the event will be the trolley donated by Roger at Homebase - Brookwood, and created by Phil Bayliss, club member, the idea is that if everyone that comes to the event could perhaps bring with them a single item of non-perishable food to place in the trolley it should be full by the end of the evening, if this is something that you could do, it would be fantastic, this is the closing night of the campaign, so I promise I won't bug any of you anymore this year, but I know in reality some of you are going to miss by blogs!



So here it is - the fuzzy felt tree and what is the fuzzy felt tree I hear you ask??? Well it is exactly that a fuzzy felt tree, but these are no ordinary baubles, oh no....  

The fuzzy felt tree is located in Brookwood Club which in turn is located in the heart of our village.

There are lots of different trade-persons/companies that frequent our very friendly club, but do you really know what the person drinking next to you actually does or who they work for? probably not, so this is a good opportunity to let other club members know what trade-persons are in the club and indeed whether their services could in fact be of some use to you.  

So how do you get a bauble on the tree??? its fairly easy, in exchange for a food parcel or indeed a cash donation you can get a company bauble placed onto the tree for all club members to see (and there are some 484 members so that's a lot of eyes on your bauble!!!!) You can have anything you like on the bauble, but at this moment, most have their company name and/or telephone number, but I obviously  can place website details as well if you like, so its actually a form of advertising for your company.  

As you can see there are already a few baubles on the tree, but we clearly need more and currently these consist of a few businesses around the village that have already donated, including Brookwood Club, Fulk Butchers, Brookwood Wine and Food, Tudor News, Decor-Mate Painting and Decorating, well you get the idea. So if you are a local company or indeed any company and would like to be advertised on the fuzzy felt tree then please do get in touch trudifletcher@rocketmail.com

Talking of which the lads that play for Pirbright Football Team, saw the fuzzy felt tree in the club, emptied their players pockets of cash and now they have a bauble on the tree, it's really that simple, so again, if you would like a bauble placed on the tree, I can sort it for you.

Some of the players of Pirbright
Football team

So with health slightly restored this week, I decided to step back into the breach with another interview with Jon Andrews at Radio Woking to promote the campaign even further, if you missed the interview live Wednesday morning just after 8am then you can listen up here : Mixcloud at 1.27......The question on everyone's mind is - are crickets (currently being sold by the supermarkets) non-perishable and would you eat them?  hmmmm I really don't think I could, I think I would be shouting loudly "I AM A CELEBRITY GET ME OUT OF HERE"

Donations are continuing to trickle in which is awesome, best donation for me this week, was a lovely old lady who wanted to help out, but couldn't afford much, she provided a very large box of teabags, but you know its one more box of teabags more than we had yesterday and again, although she couldn't spare much she has given a lot of thought to another family somewhere else in the community that is struggling.  I love things like this it is so generous even though she didn't seem to think so.  Its not the amount that you give its that you have given and taken the time to think about somebody else.

I have also had a donation made by a lady called Jacqui and she has made the donation having read my blogs. I didn't really know how the blogs were going to go and indeed if they were going to work at all, but a bit like above, it's one more parcel that I have got and I wouldn't have got had I not taken the time to do the blogs and to be honest I have actually rather enjoyed them.

Jacqui told me that she was very much aware of the foodbanks up and down the country, particularly as its been mentioned in various news programmes to highlight the increase in poverty and it is very sad.  Jacqui said "I know the food parcel I made wasn't very big and if I had the funds I would have like to have bought more.  However, I do know that, regardless of its size, someone locally will be thankful for the contents, and that is what is important - and you know Jacqui is absolutely right, I think sometimes we take food for granted, but if you think about it, no food can lead to; poor health, low self-esteem, losing your job/home, security and before you know it you have nothing and its all happen too quick.

I have personally seen the latest statistics from the Foodbank and its pretty shocking just how much it has increased by users from last year.

Jacqui made a good point that sometimes when you donate cash to a charity it can be swallowed up in research which is not a bad thing, but by simply giving a food parcel it will have an immediate effect.

