Bands now back in stock and available from John Saunders

I`am pleased to announce that John Saunders from the blog [  www.jaded-john.net/  ]  has now received his new stock of  motor neurone disease awareness bands to sell.!!
John was diagnosed with MND last October -since then he has been making a super human effort to raise awareness and funds for the MNDA setting himself the target of raising £500 thousand pounds for the cause.
He has made many T.V and Radio interviews and was nominated to be a Olympic torch bearer- [ see the picture above ] carrying  the Olympic flame through his hometown of Wembdon near Bridgewater in what must have been a very proud moment for him and his family.
To find out more about John`s battle with this disease and his fundraising efforts and to support him and the MNDA by purchasing an awareness band -please click on the blue link .http://jaded-john.net/   
 and then on the tab labeled " team optimism "
Bands now also available from Chris Boon`s blog  http://cvmnd.blogspot.com   Chris would like you to send in photographs wearing your bands in funny poses -but asks- please keep it clean !! LOL X

Taking a break....

Back in  June 2010 at a family gathering [ the one pictured above actually ] I remember catching sight of a red wristband Andrew was wearing -turning it over I read " Fighting Lou Gehrig`s Disease "   The ALS Association.
 Andrew had been diagnosed with M.N.D the previous September and by the June his speech had been badly affected -on reading the band I looked up at him-  saying nothing ,we just exchanged smiles.
That night I went on line and tried to buy a band  like Andrew`s to show him my support-no one in the U.K. was stocking them...I did find a site in America but you had to bulk buy them. I mentioned this to Andrew a few days later ...he just smiled nodded in agreement and disappeared for a few moments returning with a bag full of  the bands bought from that same site - Typical of Andrew he was raising awareness in his own quiet way -giving out the bands to his fellow band mates and anyone who noticed his own...........The rest is history as they say !
I`am pleased to say that the MNDA will now be stocking their own bands for awareness month in June and are thinking of stocking them again for next year .......A great result ! Andrew would have been delighted to hear that - So, I`am taking this opportunity to have a  little break from fundraising for a while. I`am so very proud of all my family and of all of Andrew`s friends- his band mates were brilliant- encouraging him to take buckets to all of their gigs ,supporting him -enabling him to keep playing in his band for as long as possible- " Resistance " now has a new drummer and they are still raising money- this time for our local hospice. [ nice one lads ]- Andrew would have approved of that.
To anyone thinking of fundraising -please go for it ! Okay , there is always a few ups and downs [ and I admit- I have had my fair share of tears and tantrums along the way ] but for maybe every one person who lets you down so many more turn up offering help -we have at times been bowled over by the kindness and generosity of complete strangers !
The blog was for Andrew -to show we cared. We shared our ups and downs with him-hamming it up and playing certain things down !! We made him laugh. Thank you to everyone who supported us along the way-for all the lovely comments and words of encouragement, donations , and wonderful photographs you sent in - I can`t tell you how much we appreciated it all. There is not a day goes by when I don`t think of him -he is in my heart - never to be forgotten.
With your help we have raised over £13,000 for the MNDA.

I will leave you with the following details of where to purchase bands from...... The Broad cricketing family www.thebroadappeal.org/

Or contact the MNDA on 0845 6044150

If you have any pictures you would like to send in- please keep doing so and I will continue to keep adding them to this site and to the facebook site . Thank you.... Wishing you all in Andrew`s favourite words..Love Hope Strength  Jan and all the family xxx


GREAT INSPIRATIONAL  BLOGS TO FOLLOW

www.jaded-john.net/
steveevans35.blogspot.com/
deirdre-amonkeyonhisback.blogspot.com/
Hug Me ...I`ve got MND   www.nikkiwoodman.blogspot.com/
jennygreenchallenge.wordpress.com/
mndestroyer.wordpress.com/
seatnexttodad.blogspot.com/
chris-versus-mnd.weebly.com/ 
sarahezekiel.com/ 
shushkat.blogspot.com/
www.motor-neuron.com/

The DIY SOS programme starring Eric [see previous posts ] who is living with MND is being screened on the 16th May  8pm on BBC 1.

