LOCAL? KEECH HOSPICE CARE NEEDS YOUR HELP!

Keech Hospice Care need our help, lets try out best to help them.

I'm posting this on behalf of Keech Hospice Care in Luton, who haven't asked for it to be posted. It's being posted as I personally have seen the work they do, through the support they gave my own Mother while fighting cancer.
Before someone asks why I don't do more than this blogpost I'll be clear on that. I'm overstretched right now! I'm working with Travel Choices and the organisers of Operation Santa to do a gift bike run for keech and also helping at the Keech Santa Run, on top of this, volunteer commitments and being a good carer, partner and father to my family I physically can't do much more without burning out. I wish I could do more. I truly meant that.
but as I can't let's get the word out,

If you can help I know the people who use the hospice will be eternally grateful for your help. Please contact Claire on 01582 497839 or email cmcinally@keech.org.uk for details. Please help us raise much needed funds for Keech this Christmas


Thank you to everyone who has already agreed to help us with Smiley Sam during the day and the evening however we still have a few slots that need filling, as you all know this is really important to both the general public who love to see the sleigh in their local supermarkets and visiting their streets and of course how important it is to the hospice in terms of the money it raises for us.
If I am unable to fill all the slots unfortunately some days will have to be cancelled which of course we do not want to do, so I am asking once again if there is any other days and times you could kindly help us with to ensure Smiley Sam makes it out both during the day and the evening.

We have slots for Drivers, Santa’s and Collectors and Coordinators, I will list the dates below, if you are able to help with anything then please get in touch, the coordinator role has a little bit more to it than just collecting but is a great job to do. I am happy to talk to anyone who would like to do this so you fully understand the coordinators role.

Thank you once again

Supermarket Collections

Driver pick up and drop off – Sainsbury’s Dunstable 29/11/14
Driver pick up and drop off – Tesco Dunstable 01/12/14
Driver pick up and drop off – Asda Dunstable 03/12/14
Driver pick up and drop off –Asda Dunstable 04/12/14
Driver pick up and drop off – Sainsbury’s Hitchin 05/12/14
Driver pick up and drop off – Sainsbury’s Bramingham 08/12/14
Driver pick up and drop off – Sainsbury’s Bramingham 10/12/14
Santa - Sainsbury’s Bramingham 10/12/14 10-12
Santa – Waitrose Hitchin 11/12/14 10-12 & 12-2
Collector - Waitrose Hitchin 11/12/14 10-12
Driver pick up and drop off – Asda Wigmore 12/12/14
Collector – Asda Stevenage 13/12/14 10-12, 12-2 & 2-4
Santa – Asda Stevenage 13/12/14 2-4
Collectors – Sainsbury’s Stevenage 14/12/14 x2 10-12, 12-2, x2 2-4 x1
Santa – Sainsbury’s Stevenage 14/12/14 12-2 & 2-4
Driver pick up and drop off – Tesco Leighton Buzzard 15/12/14
Santa - Leighton Buzzard 15/12/14 12-2
Collectors - Tesco Leighton Buzzard 16/12/14 x2 12-2 & 2-4
Santa - Tesco Leighton Buzzard 16/12/14 2-4
Driver pick up and drop off – Sainsbury’s St Albans 17/12/14
Santa - Sainsbury’s St Albans 17/12/14 12-2 & 2-4
Santa – Sainsbury’s St Albans 18/12/14 10-12, 12-2 & 2-4
Santa – Morrison’s Houghton Regis 20/12/14 10-12
Driver pick up and drop off – Asda Wigmore 22/12/14
Driver pick up and drop off – Asda Dunstable 23/12/14
Driver pick up and drop off – Asda Wigmore 24/12/14
Collector – Asda Wigmore 24/12/14 2-4