I can assure my readers that all cash that is donated is given to my very frugal Mum and off she goes to do the shopping, normally I would accompany her, but for health reasons that is currently not possible at the moment.  Anyway the point is that every single penny that we raise during this campaign is spent on essentials and given to the local community.

The Foodbank does not only offer food, but it also has on the lower floor a company called The Jigsaw Project, this company provides clothes, toys and baby equipment for families that have kiddies aged between 0-5.  I was lucky enough to educate someone about this last week and look what I got, a massive bag full of baby clothes and most of them still have labels on - now I bet you have learn't something new today.  (Stick with me you will learn lots of useless rubbish, but if I have educated one more person then my job has been done well).  The Woking Foodbank is a very interesting place you know, they have a coffee shop on the top floor so you can even pop in for coffee and cake.

Ok so as in all my blogs my drop off points are :

Brookwood Club, Connaught Road, Brookwood 4.30pm til 11pm, later Friday and Saturday nights.


Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen, also in Connaught Road, Brookwood 8am til 5.30pm

If you would like me to collect a food parcel or wish to make a cash donation please email me : trudifletcher@rocketmail.com and if you have enjoyed reading my blog feel free to leave a comment.

Thank you all for taking the time to read and get involved with this campaign.

Trudi xx

The show must go on!!!

It's been an interesting week, and you may wonder why I have chosen the title 'The Show Must Go On'??

Well some of you already know, but for those that do not I had to go into hospital on Monday for an emergency operation and in true form for me, everything that could go wrong, did!!!  Anyway after a few days at Frimley Park Hospital, I am now home feeling somewhat battered, bruised and sorry for myself, the constant sickness is an issue due to the anesthetic, but the campaign must continue with or without me and with this in mind I have now extended the campaign to 8th December, so you still have plenty of time to donate. 

There are a lot more people worse off than me and at least I have food in my belly, with this in mind I set to work sorting things out despite feeling like death warmed up and trust me it is very warmed up to the point where I don't even think its lukewarm!!!!

I knew I had the weekly Radio Woking interview with Jon Andrews to contend with on Wednesday morning and there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to do that, so with some pressure on my part and coaxing with Linda Moss, she bravely took up the challenge and here's what she had to say: Linda's radio interview.     I was tuned in from my sick bed and yes Jon I was cringing.  I will get my own back on next week's slot. So for anyone that has not yet tuned in to either of the interviews, the next one will be Wednesday morning between 8-9, but why not give Radio Woking a try its a great community radio on DAB or internet, you may find out something new about the community that you live in, you never know.

Linda is an absolute treat to work with on these campaigns, she really gets her teeth stuck into it, a bit like me she embraces everything about it and involves as many people as she can including her company.   Linda works for CSG in Woking, they are a multi-national corporation, with their head office in the US. CSG is a communications leader with an uncommon dedication to achieving success for their clients. CSG is a global leader in providing business support solutions.  They understand the complexity and how to simplify it.

Linda tells me that their office in Woking is quite small, but everyone that works there is always happy to help with any charity events and despite knowing this Linda is always pleasantly surprised by just how much her colleagues are always willing to give and the items of food that keep landing on her desk.... They are all happy to be part of helping the local community.  One of their company values is "be a good person" and from what I gather they don't need to be told twice!!!!  The results always speak for themselves.

Linda I cannot express my thanks to you for all you do, you should be really proud of yourself.

This week's surprise and very generous donation comes from a reader of the Woking News and Mail article, here it is in case you missed it our Mission to spread festive cheer for those in need.

The gentleman who very kindly donated a cash sum wishes to remain anonymous, which of course is his choice, but for this campaign, I have decided to name the donor none other than.....wait for it, wait for it......drum roll please.......ho ho ho....Mr Kris Kringle (oh come on it's a Christmas campaign after all and nobody really wants to remain nameless do they especially Santa???).

Mr Kringle contacted me via email (trudifletcher@rocketmail.com) having read the article in the News and Mail expressing his wish to help.  It sounds to me like Mr Kringle is a busy person in his own right including raising funds for Woking Hospice by abseiling down the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth and also making up his own food parcels and delivering them.  Mr Kringle knows that fundraising is not easy, but that he always feels very motivated when his cause is by supported by family, friends and colleagues and was therefore very happy to support this campaign.  Thank you for the cash donation Mr Kringle this is now in the safe hands of my mum who is tasked with the shopping....Now I am so pleased that I believe in Santa and if that don't give you a warm fuzzy feeling, I really don't know what will.