A head for Heights - but where ?

Thank you so much Natasha for sending in this fabulous photograph - You certainly have a head for heights , what a fantastic view ! So let`s have a bit of fun now and play guess the location game ! The correct guess wins a free MND awareness band-I also want to see if any of you are clever enough to name this world famous building in which she is standing in !
Some of you might already have purchased bands from me before - please have a guess -I will pass the band along to the next person if you don`t want it -so leave a comment and have a go !

The Vergers Coffee Morning

Even though I was working yesterday -I managed to dash into church and take a few photographs of The Vergers [ Alan`s ] Coffee morning for MND [ and buy some raffle tickets on the way out I might add !! ]- thought it would be nice to share them all with you. I was very touched that he had gone to so much trouble , isn`t this cake beautifully iced ? Alan`s sister had made it [put mine to shame -I didn`t even try and ice mine !!] They had decided to use it as part of one of the raffle prizes . My sister contributed to the raffle by making one of her hampers- as was well as decorating some window ledges at the back of the church...

I thought this one is lovely

The ladies are very professional and good at what they do!

The colours used this time of year are lovely and fresh -we are lucky The Parish Church has such pretty window ledges and the stained glass makes for a lovely back drop on a sunny day,


The coffee morning raised £260.37 for The Motor Neurone Disease Association -a fantastic result ! Thank you to everyone involved-we really appreciate it- and a special thank you to Alan
for still thinking of Andrew and raising much needed awareness for this charity.

Coffee Morning and flower arranging for MND

The Verger of Prestatyn Parish Church Alan Jones, [ he knew Andrew well by the way ] has very kindly arranged to hold coffee morning on Saturday the 7th of April- where there will be a team of lovely ladies in church decorating the window ledges in readiness for Easter-the public are invited in to church to watch the ladies in action , chat and enjoy a coffee and see the work in progress. There will be a raffle and all the proceeds raised this year will be going to the MNDA.


The church will be open from 10 am to 11.30 am- and admission will be £1 per person.
Ann and I contribute and decorate a window ledge [ each] here every Harvest festival ,Christmas and Easter, though because of work commitments we get to sneak in the night before and arrange ours then ! Many years ago when my sister first started organizing the Prestatyn Flower show the floral art section was not that well supported [ I`am delighted to say it is now and the standard is very high ] as a result -I got dragged along to night classes with Ann -and have enjoyed many years decorating our church and joining in with flower festivals and entering the local shows-it has been a lot of fun . Please, if you get a moment pop in and support the ladies
-they work very hard to make the church look beautiful and are a very friendly bunch- always enjoying a good chat and much laughter over a cup of tea or coffee !

A little bit of a news update now.

I have just received an email from Christina who wrote to tell me how she got on with her last fundraiser [ see last post ] The auction and comedy night she organized for Eric made a staggering 11,000 pounds plus- with 10% of the proceeds going to the MNDA !!! -the rest is to be put into a trust fund for Eric`s 3 lovely children-she wrote there was a lot of laughter , joy and a few tears too !! Our next fundraiser is to be a Folk Music festival in Enfield [ not far from us then Christina ] will give out details of that when I know more . Well done to everyone involved.

Calling All Londoners !

You might remember a post a did a while back about Eric [pictured here above- last Boxing Day with family and friends- Colin and Cristina ] Cristina had written to me telling me about Eric`s home which had received a make over by the DIY SOS Team [ the programme is due to be screened soon- so please keep an eye out for it !] Well, Cristina has truly got the bit between her teeth and along with her friend Gemma has organized a comedy night to raise funds for Eric and his wife and the MNDA. It will be held this coming Saturday 10th of March at the Fox Pub in Palmers Green.North London.N13. Home to the Electric Mouse Comedy Club.
Cristina writes .......The DIY SOS team will be coming along and the programme`s presenter Nick Knowles has confirmed he will be there-There will be an auction and we are hoping he will agree to do it [ bet he will be brilliant at that ] So if you live anywhere near there please pop along and support this event !!
Just a reminder too -Cristina`s hubby Colin is in training to run The Virgin London Marathon on the 22nd of April [ not long to go now Colin ] to raise much needed funds for the MNDA.

http://www.justgiving.com/user/26134474

Cristina also writes....

