Wednesday 6 March 2013

THATCHER STILL ON TOP

I seem to be playing a lot of bridge lately.  Today was a charity event at a friend's house (guess who won . . .).

Our friend has decided to run a fund-raising event a week for a year to mark a 50th anniversary.  All proceeds to be donated to their favourite charities.  I just thought I would mention it as a remarkable example of what people do, or what people can do.

One week is a 24-hour tennis marathon.  Then a bake and sell fair.  A non-stop long-distance walk.  The family gave up Christmas dinner to serve soup at the local homeless charity.  Her daughter wore a giraffe onesie for a week (I'm sorry I missed that one actually - worth sponsoring I should think).  And of course they were sponsored by friends and local traders throughout.

They issue a newsletter ever month to keep us all abreast of their goings-on.  So, today was the bridge tea.  We had a break at 4pm for sandwiches, scones, tea bread, eclairs, meringues, and five different sorts of sponge cake.  Phew!  I didn't get round to the sandwiches before I was full up and feeling a bit queasy.  But today's newsletter announced that they had so far (half way through their year) raised £12,000!  Whatever would they have got if it wasn't a recession!!

Here's her house by the way.


The roof is just being redone.  The house next door is also thatched.


It's actually a very tiny village with only a couple of other houses.  This is the modern one, built in the late 18th century.

6 comments:

  1. Wonderful social work . Congratulations to you being the winner of the day .

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    1. Makes up for a week of miserable results. Yes, admirable isn't it.

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  2. I have a lot of admiration for people who do so much work for charity.

    They have a beautiful house, I love thatched roofs.

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    1. Me too, MItch. What really amazed me though was the sum they had raised. I know from my own work how hard it is to extract money from people. They must surely have a wide range of contacts (or a few very wealthy friends).

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  3. Where would they find workmen who still know how to thatch a roof? Now you have given me an idea for how we can celebrate our 50th anniversary.....donations to the food bank and/or plant a tree.

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    1. I was surprised to see that the thatcher came from Petersfield, where I used to live. I think your ideas for celebrations are so much better than you wearing a giraffe onesie for a week, Karen.

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