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XMAS PARCEL APPEAL 2006 |
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SOS - SCOTLAND 1445 Parcels!
The Final update from the SOS Scotland team ......
Bob, Margaret, Bill and I continued to fill the boxes in preparation for the uplift by the Army the following Wednesday.
We had a lovely day on Wednesday 6th December, with the lads from 2nd Bttn Royal Regiment of Scotland: Sgt Callum Harkiss, L/Cpl Jady Minhas and Fusiliers John Robertson, Jamie Porter and Christopher Andrews.
After a press photocall, they hauled all 62 bags of parcels (617) up the stairs of the packing unit, into the van and ‘lanny’ and transported them directly to the Royal Mail Centre in Glasgow
We had a ‘wee bit of a do’ in the Conference Suite of the Kyle Centre before the guys left for Glasgow. This gave me an opportunity to thank all those who had helped along the way, with what is a growing task with each passing year.
Just when I thought it was safe to put my feet up, more donations came from Mr & Mrs Kyle of Mauchline, who had organised a collection point in their Pet Shops. Amongst the items were four large chocolate Santas, which unfortunately were the worse for wear by the time they got to us. Adhering to the sentiment that everything legitimate received would be sent, they were packed individually in plastic bags labelled 'war casualty' and sent to the medics! So the remaining shoe boxes and tape were put into use again and a further 27 parcels were soon ready for the sorting office, the very last parcel being reserved for Bob and Margaret's son in Afghanistan.
With just a few hours to spare, and at the end of a very long nightshift, I sent them on their way to each of the five operational areas making a final total from Scotland of:
1445
It was a major exercise this year but a very satisfying one and we hope that the recipients enjoy opening them as much as we all did packing them. I hope they remember to send us some photographic record of the day.
It just remains for me to say a huge thank you to everyone who participated this year in whatever capacity, we appreciate it wholeheartedly and it goes without saying that the troops certainly do. I can scarcely believe that the unit which, for the past six weeks has been a hive of activity and crammed full with gifts, now lies bare and empty!
HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND PEACEFUL NEW YEAR
Update 7th December 2006 Where to start? So much has happened since last I had time to update but here goes!!... There are so many people who have contributed to this year’s appeal that deserve a special mention but if I have forgotten anyone please accept my apologies in advance. It does not mean that your contribution was less significant than others, it’s the combination of a 52yr-old body with a 90yr-old memory!! The most important of course have been the Management and staff of the Kyle Centre in Ayr without whom we could not progress the appeal;Jack Benny and Carolyn McAllister of West Sound Radio; the staff of ‘Priceless’, ‘Mark One’, ‘New Look, ‘Barratts’, ‘Rogersons’, ‘Slaters Menswear’ and ‘Hourstons’ for keeping us supplied with shoe boxes; my team of helpers, Shona Stevenson, Alison and Fay from the Cumnock area who cleaned out the shoe-box supplies there and organised the collection points!!, Bob and Margaret McLean who have been a complete joy and dedicated to the cause graduating as expert parcellers!!, Bill Jamieson who just ploughs on without needing to be asked and provides the muscle when needed, Sandra Innes and her girls, Megan Smith, Sheree Sheeran and Janet Davage from Dundonald Craft Group, Liz Lorimer and Nan Matthews who wanted to help in any way they could and became regular helpers!, Susan Coyle and her daughter Fiona who manned the stand when I couldn’t manage due to work commitments and organised collections at their workplaces, my sister Martha McNicol who chauffered me round Dumfries & Galloway SPAR shops and is a dab hand at the wrapping and labelling and her husband Ronald and their best mate Gordon McKillop (more of them later!) Sandra Osborne,MP and Cathy Jamieson,MSP who both organised collections in their respective Houses of Parliament; Ayrshire Post, Ayr Advertiser and Sunday Post for coverage of the appeal.
