The Pink Party

Friday 10th December was the night of our 3rd Pink Party!!  Many of my twitter friends, will have seen lots of tweets about the Pink Party - excited tweets when the tickets went on sale, moaning tweets when we realised our raffle donation requests weren't getting much response, more moaning about slow ticket sales, even more moaning tweets when we thought we might have to postpone it, then slightly more upbeat tweets again when we decided to just 'go for it'!

On the night, we had 96 paying guests, about 40 down on last year's party, but I can honestly say it was the best Pink Party yet!  From a fundraising point of view, another table of sold tickets would have been great, but tremendous fun was had by all :-)

When we say Pink Party, we mean 'PINK' - everything from the welcome drinks (Cava and pomegranate juice) to napkins, table cloths, balloons, and of course the outfits, were pink!

The evening kicked off with a fun table game, and I recommend this as an ice-breaker at any party - all you need is: jelly babies, spaghetti and a steady hand ;-)

 We were so lucky to have the support of some great entertainers!  Firstly, Little Britain tribute act, Littler Britain (www.littlerbritain.com) did the rounds between the tables as Andy and Lou - they had everyone in stitches, loved it!  The band, No Secret (www.nosecret.org), were also amazing and had everyone up on the dance floor.

Littler Britain returned to run the the most entertaining raffle I've ever seen!! We had some great raffle prizes from Wagamama, P&G, Waitrose, Nando's and more - and Nando's also supported us by donating chicken wings for the tables, plus a fab hamper which was auctioned for £120!  This is me with 'Vicky' and 'Emily' :-)

Our silent auction, including a pink Fitbug (kindly donated by @Fitbug_ltd), tickets to The Dungeons, and a Daytona prokarting session for 2, raised an additional £150!

The pennies are still being counted, but we raised around £1300 for Cancer Research UK and after all the dramas over ticket sale, we are delighted with the amount raised!  We're looking forward to The Pink Party 2011!

For more information on our fundraising, please visit our website www.crukwalton.org our facebook page www.facebook.com/crukwalton or follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/crukwalton

#kickcancer ;-)

N x

Good grief....

Yesterday, I logged into Facebook to write a Happy Birthday message on my late friend's husband's wall....I guess I can refer to him also as a friend now.... What prompted me to write this post, was something I saw on his profile and my reaction to it.  Under his relationship status, where you might expect to see married, single, or even "it's complicated" was the word 'widowed' and that word hit me like a kick to the stomach....

Of course I know he's a widow, she was my best friend, I was at her bedside many times in the lead up to her passing away, and I spoke at her funeral..... So why then, when I saw that single word on his facebook profile did I bury my face in my hands and cry? 

I've read two great posts on twitter this week about grief.... the first by the very talented blog writer @Rohan_Kalli entitled There are no rules in grief and the second by someone I'm new to following @HappyProjectLDN entitled On grief.  Everyone deals with grief differently, in their own time, and sometimes sharing in other people's experiences can be a part of the healing process....so you know you're not alone in those feelings of anger, regret, guilt, sadness...

I guess you could say the first stage of my grief came before Sarah even died....that stage was denial.  She knew she was going to die and had a certain amount of time to prepare her friends and family for this fact....but I just couldn't accept it as readily as she did.  I had faith in the doctors and the research and failing that I'd decided we would try every powerfood growing on earth.  One day we were planning a coffee morning, less than a week later one of her old nursing friends phoned me to say she was out of hospital and had been made as comfortable as possible at home.... that was the day the denial ended.

I visited her at home 4 times in the week before she finally passed away... the evening I got the phone call to say she was gone, came the relief stage.  It sounds awful to say that I was relieved she had died, but anyone who has watched someone they love waste away in front of their eyes, will understand.  That evening my close friends and I got together and flattened more than a couple of bottles of wine - a celebration of her life, and the fact that she was no longer suffering.

The weeks that followed were the 'getting on with it' stage - helping to contact friends re funeral arrangements, collecting her girls from school if needed and generally trying to be useful.  The trouble is, when you're a friend, rather than the child/mother/lover of someone who's died, people expect your grief to be less in some way... it's different, yes, but I don't think it's any less... even more than 2 years on there is a huge hole in my life.  I am fortunate though, that I see bits of her through her 3 daughters (now 9, and twins of 12).

