Santa does exist.....

Photo courtesy of Anthony Gurr

Our hand and feet Christmas painting was a ho ho ho ho lotta fun, the kids seemed to love it and the parents sat with tea/coffee in their hands and just took a moment to relax. 

The gingerbread was great mindfulness for the kiddies, so if you need something to keep them occupied between now and Christmas I can highly recommend it.  When they weren't doing their hand and feet prints they were sitting nicely colouring in, or making themselves busy inside the house - it was lovely to watch. 

Photo courtesy of Anthony Gurr

We had a special guest arrive at the event, I have no idea where he came from, but I am guessing all these kiddies have been good and Santa wanted to make sure they were all on the good list.  Whilst at the event and of course it is the 21st Century, Santa made a note of their wishes for Christmas, but not by ole fashion pen and paper, but by recording and I will put the link up in next week's blog once its ready, I mean its up to Santa to do it and he is a very busy person this time of the year!  

We raised a few more extra pennies for Woking Foodbank - the volunteers worked tirelessly throughout the day and I take my hat off to them, it wouldn't have gone so well without them

Some of our beautiful volunteers 

Anyhow, thank you to all that came to the event and supported our campaign.  Massive thanks to all the volunteers that turned up to helped out, look at them all smiling away, they are a lovely bunch of people.

The picture of happiness 

New comers to the campaign this week are: Bentleys Garage. Bentleys have been in the village since 1985 and are located at the far end of the village towards Pirbright. They currently have 8 staff.  Bentleys started out as a father and son business which has grown into a successful third generation family run business who are available for all your car/motorcycle vehicle servicing/repairs, please do give them a call if they can help you out in anyway.  You can also find them on Facebook so please check them out and give them a follow.  You never know when you might need them!

I went to visit Natasha at Bentleys during the week as they have very kindly offered to be an additional drop off point for the campaign and will be providing some much needed food parcels as you can see from the stash in the sleigh and that was just one visit.

Please do drop your parcels at Bentleys if you are in the far end of the village and I will happily pick them up on your behalf.

I understand from Natasha that they wanted to get involved last year, but thought that they had missed the deadline.  I know my posters have a deadline of 7th December, but please don't think that is set in stone. I am always happy to take any parcels after my deadline, but it's nice to get the majority of the donations to the foodbank in good time for Christmas to ensure that the vulnerable get what they need in plenty of time and this takes some organising.

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We also have returning to the campaign breast cancer charity Walk the Walk.  They have kindly offered to collect some food from the staff for us which is just lovely.

Having been affected by breast cancer myself this year, it is important to get checked.  

Walk the Walk quote on their website "Pick a day in the month to check yours, and get to know your breasts or pecs (guys we’re talking to you too!). In the UK "1 in 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in a lifetime and 350 men in a year".

Charities can offer you so much when you are poorly and for me its a huge honor to be able to give something back.  Should you find yourself at a lose end, please do look up a charity they are always looking for volunteers to help out with something whether it be fund raising events or administration, there is always plenty to do.

Saturday 7th December 6pm Brookwood Club - event not to be missed - Yes, its the annual village Christmas Tree Light-up. Its a great event where the villagers come together to drink mulled wine, eat hot dogs and be merry.

The lights are being turned on by the new Headmaster of Brookwood School, carols will be sung by the children of the school and students from Winston Churchill School will also be performing with musical instruments.

Our sleigh will also be on site, so if you have not had the opportunity to drop a food parcel off yet, then you are welcome to leave it in the sleigh on that night and I will ensure that it will get delivered in good time. Its will also be the closing night of the campaign so a fitting finish I think.  

Make sure you come back next week to hear some of the Christmas wishes from the kiddies from the fundraiser and indeed some of the interviews made by none other than the amazing Lara McNamee

Oooooo gosh I almost forgot, its been a busy weekend!!! This week's radio interview with the fabulous Jon Andrews can be heard by clicking this link :Woking Radio and don't forget I will be on the radio again this coming Wednesday just after 8pm so tune in to Radio Woking to listen to the interview live.

Have a good week everyone, and I ho ho hope you enjoy the blog.

Trudi xx

Christmas is coming...

Whilst I have been out and about this week, I have noticed that several houses have been putting up their Christmas trees.  This can only mean one thing! Christmas is coming!!!!!  