We had a joint fundraising day with 251Sqdn RLC (V) Motor Transport Div., Irvine
and thanks to Sgt Robbie Galt, Pte Joe Murphy and Pte Louise Black for all their help on the day and since (more below). Robbie was a recipient of our parcels when deployed to Iraq in 2003. Thanks also to Robbie’s sister Margaret and husband John MacDonald who donated filled boxes and also donated some Santa hats when they heard we were running short!! New Donations: Audrey and Jack Phillips have been committed supporters of the group since its inception and each year organise collections at their dance groups in Ayr and Girvan and also at the fortnightly meetings of the OIR Group. This year the groups have donated £200 and this has helped greatly with parcel fillers and personal gifts. Thanks seems inadequate but it is heartfelt I can assure you. David Wilson from the Witness Support Group at Ayr Sheriff Court baked a huge Christmas cake which we raffled off on our stand in the Kyle Centre raising £150 which offset the cost of Santa Hats. Congratulations to Lorna Walker of Cumnock who was the lucky winner. Jeannie Telfer from Glasgow set the ball rolling with a generous cheque to sponsor four parcels. This was quickly followed by a donation of £75 from John Kyle and staff at Accident Exchange, Glasgow.(Thanks to John MacD for spreading the word in his workplace!) Mrs Nisbet of ‘His Nibs’ Jewellers in Queens Court Ayr, once again, sent a generous cheque to purchase items as she was leaving for America during the appeal period and didn’t want to miss out!! Many people have added to our collection can at the Kyle Centre enabling us to replenish supplies of selection boxes, Christmas puddings and personal gifts which meant that the packing area was kept well-stocked.
Despite having purchased in the region of 600 selection packs from Poundstretcher, they could not be persuaded to give us a discount or donate anything!!) Loads of filled boxes and carrier bags have been handed in daily to the staff with no details of the donors, many of which have contained sufficient items to allow numerous boxes to be packed. Working for the local Council meant I had many colleagues who wished to participate and among those are the wardens and staff of several of the Sheltered Housing Units for the elderly. Their contribution has been phenomenal, with some contributing cash sums in addition to boxes and all included cards for the troops. Many of the contributing residents, are war veterans or families of, who well remember their experiences and wanted to ‘do their bit for the lads and lassies’. Mary Hendren, Warden of Morrison Gardens SHU, whose nephew is presently in Iraq, organised a special presentation of their contribution incorporating Remembrance Day. She runs a ‘HUG’(Hands Uniting the Generations) group within her unit involving the local children who interact with the elderly residents on various projects and we were very humbled by their decision to incorporate our appeal within their project this year.
Other photos show the various units/residents handing over their parcels to myself and Bob and Margaret when we did our ‘Cook’s Tour’ on 3 November - Arcon Court, Benmore, Bradan Road, Logan Drive, Dundonald, Walker Avenue and Ardfin Road
The SHUs are serviced by Mobile Attendants from my department and my thanks go to one of them, Marion Docherty, who was the first to donate a very generous collection of items to this year’s appeal. Colleagues from Office Services at County Buildings in Ayr, Josephine, Mary(x2) handed over five boxes of items
Jenna Clark from the Valuation Board office also handed over a box which translated into three shoe boxes.
The children and parents of Doonfoot Nursery, Ayr, collected masses of donations which completely filled my car!
