My Brother Andrew

No One by Alistair The Optimist

2012-02-24T14:47:00.009-08:00

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

2012-02-02T04:19:00.000-08:00

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'

2012-01-19T06:56:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-12T03:56:00.000-08:00

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 !

2012-01-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-02T03:20:00.000-08:00

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.

A Drop In The Ocean - A New Years Day Swim

2011-12-28T00:52:00.000-08:00

The other day I stumbled across a just giving site that stopped me in my tracks and made me sit and cry-I was so very moved.
The lady had written ............I`m not a fan of the cold and I`ve never been keen on dressing up.
So what makes me think of dressing up and swimming in a icy cold North Sea on New Years Day 2012 ?
It all started because I read the touching blogs of two siblings whose brother suffered from and recently died from MND..........
To support his family, and in Andrews memory and to raise funds for the MNDA- I`ll be taking that New Years dip at approximately 12.30 at Sandside Beach Area , Scarborough.

Please pop across and leave Elizabeth a message of support and donate if you can-She is one very brave lady ! This means so much to our family and we have been very moved by her sincere and very generous offer of help.The just giving page will be up and running until 31 January 2012
You can read more at
http://www.justgiving.com/Elizabeth-Stanforth-Sharpe1
Good luck Elizabeth -I hope the weather will be mild on the day !! We will be thinking of you and I have sent you some bands -I hope they arrive in time xxx

Christmas Day at Eric`s

2011-12-27T04:53:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to Cristina who sent in this lovely photograph of her Christmas Day celebrations- spent at her friend Eric`s house. Eric is living with M.N.D and Cristina thought it a nice gesture to buy some of our awareness bands and show him her support by getting the whole family wearing them -she writes he is wearing his band with pride and added we will never give up our fight to beat MND............Neither will our family Cristina and thank you for helping to spread the word by supporting our awareness campaign xx
Please remember- if you have purchased a band from us - post a photograph onto your facebook
page or click on to the "F" at the bottom of this post to help spread the word !! [ you can also email this or post it on twitter ]
The more bands we sell the more money goes to the MNDA to help fund a research project-helping to keep the hope of finding a cure alive.

Thank you Cristina

Motor Neurone Disease Awareness Bands

2011-12-17T14:41:00.000-08:00

On behalf of Jayne and all of our family -I would just like to thank everyone who very generously donated at Andrew`s memorial service- the money is being split between St. Kentigerns Hospice and The Motor Neurone Disease Association-so far the amount is £750.00 and rising ! Thank you so very much .

I will continue to sell our bands on behalf of the M.N.D.A on this blog , If you know of anyone who has Motor Neurone Disease- please, please purchase one -they cost just £2.50 each .This is such a good way of supporting someone and showing you care by raising awareness and extra funding.The money we raise goes in full to the MNDA to help fund a research project into finding a cure and better treatments for this awful illness.
I will continue to wear my band with pride not only for Andrew but for everyone who suffers from this illness. Please help by spreading the word-you can share this post on to your facebook page by pressing the letter "F" at the bottom of this post.
A special thank you to everyone who has supported us during these last few years- Wishing you Love , Hope and strength and lots of special times this coming Christmas with your loved ones....we will be raising a glass or two to Andrew !
Jan and all of Andrew`s family xxx

I will leave you with this lovely little video -It`s "The bloody Jenny club !" Some of you might recall a post I did a while back about Jenny Green and her amazing family- Jenny is living with M.N.D . She and her family have worked tirelessly to raise awareness and funding for the MNDA - "The bloody Jenny club " is so called because according to Jenny it`s her fault everyone gets cold ,wet, tired and spends hours fundraising !! [ Hmm sounds familiar ..] she also adds , "There is also a lot of fun and sense of achievement to be had-even by me ! " Jenny can be seen in the video on her tramper which is decorated with antlers and red nose -200 competitors turned out recently for The Farleigh Santa Sprint in Maldon , Essex all dressed as Father Christmas, [ very confusing for the little ones laughs Jenny ] Jenny`s team had 22 not including 3 babies in pushchairs .The money she helped raise [ over £1,000 ] was donated to the Farleigh Hospice. Well done to you all and Merry Christmas !

You can catch up with Jenny via her blog just google -The Jenny Green Tribute Fund .

John`s Eulogy

2011-12-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

Thought I would share with you The Eulogy my brother John wrote for Andrew.

When I was originally asked to write the Eulogy for Andrew , I started the whole process of evaluation during a long walk in the country.

Nearly 50 years of memories , I felt , had to be combed through , thought about and examined so that some sort of order and clarification could be reached.
But , it was the wrong way to go about things , I realize that now - for in actual fact , all I needed as a starting point , was to acknowledge that Andrew was a person who was always very different.
He was a man that walked his own path in life.
As children , my sister Janet and I , always thought of him as a bit exotic, a bit of a rebel , a bit of a maverick.
And on my walk , I made a mental list of just why we did.

He was always a bit of a rocker -okay- He did have a brief dabble as a mod-complete with parka and a hand painted Lambretta moped ! but his heart was always in the Marc Bolam , T-Rex and Black Sabbath camp - music that was important to him throughout his life.

Some people won`t believe this !

He had long , luxurious red hair , which tumbled rather seductively to his shoulders and looked remarkably like a pre- raphaelite heroine [ but only from behind ! ]
He was often moody, never spoke , but had the extraordinary ability to argue a lot.

His pride and joy was his immaculate jet black ford Anglia which sported a day glow orange go faster stripe and had as I recall incredibly furry seats.

He had a set of scruffy friends that drank a lot .
And he wore a scruffy Afgan coat that smelled a lot .
He smoked and drank too much - and smoked strange large homemade cigarettes - always when mum and dad were not home.

Yes, He was a bit of a rebel.
He sported a flash pair of homemade painted silver platform boots - which were accessorized rather nattily with a somewhat battered Scooby Doo T-shirt.
What bloody strange things you remember eh ?

He was also a bit of an athelete and played tennis for Flintshire , was a talented artist , a risk taker.
He was not an academic in any way , but was always good practically ,being able to work with his hands instinctively and with talent.
He played drums in a band called "Resistance" and nearly hospitalized my father - when during a publicity stunt for "The News of the World " - he was photographed in the nude-behind his drum kit.
I remember my father wailing that it was the end of his budding career in local politics .
The collective family -knashing of teeth was , as I recall ,highly amusing to us kids.
The band toured Germany
And my parents calmed down....... eventually !

Andrew calmed down too - well just a little, as he met and fell in love with Jayne and it was Jayne that always generously let him walk his own path when it came to what made him happy.

In the 1970`s Andrew and his lifelong best friend Tim , donned matching black and yellow anoraks to take part in the local motor club rallies and hill climbs with Tim as his driver and Andrew as his trusty navigator.
Even then Andrew had to be the best at what he undertook- even designing rudimentary yet effective microphone communication hidden away in their crash helmets.
The joy of this exhilarating and dangerous sport took Andrew to several national and international events - He loved the thrill and competitiveness of it all.
He played snooker for the Con Club and loved his weekly " Ninety Nines " at the golf course with Tim, nephew Peter and friend Geoff Kay .
I remember at the height of the C.B radio`s popularity Andrew had to have the biggest and most flash rig going - I managed to reach Gronant on my C.B. - on his - he spoke to to a bloke in Canada !
And he loved the excitement of building his own model airplanes [ his only slightly geeky past time ] Although I remember the romance paled slightly when he lost part of a finger in what can only be described as an
" Out of control - Cessna - friendly fire incident !"
Andrew loved playing the raconteur at family get togethers - when he could deliver a story with all the pace and humour of Joan Rivers.
Even in his latter years -his ability to communicate , albeit by gesture and expression was never diminished.
On reflection, I think Andrew`s life in many ways, went full circle.In his teens his love and enjoyment of music creativity was a passion- and in his 50`s when most of us embark on the more comfortable and mundane and more relaxed -he grasped the nettle and re entered the world of music and musicians again. This mid life change brought him a contentment and , I think a wonderful sense of self worth. In his mid 50`s- he had found and had embraced his niche -a niche that was only eclipsed by Andrew`s role as a husband and father to son Jon -who was his pride and joy.
Mind you ! Believe me when I say Andrew was a true " Gray " he was stubborn, opinionated and enjoyed being in charge. So when Motor Neurone Disease started to bare its awful teeth ,so to speak ,Andrew typically refused to allow the symptoms to dictate to him.
It was a difficult battle .
But it was a battle that he and Jayne fought together. Jayne was his rock. With a natural skill, resilience ,strength and tenacity , she never wavered in her role as advocate for Andrews wishes.

He wanted to remain at home until the end---she ensured that was the case.
He wanted to be without pain or anxiety at the end - working with the wonderful team of health care professionals -she ensured that was the case.
And he wanted to die with dignity with Jayne and Jon at his side.
And as we all know-this final wish was granted.

As a previous ward manager, I have probably interviewed neigh on 100 nurses for jobs, I can tell you one thing honestly...
I would have employed Jayne any day as a trained nurse-she did my brother proud in the way she cared for him .
And I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of my family, to publicly thank her for all of the work she did.
THANK YOU JAYNE FOR EVERYTHING.

I was going to finish this eulogy with a piece of poetry, a traditional saying or an appropriate verse from a song or from a piece of literature...
But on reflection I decided that it was not really Andrew.
He was not an emotionally indulgent like me , or flowery or overly sentimental.
It was not his way- at the end of a visit there would be no realms of written notes , no emotional Jacuzzi`s -no wringing of hands.....
There was always however - a bit of a gentle smile , a nod of thanks and a somewhat jaunty "thumbs up " when goodbyes were said.
So that`s what we all should give him now..........
Our best smile
No tears , a nod and a jaunty thumbs up .

Beautifully written don`t you think .

Ann and I made the arrangement -using some of Andrew`s old drumsticks ,the rings represent his drums and the roses are called rather appropriately " Grand prix "

Mike Peters sang an acoustic version of his song " Breathe " before being joined by Phil Strat Evans and together they sang another of Andrew`s favourites " Knocking on Heavens Door"
He would have loved it .

The Fight will go on

2011-12-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share this video with you-it was filmed in January 2010 at The Gathering, in Prestatyn. Andrew had seen his consultant the previous October who had confirmed what Andrew already knew - that he had MND- he gave Andrew 12 months to live. Andrew was guitar teching for Mike Peter`s from The Alarm at the time.
Mike, who having survived leukemia twice sang this song at the end of his concert inviting his local G.P. and consultant on stage [ that`s two guys on the left-the consultant is playing a red guitar ] he also asked Andrew to join them.
Andrew is on the extreme right with a white t-shirt on-plugging in the guitars at the beginning ,
Ann, Tim, Ned, Jonathan,Lucy and myself were there on the night clutching a home made banner-written on it was- we- love -Andy !! Our hearts were breaking- Ann and I- we cried and sang along and waved that banner and supported him all the way.
There have been so many wonderful tributes left on Andrew`s facebook wall -a lot from the people who worked along side him-some made me laugh and some made me cry-some with pictures I had never seen before-he looked happy -I know he use to say how much he loved his job and I know that some of his happiest times had been on tour with the Alarm.
Thank you for all the wonderful comments and messages of condolences -everyone has been so very kind -we have appreciated and read them all. One comment that has stuck in my mind ..... .. he was truly courageous man who lived a life completed early rather than a life cut short.

The fight to raise awareness carries on -I still have bands to sell.

Andrew - 7th Jan 1953 - 1 st December 2011

2011-12-01T16:11:00.000-08:00

Andrew lost his very brave and courageous battle with MND this evening
I`am so very proud and privileged to have been your sister- Thank you for putting up with me and for giving us the family so many happy wonderful memories ! Rest in peace dear bro, we love and will always love you very much xx

Natalie Barclays Tandem Skydive

2011-11-25T11:38:00.000-08:00

Back in July you might remember -I wrote a post about one very brave young lady -Natalie Barclay [ pictured above on the left -with her mum and nan ] who had just completed a 12,000 foot tandem sky dive jump at The Headcorn Paracute Club in Kent. Natalie raised a staggering £620 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and says she loved every moment of it -saying I can`t wait to do it all again !!
So , if anyone out there is thinking about doing some fundraising of their own and fancy giving skydiving a go -take a look at Natalie`s video below which I have just discovered on facebook.
Natalie smiled and waved all the way down [ I`d have just screamed and sobbed -I`m such a coward ] It certainly looked like she took it all in her stride and enjoyed every moment- thats for sure !! [ she was also strapped to a rather handsome instructor- hmm bet that helped too eh Nat ? ] It did look a fabulous experience though Natalie-one you will never forget ! Well done x
Hmm ? Do they do those jumpsuits in pink ?

Welsh Love Song - Lisa Lân - a capella harmony

2011-11-19T05:33:00.000-08:00

This is a tragic Welsh love song from the beautiful Island of Angelsey , situated off the North West Coast of Wales [ it`s Welsh name being- Ynys
Mon. ] It`s just under an hours drive from where I live [ about 45 miles away ] Most of you might also recall it is where Prince William and his bride Kate [ or the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as they are now known as ] are stationed in RAF Valley there.
Singing in this Video are - Geraint , Merfyn and Dafydd who are a trio calling themselves "Canig " They also sing in a choir called Cantorion Colin Jones -the web site is well worth a visit !
During the Cantorion Colin Jones tour to France in July 2008, aware that John [ see second video below ] a member of the choir, and brother of another member, were slowly succumbing to MND , choristers were moved to discuss methods of raising money for the M.N.D.A.

One idea was to record a c/d of the Cantorion Colin Jones Soloists.
John Puw was one of these soloists. Please scroll down.

John Puw yn canu Arafa Don / John Puw, a Welsh Tenor

2011-11-19T05:32:00.000-08:00

This is John Puw who was diagnosed with MND in 2007-he found music to be a wonderful healer,and gained enormous strength from singing in this great choir-it`s lovely to think his singing lives on. I hope you enjoy the video`s as much as I did !

Please remember to support our awareness campaign by purchasing a band-the donate button is situated on the right hand side of the page by our fundraising thermometer.
If you have a story to tell or are fundraising or would like a dedication doing please let me know -send in a picture wearing your band and I will be delighted to give you a mention !

Motor Neurone Disease Awareness Bands

2011-11-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

Motor Neurone Disease Awareness Bands £2.50 each- help " Support The Fight Against MND "

To donate and buy a band please scroll down to the " Donate" button on the right hand side of the page.Thank you.

THE MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE ASSOCIATION

Is the only organization in England ,Wales and Northern Ireland working for people with MND and their families.
Gives emotional,practical and financial support to people with MND and their families.
Provides specialised equipment to make life easier for people with MND.
Funds and promotes vital research to bring about an end of MND.
Relies almost entirely on voluntary donations.

£3,000 funds an MND expert researcher for one month and keeps the hope of a cure alive

£50.00 funds laboratory equipment for a day`s vital research into finding a cure for MND.
Every little bit helps.

Hair raising charity event ! [ or should that be removal ?]

2011-11-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

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May be this is just my sense of humour but it did make me giggle -The lengths some people will go to ......especially to raise funds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association-This guy Mark Cocker deserves a medal for gallantry-I can almost feel his pain - If I wasn`t laughing so much !!
Sorry Mark .
Please excuse the odd expletive-Well now ? Any family members willing to give it a go ?
Hubby has just said yes - ok !! [ he has around 3 hairs on his chest !! ] Tut and eye roll very brave of him .........Not....... Hmm ?
John ?