Now for me Christmas is a festivity full of family, friends, fun, presents and food glorious food, but for some families that find themselves in crisis its their worst nightmare.

Its that time of year when we go mad with food shopping, filling up our cupboards to the brim so the doors hardly close with luxury chocolates, biscuits, smelly cheeses and Christmas puddings!  

Could you imagine having a young family, waking up Christmas day to no food, not even a Christmas selection box for your little one?  For some families this is the reality and this is where we can hopefully help.  By you providing a small food parcel of non perishable food or indeed a cash donation, its one less family that will have to worry about that dreaded day and you never know it could be that one parcel that gets them back on their feet.

Having got some statistics from Woking Foodbank it's actually pretty shocking how many more people are using the foodbank.  In some ways thank goodness its there, but in other ways it is a sad and troubling time.  Between January and September 2018: 1370 Adults and 649 children received help and yet the same time this year 2019:  2031 Adults and 1252 children.  This makes me feel very emotional, it has almost doubled which is pretty shocking- I am wondering whats going on in our society to make these figures double in just a year!

So what are Woking Foodbank looking for?  Well anything that is non-perishable please: Tins of biscuits, Christmas themed cakes, selection boxes, long life sponge puddings, powered potato, canned casserole meat, canned fish, UHT milk, canned spaghetti, rice pudding, canned chick pea......I think you get the idea.  

I get that some of you don't have time to do the extra shopping, so I am happy to take cash donations and do the shopping for you.  My drop off points are Brookwood Club, Brookwood Post Office Bakers Dozen.

I forgot to say that last week, I started my weekly radio interviews with Jon Andrews at Radio Woking which will continue until the campaign closes on the 7th December.  

Did you miss it, don't worry you can catch up with it here: Interview with Jon Andrews at Radio Woking  or indeed this week's chat was with Lara, so you can find out what I have been up to this week : Interview with Lara McNamee at Radio Woking .  

Do listen in Wednesday mornings just after 8am you can get more details about the fundraiser which is happening on the 24th November in Brookwood Memorial Hall and it only costs £5.00 yes £5.00 per child.  My advert is being rolled out on a weekly basis by Radio Woking so tune in to get the details or email me trudifletcher@rocketmail.com for more info.

Please get in touch if you would like to get involved we would love to see you, we have this giant gingerbread house which needs colouring in and I can't do it on my own, well I probably could, but where's the fun in that!  This is a great opportunity for the kids to have some mindful from their busy lives too.

Several companies have come on-board this week and a couple of newbies to the campaign.  DIO Landmarc contacted me to see if they could help in anyway and of course the answer is yes.

Graham from Landmarc told me "that the company is a world leading provider of integrated support services in military training facilities management, range and training area design, operation and management, range safety,specialist environmental services, rural estate management.  The company currently has 1300 people strong and is active across 120 military training sites in the UK.  Its so lovely having the military attached to this campaign again, I don't know if readers can remember? but a couple of years ago we had The Welsh Guards involved before they were deployed to Afghanistan.

Attached to Landmarc is Sandes Christian Charity  (The Soldier's Friend) which was founded in 1869. 

Sandes serves the military community working with the solders in centres located on military bases across the UK.  These neutral, non military spaces provide a home from home for soldiers and their families who can face incredible pressures and stressful working lives.  These centres are designed to be sanctuaries where soldiers can find a welcoming space on camp, free from rank and the pressure of military duties".

Landmarc and Sandes Cafe will be providing a joint effort which is amazing, I will let you all know how this goes. 

It's nice to have some people back from last year, Fulk Butchers in the village have provided a lovely parcel for me, its such a great community spirit - don't forget to call in and get your order placed for that Christmas dinner if you haven't done so yet.

Pre School at St Saviour's Church are kindly displaying my posters and the lovely ladies have said that they will do their bit to help with the foodbank campaign.  This might be where I will have to get the sleigh out for a little trip.  The parcels that the pre-school have provided in the past have been absolutely amazing, but my god so heavy and lets face it, its a great opportunity to get the sleigh out and get the villagers talking about what's going on in the community.

The absolutely amazing Linda Moss is back with her company CSGI based in Woking, again you can look back on  Last year's blog for more details.  Linda is an absolute treat to work with, she rallies around getting in parcels and cash donations for me and it just shows you that I don't do this campaign on my own, everyone does their bit.