The guilt/regret stage seems to be the longest standing with me....guilt that I went through the denial stage, instead of being able to talk to her about what she wanted for her daughters' futures....regret that I didn't hug her more, because I didn't want to get upset....more guilt that I couldn't spend more time with her when she was very sick because I had a baby at home....guilt that I had that baby when I knew she had desperately wanted another but couldn't....the list goes on.  All of these things are more than likely in my head, I don't think Sarah ever held any of these things against me.

There has been anger too....anger that a 36 year old, fit and healthy mother, should die of cancer.  And there are just simple moments of sadness, like yesterday, at the realisation that a man is trying his best to bring up 3 girls without their mum, and moments when I just miss her being around.

I guess the 'good' part about my grief comes from what my friends and I have continued and achieved in Sarah's memory.  She was an avid Race for Life supporter, and since her death we have raised over £40 000 for Cancer Research UK through our Little Legs for Life and other fundraising events.  Raising money for charity of course in no way makes up for the loss, but perhaps makes me feel as though I have contributed something positive as a result of it. 

One thing is for certain, as long as we have memories, there will never be a 'healed' stage - we move on, but never forget.

#kickcancer
N x

Chocolate Blog....and the Sleepwalk

So today is 1st October - until tea time today, I had eaten no chocolate whatsoever since 31st August!!  If you haven't read or heard about my chocolate fast, in brief, I pledged to stop eating chocolate for a month as an additional challenge to a fundraising event I signed up to take part in - the Sleepwalk in aid of The Children's Trust.

The Sleepwalk took place last Saturday evening - I went along with one of my school mum friends, and we set off on our 10 mile walk at 10pm.  The walk started in Priory Park in Reigate, Surrey and then carried on around the town before ending again within the park.  Only on the morning of the walk had my husband said to me 'isn't Reigate quite hilly?' - well, the answer was yes!!  In fact, there are very few flat bits!  Anyway, a lovely walk around what looked in the dark to be a very lovely town - and I will definitely return in the light of day for another look.  We finished in 3 hours 10 minutes and were very pleased with our time - a quick cuppa and a donut later, we set off home for a well-deserved sleep!

I would like to thank my fabulous twitter sponsors who helped me raise an incredible £155 for the Children's Trust, who honestly change the lives of disabled and brain injured children:
@StephenGradwick @Rawker28 @ThornyKate @GreenMousey @NimbleRunner @sloanyxxx @Janine_B_Lewis @cancermatters @bowelcancer

right.....off to continue my #chocfest ;0)

Nancy xxx

Chocolate blog....week 1

Today is my 6th day without chocolate.....
Last thursday I waved off one of my best friends to her new life in Australia.  As we left the airport we stopped into Boots to get something to drink, and I instictively picked up a chocolate milkshake....but put it back.

Yesterday, I went to visit a friend losing his battle with cancer....I have known him for 15 years, he was at my wedding and was there when I arrived home with my first baby.  On my way home, I opted for crisps from the vending machine instead of my usual chocolate.

Today, I found this cake in my daughter's party bag from the weekend - I would normally have eaten it without even mentioning it to her, but dutifully (and a bit sadly) handed it to her on a plate (and wasn't even offered one of the marshmallows!!).

At the moment I wouldn't say I feel any better in myself for not eating chocolate, but life is pretty emotional right now.... but I think it can only be a good thing, and I'm confident that I can make it to the 30th without caving in!!

My previous post explains in detail what this whole 'no chocolate' thing is for - and whereas this aspect is going quite well, my training for my 10 mile walk isn't!!  But still 3 weeks to go ;-)

Chocolate Blog.....

I have written a few posts about fundraising challenges others are taking, from Ironman to cycling the length of the country on a 7-seater circular bike!!  My own upcoming challenge, a 10 mile walk in aid of The Children's Trust, may seem to pale in comparison so I decided to try and stretch that challenge in the hope of raising some sponsorship.....

