 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
XMAS PARCEL APPEAL 2006 |
||
|
SOS Xmas 2006 Updates & Pictures
1019 Parcels!
Update 7th December 2006 The tremendous news from the team here is that 965 parcels are now on their way to the lads and lassies! Plus a further 54 from Michelle Burgess, our Wirral representative! I'd like to thank many people but I particularly want to say a huge thank you to my daughters, Becky and Sammi, and my daughter in law, Kat. Because here in West Yorkshire we've run the appeal from home, the last two months have barely seen us shut up shop and the girls have helped, not just on odd occasions but consistently during that time. Kat has also endured two months of lunch hour shopping for either parcel fillers or shoeboxes and more than that she's been a tremendous support as well, providing just the right encouragement and the odd glass of wine when the going's got tough! So to the three of you, thank you so much, you're all stars!! And of course a huge thank you also goes out to the pack and wrap team - Judith, Emma, Eve, Margaret and Zara for all they've done. So very final updates - many thanks to 1st Bingley Scout Group which incorporates the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, for putting together nine wonderful parcels
There were some great items in these which I'm sure will lighten the mood on Xmas day. Thank you Joy Smith for all your help in organising this. I received 13 parcels, again beautifully packed and wrapped from Danielle Scotford. Unfortunately I didn't get chance to take a picture of these as they were literally in and straight out again but they were super, thanks Danielle for putting these together. Great news from Michelle Burgess in the Wirral who's been co-ordinating the appeal there - she's managed to raise £277.20, and has sent 54parcels out. Well done Michelle!! A huge thank you from Michelle and myself to everyone who contributed - £40 Michelle Burgess, £15 Rod Burgess, £5 Lewis Greenough, £5 Lilian Greenough, £10 Margaret Sumner, £10 Derek Sumner, £10 Michelle's slummy jar!, £10 Scottish & Southern Energy (Runcorn), £80 Tranmere Rovers supporters (11th Nov) £92.20 Tranmere Rovers supporters (24th Nov also Blackpool supporters. Out of that £92.20 donated £20 given by Keith Jones (friend and Tranmere Rovers supporter) 24th Nov £10 Barbara Jones (friend and Tranmere Rovers Supporter) 24th Nov Total Tranmere Rovers £172.20 Pictures from Michelle...
A super donation came in from Steve Brimfield at Tewkesbury School which has been converted into parcels and we've had further donations from Chris Davidson and Sarah Sinclair. Two parcels arrived from Andy Thorne and Kathy Johnson, again a lot of thought had gone into these, thanks guys, and a further parcel from The Brunt Family. My very last delivery was from John Butler of Wakefield who very kindly drove over last night with two super parcels plus a bin liner full to the brim of extra goodies put together by his mum Teresa Butler. So despatched today every last item, bringing the final total from this team to 965 parcels which we are delighted with. It has been extremely busy and whilst I've tried to thank everyone, if anything has been left out please do let me know and I'll make sure it's rectified straight away! We've already had news that many of the parcels have reached their destinations so hopefully the next pics you'll see will be those on Xmas day. Thank you all once again. Karen Update 30th November 2006 We're nearly there!!!! Another tremendous week has passed with the result that 777 parcels are now winging their way to Iraq and Afghanistan. And we've not finished yet, we hope to have around another 200 during the remaining few days before the post deadline. This is what's happened in the last seven days (surely it's longer!!) The weekend saw us working virtually round the clock to get as many parcels as possible ready for the Royal Mail Collection. Everyone rallied round and these are a few pictures to give you an idea of things! Just a few of the parcels already packed... All stocked up and ready to go ...
He who's to blame lends a hand! Some of the team in action ... Bagged and ready to go ...
Sacked and ready to go ... And the first batch of the 777 parcels on their way! I'd like to say big thank yous to Becky, Sammi, Kat, Nicky, Sophie, Margaret, Kath, Josie, Emma, Eve and Rowland for all their help this weekend - I really couldn't have done it without you! Unfortunately Judith who's been a huge help over the past three weeks, dropping in to help at every opportunity, fell and broke her wrist so she wasn't able to get along at the weekend. We all send our love and hope you're feeling better soon! The cheque for £1,000 has arrived from Niton Equipment Ltd and has been converted into parcel fillers. We were also delighted to receive 200 Hot Cans in fab varieties including All Day Breakfast, Vegetable Curry, Chicken Casserole, Beef Casserole and Sausage & Beans. I'm sure these will go down a treat!
