A head for Heights - but where ?

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

The Vergers Coffee Morning

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

I thought this one is lovely

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

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


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

Coffee Morning and flower arranging for MND

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


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

A little bit of a news update now.

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

Calling All Londoners !

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

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

Cristina also writes....

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

In The Wake by Alistair The Optimist

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

Be an incurable optimist and do something optimistic today.

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

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

No One by Alistair The Optimist

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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