A Roaring Success !

This weekends fundraising got off to a fast paced start - as part of the Prestatyn Classic Car and Bike Show -Tim also organised a classic car run on the Sunday and managed to incorporated in it a little bit of impromptu MND fundraising helped by committee members Debbie and Peter who collected a whopping £80 in the bucket from the generous drivers taking part in the run.[ pictured above is Tim doing a charity ride in his Porche Targa ]
Ned and I got off to an early start this morning[ Monday] in the pouring rain- we were in town by 8am putting up our MND gazebo in readiness for the start of the show at 10.30
Here`s a line up of our MND ladies who completed the first shift selling tickets for our " Ride with me to beat MND "[ L-R ] Cousin Karen, daughter Abbi, me, aunty Judy, and also Stuart Lewis [not in picture] You did a fantastic job all of you ! Thank you.

One lucky lad had a fantastic time [pictured above ] when he was treated to a ride in a Maserati GranTurismo , grins all round ! What fabulous music the Maserati and the Ferrari made when they treated the crowd to a engine revving competition - everybody appreciated the sound !!
I must especially thank all the classic car owners who took part in the "ride with me-to beat MND " I really enjoyed meeting you all and what a very kind and generous lot you were -not only allowing us to use your" Pride and joys " in raising money but also donating generously yourselves-and staying long over your allotted time slot-Thank you.
Hubby Ned had a thrilling ride in a Westfield sports car owned by Peter who had travelled from Llanwrst to take part [ notice his biking leathers matched the car ] Hmm !
I had a wonderful ride in the little red Austin 7 RP Box -now I want one ! A special thank you to father and daughter team- Ray and Lynda who owned this car and the Lanchester-they worked really hard all day taking people out for rides-one lady enjoyed herself so much Ray chuckled that she waved at everyone she passed by !
A big thank you goes out to ALL our wonderful helpers -pictured here is Anna and her friend Emma.
Brother John and Chris took over for the second shift in the MND gazebo - they really did a fantastic job especially as John puts it, the only car he has any knowledge of is his very battered Citroen Berlingo !
Our supporters came in all sizes - pictured here is Louis [my nephews son ] wearing his MND band as you can see he has just had his face painted as Spiderman .[er I think ? ]
A lot of our drivers told us how much they had enjoyed their day and said that they were more than willing to come back next year to do it all again ! Tim did a fantastic job organising this event and I`am really proud of him and all of his committee members for putting on such a successful show, not only did he do Prestatyn Town proud but he did Andrew proud too - we raised a fabulous £700 for the MNDA.
The money raised will fund a research project into finding better treatments and possible cure for MND.

The Prestatyn Classic Car Show line up.........

We now have the posters up and ready, advertising our " Ride with me to Beat M.N.D " for this coming May Bank Holiday[ Monday 30th] . As you can see we have a fabulous selection of cars to chose from...17 altogether !! [ click on poster to enlarge ] The cars will be parked opposite the vicarage gates-just off the main high street by Blockbusters videos [ -suggested donations from £5-£30 depending on the car , and duration-i.e. short or long ride ] For more information or reserve a time slot phone Tim Williams on..07788492702 or
contact http://www. bon2u@co.uk....... or come see us at the show at our M.N.D gazebo !

It is now Saturday morning and we have 5 more cars volunteering to give rides-What a generous lot you car owners are ................they are ....

A Maserati GranTurismo 2007
Porche Carrera 2010
Westfield
Lancia Spider 1997
Lancia 166

Can`t thank you guys enough-I hope you have a brilliant day and enjoy yourselves- and I`m really looking forward to meeting you all-see you all there !

If you like cars then you might like this ..........




Sticking with a car show theme I thought you might enjoy this video- My friend Roly Roberts is the voice you can hear singing ! Roly has a bet on at the moment-he wants to get 500 likes or dislikes on this video using facebook, Can you help him? If you get a moment please watch it or berate it [he won`t mind either ] -then get your friends to do the same......If he wins , it will cost his friend £50 into a charity of his choice !

Garden Open 3

This short video just gives a small insight into the goings on at last Sundays Open Garden !

Janet's garden linked

This is a video of my garden before the start of our open day-as you can see it was quite a windy day !

My Garden Open for MND !

