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