Oooooo and do you remember Kris Kringle from last year, if not you can look back on my blog The Show Must Go On!!! well I am very pleased to say that he is back again this year and has kindly provided a very nice donation and some very kind words for good health. 

So Mr Kringle thank you so much for your contribution its going to make a huge difference to some people. 

And the above leads me onto my biggest question.......dun dun dun.......can I persuade anyone to be Santa for my fundraiser, guess you will have to keep tuned in and see what happens....

In the meantime, I will be about the village to see if I can get anyone else to come on-board with this amazing initiative - whats the worst that can happen, they say No!

I still have spaces available for the fundraiser, so please do get in touch if you would like to come along and indeed if you didn't feel like doing any hand/feet painting pop in for a cuppa tea/coffee (£1.50 per cup), put ya feet up, listen to some Christmas music and simply enjoy the moment of having some time to yourself. 

All are welcome and we would be very pleased to see you. 

And we are off!!!!

So its the 1st November and we are off again on this year's foodbank campaign for Woking Foodbank. 

Its been a difficult decision to go ahead this year.  Some of my readers will know and to some this may come as a surprise, but earlier this year I was diagnosed with breast cancer, so I have been struggling with hospital appointments, operations and treatments, but hopefully I am out the other side now and this campaign gives my family and I something else to concentrate on, but it also makes you realise that whilst I was having a very tough time with my emotions and my health I did at least have the basics in my life such as, food and that is what has led us back to this campaign food glorious food!!!!

Could you imagine having health problems, (physical or mental) having to leave your workplace for self care, having no money, trying to deal with your emotions along with your health issues and the pure fact that you have no food the cupboard!!! Your only choice is to visit a foodbank!  This takes guts, courage and for some I can only imagine its absolute hell on earth having to resort to this means just to keep going until you are able to get back on your feet. 

It's such a shame that in a place as rich as Woking which is only 27 minutes away from London via train that we have these facilities, but in some respects thank goodness we do.

This year we have brand new sparkly posters for you to feast your eyes on they are bright and colourful and most certainly catch your eye, so please don't let it just catch your eye look closely and see how one bag of food you could provide will make a difference to a family that find themselves in crisis this year, it is said that any one of us is only three pay packets away from the foodbank and that its pretty staggering statistics.

My drop off points are the same as in previous years :  Brookwood Club which is situated at the heart of the village.  If you are new to the village do pop in and ask for a membership form we are always looking for new members 😊 and;

Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen which is a few doors down from Brookwood Club, you can get a nice bacon roll and cuppa tea in the mornings on your way to work, or pop in and sample some of the other confectioneries. 

Now to add some extra spice to this year's campaign we have decided to get the kiddies involved by including an activity for them for hand and feet painting.  This event will take place on Sunday 24th November in Brookwood Memorial Hall at 12-3pm.  

Did you know that The Memorial Hall was built on land donated by The London Necropolis Company, from funds raised by public subscription, to commemorate those Brookwood residents who gave their lives for our freedom in the two World Wars.

This gives me a warm fuzzy feeling just like us lot we are giving something back to the community by way of food and that extra bit of help.

If you would like to book a space for this event, please do contact me via email to reserve your space: trudifletcher@rocketmail.com or tel: 0788 7565163 as spaces are going quickly and the numbers need to be limited due to time!!!  For £5.00 your little one could make three placemats for your Christmas Table or indeed they will make great prezzies for uncles and aunties, you know the ones that you have no idea what to give them for Christmas!!!  All proceeds will of course be going to The Foodbank.  We will provide juice for your little one, we are conscious of plastics, so if you are attending or would like to come please bring an appropriate drinking up for your little one. Please also bring some extra pennies as tea and coffee will be charged at £1.50 per cup.

Ok that's enough blubbing for this week, just one more thing to add, the wish list for The Foodbank as below, anything non perishable would be awesome, but if you cannot provide food or simply dont have the time spare to purchase it (I know its a busy time of the year), I am happy to take cash donations and do the shopping for you or indeed I am happy to accept your spare carrier bags.

My team and I will be about the village with the sleigh again this year, it has bells and lights now, so if you can't hear us coming you will most certainly see us!!

Please contact me at trudifletcher@rocketmail.com or tel: 0788 7565163 if you have a donation or parcel that you would like me to collect.

Many thanks to you, Trudi & Darren xx