The Quiz

2011-11-03T04:01:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely time at the quiz the other night- Brother in law Chris -makes a superb Quiz Master ! There was a lot of good humoured banter and leg pulling going on between all the locals and himself which made for a great atmosphere . Pictured below is "Our Team "- We called ourselves " The Chicken Pluckers ! " no prizes for guessing who came up with that idea ! The pub as you can see was all decked out for Halloween- with fake cobwebs and pumpkins on every table -the landlord Gordon had gone to a lot of trouble.
Our Team -Pictured from left to right....Ann ,Lesley,aunty judy, me,Ned, The quiz master himself- Chris, John and Bill.

Above Chris reading the questions out-John looks like he`s concentrating hard there !
The questions were divided into sections - 10 questions in each section-with music from the 60`s , 70`s, 80`s and 90`s and a Halloween themed section. We were absolutely rubbish at the 60`s questions and not much better at the 70`s ! but we did pick up from there on and came a very respectable second place !
Chris very kindly wrote the questions out for Andrew and put them in a sealed envelope- Tim took them through to his house for him and they sat and had a go at the quiz together !! I think they did better than us ! It was lovely to see everyone taking part all wearing their awareness bands even the barmaids ! There was a raffle-which one of the barmaids won- but she very kindly put it back in to be re-drawn- so John won it !!
At the end of the evening a free supper was served -a very yummy chilli con carne with garlic bread-boy was it hot but very delicious -John polished off Ann`s too [ she had already eaten ] I`ll say no more- hmm !

The quiz made £130 !! we did receive a couple of donations from people who were unable to attend but wanted to support us- including those who sent money in for the raffle- which bumped it up to £ 160.00 !
A really big thank you to Chris for organizing the quiz and to Gordon and fantastic staff of The Red Lion for going to so much trouble and to everyone for entering the quiz and buying raffle tickets and supporting this cause- we really appreciated your support x

Quiz night at The Red Lion Llanasa for MND 31st October

2011-10-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

My brother in law Chris MacDonald- Parry has very kindly organized a music quiz night for this coming Monday the 31st of October at his local pub The Red Lion in Llanasa -the proceeds of which will be going to the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Please come and support us if you can -it should be a lot of fun ! There will be a raffle with the chance to win a free meal for two , the quiz starts at 8.30 pm. I`am making sure " Team M.N.D " are all of various ages so hopefully we will have a wide spread of musical knowledge. Chris organizes a quiz once a month with the proceeds raised donated to various charities.
And for anyone who is interested in a bit of history.........

The pub dates back to the 1700`s- previously it was a farm called Ty Newydd [ which translated means - New House ] it is situated in the centre of a typical picturesque country village- opposite the pub is a beautiful large Georgian style manor house in which my hubby and his family grew up in-Ned`s grand father bought the house for four hundred gold sovereigns ! Where he got the money from nobody knows and it still remains a family mystery today-Many of the pieces of furniture in the house had come down from Captain Edward Morgan who was a welsh man and an officer in the Royalist Army during the civil war in the 1650`s, he played a significant part together with 3 thousand Welshmen in the defense of Chester against the Parlimentarian forces- he was also a relation to the famous Captain Henry Morgan - buccaneer who operated in the seas around Jamaica . Hmm... ..A Pirate on one side of the family and on the the other side of my husbands family- Well, he has managed to trace them back to the 1700`s to Glencoe in Scotland , he reckons all his anchestors there were probably cattle rustlers !!

They have made it !

2011-10-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well as promised -I thought I`d let you all know that the 13 strong MND " Team Kilimanjaro" have made it to the summit this afternoon-raising over £62.000.00 pounds for the MNDA- a fantastic result!
Congratulations and well done to you all ! I knew wearing our MND awareness bands would bring them luck !!

Family album

2011-10-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we were waiting- with great anticipation for the safe arrival of my nephew Chris and his partner Rebecca`s first baby [ we had no idea whether she was expecting a boy or a girl- which in my mind is so much nicer !! ] thoughts turned to who the baby would take after.......... and as a result out came the family album ! So I thought I`d share a few of the photographs with you .
The above picture is of my great grandmother and father on my maternal side-she was expecting my grandfather in this photograph [ not that you would guess that looking at her ] I remember my grand dad telling me rather proudly that she had a twenty two inch waist at the time the photograph was taken !! Here she is again not long after he was born [below left ]

The wedding photograph is of my mother and father taken in the forties.
The album is in a terrible state-it really needs sorting , it is one of those cellophane albums with sticky pages - you know the sort , after a while it stops sticking- the photographs slide out and get shoved back in any old order ! None of the photographs have dates on them or some of the older ones- names ! We took the album through to Andrew`s house and sat looking through it one evening with him- I had him writing the names down on the back of some of the pictures-we had a giggle at some of them.....

Wonder who this glamour puss could be ? Any ideas ?
Or the two scallywags on the right below ? [ some people never change -do they ? ] I can feel a competition coming on ! Can anyone name the little chap "Going Gently " on the left hmm ?

Andrew [ above ] pole vaulting with my mother`s washing line prop [doubt she would have been happy about that ] and below after a successful fishing trip
Hope you have enjoyed the photo`s !! Sorry but blogger is playing tricks with me and changing the photographs around a bit !!
Oh and by the way -congratulations to Chris and Rebecca on the birth of their daughter ......Evie Grace who weighed in at seven and a half pounds -ten days overdue but well worth the wait -she is gorgeous !

Team MND all set for Kilimanjaro !!

2011-10-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

A big thank you goes to Elaine from " MNDA Events " who dropped me a line today to say that their intrepid team climbing Mount Kilimanjaro [ including Pete Collins and his girlfriend Cecilia Brice-see previous post dated the 18th October ] had landed in Africa yesterday afternoon and were all now heading for Nairobi but not before finding the time to stop for a photo call for us wearing their MND awareness bands ! Thanks guys-it`s great to see you all ! She writes .........I hope you like the photo`s-the bands hold super powers to get them to the summit ! There are 13 in the MND team-the team doctor is also in the shot and to date they have raised a staggering 61,000 with hopefully a bit more to come !!

Wow that`s amazing- hopefully the next picture I post will be of them all at the summit -good luck to you all -stay safe and have fun ! I will keep you all updated.
if you would like to donate - here is the link
www.justgiving.com/peteandceciliamnd This is an amazing challenge please support these guys if you can !

Tom Robertson

2011-10-09T02:43:00.000-07:00

This video is of singer/ song writer Geoff Robertson who is from Brisbane Australia performing in a gala concert held in May 2006 to raise funds for MND. Geoff`s dad Hugh was diagnosed a year and a half earlier with MND - the concert raise thousands of dollars for mnd research and was a wonderful farewell to Hugh who was moved and humbled by all the attention-he died just one month later. This song is a tribute to Geoff`s grandfather Tom Robinson-I think the words are lovely.Hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did I found it very moving.

Andrew is going home today - hopefully in time to watch the grand prix !
He and Tim have a little bit of rivalry going on via an internet game based on the grand prix- You set up your own team of drivers after you watch the qualifying laps on each race- you have a chance then to swop the odd driver round -there`s a leader board and medals to be won , so far Tim is leading but Andrew is hot on his heels with Pete [ Tim`s son lagging behind- doh ! ]
There is a lot of teasing and leg pulling going on over it- good luck Andrew ! hope it`s a good race
for you bro ! xx

Some new photographs and some of my old favourites !!

2011-10-02T03:09:00.000-07:00

This is one of Andrew taken two years ago while working back stage at the Manchester Academy- tuning up Mike Peter`s guitar ! Thought I would share with you some of my favourite photographs.......

Remember Viv who travelled across New Zealand in a campervan nicknamed " The Mouse "
I thought this photograph he sent us was very clever and original.

We popped up to see Andrew last Friday night , Strictly Come Dancing has started back on the telly -I just love it ! Whenever we visit Andrew, he has full control over the T.V. remote - and is one of these people who continually channel hops -so much so I have often threatened [ good humouredly] to grapple the controls off him [ just as something looks interesting- he has a habit of flicking over !!] but he very kindly switched to that channel to let me and my sister watch the programme -[she`s an addict too ] not sure if any of you have ever watched the sitcom " The Royles Family " but this programme is very much like our family !! We all sit round -Andrew is tucked up in bed-the T.V. is on and we have all have made ourselves comfortable [ complete with "Puddles " the cat- who always insists on sitting on sister Ann`s knee ] chatting and in this case shouting at the telly -there is quite a bit of good humoured banter and teasing going on-and laughter too !!

This photograph was taken by Denise [pictured above- back row on the right ] who was born in England but has lived in America for over 35 years , she writes a wonderful blog called an " An English girl rambles " her main hobbies being photography-she does take some wonderful wildlife photographs, these ladies are all ex pats and every month or so meet up for lunch and a chat . Thanks for your support ladies-very much appreciated x
Thank you to Gavin for sending in this photograph of himself - he writes ...I`m no oil painting but I have been told that when I smile I look like Stan Laurel which I take as a wonderful personnel compliment as Stan and Laurel Hardy are my comedy idols [ my husband has the box set -you two would get on famously ] Gavin lost his father to MND a while back.
This picture was sent in by Sam-I think it`s lovely ,the tattoo represents members of her family.
Remember Shona ? Shona Thornhill is running 2011 km in 2011 that is 1250 miles !! to raise funds for the MNDA [ her auntie is living with MND ] she has reached 81% of her target-you can follow Shona and donate by going to her blog called 2011 in 2011 !! or www.justgiving.com/Shona2011
Remember this very brave young lady..Natalie Barclay she did a sky dive to raise awareness and funds for the MNDA after losing her beloved "pop " to MND. What a fabulous experience eh Natalie ? one you will never forget-the photograph is fantastic !

This is Chris Boon and pet Alfie -Chris is living with MND ,he writes a heartwarming blog.. Chris versus MND he`s a lovely chap
please pop across if you get a moment and leave him a comment / or to donate.
http://chris-versus-mnd.weebly.com/

This one above is of Andrew and Mike Peters taken at the summit of Snowdonia - when Andrew joined Mike on his charity walk down Snowdon last year and below is the dance group Inferno who stopped rehearsals and posed for us wearing their MND awareness bands.

Look at the views - I find this a very poignant photograph- thank you Dave -one of my all time favourites !!
This is my friend Debbie who decided not to miss a great opportunity for a photograph after deciding to redecorate her lounge and below some of the wonderful people Andrew has met on his travels while teching for Mike Peters and the Alarm.

This is Andrew holding hands with Jayne while on holiday -know those freckles anywhere !

And finally-Andrew and son Jonathan on holiday last year in Lanzarote .
These are just a few of my favourites. I hope you have enjoyed them . Have you got a favourite photograph ?
Andrew is in St Kentigerns this week for some respite care so I will have to stock up on the peanuts for his nocturnal visitors ! It is also Jayne`s birthday -so no doubt we will have some kind of get together !! Still waiting for news from my nephew Chris and his partner Rebecca -they are expecting their first baby any time now ! Hope you are all having a great Sunday !!

Recording Alistair The Optimist

2011-09-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

This is a video of a recording session for Alistair the Optimist`s album 2011 at Woolley Valley , in Somerset .The track is " Metal Men " and features Kathryn Calder [The New Pornographers ] on backing vocals.

Good luck to Pete and Cecilia and keep the photographs coming !

2011-09-18T03:43:00.000-07:00

I would just like to wish Pete Collins and his girlfriend Cecilia Brice[ pictured above ] lots of luck -they will be flying out to Africa on October the 13 th with 11 other people to take part in the MND international Challenge to trek up Mount Kilimanjaro - in memory of Pete`s dad Steve
who was diagnosed with MND in February 2007- sadly Steve lost his battle with the illness in November 2008. Since then Pete with the help of his family and friends has thrown himself into raising as much money as possible for the MNDA. By the end of this year he will have raised more then 30,000 after trekking to Macchu Picchu ,climbing Kilimanjaro , running half marathons and organizing numerous charity events. His brother John Collins has nominated Pete to carry the Olympic flame with the Lloyds TSB in London 2012 Olympic relay-his brother writes .....he is simply the best man I know who`d carry the torch with such pride and to my mind, be so deserving of the honour . I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you Peter that you make the final selection-your dad would have been so very proud of you I`am sure ! You can keep up with his exploits via twitter @peteandceMND
or donate www.justgiving.com/peteandceliamnd/3
Pete has promised to send us photograph when he reaches the summit ! [proudly wearing his MND awareness band ]
A huge thank you to everyone who takes the time and trouble to send in a photograph for our blog and who then go on to post photographs wearing their MND bands onto facebook !!
Please keep the photographs coming ! It helps spread the word- raises awareness and the more bands I sell the more I make for the MNDA !!
Thank you to Diane and hubby pictured above-I can`t make out what you are watching on telly but goes to show if you are shy- then the photograph you send in doesn`t have to show your face/s-be inventive !! and to Karen and Daniel pictured below thank you for this lovely photograph of you both-your support is much appreciated x

Alistair The Optimist - Channel 5 - Sept 11

2011-09-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

Alistair The Optimist gave an interview today for channel 5- I thought he did brilliantly, he had mentioned on face book that he was more than a little nervous about it -I must say he came across really well-it`s great that people like Alistair are willing to go on television and talk openly
about their illness to help raise awareness of this dreadful disease. Alistair`s album should be out just before Christmas [ message to hubby - please take note ! x ]

Nobody guessed correctly in our travelling bands competition ! Well , not fully anyway -Maura you were the closest [ Linda -you knew but didn`t comment ]
The clues were all in the photographs -A Spanish flag was flying , The artist was Salvador Dali and the location Marbella !

Win A free MND awareness band !

2011-09-03T07:53:00.000-07:00

Okay ! Can you give me the name of the artist who sculptured these master pieces and the location where they are situated in ? And in doing so- win yourselves a free MND awareness band .I think this is quite easy-so I`am not giving out too many clues this time !
This person was trained as a skilled draftsman and had an extensive artistic repertoire including films , sculpture and photography. Most of his paintings were said to be influenced by the Renaissance masters, The location is a popular destination for luxury cruise ships. Hmm .... not my cup of tea- but what do you think ? any ideas ? Can you spot our travelling bands by the way ? Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Available Light #005 - Kathryn Calder - So Easily

2011-08-29T03:08:00.000-07:00

Meet Kathryn Calder-she is a Canadian Indie rock musician who performs as a solo artist and is a member of the band The New Pornographers. I came across Kathryn on " Alistair The Optimists " facebook page [ scroll back a couple of posts -to meet Alistair !!] She had left him a message very generously offering to do some backing vocals on the album he is currently working on-Kathryn had written quite simply -my mother died from ALS/MND .
I contacted her and asked permission to post this video on the blog and she was happy for me to do so sending me this link.
Kathryn is a former member of the band- Immaculate Machine, her first solo album Are you my mother was released on August 3rd 2010-The album was named after the childrens book with the same name -it was recorded when Kathryn was caring for her sick mother,the project was put on hold when her mother died , her new album is out on - October the 25th 2011 and is called" Bright and Vivid." I think you will I agree she has a beautiful voice- I love this song-enjoy !! . She will be starting her tour of Europe very soon -please look out for her !

