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

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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.....