The Start of it All

At the beginning of the summer holidays a little girl, 11 years old, died. She was in my son’s year at school and had been fighting against her illness for about a year. Many of her school friends attended her funeral. It was a very emotional time. It was heart-wrenching to watch her family that day, going through the formal ceremony to say good-bye to their beloved daughter, sister and grandchild. I have two children of my own. I cannot imagine what it would be like to loose either of them. It would be like, like………. watching your innards being removed. Many of the mothers present at C’s funeral were struggling to hold it together.

That night I thought something must be done to harness the emotion that welled up in the church that day. Something must be done to help those families that are going through what C and her family have been through. I decided to raise some money for a suitable charity. I searched the web and found http://www.charitychallenge.com/ . I would support a charity associated with the treatment of brain tumours.

Walking up Kilimanjaro, or trekking up to Everest Base Camp would be exciting, but a huge, huge challenge. The trouble is, I am a bit of a blob. I’d have to work exceedingly hard to get myself fit enough to do such a feat. It would take 18 months to 2 years to loose the necessary weight and get fit enough for the challenge. But this wouldn’t raise much money in the meantime, so with the advice from a friend who thought such challenges were mighty too adventurous, I have set about organising a charity ball. I have gathered together a committee of friends with all sorts of experience behind them and we meet in September to start planning the event.

This blog will log our progress in planning and executing the ball and our personal progress towards our goal of raising £10,000. You are welcome to keep coming back to this page to see how I and my friends get on with our task. If it helps you with your own charity fundraising I am glad. It will also show, probably, what not to do. If you can give us some advice on how to organise a ball, do contact me. If you can give us some encouragement, that would be good too.

Natalie Miller, whose ideas it was.