Anyone who knows me well , if asked to describe me, would definitely include chocolate/chocoholic/cadbury in there somewhere!  So, having done absolutely no exercise over the school summer holidays, having an appalling complexion anyway and looking for a challenge, I've decided to go on a chocolate fast for 1 month - not only will I be challenged and hopefully raise some money for a good cause, but I will (fingers crossed) feel and look better and healthier too!

So, I started yesterday (1st Sept) - this no chocolate lark includes chocolate biscuits/hot chocolate/choc chip muffins btw - and so far I've done a good job of ignoring the box of chocolate covered flapjacks on the kitchen counter, and the pack of kit-kats which call out to me every time I open the fridge!

Like many people, probably mostly women, chocolate is a real comfort food - I have often resorted to scoffing a mars bar in the understairs cupboard following a 'difference of opinion' with my pre-adolescent son!!  Tonight will be a real test for me, as I say farewell to one of my best friends when she leaves to emigrate to Australia.... I may just have to have a glass of wine instead ;-)

As you may know, I do a bit of fundraising now an again ;-) This year I have taken part in 2 Race for Life events, walked a marathon, and also organised Little Legs for Life which my kids all took part in....as I'm so often asking for sponsorship, I'm hoping to get just a few more lovely people to donate just £2 to this fabulous cause for my efforts!

If you would like to kindly sponsor me £2 the link is: www.justgiving.com/NancyScott

Many thanks for reading - there will be a second chocolate blog post next week to keep you updated on my progress :-)

Nancy xx

more Superheroes....

so.... it's been a while, I know!  I've been rubbish at writing blog posts, and rubbish at twitter - I've just been struggling to find the time lately!  On 4th July we held our major annual event, Little Legs for Life - a Race for Life for kids (450 took part!!).  We are still counting the pennies as they roll in, but we've currently raised over £18 500 :-)  Anyway, I digress, the point of this post is to tell you about some amazing people doing amazing things this coming weekend.... I will then try to do a similar post each week :-)

1. First and foremost, because they are raising money for my favourite charity, comes @ConferenceBike - these crazy guys set off on Saturday from John O'Groats and will head for Land's End visiting Cancer Research UK research centres along the way.  So what is so crazy about these guys?  Well, a Conference Bike is a 7 seater circular bike and they will pedal the entire distance on this contraption, as a group!  And.... it gets even better!  They want YOU to help!  There are enough seats on the bike for helpers, so they are looking for volunteers to cycle a few miles at different points along the way.  Please visit their website http://www.cobiuk.com/ for more information on their challenge and their route.  If you can't help with the cycling, perhaps like me, you can check out the route and plan a day to go and cheer them on - or of course you can donate via their website :-)  Good Luck guys - and I'll see you somewhere along the way!

2. Another mad challenge taking place this weekend is @adakane - Adrian is not only walking 26.2 miles....he is doing this around a school athletics track....oh, and he'll be pushing a car!  Yes, he is walking a marathon whilst pushing a car, trying to break a Guiness World record.  Sadly, Adrian lost his mum to stroke earlier this year, after a battle with cancer and he is raising money for both the World Cancer Research Fund (UK) and The Stroke Association.  Adrian is running 2 separate fundraising pages - one for traditional sponsorship, and the other is like a raffle, where you can donate just £1 and guess how many steps he will take to complete various stages of the challenge, and be in with a chance to win a great prize!!  Best of Luck Adrian - and for anyone in/near Woking in Surrey, please try to get down to St John the Baptist School on 31st July!

3. Last, but by no means least is @TakeChallenge - Christopher has already run over 100 miles in one go, earlier this year, all in aid of the @VeteransCharity.  He will be challenging himself to the max again this Sunday as he takes on the British Ironman event in Lancashire.  If you don't know what this involves, it's a 2.4mile (3.86km) swim, 112mile (180km) bike and then a run, a marathon 26miles (42km), ran in that order without a break - oh and it has to be done in less than 17 hours!  Donating is easy....Text: P65 IRONMAN to 70007 and Project 65 will receive £2.55 from every £3 text message :-) 

Best of luck to all these Superheroes - though I don't think they'll need it, they're all determined enough ;-)

thanks for reading - please support these amazing people, even if it's just a follow and a tweet!
Nancy

Supermen

So....following hot on the heels of my Wonder Women post, comes 'Supermen'.... Just 2 today, I'm sure there are more than 2 Supermen in the world, but these are the 2 I find myself thinking about the most at the moment.