Girvan Primary School Staff also did their bit contributing four huge boxes of items and a special thanks must go to Catherine Noble who sourced 400 more Santa Hats for me at the knockdown price of £1 x4!! in the local ‘pound’ shop. She even ‘went above and beyond’ by collecting them in the worst downpour of the year and paid for them ‘up front’! There was also a box of items contributed by staff of Alloway Primary School again this year, thanks to Marion Husband for her continued enthusiasm for our appeal. Also boosting the appeal were the pupils of the Social & Vocational Studies class of Marr College, Troon.(15/16yr-olds) Not only did they donate enough items for 50 boxes, but they designed cards and wrote individual letters for inclusion. (Totally destroys the myth that all teenagers are selfish). The Women’s Guild of my local church, Castlehill Parish Church, decided to participate in this year’s appeal and contributed sufficient items for 20 boxes and in addition, members also donated £15 in cash. Ayr Auld Kirk Boys’ Brigade knew the drill from last year and donated a commendable 12 boxes this year – many thanks to Captain Brown and the boys for their continued support. An opportunity to contribute was seized by Mr & Mrs Danny Cumming of Mansewood, Glasgow who journeyed to Ayr to deliver two boxes which actually translated into four boxes for the troops. SPAR Shops: Following a short article in the ‘Sunday Post’, we had volunteers who agreed to set up the collection points in the stores and I cannot continue without a special mention for John Harker (RAOC ret’d) of Kirknewton, West Lothian. Not only did he visit his local store but he covered all the stores in Edinburgh and surrounding area, lettered all the local schools and some businesses, collected in all the donations and delivered them to my niece’s house in Edinburgh for collection by Ronald and Gordon. He combined all this with his volunteering for SSAFA, British Legion and the Red Cross and caring for his elderly mother. John….YOU’RE A STAR! Also spearheading this part of the appeal was Sandra McSorley from Alexandria whose husband, Major Derek McSorley, has deployed on OpTelic 9 and kindly volunteered to take responsibility for the distribution of the majority of the parcels in Iraq. Sandra covered the shops in Drymen, Erskine and Port Glasgow and there was a sizeable amount of donations uplifted from them. The response from the rest wasn’t as good as anticipated but that was probably due to the short notice. However, those that did participate added handsomely to the ‘stockpile’ and on Thursday 9 November, Ronald and Gordon set off in a hired van (couldn’t get a sponsor but Gordon kindly paid for the fuel!) on their tour of the central belt to pick up the donations at the various stores. En route they called in on Mrs Muir of Johnstone who had rallied her pals to collect and she handed over 15 packed boxes which, when checked, translated to 30 boxes so great result there! The ‘intrepid volunteers’ returned to base about 7pm weary but happy with a vanful of goodies which they enthusiastically unpacked and added to the stock boxes. Thanks a million guys Falkirk Council Education and Housing Departments took part in organising collections and their contributions were also picked up on the day. A huge thanks to Diane Cherry,PA to the Chief Executive, who organised everything there Special mention also to Sgt Alan McLellan (Army Recruiting, Glasgow) and his brother Robert (Ex Argylls) who arranged collection points and handed over a sizeable box of goodies. Pamela Docherty also arranged a collection within her school, Camstradden Primary, Drumchapel. Not only did she collect items but the children of p5 & 6 made cards for inclusion in the parcels. The Kleenex was definitely working overtime when I opened that packet! and the lads and lassies are going to love them…so much work and effort, thanks everyone. (Thanks to TA, Maryhill, for assisting with the transfer of these donations.) On the subject of cards, thanks also to the members of the RAFA Club in Prestwick who signed loads of cards for inclusion and donated them along with several carrier bags and boxes of goods. An unusual donation came in the form of batteries from the Transplant Unit of ‘Jimmy’s’ Hospital in Leeds courtesy of S/Nurse Whitelaw – her sister is based at RAF Lossiemouth and served in Iraq the same time as my son on OpTelic 1. Apparently they are used only once in monitoring equipment then discarded so Laura arranged collection and delivery to ourselves. With donations continuing to be handed in we were kept busy packing and wrapping in the storeroom at the Kyle Centre with tremendous results The first load of mail bags were ready for transfer to the Ayr Sorting Office on 20 November into the capable hands of Grant and his staff. We enlisted the help of 251 Sqdn again and L/Cpl Maggs Stirling(wee blondie!) and Private Tracy Kelly came along and mucked in with packing, wrapping and labelling before ‘humphing’ the parcels onto the 4 tonner with the help of Bill and myself, and then ‘humphing’ them off again into the GPO van for onward transport to BFPO. 80 bags - in total 798 parcels!! Girls….you are a credit to your Unit!