After a bit of a shaky start this morning battling against the wind to put up the gazebo [at one point we nearly lost it completely! ] I`am glad to report today went without any further hitches ! All morning there was a steady stream of visitors all dropping off lots of yummy homemade cakes !
My cousin Karen pictured here - made a plate full of these little fresh cream beauties , yum ! Brother John was up at the crack of dawn baking as were friends Tammy , and next door neighbour Gwyneth and Mel`s mum Sue ! A special thank you to Glenys and Geoffs grand daughter- Amy for all the wonderful fairy cakes you made -they were lovely and decorated so beautifully !
Also to sister Ann -not only did she make cakes but she found the time to make and bring along some of her homemade marmalade that sold out straight away- as did the home made Barabrith ! [thank you to Linda`s mum ]
Pictured here on the left with me- is next door neighbour Gwyneth-who is a brilliant cook, she is very generous and often brings us lots of home baking treats ,her hubby Anthony made a stencil so she could decorate one of her cakes.......
Brilliant don`t you think ?
We opened at 2 o`clock and had a steady stream of visitors ! we had a couple of downpours-the gazebo came in very handy-but I`am pleased to say they passed over really quickly, I was really touched to see how many of my friends and neighbours all turned out to support us-even rolling up their sleeves to help with the washing up [ hugs to Glenys ]
I can`t believe how quickly the day went- I was that busy chatting and catching up with people -I forgot to take any pictures- Brother in law Chris did some videoing -so I will put a little bit of that on the blog -later this week. Our terrier Jess did a wonderful job meeting and greeting -she had a fabulous time-everyone loved her -she looked very sassy wearing her bandanna.

We made £300 for the MNDA today which I am thrilled to bits about ! Any one thinking of doing something similar-go for it ! I have had a lovely day -Again thanks to everyone who helped !! My tea ladies -or should I say gents ? John Chris and Ned -you were brilliant ! Sister Ann -how the hell you sold all those raffle tickets I`ll never know- as well as plants, entry admission and nick nacks, and jams ! Thanks to Tim for help rescuing the gazebo, Marian Mike and Geoff for donating plants to sell and everyone else for help making today such a wonderful success xx

Good Luck Jenny ! Fingers crossed for nice weather Sunday !!

My garden pictured above at lunchtime today [ click to enlarge ]-and yes it was pouring down with rain ! See post below-blogger is playing tricks on me tonight and my photographs will not download in the right order-sorry ! does anybody else ever have the same problem ?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog about a wonderful lady called Jenny Green, who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2009 - Jenny aims to raise money for MND research by travelling in her tramper from the Notre Dam cathedral Paris to the Cutty Sark in Greewich London, She is hoping to cover around 50km a day-She writes ......
It is finally happening ! the dog and house sitters have arrived -our nice big trailer isn`t big any more with 2 trampers , a bike and a camp bed on board not to mention all the gear that needs fitting into our car-wet and dry clothes, spare batteries for vehicles ,cameras and videos plus [I love this !] all the babe stuff a girl has to carry with her and only ever uses half of it -sound familiar ? hmm.
Wishing you lots of luck Jenny-I hope everything goes smoothly for you and take care x
Jenny is pictured[ wearing her band ] in the above photograph on her tramper . Her adventures start on Sunday, you can follow her journey by reading her blog at jennygreenchallenge.wordpress.com/

It has rained nearly all day today-great for ducks -not so good for gardeners like me ! My garden open day is this Sunday and I`am itching to get out in the garden to finish off all of those little jobs that need doing- Invites have been delivered -Eggs have been dropped off with the promise of baking to be done by an army of family, friends and neighbours !! Thank you to all of you- You`re are all superstars ! xx I never thought I`d get through my "to do " list - but boxes are slowly getting ticked off-banners have been made , plants potted up, labelled and priced for our plant sale and my vintage nick nacks washed and priced ! [ well , a lot of stuff has been in storage ] raffle ticket books bought , float sorted , raffle prizes sorted , hedges trimmed , beds weeded , bunting washed and ironed , flowers bought for the tea tables , greenhouse glass repaired and fitted [thank you hubby ] and tidied- gaps filled with bedding plants , climbers trimmed and secured , tables and gazebo delivered [ thanks Tim ] all ready for the big day ! All we need now is nice weather- Please send good vibes our way for Sunday !! I took this photo at lunchtime today- it was pouring down !! and yes !-thats my dressing gown that I left out in the rain , oops .

Finally , I would just like to say a huge thank you- to the lovely Rhian Waller who works at our local newspaper The Journal , and who always gives us a fabulous write up in the paper on all our MND events we really appreciate it Rhian-thank you !!