The 50 individual cakes were collected from Hughes Bakery in Saltaire. Thanks to Phillip, Mr Hughes and all the staff who were involved for donating these. Again a huge help to us and much appreciated.
Source International of Lymington very kindly sent a fantastic box of mens shaving equipment and toiletry bags - once again very much appreciated and thanks to all involved..
Complete boxes were received from Miss H Hughes of London, Marie Darling of Biggar, Andrew Mitchell of Windhill and Denise Warrington of Baildon, Sue Tarrant of Grimsby, Mr & Mrs Longbotham of Allerton and Steve Wood of Windhill. I also received one beautifully packaged box which unfortunately had no name or address details with it and a parcel from Yvonne, again without address. I haven't been able to acknowledge these but they are as always much appreciated! We've received a cheque from Julie and Will Winrow of Bolton, and further Paypal donations, all detailed on the donations page. Anne Jarvis dropped off a further three huge boxes of fillers from staff at Bradford & Bingley in Crossflatts followed by Brenda with more items from the Bingley office and a further donation. Thanks to everyone who has contributed towards this, they've enabled us to fill 20 boxes altogether which is fantastic. Sylvia Caton very kindly sent a box of items collected by the residents of Stanford Orchard in Warnham - thanks Sylvia for organising this. On Monday I also went along to the Bingley Army Cadet Detachment where they'd been putting together parcels. All the cadets have written to go into the boxes and I think we all thoroughly enjoyed the evening as well. Thanks Kerry for all your help!
And finally, just when we thought it was all over ... Graham Walker delivered 11 complete boxes, lots and lots of items including 70 santa hats and a donation of £440.30! These were collected by the Southport Links Rotary Club, Southport Meols Rotary Club, South Sefton Rotary Club and friends and Southport Probus Club. Graham drove all the way over to drop these off, and again thank you really does not seem enough. We really appreciate the effort that has gone into this whole collection and it means we're able to do over another 100 parcels! Thank you Graham and everyone involved!
So as of Thursday the 30th, 777 parcels are on their way, we've about 25 to wrap and we shopped today to cover another 120 parcels. We'll have another pack & wrap session over the weekend and I hope that on Monday we'll be just about there and will have got very close to doubling our original target of 500 parcels! Until the next and possibly last update, Karen Update 23rd November 2006 Once again it's been a very busy couple of weeks with parcels, parcel fillers and donations coming in from all directions! As well as thanking everyone who has contributed I'd also like to thank those who are spreading the word - it's obviously having a great effect!! First of all the fantastic news that I received earlier this week was from Phillipa Deverson at Niton Equipment Ltd. As reported previously Niton Equipment very kindly ran a raffle on their website, www.niton999.co.uk, to support the Appeal and with the help of their suppliers and customers have managed to raise an amazing £1,000!
As you can imagine this is a huge boost for us. £500 will be retained by myself to put together parcels here in West Yorkshire and £500 forwarded to Agnes in Ayr. Phillipa and everyone involved at Niton Equipment, our sincere thanks to you for this tremendous gesture. In addition, complete parcels have been received from Dianne Lake in Plymouth, C Noonan in Dundee, Kerry Sharpe in Market Rasen, Maureen Burnett of Haworth Britsh Legion, Helen Thompson in Oban, Mr & Mrs A Morrison of Forfar, Mrs I Renwick of Beverley, Tracy Purvis of Harrogate, Paula Thornham of Thornton, Alison Dinsdale of Bradford , Ian Waterworth on behalf of the West Yorkshire Submariners Association, Doug Pointon of the Royal Naval Association Harrogate Branch who also kindly presented a cheque to cover further parcels. Parcel Fillers have come from Pat Petty of Bingley, Jane Robinson of Queensbury, and a huge lot of items collected by Anne Jarvis from the staff at Bradfford & Bingley offices, Crossflatts.