Now do you remember Roger from our local Homebase - Brookwood?? Homebase very kindly donated the trolley cart, which my friend Phil Bayliss turned into a sleigh for the purposes of this campaign, well I sent Roger a link to the first radio interview which you can listen to here: first Radio interview he said his son was very impressed that his dad had got a mention on the radio and that he is now famous, that's really lovely don't you think??  well Roger has been in contact again, hearing the plea for carrier bags at the end of the interview.

Not everyone is in a position to donate cash or food, but they may be in a position to donate some carrier bags. We did actually manage to get a 1000 carrier bags from The Co-Op in St Johns and Roger has very kindly donated a further 2000, here is his assistant, Liam handing them over.

It may not seem important to you, but having 3000 carrier bags in stock means that the Foodbank shouldn't need to waste important cash on carrier bags at a cost of between 5p-10p, but the cash can actually be spent on food instead.  So once again, thank you Roger and your team.

There are lots of food parcels coming in along with cash donations, but we do need more.  If you could spare some extras in your weekly/monthly shopping that would be fantastic, items that are currently required are non-perishables, including pasta, toilet rolls, tins of fruit or veg, tinned meat and if possible perhaps some luxury items like Christmas cake, selection boxes of biscuits, honey and marmite these are items that perhaps someone in desperation is unlikely to buy for themselves.

The local companies are also supporting the campaign whether it be through food parcels or cash donations and here's some info about a few of them so far.

Decor Mate Painting and Decorating - Owner Lewis can be contacted on tel : 07877 172066

This is our very own village painter and decorator, I don't think that there is anything that Lewis cannot do and if you would also like to meet another member of the Fletcher gang then give Lewis a call as my younger brother, Michael also works for Lewis.  Decor-Mate are situated in the far end of the village, but its a very friendly business and as I said no job is too small.

Tudor News
A great convenience store, these guys took over this store about 2 years ago, and ya know they have absolutely transformed the shop, its a pleasure to pop in for the newspapers, milk etc, its so bright and cheery and the staff are always very welcoming.  They are always zipping around the village in their car delivering the local newspapers, although back in my day you had to deliver the papers by foot, how things have changed!

Brookwood Food & Wine
We are very lucky to have not one, but two local convenience stores in the village and these guys have been in the village in excess of 8 years.  When I approached the owner about a possible donation he said that they were more than happy to help out with food parcels if that was ok well of course the answer is yes.  The owner had heard about the Foodbank and was more than happy to help out.

Just by way of reminder, my drop off points are :
Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen 8am til 5.30pm
Brookwood Club in the heart of the village 4.30pm to 11pm

My email address should you need one of my team to collect a food parcel is trudifletcher@rocketmail.com

Thanks to everyone so far you are all blooming marvelous.

Getting the word out there!!!!

The reasons why we need the Foodbank from the view of a 5 year old!!!

Meet Eloise Brennan, Eloise is 5 years old and she along with my two other elves, Mollie-Ann Bayliss and Amber Kiy have very willingly been helping me with the campaign, they seem to love the sleigh.  Mollie-Ann was very heavily involved with the painting of the sleigh along with her dad and creator, Phil Bayliss of PA Carpentry.

I asked Eloise a couple of questions as to why she wanted to help with the foodbank and here's what she had to say:

"we need the sleigh to fill it up with food so that we can give it to people that don't have food, people that don't have food will feel sad and may get poorly, but after eating the food they will start to feel happy again"

When asking Eloise what was she going to be putting into her food parcel, she said "lots of chocolate, toilet rolls, tooth brushes, pasta, spaghetti and apple juice"

Now reading that I recon Eloise has got it spot........I am sure whoever gets her food parcel will be really pleased with it and isn't it so lovely that a 5 year old has already grasped the concept that you need the simple things in life to keep you going. I think Eloise would also have liked everyone to have unicorns to make them smile, but i'm afraid I cannot seem to get any on Ebay at the moment, it must be the Christmas rush!!!!