Evening Routes

30/12/14 Quantock Rise – 2 collectors
01/12/14 Lalleford Road – Coordinator
03/12/14 Poets Estate – Coordinator
04/12/14 Hedley Rise - Coordinator, Driver and 5 Collectors
05/12/14 Northwell Drive – Coordinator and 2 collectors
09/12/14 Leamington Road – Driver
10/12/14 The Saints – coordinator and 4 collectors
11/12/14 Ashwell Drive – Coordinator and Driver
12/12/14 Bushmead – Coordinator, Driver and 2 collectors
13/12/14 Wardown Crescent – 3 collectors
14/12/14 Austin Road – Driver, Coordinator and 2 collectors
16/12/14 Telscombe Way – Coordinator
17/12/14 Buckingham Drive - Driver and Coordinator
19/12/14 Farley Hill – Driver and Coordinator
20/12/14 Hill Rise – Coordinator and 7 collectors
21/12/14 Alexandra Avenue – Coordinator
22/12/14 Birdsfoot Lane – coordinator
23/12/14 Barnfield Avenue – Santa
24/12/14 Stopsley – coordinator and 5 collectors

Dial A Smile with Bravery Boxes.

Now playing - Humphrey Bogart by Mankeli/Noisy bunch 2012
evening all.

Not all of you would have heard of Bravery Boxes, I admit until a few months back I hadn't either. But thanks to some amazing ladies organised a bravery box or two for Blog On MOSI I discovered how special and important the boxes can be.
This month they want our help. It's Childhood Cancer Awareness Month* and to coincide with this special month the Bravery Boxes team set up #DialASmile, a clever and fun fundraiser
without getting wet icy or like me use recycled ice from a fish counter! I smell FRESH! ;)

  ensuring a child who's scared of a treatment or painful procedure will have their spirits lifted by a small treat. I hear the whoopee cushions and nail varnish are highly desired and appreciated. While it's a pocket money treat it's usually enough to bring cheer to those little people who need it the most.

For those who don't know, Bravery Boxes is a small charity that helps children with cancer get through some of the toughest and most painful times. By giving a child with cancer a treat from the 'Bravery Box' when they have to have an unpleasant procedure such as having a cannula or feeding tube put in, in the hope to turn their tears in to smiles.
It was started by a mum whose son was diagnosed with a rare life-threatening brain tumour.  She could see how distressed he became when he had to have injections, blood tests and a myriad of other scary things, so she started to come prepared for these ordeals.
After any kind of unhappy experience she would give her son a little gift or prize for being brave.  The idea spread and she started raising money to fill a box so all the children on the ward could benefit.  They proudly provide boxes for the paediatric oncology units at Addenbrooke's in Cambridge, and Alder Hey in Liverpool.
It really does work!! Staff and parents tell the Bravery Box volunteers all the time what a superb idea it is and how much difference it makes to the children.

Now while I hope they'll consider bringing the bravery boxes to the Luton and Dunstable Hospital I want to help them so they can possibly help more brave children in the future. This is where I need your help,

The parent blogging community have rallied together to help Dial those smiles and raise money to help bring more Bravery Boxes into hospitals and raise more smile for those who need them the most.

To do this we ask if you could do like the rather dashing (Phwoar) Steve Backshall from CBBC's Deadly 60 has done and share a smile with the world, asking people to donate £2 and share the smiles around the world.

To donate by Mobile phone text: GRIN02 £2 to 70070
or visit the Bravery Box website 

For those who can't afford to donate I do appreciate you taking time to read this and I truely understand how many of us out there have very little income and understand to many even £2-3 is a lot of money when you've only got a small amount to live on. All I ask from you lovely people is to share the post on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or even blog about it or Tumblr it if you can

Add my photos tomorrow, if you want to add a selfie please do and I'll link to it!

Paul :D

Charity even idea!

I'm getting more and more fustrated with cancer research uk. Yes the work they do is fantastic but a large amount of fundraisers seem to be aimed at ladies. Now before people jump on me I've already discussed this in the past and since this they bought in the Dryathlon....... I'm not making this shit up people.