When I first joined twitter, like most people, I found like-minded tweeps by doing a twitter search on words that interested me - in my case 'Cancer Research UK'.  I've come across many, many amazing fundraisers in this way, but this special mention is for Colin, @365er.  Colin came up with the idea for the 365 Challenge after he sadly lost his sister to cancer, and also had his own experience too!  A simple idea - getting sponsorship for rowing the length of the Thames, swimming the channel, cycling LeJog.....but all of these challenges achieved without leaving the gym!  Colin has personally raised £10k in this way, and has inspired others to do the same, and in total the 365 Challenge has raised over £30k for Cancer Research UK.  We were all shocked a few months ago, to learn that Colin had been diagnosed with cancer himself again, but he has not let this stop him and he is still frundraising and encouraging others throughout his current course of chemotherapy.  Please show Colin your support, especially through this tough time....together we will beat cancer.

In my previous post, I mentioned the lovely @sarahezekiel and her battle with Motor Neurone Disease.  In a bid to find out more about the disease, I did a twitter search on #MND and came across a tweet by @stickyparkour, mentioning his 1000 Miles of Parkour challenge, raising money for the MNDA.  Johnny has an amazing website with full details of his entire journey, but in short he is currently in France after running and jumping his way from John o'Groats in Scotland to Dover in just over 5 weeks.  He is still running as I write this, and is on his way to Paris, the home of Parkour.  I have followed his tweets closely over the weeks, and know he has been in incredible pain, but has shown unrelenting determination through darkness, rain, sleet and searing heat.  Having done over 800 miles of his 1000+ mile journey, I think this photo says it all and I hope it will prompt people to support him and this very worthy cause.

thanks for reading
x

Wonder Women

Fridays have become a bit stressful for me on twitter..... Like everyone, I love to be mentioned in someone's #followfriday tweets  It makes me feel that my time on twitter isn't wasted and that somewhere out there are people who might occasionally value something I have to say!  However, the stress for me comes when I don't have time do #followfriday properly, when I feel like I'm not reciprocating, or heaven forbid I forget someone really important! 

When I do a #followfriday, I prefer to give a reason for why I value that person or people, rather than just doing a #ff followed by a long list of names - I think while it's nice to be mentioned in any way, no one really pays much attention to a #followfriday list (am I right?).

So, what I have decided to do is to write a blog post each Friday, and attempt to put into words the reasons why I follow certain people/charities and what inspires me about them. 

Since I have rambled on somewhat in this particular post, I will stick to 3 Wonder Women for today (but look out for my Supermen post too!).

I have followed the @Childsi charity for sometime on twitter, but I follow so many charities, I didn't *really* know what they were all about, or who the people were behind it.  I knew they were about children (obviously) and were based in Uganda and that is was headed up by @LucyChildsi.  However, that vagueness all changed as I watched Lucy Buck's GMTV interview today.  It would take a whole blog post to detail the wonderful work of this charity, but Lucy deserves a special mention for her selflessness and her passion.  The way she described connecting with the babies in their care, inspired me today.....and I urge everyone to watch the short video and look deep into yourselves and consider what you can do for others.

I came across @sarahezekiel when someone retweeted the fact that she was up for a mashable award for Sarah's Story (which she subsequently won!).  Sarah suffers from Motor Neurone Disease - a cruel, debilitating disease which can strike at any time in seemingly healthy people.  The reason I find Sarah so inspiring is her amazing mental strength and determination not to allow the disease to beat her, and her tireless efforts to raise awareness of MND.  As I write this, Sarah is currently in her local hospice to try and regain some strength.... as with many twitter relationships, Sarah is someone who regularly pops into my mind in my 'real life', here's hoping she's home with her family soon....

