Final Call

So I thought I’d do a final call on my blog for ‘The Perfect Pair‘, my wine tasting in aid of Myeloma UK…..just in case any of you haven’t been following me (aka avoiding me!) on Facebook.

I’m excited about this event, as it should be a lot of fun. It’s a wine tasting with Nickolls & Perks, (an independent wine merchant in Stourbridge), at Hogarths Stone Manor….a beautiful hotel in the West Midlands….the one where we got married in 2002! But it isn’t just that….we have a Prosecco reception to start, a five star Jazz musician playing in the background for our guests throughout the night, and then the wine tasting will be done alongside what will (nearly!) be a 3 course meal. I’ve popped the menu below as I think it looks lovely and I’m hoping if you’re still deciding whether to come or not, this might help!

But that isn’t all….we’ve also got a table magician, a photographer to grab some fantastic memories of the night and lastly, a fantastic auction with some really great ‘Money Can’t Buy’ auction lots – as well as some other great lots that have been donated but that might feel that little bit more affordable.

It’s taken a lot of work to organise this fundraiser as I’ve been without my previous ‘Glitz and Glamour’ team, but I know it will be another great evening. I’m still trying to sell the last few tables/ tickets so that we can raise as much money as is possible. So, if you fancy a good night out, why not come along. The hotel are even doing reduced rates for all of our guests that might be travelling that little bit further….or who just want to turn it into a night away!

I am especially grateful to Tim at Nickolls & Perks for helping with this event – he has not only agreed to do the wine tasting FOC, and to help keep the prices as low as he can get them from his suppliers (by writing to them all himself), but he has also been an amazing sounding board for me, has found me the musician, and generally listened to me witter on constantly about the event! Oh…and he’s also been my proof reader (blame him for any typo’s 😉 )But seriously, he’s been great and since I genuinely love N&P, I really wanted to give him a more personal shout out.

So, any of you who have been procrastinating about buying tickets, PLEASE have a think about doing it now – we would love to see you there. And if you can’t come, but would like to make a donation, you can do this at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/theperfectpair or if it is a prize you would like to do this, please just message me.

And one final thing, I’m still looking for a printer – just to do our Event Programme (a maximum of 50 copies of a 16 page A5 document) and perhaps a couple of pull up banners. If anyone knows anyone who might do it FOC or at a low cost, please get in touch!

THE PERFECT PAIR menu

The Perfect Pair – in aid of Myeloma UK

Ok, so I’m boring everyone again…but it’s only till April and I really, really need some support with this event (The Perfect Pair) as it’s proving much harder than my Glitz and Glamour Ball and my 40B440 challenges! I know that is because so many of my friends and family have helped me so much over the last 7 years, but I’m hoping this can be a final push…it is definitely the last big event that I will be holding…. I promise!

So what is ‘The Perfect Pair’? Well you can find the full details looking at my website above (very proud that I managed this all by myself!), but basically it is a food and wine pairing and a chance for people to get together with a table of friends and have a nice evening, whilst raising money for Myeloma UK. The charity will get a small amount from each table sold (£100) and then I hope that we can raise some money via the Silent Auction we will be holding….so you won’t even be pestered much on the night with that…always a bonus!

But to do the auction well, I need some really good prizes and this is where I’m calling out to people. Whilst the event is in the Midlands, the auction prizes can be ‘experiences’ anywhere, or of course ‘items’ too. So it doesn’t matter where you are reading this….you may be able to help! Whether it is a bottle of wine, a meal out, theatre tickets or even the use of a holiday home, everything is really helpful. And I am very happy to put reserves and T’s&C’s on anything that is donated too! And if you can’t help yourselves but know people who might be able to, please let me know…as you might have gathered, I’m not shy about asking and am prepared to pretty much sell my soul this time round!

I think I mentioned on a previous post that I wrote about what I’m looking for help with apart from prizes. I’d love to have a PHOTOGRAPHER on the night to take photos….and I’m happy to share the proceeds of that with them (get me!) if they would prefer that.