Question, which is the better way to spread the word for my Christmas Woking Foodbank campaign, local radio or local paper????? the answer to that question is of course both!!!!

This week I did the first radio interview for the campaign with the amazing Jon Andrews at Radio Woking.  You may recall from one of my previous blogs that Jon Andrews came on board with the campaign last year and he has been brave enough to help out again this year.  In case you didn't tune in on Wednesday morning between 7-9am, here is the link to listen to it all again, oh come on its worth a listen, its only a few minutes of your time and can you believe I was even cut short because the Woking Mayor was waiting on the other line to talk to Jon, I mean does the Lord Mayor not know who I am???? : Andrew's radio interview

If you want to know a little more about Radio Woking check out my earlier blog entitled: Woking - The Big Christmas Foodbank Campaign they are a great bunch of guys, spreading local news to local people on a local community radio platform.

And as if that was not enough I then had a message from Rob Searl at Woking News & Mail asking if he could get some info to run an article in this week's paper, well of course the answer was yes, so I gathered all the kids, put some food in the trolley cart donated by Homebase - Brookwood, gave the kids beautiful hats and ensured that they were all looking very festive.

Here is the article if you would like to read some more on our Mission to spread some festive cheer to those in need.  Thank you to the News and Mail for helping out I have had a couple of emails from people outside of the village asking me to go collect parcels as a result of the article in the paper, its not too much trouble at all, so if you have a parcel that you would like me to collect, please do drop me an email: trudifletcher@rocketmail.com or I am happy to take cash donations and I will go and do the shopping for you.

These are my helpers, Mollie-Ann (left)

and Amber Kiy (right) pushing the trolley

and Eloise Brennan in the cart. I think they make

lovely elves don't you?

(picture courtesy of Rob Searl)

One of the parcels I collected was from a lovely lady called Rosemary who lives a couple of villages away.  Rosemary had dropped me an email having seen the article in The News and Mail saying that she would love to get involved, but that she had recently had a knee operation and was therefore unable to get to either of my drop off points.  Now that's not an issue says I.  We have all heard the saying "If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain".  So off I went to meet Rosemary and here's what she had to say:

Rosemary told me that having read the article in the News and Mail she wanted to help with a donation and not only did Rosemary provide a much needed food parcel, but she also provided a cash donation too.  Rosemary said that the campaign is such a good idea, she had seen drop off boxes in the local supermarkets on her shopping visits so she knew about the Foodbank, but she said that it is very sad that people have to use these services.

It's reassuring to know that despite being in a bit of a pickle herself, people like Rosemary are more than willing to help someone else less fortunate than themselves.  We need more kind hearted and thoughtful people like Rosemary.

Like many people that I have come into contact with whilst running this campaign Rosemary did not realise that you have to be assessed to use the Foodbank, once assessed you are then provided with the necessary food vouchers to enable you to use them in the foodbank.  You can be referred to the foodbank through over 75 front line sources, including your GP, Social Services or Citizens Advice Bureau.

Whilst on the subject of donations, we have had a very generous cash donation from a company called "Don't Just Sit There Sell Something".  These guys very generously came on board last year and I am very pleased to say that Company Owner, Liam Brennan has provided his support yet again, so many thanks for the support.

Don't Just Sit There, Sell Something are located in Guildford with a workforce of between 15-20 staff and has been established for over 20 years. The secret of their success lies in their ability to tailor their sales pitch at specific levels; identifying, understanding and addressing the need for a different approach means that they consistently achieve high levels of success, becoming a self-funding part of every client’s business - and they only charge you if they get you results. 

The telemarketing company is a springboard for young people looking to get into sales and marketing and its a young team that keeps the management on their toes.

I know that they currently have vacancies too, so if you think that this may be a new path for you or indeed if they can help with any marketing then why not give them a try, you never know where it may lead......