My third and final Wonder Woman is @bubblybex who I'm sure needs no introduction to most people.  Bex is famous in the twitter world (and the real one since her recent ITV appearance!) for her #positivityispower attitude towards her cancer.  She has shared her cancer experience with her twitter followers with incredible openness and always with humour.... we may cry occasionally too... but then she'll make us laugh again!  Not only has she managed to raise an incredible £3.5k for Cancer Research UK through social networks, but she has created the cancer awareness and support network, @kickcancer.  There can't be many people who have never been touched by cancer in some way.  Please support Bex and her #kickcancer campaign....together we will beat cancer.

and if you're still here after all that lot - well done ;-)
xxx

pics....

So, I've bored everyone enough with details of my walks whilst training for Shine, so thought I'd share some photos I've taken on some of my walks.  Living in suburbia, just half an hour on the train from London, it's easy to forget we have some lovely scenery around us and are lucky enough to have not only The Thames, but also the river Mole within easy walking distance.... just 1 week to go til Shine in Manchester, eek!

River walks, grumpiness and sore feet....

As most people know by now, in less than 2 weeks, I'll be taking part in Shine - Cancer Research UK's night time marathon walk throught the streets of Manchester.  I've blogged about my reasons for taking part before, my first ever blog post in fact, so won't go into that again.... I just thought I'd share my training experiences and feelings about the event as it draws nearer.

The walk down to our local infant school is a little over a mile - a walk which I did most school days, and back, for 7 years (Now that my daughter has changed schools, our walk is slightly shorter).  When I originally decided to take part in Shine, I tried to envisage how far 26 miles would be, by imagining walking to that school and back 13 times - perfectly doable, I decided, although probably extremely boring!! 

I obviously didn't embark on that particular walk as a test, but decided to do training walks, building up distance over time.  I wasn't particularly fit before I started training, I probably walk a couple of miles a day anyway, but that's the sum total of my exercise regime!!  Some training walks I've done alone, some with my lovely friend @thornykate and some with my husband (both of whom are also doing Shine).  My first longish walk (6 miles) was done with @thornykate one rainy evening and we treated ourselves to a glass of wine half way, which was rather nice :-)  We've also walked along the river on sunny days, and visited our late friend Sarah at the cemetary, who is after all the inspiration for our fundraising efforts.....

Walking with my husband has been slightly more tricky, as we have 3 children, training together has involved asking my mum or mother-in-law to babysit!  Our first long walk together (10 miles!) consisted of walking to our local Tesco Extra, 5 miles each way.  What a miserable, dark walk - I was absolutely bursting for a wee by the time we got there, disappointed it was 'only' 5 miles and totally fed up their coffee shop wasn't open at 8pm!!  In the 3 weeks that followed, we managed some shorter individual walks and two 12 mile walks, both at night, and each rewarded with a visit to the chippy half way :-)  Unfortunately for my long-suffering husband, the last 3 miles or so of each of those walks involved much moaning and grumpiness from me.... but he's fairly well practised at allowing what I say to drift over his head ;-)

Anyway, our longest training walk so far - and likely to be the last long one - was 16 miles on Easter Sunday.  Not a perfectly sunny day, but it stayed dry and we were glad to be walking in daylight for a change.  A nice but muddy walk along the river to Kingston was nearly 10 miles.... it amazed me just how many families were out on bikes, boats, dog walking..... lovely to see!  Possibly one of the most difficult things about walking for any length of time with someone you've lived with for 18 years, is what to talk about... but we managed ;-) 

I have no idea, where my body is going to find the ability to add another 10 miles on to what we walked on Sunday.... I keep telling myself that the excitement and atmosphere on the night will carry us through, but that might be wishful thinking.  I know some people see a walking marathon as a bit of a cop-out compared to the 'real thing' (no way on earth I could run 26 miles!), but I can tell you it's not going to be easy....

I'm very excited about travelling to Manchester for the weekend and I do think it's going to be an amazing experience, albeit one ending with sore feet!  I'm really looking forward to meeting up with some of the other people I know through twitter who are also taking part, particularly @LurvlyLucy as we've been sharing training stories since we registered!! 

