Thanks for the donations
Thanks to Neil and to Matthew, Hilary and Vika for the latest donations. As ever, hugely appreciated.
Read MoreHaving your cake – and reading with it!
Angelique, Jacky, Ruth, Simon, Vicky and Claire
Claire’s report: Cake and book lovers flocked to our latest sale in aid of Tom’s fund on Tuesday December 3rd. The sale – our 12th – was held at the BBC where I worked full time until March this year.
Start of the sale…
Hundreds of books had been donated and West London’s amateur bakers had been out in force too* – with the icing on the cake (as it were) going to these cupcakes decorated with books!
Yummy cupcakes
As ever these sales take a lot of effort – otherwise I would be organising them once a week! Hugest thanks go first to Ruth Akins who hosted the sale at the BBC and organised all the tables, setting up and teams of helpers. Others who played their part on the day were Vicky Pearson, Jacky Hems, Simon Wright, Sue Ellis, Angelique Halliburton, Lorna Donlan, Phill Thomas, Bridget Osborne, Sam Upton, Elspeth Morrison and Jane Kinghorn.
Lots of customers!
Thanks also go to former BBC colleagues – Annie Flury on Radio Five Live, Gillian Dear on Radio Four and the One Show for their contributions. We couldn’t do it without you!
So the grand total – yes I know you were wondering about that – was a wonderful £834 which will all go to funding screenings for young people in West London.
Keep your eyes on the site for the next sale which will probably be in the spring outside Munsons cafe in Ealing.
*Those bakers in full: Ruth Akins, Gina Bentley, Elin Hale, Faith Howells, Shona MacMillan, Alison Montgomery, Elspeth Morrison, Linda Panzer, Elizabeth Porter, Anne-Marie Reilly, Isabel Turner and Debbie Young.
Ruth, Jacky and Angelique on cakes
Angelique puts finishing touches to the cake stall
Read More
Donations and what’s next …
Firstly, and most importantly, thanks very much for the latest Justgiving donations from Liz and Alan, Ellen, Rob and Caro and Neil.
We have plenty to look forward to this week as, on Tuesday, Ruth Akins is hosting Claire’s book sale for BBC staff in west London. We’ve had lots of offers to bake cakes for sale too, to fit in with CRY’s Great Bake event, which is fantastic.
Finally, we said we’d try Facebook ads to promote Tom’s Fund and CRY during the charity’s Raising Awareness Week. We have paid for the ads ourselves as a family initiative, no money raised for Tom’s Fund or CRY has been used (It’s a bit dull to keep saying this but we think it’s important that if, say, you’ve slogged your way around a 10k, you know the money you’ve raised is only going to be used on screenings and research).
But was it money well spent? We think, on balance and despite the baffling nature of Facebook’s metrics, that the answer is “yes”. We’ve had a good percentage of new “likes”, so thanks to everyone who has given us a thumbs-up. Hopefully we’ve reached people who might not otherwise have been able to read about CRY. We’ll think about doing it again next year during the 2014 CRY Raising Awareness Week.
Have a good weekend!
Read MoreXmas cards and cake at “A Cut Above”
CRY supporter Anna Aristodemou is selling the charity’s Christmas cards at her shop, “A Cut Above” in west Ealing’ from today.
The shop can be found at 17 The Avenue, Ealing, London W13 8JR, and is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9am till 5pm, except on Fridays when it is open until 7pm.
Anna will also be holding a cake bake event in aid of CRY on Friday, December 6.
NB: You can also buy CRY charity Xmas cards at Ealing YMCA in W5. See http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/christmas_cards_charity.htm for details.
Read MoreHuge thanks
The support we received on Tom’s 21st was fantastic. Thank you.
As you know, Tom’s Fund raises money for screenings and research and also promotes awareness of undiagnosed heart conditions in young people.
It can only do so because the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) exists. CRY not only provides the medical, scientific and campaigning expertise, it also gives Tom’s Fund a home. It looks after all the admin for us so that we are properly legal and compliant.
So if you haven’t yet given CRY a Facebook like or a Twitter follow, we’d be ever so grateful if you did.
Thanks again.
Read More