Now the emphasis on this is to donate what you'd drink on a night out throughout a month. Good plan but at the start of the year everyone is skint and the event was mainly aimed at men in my opinion. It probably was meant to be an all are welcome but the ad's were more blokey again in my opinion.

What annoys me here is cancer affects everyone, so events should be more unisex in my eyes, even race for life but seeing as my recent request to talk to someone at CRUK was ignored. However if CRUK wants to talk please say so and I'll happily pop in and have a chat, explain my grievances and why i feel race for life needs to change!

Now I've had an idea for an event for a cancer charity. It may already have been done in the UK but the Aussies seemed to do this and it works well but we need to do more. a
s most people think cancer charities concentrate on things like breast cancer compared to other cancers even some in men.

Google trends highlights this well too!

The idea I've stolen from the Aussies is a Pink ribbon event, as it seems ubiquitous in the world with cancer let's use the pink ribbon to our advantage.
In Australia the Pink Ribbon Motorcycle ride in Sydney is a huge ride for motorcyclists. However my idea is to get others to join in as not everyone can ride a motorbike. for an example of this watch the video below.
WARNING - THIS VIDEO IS FULL OF SWEARING AND PLASTIC BOOBS!


Cyclists, walkers, motorcyclists and motorists all team up. 4 different routes, all meeting at one point in a bid to raise money for research into cancer. Be it CRUK, Macmillan or other Cancer charities or alternatively all funds split between multiple respite care hospices.

I'm no expert on rasing charity events bar balls of steel, so if anyone has any input on organising something on this kind of scale please drop me a line and I'm happy to chat and work out the best course of action or if it's even feasible. (yeah, I'm a n00b at something on this level)

Paul

TeamHonk Is coming to Hemel Hempstead. Are you ready?

Yes It's true. Hemel Hempstead and St.Albans Team Honk is coming for you!

To sponsor me and the Hemel Honkers Please click here  or text HONK to 70005 to donate £5 to Sports Relief. Thank you muchly we lurve all you awesome people! 

It's been a tough few weeks since posting last about the preparations for this Tuesday, with a formal diagnosis of Arthritis on my knee and back and both Naughtybike and Bettybike misbehaving it's been a fun few weeks!  But even with the busted back and annoying bikes nothing can spoil my mood for the relay!
For the Hemel Hempstead to St.Albans leg is going to be awesome! 

The time at 9:00 we aim to all be at Grovehill community centre to give the bikes last moment checks and tweaks, meet and greet each other and conduct ourselves in silly ways, no doubt helped by the amazing Jokers Masquerade  for giving me a Charlie Brown costume to wear during the ride. On top of that i'll be filming my ride too. Hopefully with the off set to Guile goes with everything! (click here for that)  But now let's chat about the Hemel-St.A stretch. Here's where things get fun! 

St.Albans or bust race - Here's the fun bit. 

The lovely ladies. Afra, Mary Louise Carolynne and Claire and myself are cycling to St.Albans, but we've made it a bit of a challenge. The ladies are not as confident on the more precarious roads, I cycle daily and very confident on the road. Also at the time of planning we had limited car space for everyone and bikes so I chose to stick to the roads while the ladies use The Nickey Line, an old railway line that goes towards St.Albans, get off near St.Albans and be transported by car to the last mile or so then ride to the finish line, Mandeville school. Including car ride it comes in at around 9-12 miles, depending on the route. 

Whereas my route is a bit more direct. I hit the road direct to St.Albans through Hemel Hempstead, although it's more a shorter 7 miles and on half decent roads but they'll have a few advantages. 

Travelling in a group,

Cars for support in case of problems.

The bikes they are using have gears.

Yes I'm a singlespeed junkie and Naughtybike will be joining us for some ultra naughty fun without the trailer attached. The one pictured above is part way trough becoming a flatbed trailer for when we move! 