When asking Liam about the foodbank and whether he could tie an emotion to it his response was "despair", "we are a nation of such wealth, but yet we still have people that need the basics like food"

And again Liam is absolutely right and what with Woking being so close to London a mere train stop away, its pretty shocking really that so many people find themselves in this situation.  Without the basics such as food and security things may begin to spiral out of control.  Hopefully the foodbank can bring some relief at a time of desperation, because lets face it nobody would go to the foodbank unless they really had no other option.

Finally, I have noticed that I am getting some feedback on my blogs, if you are going to leave a comment, please don't be a stranger, include your profile, I would love to hear from you.

So you can see its been a busy week.......I hope you have enjoyed reading this weeks blog...

oooo don't forget my drop off points are :

Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen 8-5.30pm and
Brookwood Club 4-11pm

25 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN 
APPOINTMENT SETTING

INTRODUCTION

All of our clients, quite rightly, have extremely high expectations in relation to the quality of appointments. Indeed, the whole point of telephone sales is to put your field sales people in front of decision makers who have the money, the authority and the need, without paying out more in fees than you would gain in profitable business.

Keep up those Christmas donations please - every little helps!!!

The Christmas campaign for Woking Foodbank is now well underway and the trolley cart kindly donated by Homebase - Brookwood branch and created into a sleigh by my very good friend and member of Brookwood Club, Phil Bayliss had it's very first outing today to the local butchers, being Fulk Bros in Connaught Road, Brookwood. Fulk butchers have very kindly donated some lovely products including pasta sauce and luxury gravy to name but a few items.  I wouldn't mind some of those myself!!!!

Fulk Bros, family business established 1927

Tony Ward, Manager of Fulk Bros,
Brookwood

Tony Ward the Brookwood manager has been working for Fulk Butchers for in excess of 40 years and he told me that he started in Fulk's in 1972, I was, but a toddler then!!!

Family co-owner Jo, told me that the business will be celebrating a fantastic 91 years in business this year, moving to Brookwood from Woking in 1927, my word that's clearly a sign of a very good business.  

Fulk Bros is a family run business and some of the Brookwood residents probably know the other co-owner Tony Fulk.  Jo tells me that the business would not be what it is today without the support from all the team at Fulk Bros along with Judy Fulk, and the managers of both Brookwood and Pirbright stores, Tony (pictured)  and Steve.

Having asked Jo the question - did you know about the foodbank? Jo responded "The Foodbank creates a sense of community helpfulness which can sometimes form the backbone of small villages such as Brookwood" - and you know Jo is absolutely right, this is just one occasion when Brookwood village really comes into its own and shows that sense of togetherness. Everyone wants to help and together we achieve great things......have I said that before? probably, but to be honest it's true so may be if I keep quoting it more great things will happen.

This campaign never ceases to amaze me from the generosity of everyone and also the emotional attachment that it seems to have and the lovely comments that I have had from everyone reading the blogs.  To start with like everything I was not sure how it was going to be received, but oddly it seems to be working, so I will continue....

So over the weekend I was contacted by Rob at Woking News and Mail asking if they can run a feature on the campaign, well of course the answer is YES, YES, YES.........ooo did I sound proper excited, well that's because I am, this can only be good, more coverage for the campaign, so stay tuned for more info....... here is a copy of the snippet from last year's News and Mail covering the foodbank warehouse from which you will see that the Foodbank closed it doors for food donations following the influx of donations and interestingly reading the article from 21st December 2017 it states that the Foodbank was then helping 25 families and individuals a week, that has now increased to 30 families and individuals per week which can only mean that the percentage has increased yet again over the period of a year and that in itself is pretty darn scary!!

The thing is it could be any one of us at any time, at the moment you may have a belly full of food, but you never know when your circumstances could change on the spin of a coin.  I hope it does not change for you, but you never really know, do you????

My first radio interview starts this coming Wednesday 7th November with Jon Andrews of Radio Woking, be sure to tune in from 8am to hear all about the campaign, how you can get involved and of course donate.  You can tune in via DAB or internet by clicking this link:   Radio Woking

In the meantime, just as a reminder, my drop off points for food parcels are Brookwood Club, really friendly members club in the heart of the village, but they will welcome you with food parcels and you never know, if you are not a member you may consider asking the bar steward for an application form and of course Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen, why not stop, have a coffee and a bit of cake whilst dropping off your parcel.....