Anyway, we've almost reached our target of £800 - and if helping to #kickcancer means sore feet for a few days, then so be it.  Remember, together we will beat cancer.....

I Give Up!!!!

Despite the tone of the title, this isn't me being stroppy about something.... and steady on, keep those 'for a change' comments to yourselves!!  This is about doing something simple.... for good.... something that everyone can take part in!

So, one of my favourite tweeps @HaveFunDoGood posts a link.... and before I know it I've committed myself to giving up my all time, absolute, struggle to live without when they're not in season, confection - the Cadbury Creme Egg.  Not permanently, just for 30 days.... and why?  It's all to do with the 'Kick Bullying into Touch' campaign for the NSPCC's Childline. 

But why Creme Eggs?  Well, I decided if I was going to take part, I needed to give up something realistic (ie not giving up all chocolate, I would never stick to it!) yet something I'd miss (ie not coffee as I don't drink it!).  So, I settled on Creme Eggs - they'd not long been back in the shops, I'd already scoffed boxoads in the short time they had been available, and I decided it would probably do me good personally to give them up, as well as doing my bit for the campaign!

I started by completely banning them from the house - I told my family what I was doing and why and so basically they have taken part with me (unless they've been secretly eating them whilst hiding in a cupboard somewhere!).  Once the house was creme-egg free it was just a matter of avoiding them in the shops - which isn't easy given they're at every checkout, in every shop, everywhere!  Things became much easier for me on about day 10 when the lovely @JuicyJulesRocks joined me in giving them up - then I felt I couldn't back out!  Seeing her #nocremeeggsforthirtydays tweets kept me on the straight and narrow, and bless her, she still has a week to go (over Easter!!).

Anyway, day 30 came along and I settled down in front of Lost on the telly, with a jar full of mini creme eggs - I had 2 and have to say what I thought was going to be quite an exciting event, wasn't.... that was it, I didn't even fancy them for the rest of the weekend.  I did have a proper sized one today - just to be sure, as you would, and was left feeling equally unimpressed!  In fact I think my obsession might be cured....

As a lover of all good causes, I'm always on the lookout for new awareness campaigns, charity events, and fundraising ideas, and this campaign was an easier than expected way do do my little bit! 

The Kick Bullying into Touch campaign runs until 29th May (which just so happens to be my birthday!!), so there's still plenty of time to take part..... what could you give up?

Dog Food!

So this is somewhat of a departure from my normal charity ramblings (phew, I hear you say!), but as it was International Women's Day yesterday, I thought I'd indulge myself and give a snippet of life as a woman....
Yesterday we ran out of dog food, so I dutifully went off this morning and bought a big bag before my Shine training walk with the lovely @thornykate. If my husband had been around, I'd have asked him to bring it in - because it's 15kg..... (he's a big dog, needs lots of food!).  But anyway, today the dog needed feeding, hubby wasn't in so I lugged it into the kitchen to put it away, flicking the kettle on for a much needed cup of tea.

there is a point to this story, I promise....

The bag of dog food lives behind the rubbish and recycling bins in the understairs cupboard.... both bins were overflowing so I thought I'd empty them, put the dog food away, then put the bins back - made sense.  Took out the recycling and emptied it and noticed a dog blanket which had been sitting outside for 3 days which needed to go in the washing machine, so I picked it up and carried it into the utility room and put it in the machine.  On the floor was a pair of damp trousers needing to go on the airer, which was full, so I removed and folded all the dry things, hung up the damp trousers, then remembered there was another dog blanket outside the back door which could be washed with the other one.....  so outside the back door I went, shook out the soggy, filthy blanket to bring inside and heard something drop on the patio - the back of my daughter's toy hairdryer I'd been looking for for months!  So in the washing machine went the second blanket, on went the washine machine.  I found the backless hairdryer (conveniently in utility room) and located batteries, then realised why the back had been lost in the first place - a piece had broken off, so off I went to find the cellotape to tape the back to the hairdryer - what a triumph, little one will be very pleased!!  Then back to the kitchen to find I'd left the front door wide open, because I'd got sidetracked and not taken out the normal rubbish bin yet!  So did that, put in a new bin liner and finally opened the new bag of dog food!  Went to the tap to put some water on the food to discover dirty grill pan still in the sink so quickly washed that up, finished with faffing with the dog food and finally gave it to the poor starving dog.