Old photographs and a bit of history

2011-08-25T11:21:00.001-07:00

The other day, a rather lovely retired gentleman came into the shop where I work , clutching an old photograph - John the butcher has sent me down to see you - he said........he thought you might be interested in this photograph ! It took me all of two seconds to recognize Andrew [ front row second from the left ] Looking at it - I think it was taken in the early 1970`s , when Andrew would have been around twenty ! [ you can correct me tomorrow if I`m wrong bro ! ] Andrew played in The Prestatyn Con Club- Sunday league team- Looking at it I can identify quite a few well known local faces-can any of you ? If you can name more than 3 faces [not including Andrews of course ] -You win yourself a free MND awareness band !!

The Prestatyn Cons club was founded in 1894-when Prestatyn and Meliden combined supported a population of only 650 people ! The high street then was merely a cart track-dusty in summer and a quagmire in winter,no pavements or street lighting and very few shops. The original club was located on the high street and it wasn`t till 1926 that the club moved to its current site, prior to 1926 the only licence they had was to sell tobacco ! I found this old photograph taken at the re-opening of the club in 1927-Love the hats and the fur coats-weren`t the ladies elegant in those days ?

I have just got back from visiting Andrew- and I stand corrected !! Andrew reckons he was around 16- 17 years of age in that photograph-he also reeled off every single persons name -what a memory- and I struggle to remember what I ate for tea some nights .

Can you name the location and the film ?

2011-08-23T05:31:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Janet T for making a fifty mile trip from her home in order to capture this iconic shot-Hmm any ideas where it is ? Okay , okay I`m feeling generous today so here are a few clues to its location. This location is famous for a battle which took place here in 1836-a 1960`s film was made starring John Wayne about it and later in 2004 Dennis Quaid starred in a film of the same title -get guessing and win yourselves a free MND band !

In The Wake - Alistair The Optimist

2011-08-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

Former teacher Alistair was diagnosed last summer with MND .He is married to Alice and has two children Freya aged 3 and Finn aged 7-He writes MND is killing me and it will gradually leave me unable to walk , talk and breathe-I`ll miss out on my kids growing up-There are things that I will no longer be able to do like record and play music I love-Time is running out-I need to finish an album with my band before my muscles stop working-I need this legacy for my family and friends.
This video is of Alistair [on the drums ] rehearsing with his band- and as he puts it - it is warts `n all !!
He apologizes for looking bored in the video but he was in fact totally knackered !! this song they are hoping to record this coming Friday- I love it !! I will definitely go out and buy the album-you can catch up with Alistair at ...... alistairtheoptimist.org/?page
Alistair states- drumming and playing in bands are things I have always enjoyed [ Hmm ? remind you of someone else ?] there is something magical about creating , recording and performing music especially when its with good friends . Good luck with the album Alistair-I`am sure it will be a huge success !

The Alarm/Rain in The Summertime. !

2011-08-11T01:14:00.000-07:00

This ones for Andrew ! The title pretty much matches the weather we have been having at the moment !! Andrew was teching for Mike at this concert held in May 2010 at the 02 academy in Liverpool-You can just about get a glimpse of Andrew now and again on the extreme left getting Mike`s guitar ready for the next song-the banner you can see at the beginning and towards the end is me-I buttoned holed some guy who was around 6ft 4 to help me wave it about - after pushing my way to the front-much to Andrews embarrassment [ yup ! it had we -heart - Andrew written on it -what are sisters for eh ? ] I have been visiting Andrew every night in St Kentigerns this week, I took our dog Jess with me the other night-I thought some of the staff might frown on this but in fact they couldn`t have been nicer or more friendlier-Jess had a lovely time ! She wasn`t too sure of Andrew`s air bed-wanting to skim across the surface as fast as she could go rather than walk across it sedately-Andrew scratched her belly while she sat nose in the air and eyes half closed in ecstasy ! Andrew`s room has lovely views out on to fields with horses grazing and at dusk he has been getting a couple of nocturnal visitors-a pair of badgers ! I thought I`d take along some peanuts tonight and scatter them about outside his patio door so he can watch them for a little longer.
There is also a steady stream of feral farm cats passing by-one made the mistake while we were there of stopping and looking in on us -Jess went bananas ! Andrew is going home on Saturday-so not long to go now bro ! enjoy the video and see you later xxx

Travelling bands -and the best excuse yet !! and Chris versus mnd video

2011-08-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to Delores for emailing me these photographs for our travelling bands competition and then writing the best excuse yet for not actually making a personal appearance in the photographs herself- actually wearing her bands !!
She writes that the bands were a little tight for her chubby wrists .........[ Hmm.... Okay ] .......and also being on the witness protection system [ never heard this excuse before ] .....she never allows her..... urm......photograph to be taken !!! The bands as you can see have enjoyed a photo journal trip to a couple of major landmarks -not far from where Delores` lives [ no doubt her name has been changed for security reasons too ! ] So go on -have a guess , where does Delores live ? [ Thanks for the chuckle Delores ]

A couple of weeks ago I introduced you all to a lovely man - Chris Boon, who writes a blog Chris versus MND. This video below is on Chris` blog-please take a moment to watch it . The music is by Pink Floyd
Andrew is going into St Kentigerns tomorrow for a week to give my sister in law some respite-so I will probably be downloading a few of The Alarms videos over the next few days for him - [ will pop in and see you tomorrow bro xx ]
Please help by donating just a couple of pounds to buy a band and increase awareness of this dreadful disease- every little bit helps -we really need to find a cure .Thank you .

Visit Chris at .............. http://chris-versus-mnd.weebly.com

Arctic To Desert Challenge Belfast Trailer

2011-08-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

It`s another another video from the boys ! Matt,Lee and Jim- I absolutely love this song-I couldn`t resist sharing it.

Arctic To Desert Challenge Full Trailer

2011-07-31T06:51:00.000-07:00

It never ceases to amaze me all of the great things people do -to raise money for charity and MND and the novel ideas they come up with [just wish I could think of them first !] I enjoyed watching this video and the music -thought I would share it-good luck to Matt ,Lee and Jim !
Jim`s mother - Jane died from M.N.D in 2005 and he wanted to do something to honour her-apparently she use to be a midwife and really enjoyed her work often sending juniors off for a cup of tea so she could deliver the babies herself !! So far these guys have raised £1 632.00 their target is £10 000.00 You can donate http://www.justgiving.com/Artic2Desert
So ! for a free M.N.D awareness band can anyone name the artist singing this song ?

Travelling Bands strike again !

2011-07-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it`s been a while but we have a new photograph for our travelling bands / where are they now competition ! Can you name this famous character and tell me where he is ?

And number 21`s new name is...........

2011-07-24T11:10:00.001-07:00

The above picture is of John announcing and naming[ and saving little piggy`s - number 21`s ] bacon ! She has in fact got two names now- [ a double barreled name, posh ! ] one picked from the internet and the other from the raffle drawn this afternoon-we thought it only fair as we had such a brilliant response from everyone-so are you ready ? It is ...............drum roll please .................

........................................................................Margie Flower ....................................................................

Congratulations to Eric Woods from the United States-you will receive a welsh love spoon and CD of The Trelawnyd Male Voice Choir not forgetting the best bit [ I`ve saved this bit for last ! ] a trotter and snout signed [ can`t wait to see this ] photograph plus a certificate stating you saved this little piglet and named her for M.N.D- she also promises to send you a Christmas card and 6 monthly updates !! Lucky you x

I did promise to take lots of photographs but as usual as soon as we got busy-the time just flew by-I did mange to take a few snap shots just before everyone starting arriving - a huge thank you to all of the tea ladies Judy and Carol pictured here with Chris, Jayne and the the two Gwyneth`s, Sue , and hubby Ned- you all worked incredibly hard xxx

The weather was gorgeous-and there were hoards of people ! I met fellow blogger Diane who made a special trip up from Sheffield- [it was lovely to meet you and your hubby - wish I could have spent a bit more time with you x ]
The day was a great success raising in total £1,177.66
John will be donating £700 to the church and £477.66 to the MNDA we already have the £230 we made on the online competition, which bring the total to £707.66 !! A fantastic response !
A huge thank you to Mr and Mrs Barker who kindly contributed to the day by opening up their garden too- [ it is conveniently adjacent to John`s field ]- and to everyone who contributed to the day making cakes and donating bric a brac and manning /selling raffle tickets and doing their bit to help-you were all fantastic ! Thank you .
Time for a glass of wine now -me thinks! Poor John -he was working a night shift last night-when we arrived this morning he was still wearing his hospital scrubs-hope you and Chris have got your feet up by now and are doing the same xxx

Chris versus MND ,flower arranging and cake baking !

2011-07-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

I would like you all to meet Chris and his curry eating dog Alfie ! [ Not just curry-but anything you might just accidentally drop on the floor and are not quite quick enough to pick up -eh Chris ? ]
Chris is 36 years of age and lives in the North west of England , he has recently got married to Polly and has a daughter Hollie aged 8, he writes they are my world ! Chris was diagnosed with MND in July 2010, he writes a wonderful blog-straight from the heart, if you get a moment please pop across and say hello and leave a comment-I know he would really appreciate it, his intention is to try and raise a little bit of awareness and log how his battle goes, both the ups and the downs -this is the link http://chris-versus-mnd.weebly.com
It`s a lovely photograph Chris-thank you so much for sending it in !
I`ve been in work all day today-but managed to nip to the florist in my lunch hour and buy two bunches of carnations-I then raided the garden for a bit of greenery and managed to knock up some floral posies for John`s tea tables for his allotment open tomorrow-they do look quite pretty -these photographs haven`t come out very well for some reason but I used peach and yellow flowers..
I have had a steady stream of visitors all day today dropping stuff off at the shop where I work - it`s been like cake H.Q. !! [also lots of bric a brack being dropped off too] Then this evening I started baking-I have made two cakes and have just finished icing them -can you spot the little piggy`s-I couldn`t resist them !
A big thank you to everyone who entered our name the pig and save the pig for MND competition- so far raising over £230.00 !! good luck with the raffle all of you-there are some great names, its still not too late for those of you still thinking of having a go !! Scroll down a couple of posts for instructions on how to enter.
It looks like the weather will be nice for tomorrow, yipee !
Will keep you posted and try and take some photographs this time ! promise !

The Prestatyn Trefoil Guild

2011-07-18T01:11:00.000-07:00

Meet the wonderful members of The Prestatyn Trefoil Guild- This organization has over 20,000 members here in the U.K. and is mostly made up of women and men who have all been and still are connected to guiding [ and scouting ] A couple of weeks ago, The Prestatyn Branch which meet up on the 1st Monday in every month, held a coffee morning to raise funds and awareness for the motor neurone disease association ,Babs Clarke who organized this event and held it in her home said they were delighted with the response they received after sending out fliers to friends and neighbours-a lot of people were very generous , we were pleasantly surprised and had a lovely morning -these ladies all work very hard for the community and are a very modest lot-never seeking recognition for their work says Babs [pictured in the middle of this photo to my right ] so enough said !! I have just sent our local paper this photograph-so fingers crossed !!
Ann and I were presented with a cheque for the wonderful amount of £180.00 -thank you so much ladies-that takes some doing -we really appreciate all your hard work and it was lovely to meet you all !!

John`s open day postponed and a lovely tattoo !

2011-07-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

After checking the Met Office Weather forecast today for this weekend John has decided he has no other option but to postpone his open day-the forecast is for rain all day with blustery winds-not good for an outdoor event ! It is such a shame-he had a lovely write up in the local paper [which came out today ] giving him some great free publicity [thank you to Rhian for that by the way ]
But the field is rather exposed to the elements and he didn`t want to lose [or damage ] any of the borrowed gazebo`s-also he has an army of villagers making over 50 cakes-not fair to them if there is a poor turn out due to bad weather -Still , it has only been put back a week-to the 24 th !
Thank you to everyone who has entered into the spirit of things and made a donation to save little piggy`s bacon here! We have been very touched and delighted with the response we have had so far and are having a great time reading all of the suggested names as they come in - You have given us a few laughs along the way too-I have a few favourites -but I`am not telling ! Have you got a favourite [scroll down to read them all ] ?
Finally , thank you to Sam McDonald for sending in this photograph -I thought it was lovely, so I just had to share it. Sam lost her brother to MND and she writes this tattoo represents my 2 brothers and my sister in law, there is a dragonfly , a forget me not , Ivy for everlasting life and 3 stars. What a lovely way to remember someone- thank you for supporting our awareness campaign Sam -we really appreciate it x

Can you name her and save her !

2011-07-10T01:20:00.000-07:00

Let our competition begin ! All you have to do is to think up a fabulous name for our little piggy here [ funny , daft original-you choose ! ] donate to MND [ every little bit helps ] and help save her from getting the chop !! If you scroll down and on the right hand side of the page- the donate button is situated above our fundraising thermometer, click on that-make your donation and where is says" purpose " fill in your chosen name ! Simple ! [ this is a safe and secure paypal site ] You will then be automatically entered into our raffle -to be drawn at my brothers " Allotment Open " at St Michael`s Church field ,Trelawnyd on the 17th July starting at 1pm. I`am looking forward to seeing what you all come up with !! For those of you who live locally you can come and meet her in person so to speak- before you make up your mind on a name that you think suits her -there will be lots of home made produce available to buy-eggs, jams ,cakes and homemade bread ! yummy ! The Trelawnyd History exhibition to enjoy not forgetting John`s chickens and allotment to inspect !
Admission £1.50 Children 50p [ complimentary tea and cake ]

So far we have ......." Cockette " from http://tracey-craftyscraps.blogspot.com/

"Little Nipper" from My brother Andrew [wonder why ? snigger ]

"Mandy" from Moondance Ranch [thanks Terry ! x] http://www.moondanceranchco.blogspot.com/

"Bootsie" from http://mybabyjohn.blogspot.com/

"Peppa pig " from Linda in Australia [ and yes Linda - you can have another go ! ] x

"Pork Chops " from http://manchesterlassnowandthenblogspot.com/

"Petunia " http://jabacue.blogspot.com

"Liberte` from http://acceptingchanges-maybe.blogspot.com

"Cracklin Rosie " from www.revisinglife.blogspot.com

"Queenie " from Dorothy Fish [ have posted some bands off to you x]

"Bacon Bits " from http://texan.blogspot.com

"Swines Herd`s Girl " from Bridget Measures

"Lucky Swine " Bridget again x

"Chicken Killer " Aunty Judy -yes there`s always one ! x

"Oink " from Chris Etches, http://growfisheat.blogspot.com/

"Hyacinth" from A Brit in Tennessee http://abritintn.blogspot.com/

"Mabel " from A Brit in Tennessee

"Margie " from Eric Woods, Don`t shoot your Meatloaf blog. http://mountainrambler.blogspot.com/

"Wilhelmina " from Megan Halli
"Petronella " " "

"Derr" from Molly-aged 11 months

"Johny2 " from George-aged 3 3/4 [Thanks Nia ! x]

"Martha " from Lydia Osbourn

"Button " from Mrs Tess Hines.

"Betty Blue Eyes "

"Jaws " Both from Ann Williams x

"Atinlay" from Comfort-and-joy-gifts .

"Chop suey " or Sue for short from Marie Grime [thanks Marie x]

"Miranda " from Cara Grime

All proceeds to this competition are going to the motor neurone disease association-the winning entry will be drawn out of a hat [or mnd bucket ] and will be notified on the day and receive a prize and signed certificate and photograph of said pig complete with trotter print-good luck !