Later that day we had a visit from Sandra Osborne,MP, who delivered parcels from herself and constituents. Sandra has been a great supporter of the group from Day one and continues to assist with our campaign for the reintroduction of Freepost. She stayed to help with the packing and wrapping and thoroughly enjoyed the experience she tells me! She is one of only a handful of MPs who have actually spent time on the RM training course and ‘walked a week in their shoes’ to get hands on experience of military life. She has also visited the troops in Iraq so knows first-hand how much the parcels mean to the lads and lassies.
Well BFPO did us proud with the first delivery in theatre being acknowledged by Gp Capt Sean Bell, Kandahar, on 24 November! There have been subsequent e-blueys from Cyprus (OpTosca) and Afghanistan (OpHerrick) so it is good to know that the parcels are getting through in double quick time- nothing heard yet though from the Navy or Bosnia/Kosovo. General Richards, Commander NATO Forces, ISAF Kabul has also been in touch commending our efforts and looking forward to receiving his ‘christmas box’! And so to the next 600+……we continued to receive masses of donations and on 27 November I called at Queen Margaret Academy in Ayr where pupils from 1st year had given a presentation to each year group and thereafter arranged collections, under the direction of teacher, Ms Corinne Barr, resulting in three large boxes of donations. A huge thank you to Ross Lomako, Thomas Doran, Iain Mathieson, Michael Mohan and Lisa MacMillan for all your efforts. (Lisa’s friend donated a selection of airline toilet bags/contents which we were able to break down into several gifts.)
On Wednesday 29 November members of 230 Sqdn RLC(V) Edinburgh, attended at the Scottish Parliament Chamber for a photocall with Cathy Jamieson MSP, who had organised a collection amongst her colleagues. She later delivered parcels to me at home for onward transmission to theatre. A stalwart volunteer for the group since its inception has been Sandra Innes who works with the local Duke of Edinburgh Project Team and each year she involves youngsters who are undertaking their ‘volunteer’ section of the award, in the appeal. This year she brought along some of the girls from Dundonald Youth Craft Group (Megan, Sheree and Janet) to help with the packing and wrapping and they joined in enthusiastically. The girls had hand-decorated some of the boxes which they brought along with them and I am sure they will be much appreciated by the recipients. All worked really hard until the very last pack of tissues was packed and wrapped. Such was their speed and enthusiasm that at one point I was sure I would be packed and wrapped myself!…..I must have been, I’m not in the photie!!
Bob, Margaret and I spent Friday afternoon packing and wrapping more donations which had been handed in that morning, finally labelling the next batch of parcels and ending up with a further 57 mail bags totalling 570 parcels ready for transfer. The local regiment (2Bttn RRoS) will be helping us out with that on Wednesday of this week Always mindful of keeping a tidy workplace, Margaret and Bob finished the day with a bit of housekeeping!
Our period of respite was short-lived, however, with the later delivery of a magnificent 20 filled boxes from Stirling Park Associates in Kilmarnock, ably organised by Carol McClelland whose nephew is presently in Iraq.
The Sunday Post ran an article on the parcels appeal on Sunday 2 December, too late for people to donate but at least it keeps the profile of the appeal and the Freepost issue to the fore
In the middle of all this activity, with only one week’s notice, I still managed to fulfil a commitment to make a friend’s silver wedding cake….how???....Lord only knows!!!
Today (Monday) I collected donations from SPAR in Boswell Park, Ayr,(Photo 0121) and several more boxes and carrier bags which had been handed in at Troon Library were delivered by Sandra to the Kyle Centre. These were converted into a further 30 boxes with Sandra and I packing the last one into the mail bags giving a grand total of 620 parcels – 62 mail bags for transfer on Wednesday.
With 798 parcels sent last week that makes a grand total of 1418 parcels from the Scottish end of the operation this year. As in previous years, I have no doubt there will still be some last-minute donations which we will send on right up until the deadline on 8 December and thereafter, whilst it ‘sticks in my craw’, we will use the few remaining cash donations to help with postage - and continue our fight for reinstatement of FREEPOST FOR ALL. Once again, a huge thank you to everyone but it doesn’t even come close to the gratitude I feel for all the help given. Until the next update with the pictures from the ‘last post’…….