And now I'm sitting with my cup of tea and writing this! 

So you see there's putting away the dog food.... and there's putting away dog food like a woman!

A happy belated International Women's Day to all you amazing women out there xxx

a thought for Tuesday....

OK, so I cheated, but if I'd titled this post "Charity Tuesday" most people wouldn't have even got this far!!  But now that you're here, please read on :-)

What is it about the mention of charity that makes people look away?  Yes charities rely heavily on donations from generous supporters, but they do appreciate that not everyone can donate money to every charity that asks.....  Where we can help, however, is by helping to spread the word, and that is where Twitter could be fantastic..... but often isn't!

So, not long after joining twitter, I discovered #CharityTuesday - what a great idea, a whole day dedicated to tweeting about your favourite charities and good causes and encouraging your followers to follow and support them!!  Fantastic idea.... but did you know that in the whole of twitterland last tuesday there were only 1156 #charitytuesday mentions!  And probably half of those were grateful charities tweeting back "thanks so much for the #charitytuesday, we really appreciate it"!

There are quite literally hundreds of charities on twitter who tirelessly reach out to the elderly, abused children, maltreated animals, children orphaned through AIDS, homeless people, terminally-ill/disabled/disadvantaged children, ex-armed forces, MND (ever heard of that? neither had I til I joined twitter, look it up!), not to mention those fighting to #kickcancer and help in #Haiti..... the list is endless.....

So what does it require from you?  Everyone supports a charity, right?  Or has at least heard of one, I hope?  Look them up on twitter and give them a shoutout and tell your followers why you support them, or about the great work they do - and don't forget to add a #charitytuesday.  If everyone on twitter did just one #charitytuesday mention, it would be trending in no time - and it would indeed be a worthy trending topic!

Happy Charity Tuesday :-)

#kickcancer.... what's it all about?

Most people will have noticed by now, some no doubt with a touch of annoyance, that #kickcancer is being added to a lot of tweets.... so what's it all about?

The Kick Cancer campaign was started on Twitter by @bubblybex.  The @kickcancer profile, the Kick Cancer facebook fan page and the #kickcancer tag are just the start of a much bigger fundraising idea for the future, so be sure to follow @kickcancer for updates.

To quote a well known statistic, 1 in 3 of us will be affected by cancer at some time in our life.... this means there are hundreds of thousands of people on Twitter and Facebook and other social networking sites who either have been affected or are currently fighting this awful disease.

As a fundraiser for Cancer Research UK, my sole reason for joining twitter in the first place, was to raise awareness of Cancer and the fundraising going on to support vital research.  Since joining I have come across many people doing amazing things to raise money for cancer charities, as well as many inspirational people fighting the disease themselves.  It never ceases to amaze me just how many people have been affected in some way, be it having cancer themselves or having a loved one currently fighting, or as in my case having lost someone to cancer...

The aim of the #kickcancer hashtag (and the Kick Cancer facebook page) is to build an online community where it's ok to talk about cancer and share your stories, to talk about fundraising and hope for the future. 

The only way to get the message out there that this #kickcancer tag exists is to use it - a lot!  People will see it and hopefully want to find out more and connect with others with similar experiences.  Although there are a few using the tag often (perhaps too often!) at the moment, there will come a day when it's common twitter knowledge that it's out there, and the hope is that thousands of people will use it to tag fundraising tweets, when tweeting about their cancer treatment, or when remembering someone they've lost....

so please help to spread the word - add a #kickcancer to a tweet for someone you care about!

I am a "TwitFace" - are you??

Did you know they are combining Twitter, Youtube and Facebook?  It's going to be called "You Twitface" - ha de har har, my husband thought that was hilarious!!

I think he's just jealous of the amount of time I spend, talking to people over the net - mostly people I don't know!