Natalie`s Skydive for MND

2011-07-06T02:06:00.000-07:00

Meet here one very brave young lady-Natalie Barclay [pictured above ] preparing herself for a 12, 000 foot tandem sky dive jump at Headcorn Parachute club [ www.Headcorn.com] in Kent last month.
Natalie lost her beloved "Pops " three years ago to motor neurone disease and since then her and her mum Tracy has been involved in raising funds for MND
I don`t think, looking at this I could do it-could you ? It looks an awful long way down !!
She`s smiling !
Looks like you are having a great time - WOW-what an experience - I`am sure you will never forget it !!

PHEW !
Well done ! what a perfect landing !
Natalie set herself a fundraising target of £395 she has exceeded that-the total raised so far stands at £620.00 and the money is still coming in !!
If you wish to donate you can find Natalie`s Just Giving Page at www.justgiving.com/nataliebarclay
Pictured above with Natalie after the jump- is one very relieved and proud mum Tracy [centre ] and nan Phyllis
-Tracy laughs Natalie has always been an adrenalin junkie ! next year she plans on a wing walk but only if the plane goes upside down !
We haven`t seen the last of you yet then Natalie !!

Name the pig and save the pig for MND !!!

2011-07-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

I popped up to see my brother John tonight-after a rather frustrating computer free week [hubby downloaded a virus last Saturday] I had asked John`s partner Chris to download some extra security software on my laptop for me, for those who follow my brother`s Going Gently blog-you will already be aware that John is opening his allotment to raise funds for St Michael`s Church in Trelawnyd on the 17th of July-he will also be making a donation from the proceeds to the Motor Neurone Disease Association. One of the MND fundraising ideas John has had is to name the pig and save it !! So while Chris was busy with my laptop I went for a wander round his allotment.
John was given two rather gorgeous piglets a few weeks ago [for his birthday ] to fatten up for the freezer !! Hmmm ? One is rather cute-she is the female pictured here above- enjoying a good scratch-she is in fact a little bugger !! Armed with camera I thought I would get a few photographs of her for the blog -Last time I had met her she was a timid little thing !! this time she marched up to me and decided to bite my shoe-I jumped a mile-sensing this was going to be fun-as I`am such a scaredy cat she aimed her next nip at the back of my calf- at this point the only squealing taking place was by me as she continually charged me [ John found this exceedingly funny and tried to reassure me she was only playing] I in the mean time fended her off in true matador style with a metal feeding bowl !!
Seeing a close up of her teeth now- I`am rather glad I did ! John rather patiently explained it was best I stood my ground and be firm with her and in the end that worked a treat- she got bored with her game and gave up and pottered off ! [though I hasten to add while John wasn`t looking I gave her a bit of a twang with the feeding bowl -naughty I know ]
Well if you want to save her from getting the chop -enter our competition !! Starting from Monday 11th of July we will be asking people to think up a name for her and then by making a donation to MND [on this site] you will automatically be entered into a raffle-plenty of time to come up with a really good name then !
The open day starts at 1pm -admission £1.50 adults- children 50p[complementary tea and cake ]
There will be raffles/stalls/produce/Trelawnyd History Exhibition/poultry and of course the piglets !!
If you get the chance do pop along and join us and say hello- [ I will be serving the teas ] You can find John`s allotment situated behind St Michael`s church,Trelawnyd- look forward to seeing you all there then !!

Jenny Final Day Interview- Motor Neurone Disease Awareness week UK

2011-06-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

Here in the U.K. it is Motor Neurone Disease Awareness week, please help if you can by donating and purchasing one of our bands to help promote awareness of this dreadful disease and help increase funding to enable more research- they cost £2.50 each, all of which goes to the MNDA.

Here are a few reminders about why we need this research.

5 people die everyday in the UK from MND
50% within 14 months of diagnosis
MND is a rapidly progressive , fatal disease that can affect any adult at any time-there is currently no cure and there is no treatment-only palliative care.
MND leaves people unable to walk,talk or feed themselves but their intellect and senses usually remain unaffected.
Sufferers can still think and feel but their bodies refuse to work.
Its a commonly held misconception that MND is a inherited disease infact only 5-10 % of all MND victims have a familial history of the disease.The simple truth is that to date no one knows what causes MND.

Below is a video of MND sufferer Jenny Green[ wearing one of our bands]- after finishing her Paris to London Tramper challenge ,there are some lovely pictures on her blog of the gorgeous French countryside and wildlife she encountered on her travels -if you get a moment please pop over and have a look-she writes a wonderful blog full of humour and has a wonderful supportive family-her two sons cycled along side her for morale support with her husband driving the support truck-one of her sons on the first day streaked past Jenny on his bicycle naked as the day he was born-Jenny laughs I haven`t seen that much of him in 30 years !! [no pictures of that I`m afraid !!] You can donate and visit Jennys blog at The Jenny Green Tribute Fund.

We have made our target !!!

2011-06-20T05:42:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic day we had yesterday at Tim and Ann`s open garden day for MND , not only was the weather brilliant but we had a fantastic turn out of people, who all came along to support our cause and enjoy the day ! I must admit I was a little worried when I turned up to lend a hand an hour or so before we were due to open-to find so much needed to be done-having said that I needn`t have worried. I guess our family have a few of these type of do`s under our belt now [ thanks to my brother John, who has opened his allotment for the last 3 years running, and Ann and Tim who are use to putting on the car and flower shows!! ] so we all buckled down on got on with our alloted tasks- I had to smile to myself-our family makes a formidable team !! John and Chris arrived not long after I did,Chris helped Tim set up the gazebo at the main entrance and within minutes it was up and decorated with balloons and bunting- while John helped set up the cake table-Aunty Judy arrived and started buttering the Barabrith-while I did the scones, hubby Ned rolled up his sleeves and was put in charge of the washing up [his hands have never been so clean !! he`s a mechanic by the way ! ] with help from his chief assistants Ellie and Tracie who were collecting and drying crockery.
We managed to stop and have a quick photo call [ L-R Ned,Ann, Aunty Judy and John ] The cakes looked lovely set out on the table - Ann used all of her beautiful and freshly laundered antique lace tablecloths- The cakes were homemade and presented on vintage cake stands-it all looked wonderfully old fashioned

L-R Tim,me,Judy and John

A big thank you to everyone who made us a cake ! we got through 17 of them altogether,a special thank you to Delyth who lost her mum to MND a couple of weeks ago but stopped by Saturday night with a yummy chocolate cake-on hearing we were panicking a bit as to whether or not we had enough [Ann and I were baking until half past ten that night ] she called in Sunday morning with an extra one for us -you are a star Delyth !! thank you !
It was then time to set up the plant stall-Ann made some wonderful strawberry jam with fresh strawberries and homemade marmalade which sold out immediately-John brought some of his free range eggs to sell.
The plants donated by Robert Kingdom [Jacksons nurseries, Trelawnydd. ] looked wonderful .
I just about had enough time to take some photographs of the garden before our guests started arriving..It looked lovely-all of Ann and Tims hard work had really paid off, they really know how to do things well..
It was a lovely atmosphere-one of my sisters friends Ann Jones who came along with her husband has known Andrew for years, wanted to do something to help- so she made up a basket of fruit ,all beautifully wrapped in cellophane with a big bow and proceeded to go round everyone asking them to play guess the weight-she charged everyone a £1 a go-Brilliant idea don`t you think ?
Lots of people sat and relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine- for an extra £3 they had the option of a glass of Pimms with lots of ice , fresh fruit and mint out of the garden. At one point we had over 100 people milling about !! we were rushed off our feet !!
We had to send someone out mid- afternoon to get us some more milk !! Apart from that one hitch it all went very smoothly [Thanks Bill by the way for coming to the rescue !! ] Ann manned the plant sale in the gazebo before her friend Pauline kindly offered to take over for a while allowing Ann to mingle and greet people -while Tim and Chris manned the gate and sold raffle tickets.
Much later after everything was tidied up and packed away we sat in the conservatory and enjoyed a glass of wine while we sat and chatted and counted up the money-we had over £100 in donations to start with from people who said, as it was fathers day they had already made plans for the day so were unable to attend but wanted to support our cause ! We played the usual guess how much money is on the floor game-I was way out !!
I couldn`t quite believe how much we had raised a fantastic £973.00 !!!
Ann couldn`t quite believe it either-she woke up early this morning, worrying that she had miscounted the money somehow -she decided to have a re-count at 7am in the morning sitting up in bed with a cup of tea ! Nope ! it was correct ! In fact we have had a few more donations arriving throughout the day now making our total over £1000.00 which means our grand total is well over our ten thousand pounds target- [ £ 10,165.00] Hmm ! time to up that now -don`t you think ?
A huge thank you to everyone who came along on the day and supported us-we were overwhelmed and very touched with the kindness and generosity shown by everyone and I can`t begin to tell you how much we appreciated it !

Tim and Ann`s Garden open

2011-06-13T05:41:00.000-07:00

My sister Ann and husband Tim are opening up their garden this coming weekend -Sunday 19th June to raise funds for Motor Neurone Disease, if you live in the Prestatyn area and would like to come and support us -please pop in to see Ann or myself at Bonneamie or The Bon High street , Prestatyn. Her garden is open by invitation only and we have a limited number of places left, her garden is full of mature trees and shrubs and there are lots of lovely vistas to enjoy, they have been both working very hard to make sure everything is at its best ! We are charging £3 .00 entry and you get a wonderful cup of tea and a slice of homemade cake included in the price [what a bargain ] there will be homemade jams, a plant stall- Robert Kingdom owner of Jackson`s Nurseries ,Trelawnyd has very generously donated a fantastic selection of plants and herbs for us to sell - Oh ! and not forgetting- some of my brothers lovely free range eggs will be available to buy !! Gates open 2-5pm
Well I`m off to try out a new cake recipe-watch this space !

A lovely surprise

2011-06-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

Its always a nice surprise in the mornings after checking my emails to find that someone has left us a donation and a request for some bands-so last week it was even lovelier to receive a donation out of the blue from someone I hadn`t heard from, for a while- and a very handsome donation to boot at that ....... £100.00 !! A very special thank you to Dave Spragg !! Dave took some wristbands from me last year to sell and a little collecting box-not bad for 20 bands he wrote in his email !!! Absolutely brilliant I say Dave , Well done !!!- Dave who loves walking- took part in Mike Peter`s Snowdon rocks last August and is in the above picture- Andrew went along to support Mike`s Love Hope Strength Cancer Charity and walked down Snowdon to raise awareness and funds for Leukemia, Mike very generously agreed to stop and have some photographs taken for MND- in this photograph is Andrews son Jonathan[second from left] Mike Peters, Andrew ,brother in law Tim [it was his birthday that day !!] and Dave Spragg-That same evening there was a wonderful Alarm concert at Rhuddlan castle where Andrew was teching for Mike, it was a lovely evening and I will never forget the wonderful sunset as we were leaving-Tim said it was the best birthday he had ever had !!

Car Booting !

2011-06-04T05:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago some friends of Andrew`s [Gaz and Annie ] were determined to find a way to help and to give our fundraising a little bit of a boost. They came up with the idea of de-cluttering their lives and making a bit of money by getting rid of some unwanted items at our local car boot!. There to give a hand was Annie`s son Joe who has done a little bit of charity work before- with banner and buckets at the ready they set off 7.30 am on a damp Sunday morning[ no mean feat getting Gaz out of bed that early-laughs Annie ] to set up a stall at our largest car boot sale in this area - at Sainsburys roundabout , Rhuddlan. I must give a mention and a special thank you to brothers Jacob and Issac Jones who were very generous in donating some of their toys -Jacob [who is only 10years old ] has raised quite a bit of money for the British heart Foundation-according to Joe - Jacob`s Dr Who toys were a sell out and it was those toys that raised the most money for our cause !
At around 10am it poured down with rain- so we reduced everything to a £1 or half price and by half ten we were on our way home- laughs Joe ! The picture above is of Joe proudly wearing his supporters MND band- after counting up the money he helped raised ! The car boot sale made a fabulous £115 for the MNDA -that takes some doing !! Well done guys-Andrew was delighted !!
We will get some certificates printed up for your school portfolios .

A Roaring Success !

2011-05-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

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.........

2011-05-27T05:27:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

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

Janet's garden linked

2011-05-25T14:02:00.001-07:00

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 !

2011-05-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

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 !!

2011-05-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

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 !!!

2011-05-15T01:40:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-08T05:01:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-02T03:59:00.000-07:00

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 .

Killing For Company - Andy's New Guitar

2011-04-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

I`am sitting next to Andrew on the settee , a few moments ago he was scrolling through his I pad when I spotted this video and asked Andrew if he could download it onto the blog for me -which he has just done , The I pad is a fabulous gadget - it acts as Andrews communication aid- it has a small keyboard ,display screen and synthesised speech-you type a sentence and press a button for the machine to speak the message you type . It also allows Andrew, internet access to all his favourite sites including facebook and myspace, and he can also download and read a book if he so wishes ! I`am now going to hand you over to Andrew -he is going to write a little bit of information about the video,
Hi all ,I met all the band KFC onThe Alarm tour 2010 and built up a friendship with their lead guitarist Andy "Glam" Williams as I used to help him hook up his amp ready for starting off the gigs, it was on the last gig of the tour we all got up to play on the encore and I passed Andy Mike's custom LHS white telecaster that I built for Mike for the tour Andy enjoyed playing it so much he commissioned me to build one for himself .
So here`s the footage he recorded and sent me to hear it in it's full glory, Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Andy.

A Loving Tribute

2011-04-26T05:20:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of this year sister in law Jayne put some of our Motor Neurone Disease Awareness bands on ebay to sell, Rachael-pictured here on the right with her sister Claire and father Norman bought one and asked Jayne for advice about fundraising and how we got the support from the M.N.D.A. Jayne has been emailing Rachael to see how she and her dad have been getting on , but strangely on Friday Jayne felt she had to email Rachael [ call it intuition ] only to be told that her father had died that morning - in fact, as Jayne was typing her email . Rachael and her sister Claire are throwing themselves into fundraising and awareness for M.N.D. ,and only on Friday morning they had their picture with their dad , and a lovely article published in their local paper-this is the link if you wish to read their story-
http://www.northanset.co.uk/news/local/corby/a_loving_tribute_to_dying_father_1_2619272 This is another young family devastated by this dreadful disease and a reason to free the world of M.N.D. From all of Andrews family -our heartfelt condolences , we are thinking of you .