Update 19th October 2006 Our Santa Hats have arrived courtesy of Bryan Robertson of Nice One Stores, Kyle Centre Donation of copy paper and labels from PC World in Ayr so thanks to manager Kevin Dunlop for his generosity again this year. Asda in Kilmarnock and Ayr and Morrisons have all agreed to have collection points so thanks to Shona Stevenson our Cumnock area volunteer coordinator for arranging that. Sandra McSorley our volunteer from Alexandria has been doing a power of work in her area today. She has established the collection point in the store at Drymen and has Killearn and Erskine in her sights! Deadly or what?....that's what happens when you are the wife of a Major on deployment to Iraq! Meg Hailes from Glenrothes is also 'doing her bit' by getting her son to set up a collection point in the pub he works in in St Andrews and her niece is reaching for the sky on our behalf, setting up a collection point at the parachute jumping school she works in! Justine McLellan from Bonnyrigg is setting up a collection point there and at her HQ in Dalkeith and has her children involved too in making cards etc. Several cash donations at the stand in the Kyle Centre means a further 20 parcels have been sponsored. We have been inviting visitors to the stand to sign cards for the troops and this is proving very popular across the age groups. Update 19th October 2006 The 'Pack and Wrap' base 2006 in the Kyle Centre, Ayr
We have had a few contacts 'signed up' to cover the Spar shops. None from Aberdeen, Perth or Dundee areas though as yet, which have the main concentration of shops, so if you live in or around these areas pleeeeease get in touch. All it entails is liaising with the shop managers re setting up the collection point and giving contact details. Arrangements for uplift by 'SoS' on or around 17 November will be notified nearer the time. Thanks to Robert McLeman and Pamela Docherty in Glasgow, Sandra McSorley in Alexandria and John Harker from Kirknewton, West Lothian, who are all setting up collection points in their areas (and beyond in the case of John!). You are all stars! Welcome aboard in Ayr to Bob and Margaret McLean who have generously offered to help in every way. They have always donated parcels but this year their son has just deployed to Afghanistan and we all send our best wishes. Donations: With our first weekend 'up and running' at the Kyle Centre donations have been coming in steadily with very many teenagers and youngsters donating their pocket money to the collecting tin. Who says young people are selfish! It was very humbling. Tunnocks of Uddingston have very generously donated again this year with 1200 Tunnocks Caramel Wafers winging their way to the parcels.
Poundland have donated five items for the parcels.
R S McColl, Hillfoot Road, Ayr, donated 100 packs of chewing gum.
New Look, Priceless, River Island and Slaters Menswear are providing a steady stream of shoe boxes...never have too many!! Thanks to the Sunday Post, Daily Mail and Daily Record for national coverage and Ayrshire Post, Ayr Advertiser and Cumnock Chronicle for local press coverage this week. KYLE CENTRE AYR Once again we're delighted to announce that the Kyle Centre have provided a unit as our 'Pack and Wrap' base. The staff at the Centre have been brilliant as always and will accept donations on our behalf if we're not about. The unit will be open from Saturday 14th October and on most Saturdays and Sundays members of our local regiment 6 Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland (RHF) and the local TA regiment will be on hand to help out. Please bob in to say hello and of course, lend a hand if you can! Photos of the unit last year and our fantastic team of helpers are shown on the SPAR SHOPS We have the go-ahead to have collection points in non-franchised 'Spar' stores across Scotland and in order for this to operate successfully we need volunteers from the undernoted areas to liaise with the store managers, set up the collection point and help with arrangements for transfer to our centre for packing. The areas are: ABERDEEN & NORTH,DUNDEE, EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, BORDERS, LANARKSHIRE This really is too good an opportunity to miss so pleeeeease respond asap to myself or Karen MANY THANKS ..... To the following who have pledged their support
AGNES |
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