Our local Waitrose have been very supportive and they have a green token scheme set up for " Supporting Eric " - They will donate a percentage of funds they have set aside for charities to the MNDA. Below is a photograph of Eric who popped along to say thank you in person.

In The Wake by Alistair The Optimist

This is a beautiful video directed by Tim Delop and Jim Johnson- Please take a moment to listen to this track and watch it -I found it to be both very moving and inspiring . "In The Wake " happens to be my favourite track from Alistair The Optimist`s album- The c/d is now on sale from http://www.mndassociation.org -with 22% of the profit going to raise funds for the MNDA !
Alistair was diagnosed with MND 18 months ago-he and a group of friends decided to write and record songs under the banner of "Alistair the Optimist " and in the summer of 2011 recorded an album in 3 days.The album captures a moment in time when his weakening muscles still allowed him to play the drums, something he is no longer able to do, and as such the band will never play live. He writes ......

Be an incurable optimist and do something optimistic today.

The video has had 6,500 hits on u-tube already ! Please repost this to your facebook pages and to twitter by pressing the "F" or "T" at the bottom of this post -Me ? I`m off to buy the album and I hope you will do the same !

Oh ! Just a reminder -Where ever you going or what ever you are doing- Please remember to support the MNDA by wearing your awareness band-they do work ! Wear one to support a loved one or like me to remember and honour someone you have lost . Thank You ! Jan x
More info http://alistairtheoptimist.org/

No One by Alistair The Optimist

This video was created by Alistair`s good friends Rich Lee and Louise Baker Lee in California, it was filmed on the LA river-this is the first music video from "Alistair The Optimist " album.
"No One " is available as a free download at

http://alistairtheoptimist.bandcamp.com/album/alistair-the-optimist

The C/D is due to be released on the 5th March on " Mike Floats records " and will be available to buy from www.mndassociation.org

I think this is a really lovely song- Please support Alistair, 22 % of the album sales will be going to the MNDA . Enjoy x

Guess the location and win a free M.N.D. Awareness band

Thank you Steve for sending in this lovely photograph of your wife Kim [ seated ] and sister in law Sylvia . Steve had purchased some of our awareness bands from me- back in October last year and wrote promising to send in a photograph for the blog- to be taken on a forth coming cruise they were all looking forward to in January of this year -I hope you all had a lovely time by the way ! So , lets get the fun started -any ideas as to where this picture was taken ? first correct entry wins a free MND band !!

Before you all ask -here are a few clues.............

This place has been sculptured over time by several eruptions-the last being in 1909-it boasts of rugged terrain and dramatic landscapes and subtropical climates and sits on in the Atlantic ocean
Hmm I think that`s enough clues for now -any ideas ?

Rhuddlan Rocks 4HD - 'The Weapons of Happiness'

I found this video on facebook the other day- it is of Mike and The Alarm on stage with members of the fictional band "Weapons of Happiness " after completing scenes from the forthcoming film "Vinyl -The Movie " starring Phil Daniels , Keith Allen ,Perry Benson and Chris Taylor.
You can clearly see Andrew working at the back of the stage wearing his blue MND T-shirt and trying to get a few sneaky photographs ! It is lovely to see him walking round -MND robbed him of so much. The event was was used to provide a live concert background performance of the fictional band ." One Guitar " and features The Alarm as well as the cast from the film hamming it up for the crowd, the event was in support of Mike`s cancer charity The Love Hope Strength Foundation http://www.lovehopestrength.co.uk