The Start of Prestatyn car show - and car rides for MND

2011-04-24T00:53:00.001-07:00

On the 30th May 2011 Prestatyn will be hosting it`s annual car show- now in its 12 th year the show was originally organized by my sister as part of the business association initiative to hold and organize a special event in the town to celebrate the Millennium . The flower show committee had a brainstorming session and it was then the idea of holding a car show was born - Ann ran the idea past the local vicar, Clive Southerton -never one to miss an opportunity to fund raise he asked her for the catering as a trade off for her having the use of the vicarage, she agreed ! she had the vicarage he had the church hall a deal was struck !
For those of you who don`t know Prestatyn, the Edwardian vicarage is set in a picturesque woodland garden in the centre of town , I think the vision Ann had at that time was of a country house setting rather like a Agatha Christie / Miss Marple type film with all the pre- 1939 cars parked up under the trees and driveway ! She obtained a grant from the Prestatyn Town council and contacted the local car club- Clwyd Pratical classics , setting up a meeting over afternoon tea they agreed they would like to help and support the event and still do today ! The first show was a modest affair with just 50 cars compared to the 300 who took part last year ! The grant was used to hire a marquee and all the car owners were treated to a light lunch with all of Ann`s team of helpers dressed in navy blazers for a corporate look-retired manageress of Manweb- Ann Jones, Debbie Rawlins carpet shop owner , Elizabeth Quinlan from the china shop and Norma and Ken Radcliffe from the sweet shop , Joyce [a high street customer ] and Frank Cook a retired police officer was the official photographer.Chatting with Ann and Tim it was lovely to hear the memories they had of that day !
Picture the scene a lovely sunny day, a jazz band playing , face painters and childrens entertainer, craft and produce stalls- when it was decided on a parade of classic cars around the town at midday , the Mayor to travel in a Daimler Jag once owned by the Marques of Angelsey and the chair of the Business Association in an open top Lanchester with numerous dignitories assigned to eye catching classic`s.
The chair of the business Association was the lovely Lyn Bedway the glamorous manageress of Ethel Austin- Lyn arrived immaculately dressed the morning of the show sporting the most beautiful picture hat and stunning smile that lasted all day ! Ann says when she thinks back she thinks warmly of all the wonderful team of volunteers , who are still with her today and of all the good humour and laughter , local people pulling together at a community event and enjoying themselves [ a lot of whom have helped us with our fundraising for MND today ] but her lasting memory has to be Lyn and her smile sitting in the back of the Lanchester bombing passed the entrance of the marquee as Ann looked up from serving lunch-holding on to her wonderful hat for dear life- Fabulous !

After that first year was deemed such a success- Brother in law Tim took over organizing of this event, and it has grown from strength to strength each year and now has a committee of around 12 who all help Tim organize it- All types of cars from lovely old vintage 1920 style cars to present day - to super cars and vintage motor bikes [ hubby plans to take one of his along this year !] all turn out to support this show, a free lunch is still given to the first 100 cars who enter- that is 200 lunches ! There are lots of stalls , childrens rides , face painting and refreshments available in the vicarage- music is supplied by the local hospital radio, there is no entry charge for this event but people are encouraged to support St Kentigerns who are out in force with their buckets !

This lovely old 1937 Leyland Tiger bus is usually on hand to give the public rides down to Prestatyn beach and back- which has given us an idea this year to raise funds for Motor Neurone Disease ! Especially as one of our classic car owners took advantage of a similar scheme at this years classic car show in Birmingham-where she took a ride in a Morgan for a £20 donation and thoroughly enjoyed it ! so Tim decided to email some of the car owners who have already entered for this years show and asked them if they would a sell ride in their car for a donation to raise funds for MND- so far we have four owners who have said they would be delighted to !
The cars that are so far participating in this are- a 1933 Austin box saloon [something similar shown above ]
A 1937 Lanchester- L14

A 1988 Opel Manta rally car [example shown above ]
and a 1982 Porche 911 ! something to suit everyones taste ! for more information you can visit Tims web site on this link hope you are all enjoying the lovely weather-have a lovely Easter !

Meet the wonderful Jenny Green !!

2011-04-17T02:43:00.000-07:00

The Jenny Green Challenge Fund has been established by British housewife and mother Jenny Green [ pictured above ] and her family to raise funds into the causes and possible better treatments for MND , Jenny was diagnosed in June 2009 and is experiencing considerable loss of mobility in the limbs and is dependent on a wheel chair for mobility. Last year Jenny took part in her first fundraising challenge for M.N.D - she competed in an international sailing race at the Regatta Royal in Cannes
with 65 of the top international Dragon crews taking part ,Regatta Royal is a challenging race for any competitor, but for Jenny , completing all races in the Regatta was a huge task. Jenny sailed alongside her husband Malcolm and said fatigue and weakness were the biggest hurdles and getting annoyed about the things she cannot do anymore or that took so much longer didn`t help either !! She says....It was difficult moving around the boat and balancing on the side without much help from the legs-but when racing I can feel almost normal- there is no time for doom and gloom , as all the concentration went on the competition !
Jenny pictured above preparing for the start of the race and below in action !
Since the Regatta last year Jenny`s MND has progressed and her disability is greater now-many people would have retired to an armchair , but not Jenny .She remains totally committed to making the most of her remaining life to raise funds so that in the future others with MND might have access to improved treatments and perhaps even a cure . At the end of May Jenny will ride her off-road mobility vehicle all the way from Notre Dame Cathedral , Paris to the Cutty Sark in Greenwich London. Jenny writes a wonderful blog - full of warmth and humour , you can keep up with her progress and leave Jenny some words of encouragement at www.jennygreenchallenge.org she has been in training for this event which will require her to cover around 50km a day- she jokes-even taking a pee requires careful planning !! each training session leaves Jenny utterly drained and exhausted. Wishing you well Jenny-I will be rooting for you and following your progress- you are truly inspirational ! I look forward to seeing the photographs-Jenny has promised to send me some wearing her motor neurone disease bands while in action !

Renovation

2011-04-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

We have lived at our present home for nearly eight years now - and one of those little renovation jobs that has badly needed doing and has been put off countless times over the years - is our coal shed. We do not have a coal fire but do have a log burner- so we do use the shed to store our logs- our little coal shed has had a leaky roof for quite some time-so over the years the roof has required waterproofing with tarpaulin and has become a dumping ground for all sorts of wood offcuts - it has become a real eyesore ! The good thing about deciding to open your garden to the public [ to raise funds for MND] is that an effort is made to get all of these little jobs done and sorted ! I find myself stalking round the garden trying to view things as a stranger would for the first time and am horrified to see just what a terrible state everything is in ! I guess after a while you just stop noticing these things ! So we have called in the cavalry - brother in law Chris has been working hard not only putting a new roof on the shed but raising the height to make it a little bigger.

It has been a glorious day today-Chris pictured above, [ please note he is wearing his band ! ] called round to put the finishing touches to the shed so I could start painting it.While I filled the car with all sorts of junk to take to our local tip.
I have made a start painting the walls- while Ned has sorted the wood out and tidied it all away, while on a tea break I had a wander round the garden-everything is looking so much more colourful now.

I have also made a start on my vintage table top sale ! Our previous home was a cottage and a lot of what I brought with me to this house just doesn`t fit in [ 1938 semi ] with our deco - so I`am being ruthless and having a good sort out- I have no idea what sort of prices to ask -so I might check on ebay to get some ideas ! Hope you are all enjoying your Sunday and the nice weather-better get back to sorting a few more things out for the sale while I`am in this- its gotta go mood !

Travelling M.N.D. bands go posh ?

2011-04-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Last year I watched a really interesting series on the the television documenting the restoration of the Savoy Hotel in London.The Savoy was the first luxury hotel to be built in Britain and is situated on the Strand in the city of Westminster in central London-it took five years to build, finally opening its doors on the 6th of August 1889 .It was built by impresario Richard Carte with the profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas ,it caused a great sensation at that time as it was the first hotel in London to be lit by electricity, it had the first electric lift and later became the first hotel to provide bathrooms en suite
Artists Whistler and Monet both used views from the hotels windows for their work. Oscar Wilde with his friend Lord Alfred Douglas, The Prince of Wales and his coterie were all frequent visitors-The likes of Noel Coward ,George Gershwin,George Bernard Shaw and H.G.Wells frequented the American Bar.
Art Deco and Jazz and the Savoy were made for each other-The iconic stainless-steel sign over the Savoy court was erected in 1929.Top jazz musicians from America came to play and a hydraulic lift system installed to raise the dance floor and turn it into a stage for cabaret acts.The stars loved the Savoy-England`s own Vivien Leigh was first introduced to her future husband Lawrence Olivier in the hotel`s front hall - From America Al Jolson, Errol Flynn and Katherine Hepburn,From France Josephine Baker and Coco Channel, Winston Churchill frequently had lunch with his cabinet at the hotel during WW2 and attended his Savoy club, The other club ,until his death in 1965.Once peace was declared The Savoy quickly regained its air of glamour and luxury ,Princess Elizabeth was first seen with Lt Philip Mountbatton in public at a Savoy reception.
The new Elizabethan age saw a new generation of actors ,films ,stars and politicians.
Elizabeth Taylor [honeymooned there ]Sophia Loren ,Marilyn Munroe.The Savoy swung into the sixties with Louis Armstrong, Marlon Brando,and Jane Fonda to the Beatles and Bob Dylan !
In 2007 began the most extensive restoration that would re-launch The Savoy in 2010,
The hotel conducted a sale of 3,000 of its famous furnishings and memorabilia -which is something I personally felt quite sad about, for me [if I ever got the opportunity that is ]of going to the Savoy for afternoon tea ,the joy of being there and soaking up the atmosphere-wondering who had sat in that exact same spot-parked their bottom in that same chair and used the same china would be all part of the enjoyment for me ![ romantic old fool that I`am ] Having said that-the glass dome which was covered during WW2 was never uncovered until the renovation -The rooms have been modernised but decorated in period styles - I couldn`t help but feel it had been spoilt- once you had walked through the doors you could have been at any top class hotel anywhere in the world- but I guess you need to move with the times-I really am a bit of a grumpy bum - I hate change !
The hotel checked in its first guest- Actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry at 10.10am on the 10/10/10 after a refurbishment cost of 220 million pounds [ 110 m over budget]
Butler service was re-introduced .I would still love to stay the night at this hotel-who wouldn`t ? Sigh ! Our travelling bands go to the nicest of places !

2011 in 2011 !!

2011-03-30T09:31:00.001-07:00

Meet Shona ! She has set herself an amazing challenge 2011 In 2011 ! and its just as it sounds.
She aims to run 2011km during the course of this year - for those of us - like me ,who still work in old money thats 1,250 miles ! Shona`s godmother Sue was diagnosed with M.N.D. in 2009 , since then she has had to learn to adjust to life with less and less strength in her arms and further more prepare herself and her family for an uncertain future. This has been Shona`s motivation.
Shona writes .....

I knew this isn`t going to be easy but I want to do a challenge , something fairly unique and worthy of donations to my chosen charity the MNDA , I plan to run the equivalent of a marathon a week , every week this year ! [ Wow ! ]
Shona is at present spending three months in the U.S.A. and has just completed The Gusher half marathon , in Beaumont Texas. Her regular run is about 7 miles - The Gusher half marathon is 13.1 ! She writes- I had never run that far all in one go ! but I managed to complete the marathon in 1.57 a personnel best !
Pictured below is Shona [ wearing her MND band of course ! ] taking a well earned rest after completing the run.
Please if you get a moment pop to Shona`s blog and leave her an encouraging comment - I know she would greatly appreciate it - you can also make a donation at this site if you so wish.
http://shona2011.blogspot.com/

I love what you are doing Shona - wishing you lots of luck - I will be following your adventures and progress on your blog xx
Anyone else out there doing any fundraising for MND ? Why not buy a band - send in a photograph wearing it and along with details of what you are doing when and where - and I will give you a mention on the blog !

Free hugs for Viv in Christchurch !

2011-03-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

Last week I received another update from Viv -rather than re-write the story myself I thought I would just copy his email out [ Viv writes so much better than me ! ] he writes.....

A couple of days ago , we went to the Earthquake Memorial Service . It was a humbling experience .Upwards of 40,000 people were there , including Prince William of Wales aswell as me and Betty .The two minutes silence was amazing - all those people silent and motionless ,not a sound , even the birds fell quiet.

Anyway , after the formalities were over , there was a rather more relaxed atmosphere and suddenly a gaggle of ladies appeared ,offering free hugs ,what could a chap do ? Under cover of a different hat ,I just had to take my chance. The photo is the result , but speaking of risk , If the left hand looks a little risque ,it was only in the interests of making sure the notice remained visible to all !
Well thats my story anyway !
Leaving the shaking city on the 26 th of April to return to Wales.

Thank you so much Viv for keeping us all informed and for making us feel involved- [and not forgetting - giving us all a chuckle over your latest antics!! ] also for supporting " My brother Andrew " awareness campaign- you have been a great supporter- safe journey home , please keep in touch ! love to Betty..... All of Andrews family xx

Steamy Windows MND fundraiser

2011-03-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Last nights concert was a great success ! We all had a lovely time -made extra special as Andrew was feeling well enough to come along and join us .It was lovely seeing him being joined by so many of his old friends who had come along especially to support him and the MNDA. The band Steamy Windows were superb , I can`t thank them enough for all their hard work in arranging this night , they did a fantastic job ! Several people approached me saying that they were planning to do some fund raising of their own from sponsored walks and runs to auctions ! A great result- Thank you ! Our cousin Russell traveled down from Scotland-he is planning on doing a sponsored off road half marathon run at Balmoral in April , it was lovely to see him after all these years and do some serious catching up ! I can`t believe how generous everybody was -we used up all four of our raffle ticket books ! Above is some video footage of Steamy Windows .
On the right you can see lead guitarist Phil playing the guitar Andrew built for him-it really stood out under the stage lights !

This piece of video footage shows Andrew, with him is Phil from the band " Steamy Windows " who joined him for a little while [-taking a little breather] while the singing duo Montage did the first of their half hour slots [the lady you can see is -Andrews wife Jayne . She is an absolute gem ! and takes such good care of Andrew !! ] Montage were brilliant too ! See for yourselves !

This little video shows brother in law Tim - working the room selling even more raffle tickets !!- Sister Ann made a beautiful hamper which we decided not to include in our main raffle-but to be sold off as a separate item- Yet again people dug deep into their pockets, with one gentleman buying £10 pounds worth of tickets ! A special thank you to my nephew Peter`s daughter Ellie and her friend Matthew who helped out - and to aunty Judy and hubby Ned for folding all those raffle tickets !! Not forgetting the lovely lady Doreen who ran the tombola for us , and Ann[ Jones] for helping out and supplying us with some extra raffle and tombola prizes- you all did a fantastic job ! Thank you all so much ! The evening raised £ 683 .00 for the motor neurone disease association , a fantastic result !

A big thank you also to Ann Jones and the Con club committee members for offering us the use of the room to hold this event .

Ticking Boxes

2011-03-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

Well , I would like to think that we are all now set for this coming Saturdays adventure at the Constitutional Club ! At the beginning of the week I decided, instead of just putting a poster in the shop window where I work I would add a miniature drum kit [ borrowed from nephew Peter`s lad- Louis whose is nearly 3 ! ] So far it seems to have worked ! with lots of people stopping to look and read the poster- I even colour co-ordinated clothes to the MND colours of blue and orange !
The lovely lady Rhian , from the local Prestatyn weekly Journal has done Andrew proud and written a smashing article about Saturdays concert and I even phoned our local radio station to see if they would give us a plug !
When I was greeted by a friendly voice saying hello -I wasn`t sure if I had the right number or not ! So asked very politely is that the radio station and if it is could you please give us a plug for our forth coming charity concert this coming Saturday? - Of course we can -you are on air now ! Go for it ! [ nearly dropped the bloomin phone ] Lucky enough I had the poster in front of me- so I sort of gabbled on a bit- I think everything came out in the right order without stuttering [ seems to happen when I`am nervous ! ] And only a few ........erms at the end ! Proud of myself ! The D.J. promised he would give us a few more plugs throughout the week .
I had a lovely surprise on Tuesday when a parcel arrived through the post for me !
Felt like it was my birthday [ and no -it`s not!! ] Exciting opening something - Hmmm ? What could it be ? Ahh ! isn`t he gorgeous ? He has come all the way from Australia from fellow blogger Linda -thank you ! I`am chuffed to bits with him Linda ! He will be sitting on my computer desk with me- a wonderful reminder of how kind and supportive people have been, not just to me but to all our family !
Well , I have just got all the raffle prizes together and everything is sorted ready to be loaded straight into the car -the sun has just come out- so its time I went and did some serious pottering around in the garden, Jess loves getting out in the garden with me- she just loves to sunbathe !
Some dogs just have life sussed ! hope you are all having a good day !

