In The Wake by Alistair The Optimist

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

Be an incurable optimist and do something optimistic today.

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

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

No One by Alistair The Optimist

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rhuddlan Rocks 4HD - 'The Weapons of Happiness'

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

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

Vinyl Music Video

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

The Virgin London Marathon

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

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


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

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

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

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

Well Done Shona !

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

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

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

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