About 2 minutes 39 seconds in -you can clearly see actor Keith Allen wearing one of our very first red ALS/MND Awareness bands which Andrew had purchased from America and had given out to all the actors [ we couldn`t find anyone here in the U.K. at that time who was stocking them -it `s what gave us the idea of selling our own in the first place ! ] I received a lovely email the other day from Cristina [ see last post ] who had gone out for a drink with her hubby Colin last weekend - he was wearing his awareness band -somebody stopped and asked them what the band represented , after explaining, the gentleman donated £15 towards Colin`s fund raising for MND- The Virgin London Marathon Run in April -Cristina wrote thought I`d let you know Janet and put a smile on your face, the bands do work -it made our night ! Cristina it made my day-thank you x
The Next video is a clip from the film Vinyl. [ see below ]

Vinyl Music Video

This is the trailer for The Movie-Vinyl ,The film is about ageism in the music industry. These scenes were filmed in Rhyl. Again you can quite clearly see the actor Phil Daniels wearing his MND awareness band.
For those of you going to the Alarms Gathering concert at Prestatyn next weekend - Have a super time and please wear your band for Andrew .I`am sure he will be there in spirit -keeping his eye on all of those guitars !!

The Virgin London Marathon

Meet Colin and Eric , Eric is living with MND and his best friend Colin has set himself a target of raising £2 500.00 for Eric`s Motor Neurone Disease tribute fund, by running in this years Virgin London Marathon on the 22nd April .
Colin writes Eric won`t benefit from it himself but it is a mark of the man that he has set up the fund so others will benefit from the efforts of his family and friends. Please donate if you can -we know times are hard but as Eric once said - You never know which £ donated is gonna lead to that all important research breakthrough ! For those of you who are maybe thinking of giving up smoking as part of a New Year `s resolution- Why not let us help you-donate the cost of a packet of cigarettes [ around £7 ] to our just giving site- which then sends your donation straight to the M.N.D.A. automatically claiming Gift Aid if you are a U.K. taxpayer , so your donation is worth more.

Colin is already off to a flying start and has raised £550.00 with gift aid adding another 20% to that total !! Training has started in earnest with Colin trying to raise as much awareness as he possibly can by wearing his M.N.D training vest [ and one of our awareness bands too- of course]


You can follow Colin`s blog and catch up on his training sessions and donate by clicking on the link below

http://www.justgiving.com/user/26134474

Some of you might remember this picture taken last Boxing day , Colin`s wife Cristina sent it in -She had bought some bands from us and thought it a nice gesture to show Eric and the family their support by wearing them , Cristina wrote.....
They are a lovely family -we will never give up trying to beat this illness or trying to raise awareness - Well said ! And good Luck to you Colin xx

You will be seeing more of Eric and his family and friends soon on the T.V. As Eric`s house has been given a make over by the DIY SOS team ! The programme will be going out around March time- Cristina`s laughs we made sure were all wandering around in the background wearing our MND T- shirts to raise as much awareness as we can for the MNDA .
I will keep you updated when I know more .

Well Done Shona !

I thought it might be nice to give you all an update on Shona [ pictured above ]- the lady who set herself the amazing challenge last year of running 2011 kilometres during 2011 ! [ Which is the equivalent of running from York to Gibralter- or just over 1,250 miles ] She completed her challenge just before Christmas beating her original target- by collecting more than £3,000, and the money is still coming in ! I think you will agree she has done amazingly well -I bet your family are very proud of you Shona -I have enjoyed following you adventures on your blog and thank you for wearing one of our awareness bands along the way !!
Shona`s godmother , Sue is living with MND and Shona wanted to do something to support her and the Motor Neurone Disease Association-you can read more by following this link

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/features/charity/9447508.Shona reaches her targets/

There is still time to donate before Shona starts this years challenge, whatever that might be- I will keep you posted !

http://www.justgiving.com/shona2011
Shona has a new blog if you like to keep up to date with what she is up to-please click on the following link www.shushkat.blogspot.com

Taking a dip for Andrew

Well Done Elizabeth !! I hope you have warmed up by now - you were fantastic !

You can find out how Elizabeth got on - by clicking on this link and reading all about her New Years Day Swim [ see the last post - A drop in the ocean ] to raise awareness and funds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association which she completed in memory of Andrew.

Her blog is called.... Well,This Isn`t gettin` T`Ens Fed Please pop by and read her post -she writes beautifully.