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.