We've received donations from May McLarty in Edinburgh, Carol Gresty of Bolton, Mrs A S Margetts of Gomersal and Jill Woodrow of Glasgow and further donations have been very generously sent through Paypal which are shown on the Donations page. I'd also like to welcome to the team possibly our youngest Pack & Wrap helpers yet - my granddaughter Sophie aged 18 months and my niece Georgia aged 2 and a half! Both girls were a great help and apart from the odd chocolate bar gone missing I think everything survived. Who says babysitting's not fun!
The great news to conclude this update with is that 552 parcels are now complete and awaiting collection by Royal Mail on Monday. We've a big pack and wrap day planned for Sunday so with a bit of luck there should be a couple of hundred more to add to the total! So I'll sign off for now. Once again huge thanks to everyone who's helped out. Until the next update. Karen Update 9th November 2006 Well the last two weeks have sped by with so much happening that we've barely been able to keep up. Positive news on all fronts and a tremendous thank you to everyone who has contributed in any way. Hopefully all contributions are detailed below but if I have inadvertently missed anything out please do let me know! So - The delivery of pens arrived from Quantico Ltd. These have all been individually wrapped to go into the parcels. A huge consignment of books and Christmas cards arrived from Prima Sales UK at much discounted rates. We've added our own inserts into the cards so every donation is recognised. Cheryl Magee has been in touch to let us know that she is organising collections in Northern Ireland Walker Office Supplies Keighley very kindly donated a full case of parcel tape - thanks Andrew! Paula Thorham of Thornton is collecting goodies Following a presentation to Gilstead Village Society, St Wilfreds Church Gilstead are putting out a box for items. Anne Jarvis the Secretary kindly gave a box of goodies and is also organising a collection at BBBS. A huge box of goodies arrived from Myrtle Docherty. Obviously packed with care and a good deal of experience! Many thanks Myrtle. Hughes Bakery have pledged 50 miniature Christmas cakes The Santa Hats have arrived and going down at a rate of knots. A box of stress balls has been donated by UK Changes Monday 30th October saw our first pack and wrap night. We managed to complete 136 parcels - thanks to Emma, Kat, Judith, Zara, Becky & Sammi for this. A further 189 parcels have been packed since meaning we have 325 ready in total!
The batch of 90 miniature cakes arrived from Jean Howell. I have here to give a special thank you to Jean who even though she's a great gran has baked almost endlessly for the past four weeks. The cakes are fantastic, each one beautifully wrapped, and will I'm sure be much appreciated!
A huge lot of wrapping paper has been donated by Regent Envelopes, rolls and individual sheets which is a great help. Doug Poynton of the Harrogate Branch of the Royal Naval Association is holding a collection and will be dropping items off shortly. Betty Parsons has delivered lots of items from Cottingley Senior Citizens. Again lots of thought have gone into these and they've made up 6 full parcels
Individual parces have been received from Chantelle Gibbard, Mr & Mrs T Kelly, Mary Davies and Peter Humphries Seven boxes plus extra fillers have arrived from 11th Baildon Moravian Cub Scouts - these have been put together by the youngsters and I've even come across a couple of plastic spiders inside - should give the lads a fright!
Fourteen boxes, extra fillers and £10 donation have been delivered by Karen Nicholson of Halifax Karen's own son is serving on tour at the moment so she's rallied all her friends round with tremendous results
Eleven boxes arrived at the beginning of the week from Marion Webster in Stroud. Marion has truly considered everything and our grateful thanks go out to her.