The Christmas Foodbank Campaign Officially starts today.

Today's the day!!!!!


Well there you have it, today's the day that my Christmas Foodbank Campaign for Woking Foodbank officially gets underway to help people in crisis.  I seriously cannot believe where this year has gone, but to those people that are in crisis, Christmas is probably the last thing on their mind and indeed its the time of the year when we are all under so much pressure to be happy, but if you don't have the simple things in life, like food how is that ever going to be possible?

I have actually already been receiving cash donations which will enable me or more importantly my mum to go out and do some food shopping, my mum is great she is so frugal she gets all the bargains which means that those food parcels will go even further and plus she has far more time than me and its about all the family getting involved in whatever way possible and this is my mum's way of getting involved, its great she loves it, to be honest I loath food shopping, but sometimes you have to do the things that you dislike, right?

My first food parcel arrived last week, would you like to see what was in it? would you? I bet you would, oh go on then, but this is the one and only time that I will be showing you as its not really the amount or whats in the parcel, its the fact that you have given that counts....

Well here it is........as you can see there are a variety of items ranging from a Christmas biscuit selection box, to aftershave for men.  These are probably luxury items that a person struggling at Christmas would not be purchasing for themselves as the essentials are more important.....we can help, however little you can give, it will help someone somewhere and you never know it may even put a smile on their face knowing that someone else has thought about them, I mean at the end of the day we all want to be thought about my someone, don't we?

This week has been full of highs and lows, at one stage I thought I had secured lots of carrier bags for FREE as that is one other thing that the foodbank require especially now that they are 5-10p per BAG, that's extra expense.  Anyway, as I said I had sorted out the carrier bags for free from a well established company in Woking, who actually said that they would deliver them to the office for me, well a week passed and still no carrier bags, so off I went armed with my notebook and camera to get that all important interview for social media coverage for the company, which of course is what I am doing in exchange for cash donations or goodies, only to be told when I got there that actually there had been a misunderstanding, well I get that its everyone's option to change their mind, but I know that free is free so not sure where the misunderstanding came into play, but anyhow, with head held high I thanked them for their time and left with my notebook empty........  Seriously, this has now left me with no carrier bags hmmmmm what to do next?

I am not one to give up easily so I put my thinking cap on and I got in touch with the area manager for CO-OP, convenience stores, Gareth.  After all this is a local campaign so its great to get local businesses involved.   I explained to Gareth via email my plight of the carrier bags and would the CO-OP like to come to the rescue? to my delight Gareth said "YES we would love to help", well can you imagine, that was like music to my ears.......carrier bags are back on the tick box.  Its weird really I never thought that I would get that excited about getting free carrier bags, but there you go.

Here is a piccie of Julie Nicholls the deputy manager of The CO-OP in St Johns, its a great little convenience store right in the heart of St Johns and ya know its a busy little shop too even at 8am in the morning which is when I visited.   Julie is a local lady from Knaphill and has been working for the Co-Op for in excess of 30 years and has been working at the St Johns branch for 6 years.  Julie has very kindly donated 1000, yes a 1000 carrier bags for FREE which is amazing and the promise of more if we need them.  I cant express my gratitude enough as I said above the Foodbank do not sell their carrier bags to the clients so hopefully this will enable them to save a bit more cash to be spent on food!

So to the company that let me down, who shall remain nameless with no social media coverage for their business, its totally your loss and to Gareth the area manager of The Co-Op and Julie Nicholls, Deputy Manager of St Johns branch many many thanks for your help.  Welcome aboard my Christmas Foodbank Campaign, I shall promote your business via Facebook, Twitter and even a little ole mention on Radio Woking!!!!!

Now that my campaign is underway, Click on the  Shopping list, these are items that are required.  Remember, my drop off points for food parcels are Brookwood Club and also Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen all during working hours or alternatively, drop me an email trudifletcher@rocketmail.com or if you know where I live in the village feel free to knock on my door.....

Thats it for this week, but stay tuned for more news.....