I’d also really like some LIVE MUSIC as people come in…either someone singing and playing say the guitar, or a 4 piece or something like that. And if they would like to stay and play later on that would be great too! So if you’d be interested or know someone who is, please let me know.

And finally, I’d like to find someone to help PRINT THE PROGRAMME for the night. It won’t be as big as the last one (I’ve learnt my lesson that those are pretty costly for the print company!), and I’ll try to keep it simple but great!

I also need to do the centrepieces but have an idea for that….if anyone has access to a florist who might donate a small number of flowers (I won’t need many), please let me know!

Anyway, I think that is the end of my begging email! I’ll obviously promote everyone who is able to support me so share away if you think you can help. And thank you…..again.

www.justgiving.com – raising money for Myeloma UK

 

The Beauty of Giving

Just quick post here as so much has happened in the past couple of weeks and I don’t want to forget it.

I began my ‘Midlands’ fundraising a couple of weeks ago with a coffee morning for Myeloma UK in the school that one of our children goes to. Whilst we’ve been up here for a year, it isn’t the same as when you’ve spent 13 years somewhere and so I set my expectations low and decided it was about awareness and that I’d be happy if we raised £100 after costs. However, I’m so pleased that it raised over £400!! It was a lovely morning and gave me an opportunity to get to know more people in the village that I hope one day we will live in!

The day after, we travelled down to Selsdon for a ball that my amazing sister I was holding for Myeloma Uk and LAM action. It was a fantastic night and her & her friend raised a spectacular £19,000! It was a superb event and another great way of spreading awareness and raising more money that will hopefully help to find that cure that all us patients are hoping for! And obviously it will make a massive difference to LAM too…another extremely worthwhile charity.

One of the fantastic things about the timing of this was the announcement by Myeloma UK last week that they had heavily contributed to a piece of research by the Intstitute of Cancer Research that had identified  more of the genetic factors behind myeloma allowing them to focus research for future treatments on areas that are likely to have a more significant output. And for us as patients, that is what we need. Focused treatments that can put us into remission and keep us there as long as possible. And hopefully be more likely to lead to a cure before it is too late. This is what fundraising achieves and why, I am unlikely to ever call it quits on what I want to raise. 

To follow that up, only yesterday I heard another patient on the UK myeloma Facebook  forum saying that she had run out of options for treatment… but that thanks to the work Myeloma UK do with NICE, a new drug had been put back onto the Cancer Fund list and was available to her again. What a life changer. And that’s largely because all of those pennies and pounds you guys all donate, are put to such amazing use. 

I fundraise for a few reasons ;

1. It allows me to keep control of something in my life in a positive way – I can’t control what happens with my cancer but I can take control of how I let it impact me and what I choose to do
2. I want to help the rearchers to find those treatments that at the very least can improve the quality of life, but ideally, increase the length of life of myeloma patients. 
3. I want the researchers out there to find a cure…for me, for my friends and for the people that follow on (Fingers crossed that it’s not genetic and it won’t be our children!)
4. It gives me a real sense of purpose…and an ability to encourage others to do a similar thing…and take a similar outlook

So, in reality I don’t think I’ll ever give up on what I do. It’s tough sometimes to know how to balance it. With my family, and increasingly so, with my job. I’m working for a great charity at the moment called The People’s Orchestra and I get to choose my hours to a degree. But I sometimes feel bad about my myeloma Uk fundraising running alongside it. I keep the two very separate but find it difficult not to worry that the TPO might think I don’t do enough for them, or that I should be trying to access the businesses that I approach for one, and get them to support the other. I hope I get it right… when I spend time doing MUK work, it is time I’m not working on TPO, but hopefully I’ve got the balance right. It does make you realise how many good causes are out there. My hope is that they’re such different charities that the people who will support them are different types of people and that naturally reduces the conflict. 

So much for it being a short post….😂

Anyway, I’m at hospital for my monthly update today so fingers crossed it’s all good as we’re off for my niece’s wedding in Oz soon! Time to get excited soon!!