The good thing about this is the bike is lightweight and configured for speed, even if there is a risk the chain will snap again! oh well! :D 

Anyway - Time to do some more training and get ready for a race.

For more information on the St.Albans leg of the relay clicky here

St.Albans or bust baby! 

To sponsor me and the Hemel Honkers Please click here  or text HONK to 70005 to donate £5 to Sports Relief. Thank you muchly we lurve all you awesome people!

A quick shoutout!

I've got family in Austraila and it's always been a mission to go and see them and it'll happen one day, even if it bankrupts me I will get there! However through the world of social media I speak to them every now and again.

A few weeks back a family member posted a shared status from Discovery Holiday Parks - Whyalla Foreshore. offering the Charity Heartkids South Austraila $1000 if they get 1000 likes by a certain time. Well I shared it as I know Heartkids have supported the family in Aus so was happy to try and share and get a good charity some money.

Sadly they didn't make the 1000 likes, and on the last look they were at 952, oh noes, close but no cigar, however. Discovery holiday parks decided to go above and beyond and still gave Heartkids S.A. the promised $1000 and organising a sausage sizzle with all proceeds going to Heartkids S.A. too

I would just like to say thanks to Discovery Holiday Parks for doing this, it's fantastic to see a company be so amazing. Thanks greatly

Please, go onto their facebook page and say thanks
Paul

WOAH!

Saturday night I embalked on a new challenge. Marshalling for Keech Hospice Care's Midnight walk while good friends of mine were doing the walk at the same time.

It was an amazingly clear night, even the cold temperatures didn't bother most of us, being there to motivate, cheer up and support all the walkers was more important than the weather. 

That said I've not seen the Moon and stars shine so brightly in a while so rest assured loved ones who's memories were praised and remembered on this amazing night were watching down over us all with pride. 

My friend Steph walked the 10 mile walk with friends from our childrens school. Sorry to be cheeky in asking. I would love it if you could sponsor her and the amazing ladies that joined her and learn why this is important to her and many others, please click the link below

http://www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Nolan2

Here are the last few marshals and 4 people doing the walk. Not forgetting the van taking the signs back. 

To the volunteers you were bloody epic. Oh and Group 5 FTW! 

The I Can Chatterbox Challenge

Monday was an amazing day for me and Lissy. We we're lucky to be invited to the chatterbox challenge tea party, organised by I Can, the children's communication charity.

We arrived about 30 mins late (thanks arrivabus!) But just in time to hear a talk from I Can's Communication advisor, Jon Gilmartin, who came to explain the hard work I Can do with children I won't like but the facts  shocked me a bit. 1 in 10 children have difficulties in communicating clearly, meaning there is usually two or three children with difficulties in each class. amounting to at least 1 million children in the UK with difficulties. Including our own Lissy. She is the reason this is important to me!
Jon also explained how I Can's chatterbox challenge is in it's 12th year now and the charity itself is now 125 years young. An excellent achievement for an amazing charity.
We received literature to give to schools and nurseries inviting them to join in with the Chatterbox challenge. And while I've passed mine to our nursery/foundation class. I would love it if you could invite your nursery or group to join in by registering on the chatterbox challenge website

After Jon had spoke to us both parents and children got on the floor and played with Harriet from Boogie Mites. All the children loved it. and some of the parents had fun too.

Here is one of many videos from the chatterbox challenge picnic, There are many more on the
I Can Youtube channel 



Once the children had been worn out by Harriet (nice work there by the way) Humf came to say hello. Offering hugs high fives, and made all the children smile.

I CAN’s Chatterbox Challenge, sponsored by Openreach and supported by Humf, is for children aged 0-5 years to develop their communication skills whilst raising money for those who struggle. For more information and to register for your nursery, group school, go to www.chatterboxchallenge.org.uk


I have the pleasure of announcing I Can is one of Balls Of Steel's chosen charities for this year. We are to choose one charity as usual but more information will be released soon.