Where is Louis ? More cars for MND !!!

Meet Louis , he is our youngest family member- aged just 3 and supporter of MND [ as you can see, he is wearing his band in all of these photo`s!] the photographs were taken on a recent family holiday but where ? He is a real little action man- constantly on the go -but sometimes even action men need to take a little break now and again...
Refreshed-here he is with his big sister Elle-Sword in hand ! Well ! you never can be quite sure who you are going to bump into ? Any idea who these characters are ?
Have you guessed where I`am yet ?
Look -Its me Louis !
Duh ! Well ? Its easy ! even I know the answer ! And now ............................. for an

UPDATE !

To give you an update on our " Ride with me to beat MND " at this years Prestatyn Classic Car Show - to be held on the 30 th May-I`am delighted to confirm we now have 15 cars participating ! A huge thank you once again to all the classic car owners who have agreed to take part in this event-what a fantastic response.
Things are moving along nicely.....
I have ordered our posters , car stickers , extra t-shirts and balloons [all 100 of them ! ] from the Motor Neurone Disease Association- if ever you are thinking of doing any fundraising ,the MNDA are a great support-they will send out whatever you need and pretty quickly too ! I have written to our local press so hopefully we will get some publicity in next weeks papers and I`am toying with the idea of phoning the local radio station again to get them to give us a plug [hmm- will have to work myself up for that one ]
The cars taking part.........

Austin RP Box [see photo ] . Lanchester . Porche 911 . Bond Equipe . American Fester [see above ] TR6. [see photo ] Morris 1100 . Austin Healey Frogeye . Mini 25 . Morris 8 Tourer .
Rover 2000 . TR6 . V.W.Camper [Jamie Oliver style ] Opal manta rally car and drum roll please ...........
A Ferrari 348 Spider !
To avoid disappointment on the day you can pre-book your car-suggested donations £5-£20
For all inquiries Tim Williams @ http://www.bon2u.co.uk tel 07788598991

Well I`am off to spend some time in the garden -though, it is looking like rain here -just a week to go before I have my open day and still lots to do ! hope you all have a great weekend !

Breathe-The Alarm, The Gathering 18

This post is just for Andrew ! He is going in to St Kentigerns today to give Jayne a little bit of a break -A couple of weeks ago I asked Andrew what his favourite Alarm song was and he mentioned that it was this one ! Apparently Mike`s wife Jules wrote the music-which Mike overheard her playing one day-pinched the tune, added the lyrics and made it his ! Just so you know I`m thinking of you Bro-this is for you ! will see you later x

Run Balmoral

Congratulations to my cousin Russell for completing a grueling multi terrain half marathon run recently- raising £110 for motor neurone disease- Well done you-an excellent result ! Russell pictured here wearing his band before the start of the run -[he writes I was too knackered after to take any photographs ! ] said the run went really well- as you can see the weather and the setting were great and the fact he was being sponsored helped him get round what turned out to be a hilly 13 miles, crossing the moors at 1200ft before dropping back to the castle at Balmoral-I had to chuckle as he wrote saying the best part of the run -was that the beer tastes so much better afterwards and a warm evening sat out in the sun was just the ticket to aid recovery . And well deserved too Russ !
You can see a photo of Russell crossing the finishing line at
http://www.sportcam.net/CompetitorDetail.-aspx?ID=4435688+&type=No,27+&Name.=
Russell is the one in the middle with the gorgeous legs !

Weekend guests and Alicia keys Parody North Wales

We have had visitors this weekend, my stepson Ed and his girlfriend Lucy , picture here above with hubby Ned and our dog Jess- the weather has been gorgeous- and we have made the most of it ! After watching the Royal wedding on the telly [ and doing a lot of flag waving-I thought Kate looked beautiful by the way ] we all sat out in the garden drinking a glass or two of Pimms, it was lovely just chatting and catching up. Edward was up early yesterday and took himself off to a car boot sale -he came back as pleased as punch with some golf clubs which he paid 2.50 for-a bargain ! They have left today and I must admit the house seems very quiet and empty without them !
The video below, my brother in law Tim has on his Prestatyn Classic Car Show website-it shows what beautiful scenery there is right here on our doorstep in North Wales-Anyone thinking of visiting the car show on the 30th May this gives you an idea of the stunning views available here just a short drive away. We now have 10 cars participating in our Ride with me to beat MND-a great result ! Thank you to all the car owners for generosity in allowing their cars to be used to raise awareness and funding for MND .