Steamy Windows Gig 19th March 2011

2011-03-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well , not long to go now-I can`t believe how fast time flies ! Andrews friends and fellow musicians from the Blues band " Steamy Windows " are doing a brilliant job of organizing this gig to be held at the Prestatyn Constitutional club this coming Saturday the 19th March .They now have a support act , a singing duo called " Montage " and a comedian/ compere for the show ! Entry fee is just £2 on the door and there will be a raffle with some great prizes ! Doors open 8pm ! Please come along and join us -it will be great fun ! Steamy Windows are a fantastic band -all the money is going to the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Phil who is the lead guitarist in the band has offered to write a piece for the blog , this is his story ............

Above is the AWG Stratocaster Andrew built for Phil [AWG.....stands for Andrew William Gray ]

I first met Andy in 1989 when I went into Jones` electrical shop to get my technics tape deck calibrated to 4`40 as it was a direct drive unit I had to have it spot on to allow me to play along in concert pitch ,as I was so impressed with Andy`s work I bought a second one as a back up. Anyhow after a few years passed we met up again as I needed my guitars looking after by a top guitar tech , and I know , Andy was the best. He taught me a lot over the years , many a time he would text me to come down to the Barn Studio and show me how to set up my pedals and my amp , setting the tone just right to allow me to get my blue tone I have always wanted.Then came the day Andy asked me if I would like him to build me a AWG custom Stratocaster ! I was so taken aback he would even consider building me one so I jumped at the chance , we discussed what I would like and a few weeks later I got the phone call from Andy to come and try my new AWG custom out , and wow it is amazing to play ! Anyway I could go on and on ............

The guitar above Phil has called " the Gray one " he writes ......This is Andy`s old one- a Stratocaster which I bought from him-he built it all by hand.
Reading this I guess you realize Phil and Andrew [sorry can`t call him Andy !!!] go back a fair way and have a shared passion ! It is lovely that these guys from the band have come forward and are prepared to support Andrew in his fight to raise awareness and funding for MND -I know Andrew is delighted and really touched by their kindness and support. Please pop along and help make the evening a great success -these boys, really are a great blues band !
These are some of the raffle prizes I have been sorting out today , the cushion has been donated by a lady whose mother is suffering with motor neurone disease , it is all beautifully hand made with little red beads sewn into it-its gorgeous !

The M and S card is for £30 and arrived last week after I had written a letter to Marks and Spencers asking for a donation for our raffle ! great result ! Below are just some of the items that have been donated !
raffle tickets will be £1 a strip !!! contact details janprestatyn@hotmail.co.uk

Face in space !!

2011-03-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

Now some of you might recall how last year as part of my travelling bands competition I tried to get a band into space - by writing my request to Nasa - I then stated if that was not possible then maybe please could I have a photograph of an astronaut wearing a band or even a technician [ you know the sort of thing- with head phones and a mike on ! ] or in desperation an office cleaner ! [ Well- what ? I didn`t want the band going to waste !! ] You might also recall that upon discovering a reply from Nasa and rather excitedly calling out to hubby, who had been languishing in the bath at the time- how he had hot footed it out of the bath - leaving wet footprints all along my hall carpet- to stand butt naked looking over my shoulder as I opened my email-excitement turning to disappointment - as the email stated Nasa regrets they cannot fly a risk band into space [doh !] , only few exceptions such as for natural museums or historical purposes, request cannot be accommodated . Blah Blah Blah ! oh drat !........ But ahhh ! that wasn`t the end of this tale as thanks to fellow blogger Cassie who wrote a comment saying- Janet , why not try and get a photo in space on the last shuttle but you need to do it ASAP ,there are only 2 flights left and they are in November....Best of luck !
We filled in the forms and added the photograph and forgot all about it until the other day when the certificate came through ! Andrew your photograph has been aboard the space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-133 from February 24 th - March the 9 th 2011 , the certificate states your face was flown on Discovery`s mission to the international space station at an altitude
of 220 miles above Earth, it flew at a speed of more than 17,400 miles per hour as it orbited our planet ! [ double click to enlarge photograph /certificate]
Andrew , I can see you waving and giving us the thumbs up ! it looks like you had a good time ! well not quite a band in space-but it was the next best thing as you are wearing your wristband in the photograph !!

Thanks Cassie that was a brilliant idea of yours and a lot of fun to do ! xx

Trevor

2011-03-08T05:26:00.000-08:00

Meet Trevor Evans ! He is 85 years young and after reading the blog last week- very kindly sent in a donation, as you can see he was more than happy to support our awareness campaign and pose wearing one of our bands ! Thank you Trevor we really appreciate it .Can you spot where Trevor lives ? The clue is in the background -correct spelling please !
The weather here has been lovely the past couple of days and I have cracked on and spent quite a bit of time in the garden ! It is now only around ten weeks to go before I have my open day [yikes ! ] Everything is springing into life [including the weeds ] My lawn looks in a terrible state-I only hope that it recovers in time, you can see the route the dog takes round the garden in the mornings ! Any tips please ? I have button holed a friends mother today into making me one of her yummy cakes -I think she was actually delighted to have been asked-seeing it as a great compliment ! [ it was ! ] We have started asking people we know if they would like to come and support us on the day - Aunty Judy has been given the job of head tea lady ! [ can not remember if I have actually asked her or not yet -she won`t mind I`m sure ! ] Hubby has promised to try and sort out our log shed so all in all things are getting done ! looking forward to the lighter evenings-not far off now.

Name that building ! Bands revisited !

2011-03-04T01:19:00.000-08:00

I laughed to myself when I received this picture a couple of weeks ago ! As I recognized this building immediately ! [ it holds lots of lovely memories for me ] Can you tell me the name of the building and where it is located ? It is widely regarded as one of the finest neo-classical buildings in the world and is grade two listed. The first foundation stone was laid in 1838 [ to commemorate the coronation of queen Victoria ]but the actual building was not started until 1842 , a truly muti purpose community building where people could be tried for murder , attend a ball or listen to a concert all under one roof ! [and no , I was not up in court ]
It fell into disrepair in the 1980`s [ the law court was closed and moved location in 1984 ] but it re-opened in April 2007 following a £23 million award winning refurbishment project and is now a focal point for cultural , community , civic, corporate and performing arts activities. It stands 169 ft long 74 ft wide with a tunnel vaulted ceiling , the largest of its kind in Europe .The ceiling is supported on massive red granite columns ,
Behind the gold leaf and porticoes the hall has one of the greatest brick arches in the world and houses a priceless mosaic floor of 30,000 tiles ,The hall is also home to a concert organ complete with 7,000 pipes second only to the organ in the Albert Hall.
Several years ago a gang of us- consisting mainly of my sisters allotment buddies , myself and brother in law Chris decided we wanted to learn how to dance ! we joined a local dance class-I can`t tell you how much fun it was ! After several months we got a minibus going and treated ourselves to a night out here ! There was a champagne bar made from ice ! a demonstration by some of the stars from Strictly Come Dancing , We had a fantastic time !

It was lovely just to dress up ! Can you spot any familiar faces ? if the couple in the centre would only get out of the damn way ! there is rather a dashing couple in the background [to the right ] !! I`am so glad we made the most of these Spring and Summer balls when we did as they were deemed last year not to be cost effective so they no longer hold them .
I`am reliving it all again just seeing the photographs-its a fabulous place-don`t you agree ? So which building and where did our travelling bands pass by ?
For anyone like me who enjoys looking for antique bargains you will probably enjoy the programme Cash in the Attic . In a recent episode the actor Frazer Hines was donating unwanted items in support of his cancer charity [ Frazer suffered with bowel cancer-happily now he has received the all clear ] I met Frazer last year in Prestatyn while he was touring doing his one man show, he was a charming man and readily agreed to support Andrew and he purchased a MND band from me . You can imagine how thrilled I was while watching the episode to see that Frazer was actually wearing his MND band on the programme [ scenes filmed at the auction ] What a boost it has given Andrew and the family to see how actively he is supporting our campaign. I left a message on Frazers facebook page to thank him .

You can watch the programme BBC I player-cash in the celebrity attic: series 6 : Frazer Hines
www.bbc.co.uk

For John !

2011-02-28T10:04:00.001-08:00

Sorry John this is the only picture I managed to get of you ! At least you took your hat off ! xx
see below-

Asda`s bag pack

2011-02-28T03:33:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning 10 o`clock saw me standing outside my house clutching a large collection of balloons , 12 buckets , 20 sashes , 15 t-shirts , clipboard , bands , sweets and god only knows what else [ kitchen sink I think! ] waiting for my sister Ann to collect me to go to Asda`s some 20 minutes drive away-we were meeting everyone at 10.30, 10 past 10 -no sign of her ! Ann is always late- at quarter past 10 I started to fret -and then her car hurtles around the corner and screeches to a halt- without a word every thing is flung at breakneck speed into the boot ! Why is it when you are in a hurry everyone seems to be driving deliberately slow ? and every traffic light seemed to be on red. We sat in silence -willing the car to go faster ! it`s stressful this fundraising lark isn`t it ? she finally said- I replied -it is when your running late !
I needed the loo -just as I was leaving the house-sorry ! and then we both fell about laughing !
-with me threatening to announce just why I was late to everybody on arrival or worse, post it on the blog. [sorry Ann ] As we pulled up outside Asda I could see everyone waiting in the foyer for us- I was delighted to be greeted by our young dragons who turned out to be mostly Prestatyn young firefighters whom came to support us on our last bag pack -there were a few new faces, two lovely girls from the 1st Meliden guides, cllr Gerry Frobisher who is the N.Wales co-ordinator for the young dragons programme and several adult supervisors.The young dragons were brilliant-everything went very smoothly from then on -Stuart Lewis was on hand to take some photographs [hope your cold is better today Stuart ] The Dragons stayed until 1 o`clock and then it was the family and friends turn.
Pictured above from left to right is Steve Flavel [ a volunteer who came to us through facebook-his mum suffers with MND] nephew Chris [travelled from Ormskirk] , brother in law Tim , Chris` partner Rebecca and sister Ann .Followed by......
Andrew`s friend Marcia, my friend Debbie ,her daughter Jess and Jess` friend Leah [they travelled from The Wirral to take part ] Tracie who is married to nephew Pete- and Pete ! During the day I kept texting Andrew and Jayne to let the know how we were getting on -
The balloons went down a storm-we couldn`t blow them up fast enough to meet supply and demand- we were joined here by aunty judy,hubby Ned and friends Debbie and Peter- Most of us had finished at this point only John remained still packing ! we were also joined by cousins Karen and Ian and Ian`s wife Tina [ told you it was a real family affair !]
Back home with tea and biscuits- six of us set about counting the money-it took over an hour ! At first we were all chatting and laughing and distracting each other ! one by one we fell silent as we kept losing count and having to start over-
We are delighted to announce we made a whopping £764.13 for the MNDA. Andrew was delighted. The money will go to help fund a research project into finding a cure for MND; We had a smashing day-all our first time bag packers agreed that the day just flew by and that they had really enjoyed themselves !

I just like to thank Asda for allowing us to hold a fundraising event in their store-for Amy for arranging it for us-for the generosity of the customers who donated and to all our very hard working bag packers ! you were brilliant !

Cllr Gerry Frobisher [N.Wales co-ordinator for the young dragons tel 01745 369973 ]

THE YOUNG DRAGONS
1st Meliden guides - Harriet and Alice Frobisher

The Prestatyn Young Firefighters
Anaya Liptrot
Sion Price
Tom Evans
Grace Larter
Jade Liptrot

supervisors -Martin Parry , Jamie Brown and Linda Parry.

Friends
Debbie, jess ,Leah , Peter and Debbie ,Lynda , Marcia, Steve ,Stuart

Family
Ann , Tim , John , Pete ,Tracie , Chris ,Rebecca , Ned ,Judy , Karen , Ian , and Tina .
Couldn`t have done it without you all x

Update from Christchurch- Viv is safe

2011-02-26T10:21:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday after hearing on the radio the dreadful news of the earth quake in New Zealand my first thought was- those poor people - then realizing the worst hit were the people of Christchurch my thoughts turned to Viv- I hope to god he is alright , I immediately sent an email off to him , saying I was thinking of him and I hoped both him and his travelling companion were safe-Thursday [ and a big sigh of relief ] he emailed me back that they were both fine -on a borrowed computer so just sending quick emails out to everybody to reassure them he was okay. Today I had a more detailed email-[have edited it down slightly ]

Viv writes :-
Following the earth quake last Tuesday , Betty`s house , garden and foundations suffered another battering. There is still no water-best guess another week-or water or sewage-best guess is " a few weeks " official advice is not to flush toilets in affected areas-dig a hole in your garden instead !
The house will have to be demolished but is still habitable although will need securing and making weather proof before bad weather sets in-we are arranging a truck load of gravel to be dropped off to fill the gaps around the foundations [ one of these is a metre wide x metre and a half deep] We slept in the campervan for 3 nights not only because it felt safer but also because we had lights,stove and water.
We are at the moment living with kind and loving friends and sharing their undamaged home that has had services restored.The city remains completely sealed off.
Food has to be tracked down but there is no shortage , free water available from tankers, one man travelling from Darfield 30miles away filled a giant plastic tank from a well and towed it to a lay by in Christchurch on a trailer and together with his daughter spent the day filling containers.
Such generosity and support remains a feature of almost the entire population.
After shocks continue, they occur several times a day-although they are getting less frequent now. All the news has been via radio.
The quake lasted 20 seconds and I have to say it was one of the most frightening experiences of my life,[ [I was kneeling down at the time in the garage looking for something under the bench - Betty was upstairs on the balcony] we were incredibly lucky neither of us were hurt neither were our friends-though some of them have inevitably lost a friend or a colleague.
Twenty seconds that killed so many people and destroyed hundreds of properties including many iconic buildings,it changed the face of the city.

Just goes to show you how much the life you take for granted can all be changed in just twenty seconds- and there is nothing you can do-it is beyond your control- It has certainly made me stop and think how I would cope in similar circumstances. Thoughts and prayers to the people of Christchurch and to Viv and Betty- so glad you are both safe.