I've been on Facebook for quite some time, and love it for keeping me in touch with friends and family, far and near.  I spent my teen years living in South Africa, and FB has been a great way to connect with people there who I rarely see, and we also have lots of friends in Australia.  It's the only way I have of keeping up with their news and family photos - it's great to be able to see my friend's kids, and my nieces, grow up before my eyes! 

And now onto my latest vice, Twitter!  I joined twitter when our fundraising group had an autographed XFactor t-shirt up for auction on Ebay.  It was signed by Alexandra, all of JLS and lots of the other 2008 finalists, and for a couple of weeks I annoyed the hell out of our then 23 followers with constant RT requests and tweets promoting the auction!  Despite my dreaming that this item might be worth hundreds of ££ it sold for a pitiful £62 which was rather disappointing :-(  Anyway, I digress, the point is I was hooked.... the skips of heartbeats when I saw my follower count go up, then the agonising "but why????" when I saw the count drop.... and by this time, people had actually started speaking to me and I realised it's possible to have a great conversation (in 140 characters of course) with someone you've never met!

I started off searching for anyone tweeting about Cancer Research UK - for obvious reasons, but I am actually a fan of anyone working hard for any good cause, and so support many other charities and fundraisers as well.  I have made some amazing friends on Twitter - too many to mention for fear of leaving someone out - and I dearly hope I'll get to meet them all someday.  The only person I will mention by name is Rebecca Joyce, known to many as @bubblybex - this young lady, currently fighting hard to kick cancer herself, has brought together literally thousands of people via Twitter and Facebook.  I read some of the messages of loss and of hope on the facebook pages she has created, and am so proud to 'know' her.... and when she has kicked cancer (which this feisty lass will do, without a doubt), I will make sure I get to meet her in person.

So, dear husband, there is a reason I spend so much time on twitter (and to a lesser degree now, FB) - not only am I am helping to Kick Cancer, but help spread awareness of lots of other great causes, from AIDS, animal welfare and MND to MS and brain-injured children.  SO THERE!!!!!

What will make you Shine in 2010?

So, I originally set up this blog with the intention of sharing the stories of our fundraising committee... but never got around to doing anything about it! Having been recently asked to write a blog post I thought I'd test it out here first :-)

What will make you Shine in 2010?   A great question….


For those who have already heard of the new Cancer Research UK walking marathon, that question might make some divert your eyes to the floor, skip past the tweet or ignore the facebook post depending on how you were asked the question!  Others, with slightly broader minds, might realise that, yes, the question relates to a fundraising idea, but your answer can be anything that might make you Shine…. A new job, an exciting holiday, jumping out of a plane, getting married…. You get the idea.

What will make me Shine in 2010 is solely related to fundraising - because it’s what I do!

I first did the Race for Life, for Cancer Research UK, in 2006 with my best friend Sarah. We just did it for a bit of fun really, and to raise money of course! We ran the whole way in 35 minutes but felt slightly deflated at the finish as we had no supporters there to cheer us in. With that, we vowed to take part the following year and to get our family and friends to come along and support us! No one could ever have guessed that just a few weeks later, Sarah would be diagnosed with ovarian cancer…. A hysterectomy and chemotherapy followed and in 2007 Sarah was up and running the Race for Life again, she was truly an amazing woman and her strength amazed everyone. 2008 saw the return of her cancer and within days of the diagnosis, she had again signed up to the Race for Life and was rallying people to join her….

On 31st May 2008, Sarah sadly lost her battle….but more than 35 did the Race for Life together in her memory, including her 3 daughters (the youngest then just 6, and the twins 10).


I have spent the last year and a half concentrating my time on organising fundraising events for Cancer Research UK, as my way of coping with the heartache that comes from losing a loved one. I have already registered for RFL and my husband and I are going to Shine together in Manchester on 17th April. My aim for 2010 is to continue this fundraising in the hope that one day we can finally kick cancer.


So, in short, what will make me Shine in 2010?
                   Doing my bit to kick cancer …  what will make YOU Shine in 2010?

www.sponsormetoshine.org/teamscott