Monday 23 August 2010

An Interesting Tuesday!

Last Tuesday was one of those days when lots of things happened that were very different but still were interesting and exciting.

Abbi Morrell-Faulkner is an 18-year old girl who was bullied at school and who has turned her terrible experience into an extraordinary strength. Abbi is now a campaigner against bullying and has won numerous awards, has been introduced to David Cameron and David Beckham and has recently been chosen by Channel 4 as one of eleven young people to be part of their Battlefront project. Her charity is called ‘abs-kids’ which stands for Anti Bullying Shared and her website is http://www.abs-kids.co.uk/.

I first met Abbi when she was a keynote speaker, aged 16, at a Young Enterprise County Final event where she spoke about her experiences of being bullied. In front of 600 school children, Abbi’s speech was delivered with the panache and confidence of any keynote speaker I have had the privilege to listen to. I was instantly impressed and wanted to support her in taking her campaign further.

On Tuesday last week I saw a young woman who was now hitting the road running. C4’s Battlefront project was giving her the opportunities she’d been waiting for. Abbi needs to be heard and to make a real difference, and now she is. I am so proud of what Abbi has achieved and I think Abbi and her charity will go a long, long way. Watch this space! Click here to watch an interview with Abbi on http://www.rosemaryconley.tv/

After seeing Abbi, it was time to launch Leicestershire’s Walking Week which starts on 4th Sept and runs until the 12th. With 75 walks to chose from around the glorious countryside of Leicestershire, this is a good initiative and one that I wholeheartedly endorse.

We met at the delightful country park called Watermead, along with the Lord Mayor of Leicester, the Mayors of the various districts, as well as the Leader of the County Council and other dignitaries. As Champion of the Physical Activities Champion Group I was asked to offer a few words alongside the Lord Mayor and the Leader of the Council. As I arrived the weather turned to a heat wave and, as I had Waise my dog in the car, I had no alternative than to invite her into the proceedings.

All was well until we started walking. With photographs taken, speeches made and everyone - around 100 folk – was ready to walk the one mile route around the lake, the blackest of clouds suddenly came upon us. Umbrellas were commissioned ‘just in case’ and the walkers set off with the Lord Mayor, with me and Waise taking the lead.

About a quarter of the way round the heavens opened and rain and hail stones poured down so ferociously that Waise (pronounced ‘visor’) looked up at me as if to say ‘I don’t do rain and I most definitely don’t do hail!’. And it’s true. At home, if it’s raining I have to put a coat on her and go outside with her with an umbrella to shelter her and wait for her to have a pee! Anyway, Waise was not going to move and the whole walking crowd had to shelter under branches of nearby trees awaiting the rain to ease. I even took off my coat to give to Waise in the hope that that might help but no, the situation was not negotiable!

After about 10 minutes the rain subsided. I looked as though I had just stepped out of the shower, Waise was still looking miserable, but the Lord Mayor was looking very unruffled given the circumstances (and much slimmer by the way as he is losing weight on my diet during his year in office). Some 20 minutes later, we all arrived back at the car park looking somewhat bedraggled but satisfied that we had burned off our 100 calories and walked a very picturesque mile.

As I approached, one of the organisers informed me that Central ITV News were there and could they have an interview? Soaked to the skin, hair looking stunning (I don’t think so!), I then put on my professional metaphorical hat, swallowed my pride and proceeded to enthuse about this truly brilliant initiative. (I did say to Darren the reporter that if he cut my introduction during which I explained my drenched appearance I would have to kill him, he obviously took the threat seriously as it stayed in!). We had a real laugh in the office later when Waise appeared looking somewhat forlorn wearing my jacket!

It is actually great fun when things go pear-shaped and you have to just get on with it. Sometimes I think we take life too seriously and we lose the fun out of situations. It really was a hilarious situation and thankfully everyone was very tolerant and forgiving of my extremely sensitive, temperamental dog who is actually a real treasure!

If you are anywhere near Leicestershire checkout the website www.leics.gov.uk/walkingweek.

Monday 9 August 2010

Music in the Meadow - we're getting there!

For the past three years Mike and I have hosted a live pop concert in the grounds of our home to raise funds for Steps Conductive Education Centre, Matt Hampson - the under-21s England Rugby player who broke his neck in training in 2005, and the church and village hall where we live in Ashby Folville in Leicestershire. This year the event is being held on Bank Holiday Saturday, 28th August. Every pound taken for the event goes to the charities and the proceeds are distributed 70% to Steps, 20% to Matt and 10% is divided between the village hall and the church. In the last three years we have raised over £70,000 from this event which offers a fun night out listening to live bands in glorious surroundings plus a mega raffle which boasts 10 holidays/breaks to be won!

We are very fortunate to live in such an idyllic village which is surrounded by magnificent mature trees, has a cricket field, a beautiful pub – the Carington Arms, a church, and that’s it! On Music in the Meadow night the villagers help to steward the event and everyone has a fantastic time. Folk come from far and wide and bring along their gazebos, picnics and chairs or they sit on bales of straw. The stage looks magnificent against the backdrop of such a lovely piece of Leicestershire which nestles in a valley just below Melton Mowbray.

The event attracts about 500 – 1000 music-lovers who thoroughly enjoy themselves as well as buy raffle tickets galore as the prizes are so amazing plus we have a tombola which boasts a phenomenal number of outstanding gifts that have been donated from local firms. The tombola will include hundreds of prizes including vouchers for meals out, days out, hampers, cosmetics, gifts, pictures, flowers – you name it, it’s on there! On Saturday I was even given a diamond pendant by Goldsmiths in Leicester for the event which we are going to raffle separately on the night along with a stunning watch which has been donated by another jeweller, Lumbers, and Fenwicks have given us six Royal Doulton wine glasses ..and there’s so much more.

We serve Pimms and we will be dancing the night away until gone midnight. Personally we will have a house full of guests which I adore. There will be camp-beds for the children snuggled into various corners and every one of our bedrooms will be fully occupied and our bathrooms will be working flat out.

On the Friday I will be cooking bacon sandwiches for Mike and the workers who are setting up the marquees, staging, lighting, toilets and so on. Incredibly, all of these facilities are given to us free of charge which is how we can give every penny we receive to the charities. Companies like Raynsway and Owen Brown are phenomenally generous.

Then of course there are the bands who give their time and energy for free. The lead act, the Don Watson Band, fly in specially for the event from Colorado, USA. They are an extraordinarily gifted band who play requests from the audience throughout and I have yet to find a song that they don’t know or cannot play. They are outstandingly talented. The support acts are local bands Rock Bottom and Hopwood Junction plus we have a brilliant guitarist/singer David Wyatt who opens proceedings at 6 pm.

Check out the website www.musicinthemeadow.co.uk to see some of the pictures from last year and details of this year’s event. It really is a fantastic night out so if you don’t know what to do with yourself on bank holiday Saturday, why not pop along?

For tickets for the event or raffle tickets, please call Gaynor Cawood on 01509 622022.