Trying to keep up with the #TeamHonk #GoodWork

Hi all.

I've created a twitter widget for #TeamHonk. I was trying to use it to make a Bot. But failed miserably.

so for those looking for a feed JUST FOR #TeamHonk and #Goodwork  here it is.

For more amazing information on the Comic Relief #TeamHonk Efforts with three lovely bloggers Please visit the official site http://teamhonk.org

Tweets about "#TeamHonk, OR TeamHonk.org, OR #Goodwork OR"

Balls of steel restarts HERE!!!!!!!!!!1!!1!111

Evening all. This is a bit of a rant at myself and a decison i've mad tonight

I'm pissed off. Not with any of my readers if i have any. But over the last few weeks i've been getting more and more annoyed with myself.
Balls of steel has been neglected. An awful amount of forgetfulness is stupid.

This year I have to get back to a good level on the bike for a family friendly balls of steel next year.

I have the route already planned, the roads are quiet and relatively safe for families to use and there are places we can stop safely and have drinks and support on hand if needed.
This will be the offical place for balls of steel updates.

but i'm thinking of changing the way it works.

Imwellconfused.me.uk's balls of steel extreme. for the surrey to Dunstable rides (yes i'm still going to plan one)
Imwellconfused.me.uk's family challenge. The first one being organised asap. Will be a 13/14 mile cycle around central beds starting at Dunstable Downs Gateway centre.

The ride will be organised for the Luton and Dunstable hospital's NICU unit, for the hard work the NICU do with babies from around the south of the country. (it's one of the best and buisiest in the area)

If you wish to join with us for this event please comment, or contact me via twitter @hooker1uk and we'll crack on with it.

I'm 100%serious about staring this off again as soon as possible.

Paul

A Timesaver - Scrapping a Car for Charity

Today we have our first guest post by Daniel Frank from www.giveacar.co.uk. a company who recycle's scrap cars to raise funds for charity.

The number of vehicles in use in the UK has been steadily rising for decades. But did you know that the average lifespan of a car is 13.5 years? Increasing safety standards and innovations have caused people to recognise deficits in their older cars, particularly when it comes to the safety of their children and updated NCAP safety ratings. Two million cars are taken off the road every year, but only 50% of them are processed through Authorised Treatment Facilities and given a Certificate of Destruction, despite European Directives on this very subject. The phantom cars are often stripped of parts and left to rot on the side of the road, leaching oil and brake fluid into the soil and damaging local ecosystems. Sometimes, they are illegally put back into circulation by disreputable scrap yards when the cars are nowhere near roadworthy, causing a notable safety risk on the roads.

Yet, if you’re a busy working parent, how can you find the time to organise the safe and ethical disposal of your car? How are you to know that you’re getting the best value for your scrap metal? How do you know that the disposal facility you choose is reputable?

GiveaCar has the answer. Recent graduate Tom Chance started the company in January 2010. It provides a free collection service for scrap cars, also recently extended to motorbikes. They organise the free collection of your car by a car salvage company. Then, they either send them for disposal, or, if it’s still roadworthy, send it for a salvage auction.

Cars taken to an Authorised Treatment Facility and scrapped will have at least 85% of the weight recycled to comply with EU regulations. By 2015 this will rise to 95%. After taking a small administrative fee, they donate the proceeds from the disposal or auction to the charity of your choice. You will receive a notice of how much has been donated on your behalf approximately six weeks later. In the last year they have raised over £250,000 for various charities, including over £50,000 for Cancer Research UK.

Many children’s charities have benefited from GiveaCar donations, including Unicef and The Children’s Trust as well as smaller, localised operations.

For more information about GiveaCar or to enquire about the service in more detail.

You can do the following;

• Comment below and they will aim to drop you a reply asap
• Visit there website http://giveacar.co.uk
• Tweet them via GiveaCar's twitter page
• Visit GiveaCar's Facebook Page