500 packing bags have been donated by Damart Thermawear and many thanks to Judith Hill for organising these. Whilst not glamorous they really make life so much easier when we're at the final despatch stage. So as I said an extremely busy time and judging by the calls and emails coming through this is just the start. Once again HUGE thanks to everyone who has helped out in any way. Until the next update. Karen Update 24th October 2006 Can't quite keep up with the SOS Scotland team, the response they are getting is absolutely tremendous! Nonetheless it's still been a busy few days for us: Morrisons of Idle have offered £5 of goods covering another 25 mini jars of jam. David & Joan Bramwell have sent a beautifully packed parcel containing lots of goodies so many thanks to them. The 1,000 packs of shortbread from Walkers have arrived and 500 of these will be winging there way up to Agnes in Scotland. Prima Sales UK have given us a great deal on 250 paperbacks and 500 Xmas cards, many thanks to Jo for organising this. Danielle Scotford has emailed to say that she will be putting parcels together and forwarding them to us. Again thanks Danielle, we wish you lots of success! Darren Percival of the Courtyard by Marriott in Tong has called to say they will kindly be donating 2 boxes of biscuit packs. Quantico Ltd have given us a great deal on Penquest pensets and individual pens and these should be arriving shortly. AND Poundstretcher are doing Cadburys selection boxes at 2 for £1.49 so that's where I'll be shopping from now on! Until the next update. Karen Update 19th October 2006 We're delighted that Niton Equipment Ltd have contacted us and are now promoting the Appeal to their suppliers to help raise funds for the parcels. Already one supplier has pledged 200 HotCans which is fantastic. Thank you Phillipa for all your help with this. We're also delighted that Walkers Shortbread are sending us 1,000 packets of shortbread. Again this is absolutely tremendous and many thanks go to James Walker for his very genorous gesture, and to my mum for organising this! More details on the donations page! Without wishing to detract from any of the other kind offers and donations, I've received this week a cheque from Mr G Simpson of the D Day Normandy Old Comrades Association in Pudsey. This represents a donation from each of the members - Frank Robertson, Fred Stokes, Bill Haigh, Brian Whittle, John Pullan, Stan Elison, John Lavender and Gerry himself. The note enclosed reads: 'Please use this in your marvellous efforts to send some token of our esteem to the troops serving in the current troubled areas. We very much thank them for their service.' Eight cards have also been enclosed and I'm quite certain the recipients of the parcels containing these will be as moved and humbled as we are. Further donations have been received via the website - thank you to everyone who has contributed this way. Morrisons of Skipton have offered £5 of goods which will cover 25 pots of jam. Carol Holland from Guiseley has called to say she will be putting some packages together. Karen Nicholson of Halifax has also offered to rally her friends to fill parcels. And 500 Santa Hats are currently winging their way to us from Tony in South Ockendon. Thanks Tony for supplying these to us at a great price. So all in all it's been a very rewarding and productive week. APART from an response that I received today. I'm sure you will all know that we have promoted Home Bargains as being the best store for buying a number of the parcel items. This morning I sent a very nice email to T J Morris, owners of the stores, to ask if they would be prepared to make a small gesture towards the Appeal in view of the fact that over £1,000 would be spent in the stores over the next few weeks. Until the next update. Karen
Our thanks go to
For publicising the Appeal through their websites and newletters. The response from these sites has been tremendous and we are extremely grateful for the support. Thanks again guys! We are also delighted that the following Organisations have pledged their support: The congregation of Bingley Parish Church ------ Members of Bingley (1944) Branch Royal British Legion ------ Gilstead Village Society ------ Aire Valley Guides & Scouts ------ Aberfeldy Brownies - each of the six brownies has promised to put together a parcel with a hand painted card inside. ------ Bingley Fire Station - have pledged to gather some funds to sponsor a number of parcels but - they want to send these particularly to the ladies and are considering including some pictures! Wow girls, look out!! ------ Bethan (pictured below) has very kindly agreed to donate 100 cds of her beautiful harp music which should induce relaxation after stressful days..
------ Jean Howell, super Great Gran, is embarking on baking individual Xmas cakes. Despite our cries to the contrary Jean is purchasing the ingredients out of her pension and intends to bake just as many as she possibly can! The Yorkshire Post and Telegraph & Argus will be going to meet Jean over the next few days so hopefully we may have some pictures of her in action to include! Thank you so much Jean, you are a star! Members of Pudsey Branch Royal British Legion ------ Members of Haworth Branch Royal British Legion ------ Members of Cottingley Senior Citizens ------ Members of Acle & District Branch Royal British Legion
|
||
