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.