Well after
the last blog we felt you needed something light hearted to read but none the
less extremely important.
We mentioned
before how Andy and then myself began to try to give a little back to
Clatterbridge Cancer Charity but we’re not alone in our quest and some
amazingly generous and kind hearted people with no prompting from us have
‘stepped up to the plate’, we’d like to honour these kind people with this
overview of their support to us and to Clatterbridge.
In no
particular order for you are all stars in our eyes:
My Cousin Maria Hinnigan, she is running
in the Reading Half Marathon in March, she’s chosen to run this in support of
Julie (That's Me!) and all sponsorship money is going to Clatterbridge Cancer Charity.Maria
lives South of the M4, so some distance from Clatterbridge up here on
Merseyside yet her friends are rallying around with one family alone donating
over £100! I notice too our very special Aunt Dot & her Husband Uncle Stan who live in Israel (so part of the 'Take Clatterbridge CC Global' team) quietly sneak in it seems regular generous donations too, special thanks to you both. Maria is encouraging sponsors to vote for what colour she will dye
her hair to run the half marathon in. Here is Maria’s jut giving link if you
feel you’d like to help her reach her target.
Next up is Andy’s brother and wife, Nigel &
Nunu. They own a Bar & Restaurant in Taiwan, so halfway around the world;
they too wanted to show their support for us and for Clatterbridge Cancer
Charity. Total strangers to us visiting ‘N2’ have dug deep; currently just over
£4,300 has been donated via justgiving.com. One of Nigel’s friends from America
has truly shook us with his generosity, $1,500 US Dollars (around £1,000!) and
then to highlight Clatterbridge Cancer Charity, on his return to the USA he’s
taken a CCC T-Shirt on a tour of New York’s finest sights and has since moved
on to Philadelphia, to The ‘Rocky Statue’ and those steps Sly Stallone ran up! Bit of an update, Nigel & Nunu were here last week (last week of Feb) and we took them to Clatterbridge, we will do more on that in a real time blog but Nigel reminded me of this touching event, you know its not how much you have to spare its truly about how much you care, wealth as you are about to read is all 'relative'. Nigel has a young student visit his bar once a week for one beer that he makes last around 3 hours, I think he is Iranian. Nigel by his own admission didn't have a lot of time for this young man, after all buying a beer once a week is hardly going to boost profits. One week during the Clatterbridge Collection period this lad came in ordered his beer and said to Nigel, "I'm allowed to work three days a week with my student visa, I've just collected my wages, I'd like to donate them to your Clatterbridge appeal", he showed Nigel his corresponding wage slip and insisted he took the money. In a country where locals earn less in a week than someone on minimum wage here earns in a day, this gesture brought my brother to tears... Far from being someone who he has no time for now, Nigel has told this young man he is welcome anytime & he can have his one beer a week free for life now.... It wasn't the amount/value it was the gesture... (Now go wipe your eyes!)
Then there
is the amazing John Burns!
Andy & I have only ever met John & his lovely wife Sarah once during
another of Andy’s campaigns to right another wrong, but enough on that except to say a friendship has formed, this is
about the man Andy lovingly refers to as ‘JB’! John contacted us privately a
short while ago explaining he was running the London Marathon this year and to
give us the heads up that he was going to run it seeking sponsorship to be
donated to Clatterbridge Cancer Charity having been inspired to do so because
he knew how close the cause was to our hearts! What an absolute Star! We are as
with everyone else very humbled by this gesture. JB's Just giving page link is below too..
Then there
is Andy’s Mum, Maureen who has
supported us and Clatterbridge in so many ways. Prior to Xmas Maureen my
co-conspiring craft maker, teacher and inspirer set about making box loads of
goodies for CCC to sell at their Pre-Xmas ‘Frost Fair’ there were pocket tissue
holders, trays for Santa’s & Rudolph’s snacks, Door hangers to remind Santa
where to call lol Sweet boxes packed with goodies, book marks, fridge magnets,
a real array of things. Henry was always dragged in somewhere along the line to
assist be it making templates or profiles, a true family and team effort.
(Andy here) She won’t mention herself so I will,
Julie also got stuck in and crocheted all of the following; baby blankets, beanie hats aimed at men and
young lads, snowflakes and ‘crackers’ to hang on Xmas trees. It’s a passion of
Julie’s crocheting she is so talented.
Louise was almost doing cartwheels when we took in Maureen & Julie’s
items; we hoped they raised loads of money from them for this amazing cause.
More
recently with Henry’s sad passing to add to his already generous support of us
and Clatterbridge CC instead of flowers at Henry’s funeral we asked for
donations to Clatterbridge, generous donations again have come in from as far
as the USA from Maureen’s brother and
wife Paul & Maggie in Henry’s
memory. Julie dropped the collection box in today; we’ll update
everyone on the generosity shown asap.
We mentioned
our granddaughter and budding F1 star
Chloe, Chloe’s new race suit proudly carries the Clatterbridge logo to
promote this so worthy cause and to support Grandma, we will hopefully
be collecting donations & promoting CCC on race & practice days, who knows she may be on the
podiums, trophy in hand and the logo boldly displayed as the media hopefully
focus on our rising star!
For those
local to Merseyside & Wigan Chloe is competitively racing at Hooton near
Ellesmere Port and at Three Sisters near Wigan in the spring, we’ll keep you
updated and hopefully you’ll be able to come and cheer her on along with
(hopefully) one very proud Grandma!
And then there are many of you, some
friends, some acquaintances, some of you we’ve never met but we’re extremely grateful to for
the money you have donated via many of the options including clicking on the
Clatterbridge Cancer Charity logo on the right hand side of the blog (Tablets,
laptops & PC’s, not sure on iphones)
There are those who wish to remain
anonymous, you
know who you are and our sincerest thanks.
There will
be more inspirational ways announced by us soon as to how you can help us
support this amazing charity, if and only if you can afford to and share our passion.
If you can
give your time or you are in a club or a large office or, well any environment
where as an individual or team you can help Clatterbridge Cancer Charity why
not get in contact with them. Louise, Karen & Elspeth will I am sure
welcome you as warmly as they’ve welcomed us.
Not involved
with our campaign but my frog prince
& I did collect via their Hoylake Station on the weekend of the Open
Golf Championship, Mersey Rail
in the last year have contributed over £105,000 during 2014! What an amazing
feat, every single penny truly adds up.
Want to Know more about Clatterbridge Hospitals & Clatterbridge Cancer Charity or prefer to Donate directly to Clatterbridge Cancer Charity?
Please click on the links below.
https://www.justgiving.com/ClatterbridgeCC
http://www.clatterbridgecc.nhs.uk/
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