Young Dragons

2011-02-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

Thumbing through our local newspaper a few weeks ago I came across an article which caught my eye-the article was about a charity bag pack at our local Iceland store and was carried out just before Christmas by "The Young Dragons " members from the first Meliden guides they were raising funds for Contact the Elderly.Hmm... Wonder if they would come and help us with our bag pack ? There was a contact number- well nothing ventured nothing gained !-I rang the number but unfortunately the gentleman I needed to speak to [Gerry Frobisher see picture on the left ] was not available-I explained who I was and quickly what I wanted..... I got a very enthusiastic response back .That sounds just up his street ! was the reply ..... [ Wow ! How often does that happen ! ] Phone back tomorrow I`am sure he will be delighted to help you ! Soon as I got home I did a little research , Young Dragons [Dreigiau Ifanc in Welsh] is a relatively new and exciting youth project which is being piloted in three parts of Wales-it aims to increase the number of young people involved in the uniformed youth organizations and also the number of volunteers who help run them. The vision of the young dragons is to promote citizenship to all the young people of Wales through fun and adventure by working together to support each other to deliver increased opportunities to children and young persons. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales provided the catalyst for the establishment of the young dragons and is its patron, the project is already building up a network in Denbighshire which includes Air Training Corps , Army Cadet Force , Sea Cadets , combined Cadet Force , Reserve Forces , Cadet Association , North Wales Young firefighters , St Johns Ambulance , Girl Guiding movement ,Boy Scouting movement , Boy and Girls Brigade and Princes trust Cymru to name a few and the list is growing !
For more information contact Gerry Frobisher who is the Young Dragons youth volunteering co-ordinator for Denbighshire 01745 369973 or visit info@crogenchallenge.com
Thanks to Mr Frobisher we now have 10 young dragons bag packing for us on Sunday -they are arriving at 10.30 and will be staying with us till 1 o`clock, from then on we have a steady stream of friends and family ! On the last bag pack we did -my cousin Karen remarked that our fathers [my dad was the eldest of three brothers ] would be very proud of the way this family is pulling together [ I couldn`t answer her straight away-I had a lump in my throat ] Looking at all the names I have down on my timetable now brothers , sisters , husbands , aunts , cousins , nephews their wives and children I couldn`t agree more ! Roll on Sunday !

Charity Match

2011-02-21T05:58:00.001-08:00

Sunday saw hubby and I hurtling along the A55 towards Bangor on our way to support Gethyn Owens M.N.D. Charity football match. We made a quick stop along the way at Asda`s supermarket to do a tally of how many tills were open in readiness for next Sundays operation bag pack take 2 ! [hasn`t that come round fast ?]
Y Felinheli Club is set in beautiful surroundings ,the pitch surrounded by open fields and edged with trees , the old wood and brick changing room / club house is full of old world charm, we arrived just before kick off-there was a good enthusiastic crowd mostly gathered round the club house and tea bar were we got ourselves a cup of hot tea to keep the afternoon chill off ! We didn`t have to wait long before the teams were out on the field warming up , it was at this point I managed to button hole the actor Llyr Evans [brother to actor Rhys Ifans ] for a photo call -which he was more than happy to oblige [see above photo ]
Hubby nipped over the railings to take a quick photo of the celebrity team just as the whistle blew for the game to start ! Both sides seemed evenly matched to start - Llyr getting a cheer from me or a well done every time he came into contact with the ball ! [ well he was so nice ! ] after a while the bankers started to take control of the game amid much good humoured banter between the opposing sides.
At half time- the score was 4-1 to the bankers ! [They had two very good girl players in their team which really helped them along ! ]
Unfortunately , we had to leave then as I wanted to call into Roger Jones` auctioneers-they were holding a viewing day- where there was some very nice antique hollow stemmed champagne glasses for sale with my name all over them ! We had a stroll first round the pitch with Jess to stretch our legs !
Five minutes down the road and this is the view of the snow capped mountains of Snowdonia mountain range . We made it just in time before the doors closed at Roger jones auction house ! and YES ! the glasses are all mine !

Viv `s New Zealand adventures are coming to an end

2011-02-19T05:59:00.000-08:00

To those of you who follow this blog regularly -you will- like me, feel like you have come to know our friend Viv quite well ! Viv has been" on the run " in New Zealand for several months now , he kept us guessing his location for quite a while before finally being rumbled ! He has just sent me a fresh batch of photographs and writes that he has just returned from a couple of weeks spent around the top end of the north island in his camper van [ nick named the mouse ] and that his adventures will be coming to an end in a couple of weeks time. I feel genuinely sad, as I for one will miss his adventures , emails and his photographs ! Just so you know- lots of my friends and family and bloggers have all asked after you Viv - they worry- especially if you haven`t been in touch for a while ! The photo above is captioned `Been across the desert in a truck with no name ` !! Love it ! can any one tell me the original title of that song and who sings it [win yourself a free wristband ] its one of my all time favourites ! Great photograph Viv- very clever !
This photo has been captioned "Paddling in my own canoe and not falling in " sounds like you have been getting plenty of practice in Viv !
And finally "hiding out in a toilet tree " What more could you possibly want ? it has a privacy curtain ! Thank you for taking the time and trouble Viv to send in all these photographs-it has been very much appreciated- we have enjoyed tagging along and sharing your adventures ! Look forward to that promised last photo !
After checking the weather forecast it looks like tomorrow will be a nice day- We are off to support Gethyn at the celebrity charity football match in Bangor-thought I would take some bands along with me and donate them to Gethyn and his family to sell-it all goes to the same charity after all !

Scottish Anchestry

2011-02-16T05:33:00.000-08:00

Hubby Ned has spent many enjoyable hours researching and tracing his family tree , he was born here in Wales and his Welsh roots go back many generations , but there exists a well known family tale handed down through the generations on his maternal side of the family, [they are MacDonalds ] that they arrived here on the north wales coast after being shipwrecked while trying to escape Scotland by boat heading for France sometime after the battle of Culloden in 1745, these were hunted men who if caught could have been hung by English troops from the nearest tree without any form of trial.
Every year on the 13th of February hubby Ned and his brothers don their kilts and travel to Glen Coe in Scotland to commemorate the masacre of the Glen Coe MacDonalds . The journey takes them through some stunning and dramatic scenery,the first picture is the pass of Glen Coe followed by Rannoch Moor-the most desolate place in the U.K.
Pictured above is Ned with fellow clansman Davy MacDonald [ both wearing their MND awareness bands ] who acted as bannermen for the wreath laying ceremony at the memorial stone and cross- with them are two Swiss girls who had travelled there to attend the ceremony. Ned and son Edward, brother Chris , friend Mike and Gwyn stayed in a local prison camp er... I mean b@b, this was not your usual b@b as they soon found out when the landlady informed them that they would have to be in by 12pm or the front door would be locked, and no alcohol was to be consumed in their rooms , no smoking.......etc etc [there was a very extensive list apparently!! ].Ned made it back in time but son Edward stayed on to finish his drink in the pub, but had craftily left a bedroom window open so he could climb back in undetected but his plan went pearshaped as he was caught by one of the guards when he was half in half out of the window and got a very stern telling off!. At 26years of age he`s a little bit old and big! [ he`s 6`.3" ] to be chastised !!. Needless to say they won`t be staying there again ! They did manage to have a brilliant time and met lots of wonderful people and enjoyed catching up with some old friends.

Re-Scheduled Event- Celebrity V HSBC bankers

2011-02-13T07:22:00.000-08:00

Last year I wrote of an event taking place organized by banker Gethyn Owen in memory of his father Iolo Owen who passed away aged only 50 from motor neurone disease, the event planned was a celebrity football match between the cast of S4C`S Rownd@Rownd and the HSBC bankers . Unfortunately, due to bad weather conditions at the time the match was postponed , It has now been re-scheduled for this coming Sunday the 20th of February at the Felinheli Football Club Bangor-kick off will be at 2pm with a half time penalty shoot out with a chance to win some fantastic prizes ! So far Gethyn and his family have raised over £ 11 000.00 for the M.N.D.A. which is an amazing amount and are keen to raise even more ! So please if you get the chance to go and support this event - help Gethyn and his family give MND the boot ! Putting in an appearance will be the actor Llyr Evans [ brother to the actor Rhys Ifans ] as well as fellow celebrities from the the S4C programme . Some of the prizes you can win are listed below

Villa in Spain sleeps 6 for a week
Signed Jonathan Davies rugby shirt
Signed Wales and Arsenal shirts
Stadium museum tour for 4 Liverpool Football Club
Sunday Lunch at Signatures Conwy for 2

Raffle tickets £1
Contact details- G. Owen
2 Mostyn Terrace
Bethesda
Gwynedd LL575AB TEL. 07738022313

Can you name that tune?

2011-02-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

This is my best friend Debbie and her daughter Jessica photographed here wearing their supporters bands- they are at a terminal about to embark on a journey across the water[ here in the UK ] -ah! but where are they ? Click on the picture to enlarge .
Struggling ? This journey was made famous by a pop group in the 1960`s reaching no 8 in the U.K. charts and no 6 in the U.S. charts ! Its easy ! first correct guess wins a free M.N.D band so go on have a go or get google-ing ! I will have the tune going round in my head all day now- can you name that tune ! and tell me the name of the group ?

Love Hope Strength

2011-02-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

I just love this photograph ! It was taken last year during the making of the film Vinyl, Andrew was teching for Mike at the time and asked the Alarm`s photographer Andy Labrow to take this picture round the back of Dyserth church during a break in filming- from left to right is Eastenders actor Phil Daniels ,Mike Peters , Andrew and actors Perry Benson, Keith Allen [ singer Lily Allens father ] and Chris Turner. The movie is based on The Alarm frontman Mike Peters who had a song rejected and used a young band to mime to his record which became a hit getting into the top 30- his point was to highlight ageism in the music industry, the film was directed and co-written by Mikes childhood friend Sara Sugarman
Last year Andrew went on The Alarms "Release the pressure tour " as Mikes guitar tech, he met lots of wonderful people from all over the country-Mike`s fans are a very loyal bunch ! As I have mentioned before Andrew was determined to go and support Mike and the band at this years gathering as it was the start of the special " Sound of Fury " 30th anniversary tour ! I was contacted through facebook by James o`neill who purchased some bands from me- James is pictured here in the tartan shirt with from left to right -brother Eddie, son Steven and friend Jock .
James wrote that he hoped to see Andrew at the gathering that he had met him several times when he had been up his way[ in Scotland ] with the Alarm and could I think of something they could bring down as a wee present for him to let them know they were all thinking of him ! How kind was that ? I`am so sorry James that we missed you- just by a few minutes as it turned out but thank you so much for this wonderful photograph- and thank you for your support !It is lovely to see you all wearing the bands !
Mike Peters raises a lot of money for charity- he is a co-founder of the Love Hope Strength foundation[ which was registered as a charity in 2007 ] and is himself a two times cancer survivor , his charity promotes innovative music related outreach and awareness programmes for leukaemia and cancer sufferers and their families. The foundation provides grants through fundraising activities for cancer centres and hospices and hospital equipment and research.
I know Andrew is very proud to have played a small part in this charity and to have supported Mike over the last few years- and he will continue to do so - I have mentioned it before ! but this is the tattoo he had done while on holiday in Florida last year.

What a view !

2011-02-04T10:57:00.000-08:00

Just look at this for a view ! It`s fabulous don`t you think ? So where in the world do you think our travelling bands are ? [ click on the pic to enlarge ] Well , to give you a few clues - you can stop at this lovely old restaurant for a bite to eat, it is called the St Bernards Hotel located on the edge of an ancient volcanic escarpment, it commands wonderful views of the Tamborine valley , this area boasts rain forest walks- nine national parks almost encircle the mountain escarpment . Walks starting from the hotel include five different water falls !
The hotel is an old establishment for this area and was moved to its present location in 1888 , it started a program of restoration and refurbishment in 2004 after being left for nearly thirty years in a state of decay-so far the owners have spent nearly £ 1 million pounds on it !
And here is the hotel mascot-his name is Leo ! So win yourself an MND wristband and guess the location !

Asda Foyer Collection

2011-01-31T14:35:00.000-08:00

Well Ann and I were up early last Sunday morning bleary eyed but bushy tailed ! We did our foyer collection at Asda supermarket in Kinmel Bay- On arrival we were supplied with a table and a couple chairs by some of the very helpful male staff who couldn`t do enough for us ! The only downside was that the foyer was freezing cold- I was so glad we had wrapped up warmly .
We had a steady stream of visitors all checking up on us throughout the day to make sure we were o.k.-John and Chris arrived with a packet of custards tarts for us to have on our coffee break ! Then Tim-whom I managed to miss as Ann and I had decided to take it in turns to explore and warm up at the same time by doing a tour of the store ! [I was gone some time- I ended up buying some P J`s -they have some really good stuff there and very reasonable priced too!! ] Hubby then arrived with a very welcome flask of coffee and the time pretty much flew by-we made £ 107.65 for the M.N.D.A.- O.K. not a huge amount but every little bit helps- and it all adds up ! We are also doing a bag pack at this store on the 27 th February- so it was handy being there so we could count how many tills were open and make a note of their busiest times -If anyone can spare an hour and would like to come along to help - you can contact me at janprestatyn@hotmail.co.uk

Mike Peters - Father to Son @ The Gathering 28/01/11

2011-01-30T01:55:00.000-08:00

This weekend the band The Alarm were playing at the gathering held at Pontins holiday camp here in Prestatyn-Andrew was determined he was going and the whole family got behind him to support him-We all headed down there in a convoy of cars Andrew ,Jayne , son Jonathan and his girlfriend in one car- John , Ann ,Tim and son Peter and myself in another -we were ushered in through the stage door and taken to the back of the gig where all the sound crew were working-this area was cordoned off to the public -Andrew and Jayne were escorted through, It was lovely to see how many of the sound guys and technicians made a beeline for Andrew and there was a lot of hugs and back slapping going on ! He was in his element ! though I`am sure it was hard at times to stop himself from adjusting a few knobs and switches as he is usually working and not relaxing at these events ! We did think we would be only stopping for an hour but it turned out to be all evening -we all really enjoyed ourselves !
Ann and I are a little bleary eyed this morning ! we are off to Asda`s for a foyer collection for MNDA- wish us luck !

Stylish blogger award

2011-01-26T14:57:00.000-08:00

I would just like to thank Dia so very much for nominating this blog for a stylish blogger award-I`am thrilled to bits ! I now have to disclose 7 things about myself you did not know- hmmm !

1. I hate spiders-they always make an appearance when hubby is out-I once battered one to death with a yard brush [it was life or death situation-him or me ] my lounge wall was covered in mud after !

2.when I first met my husband he was a gamekeeper-he taught me how to load and fire a shotgun [may come in useful one day ?]

3 .It took me 3 goes to pass my driving test ! [Not that it ever stopped me ? less said about that
the better ! ]

4. I hate heights !

5. My favourite daydream- I can dance a perfect foxtrot !

6. After a Tom Jones concert in Sheffield with John and too much to drink I boarded a tram and treated everyone to my very own rendition of sex bomb !

7. My very first job was in a stud farm working with horses

I think I`am supposed to nominate other people now but there are so many blogs I love out there I do not want to leave anyone out ! I will think about this as I have just got home after a night out -will check with John as I do not know the rules to this game ! x

Where is J.T. Thompson ?

2011-01-24T05:48:00.000-08:00

This gentleman was born on the 10th August 1821 in Northumberland England-he went on to become a great explorer, writer and surveyor ! This statue has been erected in his honour but can anyone tell me where ? A clue ? Our very own Viv sent this picture in and yes-he is still on the run in New Zealand !
Oh ! Great news ! Remember the motor bike that was donated to us to sell ? hubby sold it today making £500.00 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association ! Thank you to Gwynnie and Mal for being so very kind and generous and donating it to us in the first place ! hugs to you both xx

Update on Andrew- we visited him in hospital this evening - when we arrived it was lovely to see his hospital room packed full of people,Mike Peters and fellow band members from the Alarm- and friends were all there visiting him- I can`t tell you how much of a boost it gave him -what a wonderful rowdy lot they all were ! A lovely bunch of guys ! nice to see Andrew smiling again-hopefully he should be going home on Wednesday !

Events

2011-01-20T10:44:00.000-08:00

Above is a picture of Phil [Strat ]- lead guitarist from the band "Steamy Windows " in action playing a guitar Andrew custom built especially for him ! Andrew has been Phils guitar tech for a while now- not long before he was first diagnosed with M.N.D. Andrew held a large BQ at his home in Denbigh- his own group The Resistance played [ with Andrew on the drums ] and so did Steamy Windows- with both bands jamming the night away until the early hours- we had a fabulous time ! Marques had been set up on the lawn and a large wire log basket was lit, helping keep the mosquitoes at bay ! It was a lovely summers evening- with lots of wine beer and food- some people set up tents and stayed the night !
Phil and Charlie [another band member ] came along to support our Sainsburys bag pack last year-helping us raise over £1 000.00 for the M.N.D.A , This is the guitar Andrew built for Phil [pictured below ] last year- though he didn`t do the artwork on it-A graphic designer did that ! It`s a beauty isn`t it ?

Phil and Charlie and the rest of the band members have said all along that they would like to do something to support Andrew and to help raise awareness and funds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, Ann Jones chairperson of the Prestatyn Cons Club has known Andrew for many years -in fact her husband use to play snooker with Andrew ! she approached me last year offering to put on a social night- we have set the date for March the 19 th- Ann asked me if I knew of a band that would come and play so I suggested Steamy Windows ! They were delighted and said yes straight away ! I`am organizing the raffle and I have made a start today ! If any one has any unwanted Christmas gifts or would like to donate a prize for our raffle please contact me at janprestatyn@hotmail.co.uk
Thank you to everyone for all your kind words and messages of support this week- we have really appreciated it .[see comment on last post Dai bends ]

Dai the Bends

2011-01-16T10:10:00.000-08:00

On the journey to my brother`s home in Denbigh I often pass by a house whose occupant is a fan in the art of topiary- these topiary`s never fail to make me smile ! Never one usually to miss a photographic opportunity I often declared that one of these days I would stop by and ask the owner if I could take some photographs , that day arrived last Sunday. The house or small holding as it turned out to be is situated at the top of a steep incline after some rather tight S bends-Hubby parked the car as I set off in my best boots tip toeing across a muddy courtyard -camera in hand , I was greeted by a very loud woof and a very large dog -I must have look pretty startled - [ I was frozen to the spot wondering whether to turn and make a run for it back to the car ] as a man [looked to be in his fifties ] tinkering on a tractor laughed and reassured me that the dog would not hurt me-I explained my mission [ clutching and waving my packet of- mnd wristbands at him] and asked very politely if I could take some photo`s for my blog of his topiarys . Of course you can go and help yourself and tell your husband to put his car in the driveway-safer there-I thanked him profusely and tip toed off [should have put my wellies on -I grumbled to myself ! ] across the muddy garden lawn, hubby sat in the car with the window wound down instructing me as to the best angles- When suddenly another gentleman arrived obviously the father of the man tinkering on the tractor! So -you like me topiarys-do you [ in a very welsh accent ] and started to give me a private tour and history of his garden. I explained what and why I was doing it and pulled a couple of the bands out of my pocket to give him-these are for you ! How much do I owe you ? he said -Nothing I replied - he pulled out a fiver and pressed it into my hand- I`m sorry its not more-take it ! I protested but he quickly changed the subject and carried on with the garden tour ! I must admit I felt overwhelmed by his kindness- When I asked him his name he laughed
Dai the bends-Dai the dogs or Dai the cattle take your pick he chuckled [ hubby was now out the car leaning on the door joining in on our conversation ] and this `ere is Charlie Dimmock [see below ] but we have changed her name to Dolly Parton because-well bits of her grew- Umm I see what you mean- where best to put the bands ? Pointing he said you should put them- well- there and there [ hubby was leaning over the garden wall ] laughing , and so I did !
And these are part of a hunting scene[ see below ] he explained-the fox is further along the hedge making a getaway- as the lady next door is anti -hunt ! I left him chatting happily to Ned as I negotiated my way round the garden and chickens -He had bought his house back in 1952 from the local estate- which was being broken up by the land owner in order to pay his gambling debts-[Ned was fascinated,he loves history stories ] I listened as I ambled round
The riders all have flower pot heads as riding hats ! S4C came here and filmed my garden-I could here him telling Ned-they were here for hours -just for a few minutes footage !
And that one over there [he shouted across at me ] is for the police [see below ] who said I was causing accidents -people slowing down to look at me garden-surely slowing down is a good thing given the sharp bends ? I replied
You would think so he chuckled-come back in the summer and see how my Welsh dragon is doing- he said -[ I promised I would ]- as we left he invited hubby back to see his tractor- oh thats it you won`t get rid of him now I laughed - we parted like old friends
I wish there were more dai`s in this world-the world would be a nicer place- I felt privileged to have met him, I know when I drive past that house now I will feel like I know a secret- I have met the man who lives there- I will never forget his kindness.

My Garden

2011-01-14T05:54:00.001-08:00

Here in Britain we have what is called The National Garden Scheme- it was founded in 1927 to raise money for the queens nursing institute by opening gardens of quality and interest to the public .N.G.S. across England and Wales welcome over half a million visitors each year-most gardens are privately owned and open up just a few times a year -some open as part of a group with the whole community involved-they raise nearly 2 million pounds a year ! A few years ago we decided to get a dog from the local rescue centre- North Clwyd Rescue [ www.ncar.org.uk ] the rescue centre receives no state funding and relies on voluntary donations- so in order to help boost their coffers I decided to do my own version of the open garden scheme and let the public in [well-members of the local horticultural society , friends and family and some of the rescue centre`s staff/supporters ! Everyone chipped in-making lots of yummy cakes-visitors paid 2.50 for a cup of tea, a slice of cake and a tour round my garden [I have a lot of nerve-my garden is not huge-but hey ! it was all for a good cause, We raised over £280.00. Later on in the year my brother opened his allotment and did the same thing raising money for his local church .This year I have decided to open my garden again to raise funds for The Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Oh boy ! Have I got some work to do ! This use to be our vegetable patch- last year it became my cutting garden-hard to believe it did look rather nice !- I do like to leave all the seed heads on for the birds [ thats my excuse and I`am sticking to it ] We thought it might be a nice idea if we could get a few more volunteers to open their gardens on the same day - have a walking tour of gardens ? What do you think ? I will take some cuttings to pot up and sell- Ann will bring some of her homemade jam [well I`am hoping she will-she did last time ] and hold a raffle- rather hoping John will make me some more of his yummy cakes ?
Will let every one know when I set the date for -till then I`d better get cracking and do some work ......................

Acts of kindness

2011-01-12T11:28:00.000-08:00

My twin brother John ( http://disasterfilm.blogspot.com/) phoned me last week to let me know that that some cards had arrived in the post for me- sent by fellow blogger Diane- [ do pop over and say hello if you get the chance ! http://diane-heartshaped.blogspot.com/ ] I`am absolutely addicted to her blog ! She is a very talented lady and makes all sorts of lovely things [ she takes some cracking photographs too ] She had handmade a card for John and had enclosed some extra for me to sell to make some money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association ! How kind and thoughtful is that ? The cards are beautiful - I wrote to thank her immediately-saying already I have sold two and my sister and myself are fighting over the rest ! No sooner had I said that then some more arrived in the post today ! You are an absolute star Diane -Thank you so very much ! What a lovely kind and generous person you are !

Prestatyn Presbyterian Church Hotpot Supper

2011-01-09T05:33:00.000-08:00

Last Friday the Rev Mike Smith and his congregation from the Presbyterian Church here in Prestatyn held their New Year Celebrations with a hotpot supper, we were invited along as guests- as the evenings proceeds were being donated to Andrews charity the M.N.D.A. The evening was organized by the Friday society-Our very own photographer Stuart Lewis was in charge of cooking the hotpot- Stuart now retired use to work in catering so was more than qualified for the job !
The trestle tables had been set up ready when we arrived and people were being seated-Everyone was very welcoming and friendly and made us feel very much at home , After all the introductions we took our seats and were given a quiz to do while we waited for our hotpot to be served !It was a great icebreaker and a lot of fun !
I just love all the Beryl woods china the tables were laid out with ! Very retro ! The hotpot was delicious -served steaming hot with lots of fresh bread rolls and lashings of butter !

Myself hubby Ned and brother in law Tim -tucking in to our hotpot !
After the hotpot- the pudding was served and what a selection to choose from ! All our family chose the bread and butter pudding -again with lashings of cream ! Pictured here are the lovely ladies who served the puddings [and washed up afterwards ] !!
A raffle was then held -followed by some Scottish dancing-which was great fun-hubby is still getting over the flu so Tim and I had a spin round the floor- though I must admit I loved sitting and watching all the kids having fun it was very entertaining just watching them !
At the end of the evening Ann and myself were presented with a cheque by committee member Roy Rendall for the sum of £300.00 !
Thank you to all the members of the Presbyterian Church for all your hard work which went into making the evening such a success-we really enjoyed our night and Andrew was delighted -Our fund raising thermometer is now well over the half way mark now thanks to you all !

New years resolutions !

2011-01-05T09:26:00.000-08:00

Hello ! its our old friend Viv -he`s back ! For those of you who do not follow the blog on a regular basis-Viv has been " on the run " in New Zealand in a camper van nicknamed "the mouse " for a few months now - his whereabouts have finally been rumbled after I gave out too many clues - sorry Viv ! After sending this photo to me- he now writes -it was actually pouring down with rain at the time and I was on my own- so I set the camera up in the camper and put the timer on - then ran round to get in position before 10 seconds were up ! Good job there was nobody there to witness such foolish acts ! Great picture Viv ! keep the photo`s coming-don`t you agree ? I love seeing where you`re at !
Though right now I think a couple of months in starvation gully would do me the world of good- [ though rather worryingly it says no exit out ? ] yup ! its the time of year when thoughts turn to diets and keeping fit ! [ groan! ] I guess this year I have the added incentive of the calendar to make me stick to a diet [ help !] I start Monday ................ hmm ? We now are just one person short for our calendar-[ thank you to Lucy-my step- sons girlfriend who has volunteered to join us ] It is Andrew`s birthday on Friday- and just for the record he will be 58 ! Happy birthday bro ! xx

Happy new year !

2011-01-02T07:19:00.000-08:00

A very happy new year to the Kirkham family -who sent me these photo`s on new years eve-they were on their way down to visit friends and watch the fireworks ! I think you all can guess where- quite easily with this one ! I bet they were fabulous Nia ! you lucky thing ! The weather looks gorgeous too ! Lovely family photographs
Hope you had a fantastic time- and thank you so much for all your support -appreciated ! xxx

Christmas in Connecticut

2010-12-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

Meet Lisa and her brother Tommy-Lisa`s son Kyle and Tommy`s daughter Emma. They live in Branford, Connecticut , U.S.A. Lisa contacted me several weeks ago through facebook and bought several bands from me- My heart went out to her as she wrote that her brother Tommy who is 52 had been diagnosed with ALS/MND less than a year ago now-I think these photographs are heartwarming and sums up what Christmas is all about- don`t you ?
I love this photo-doesn`t it look lovely ? the fire is lit-the Christmas tree looks really pretty-presents are being opened- You can feel the love ! It`s obvious that this is a very kind , loving and supportive family .We need more families like Lisa`s to come forward and buy bands from us to help raise awareness of this very cruel disease- and by doing so help increase awareness and funding so hopefully one day a cure will be found. I started this blog because I wanted Andrew to feel loved and supported - but if other people out there like us- have a loved one suffering from this disease - maybe united we can make a difference-if you can, please help support this charity-it really does need your help,
This coming year will be a busy one !The Presbytarian Church are holding a hotpot supper in January to raise funds for M.N.D.A. We have a calendar to design and produce- not to mention a photo shoot to organize on top of a suitable mountain with the M.N.D made from human letters ! We still have to work hard selling bands and raising funds to meet our £10,000 target-I have written to Asda`s again requesting a fundraising day[January the 30th] and if possible another bag pack !
In march , Prestatyn Cons club have offered to hold a fund raising night- we will be holding another raffle-so if anyone out there has any unwanted Christmas presents please you know where to send them -we will be very grateful !
Finally a big thank you to cousin Karen-instead of writing Christmas cards-the money she saved she donated to Andrews charity, also to fellow blogger Diane who writes a lovely blog called heartshaped-your donation was really appreciated -thank you xx Thats it for now !
Wishing you all lots of love, laughter and good health and happiness for 2011- Jan and family xxxx

Andrew and Jayne`s favourite destination !

2010-12-29T10:29:00.000-08:00

These pictures Andrew and Jayne took while on holiday a couple of months ago-at their favourite destination-they stay at the same holiday villa every time they go- they just love it there -I think you can see why ! On their last visit they went out on a boat trip-their villa overlooks the old harbour you can see in the photo, I will give you a few clues-It is a Spanish Island -37 miles long and 12 miles wide, it is situated 79 miles off the coast of Africa. Can you guess where Andrew and Jayne are in these photo`s and win yourself a free MND wristband ?

Christmas day !

2010-12-26T07:24:00.001-08:00

Ann ,Andrew and me !
We had a lovely family day yesterday- as you can see Jayne did us all proud and set the table ready for our arrival-The table looked lovely ! here we all are chatting and eating and enjoying each others company ! All the men got together to supervise the lighting of the Christmas pudding- John warmed the brandy first [apparently vodka is better-it burns for longer -we didn`t have any though hence the brandy!] the lights were dimmed but it kept going out before we managed to carry the pudding into the dinning room ![for all the ooohs and aaahs ]

It took several attempts and three men and a quarter bottle the brandy to get the thing alight ! It went up with a great whoosh nearly incinerating Andrews hand and eyebrows !
After dinner we swapped pressies-above is Andrews mother in law Pat -wearing one of hers !
This one might interest youTracey ! -Tim had a set of willy wigs
John made a friend ! Andrew and Jaynes cat ! He sat for ages like that ! hope you are all enjoying your Boxing day !

Where is Lynda ?

2010-12-21T14:37:00.000-08:00

Thank you Lynda for sending in this photograph which was taken in November time before all the snow arrived ! Lynda writes this village is best known for " The house in the clouds " which you can see in the photograph above- it is a converted water tower which is available for holiday hire, [ bet it has fabulous views !! ] This village was originally a small fishing hamlet in the late 19 C. However in 1910 a Scottish barrister bought the entire area and turned it into a private fantasy village, this small resort is purpose built around "The Meare " -a man made boating lake which is the focus of the village . So , where is Lynda ? any ideas ?
I would just like to take this opportunity on behalf of Andrew and all of his family to give a heart felt thank you for all the wonderful and supportive comments and words of encouragement we have received since starting this MND awareness blog - To those of you who have bought bands and have sent in photographs - thank you big time ! this blog wouldn`t have worked with out all of your input !
Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas from all of us in N.Wales xxxx to all of you out there ! xx