A LITTLE UPDATE

Holla, 

Apologies for not being really active on my blog recently. I have been so busy with events, meetings and just general life. I feel that my life has been on super fast mode for the past month and haven't had time to sit and relax at all. Another major issue is bloody technology, my laptop decided to die on me a few months ago and I haven't managed to get it fixed properly yet, I am using my Auntie's laptop temporarily but it's a little slow and needs an update so I find it difficult writing on there. 

I am staying with Kate at her sister's house for a few days and am taking full advantage of using their mac and writing up some posts i've been meaning to write for a while. 

The crazy life of Leesh, I have been up to a lot this month and have spent a lot of my time in London.  I went to attend a meeting with the Young Person's Advisory Group where we discussed the charities future - I am going to write a separate blog post about this as it covered something important that I want to share with you in more detail. 

I was also on another interview panel where I interviewed the new trustee of CLIC Sargent, I always find these very important as I feel not only is the experience good for me, being on the other side of the panel but also I feel that young people should and always do have a say within the charity and it's decision making. Some of you may think..'here she goes again..CLIC Sargent bla bla bla' but I honestly feel extremely passionate about the charity and it is something I will be involved with for the rest of my life. I truly believe that you aren't aware of how important charities are until you, a family member or friend needs and uses their services. 

I think that's all the little bits I wanted to say, mostly I just wanted to say sorry for not being as active on here as I usually am. As you all know this blog is my little world of getting away and letting my mind wonder! 

MY MONTH IN PHOTOS | MAY

So we are already half way through the year and I am still baffled about how time can flash by yet how long ago the beginning of may seems. I have written a lot of separate posts this month that feature in these collages so feel free to read my last few blog posts if you want to read more. 

It was my Dad's birthday and we celebrated by having a nice family meal and my Dad finished the day watching football and drinking a beer..perfect..for him!

My Auntie Kirsty and her partner, Dave got married this month and she had a wedding that was one of a kind, a festival wedding! It was bloody amazing! 

I have spent a lot of time with my little munchkins this month so obviously had to share some adorable, cute photo's of them. All 3 of them are growing too fast.

My Wig Wednesday event was such a big success I couldn't not feature it in my month in photos. We spent other day selling tea, cakes and raffle tickets and raised an amazing total of £1,015. How brilliant it that! 'Proud Moment!' 

 Me and my best chum went to the Radio 1's Big Weekend in Exeter, Powderham Castle. I was very lucky to go as me and the girls all tried to get tickets and only Kate managed to get 2, only for the first day but it was brilliant! I had one of the best nights! 

I have been travelling a lot this year! I was asked by NCVO to attend the volunteers week launch breakfast in London. I was asked to do a talk about why I volunteer in front of 90 people. The breakfast was at the top of the BT Tower in London, 190m high and has the fastest lift in Europe. 

Look at the beautiful view!

I hope you have all had a brilliant month! Sorry I have been a bit absent from writing, I have been a busy bee and finding the time to sit, relax with a cuppa is rare these past few weeks. 

HE SAVED MY LIFE

When I was organising my Wig Wednesday fundraising event, I contacted our local newspaper to see if they would share a story about it to raise awareness. When the reporters arrived, we started talking about what encouraged and inspired me to volunteer and fundraise for CLIC Sargent which led me to tell her about my cancer journey. The reporter then decided that it would be a great idea to write a story on my brother saving my life.

We spent a while being interviewed and being asked a lot of detailed questions and then finished with a hilarious photo shoot. 
The full story was shared on the internet and in the paper...on a double page, haha! I don't know why I found this funny, I just wasn't expecting such a big piece to be written about me. 

 I will post the link below for anyone who fancies reading the full story.
READ THE ARTICLE HERE

WIG WEDNESDAY

Last week on 25th May I held an event to help raise awareness and funds for CLIC Sargent. I only gave myself just over a month to plan as it was an idea that popped into my head that I wanted to do, so I gave myself very little time to plan and organise the event. 

Every year for the past 5 years, CLIC Sargent have had their annual wig Wednesday day, this day falls in May and on a Wednesday. It wouldn't be so fun if it was called Wig Monday would it? Wig Wednesday is a day to encourage people to raise money and using the Wig idea to wear a wig, hat or have a crazy hairstyle.

A lot of you know how passionate I feel about fundraising and seeing as I have just finished my project placement and managing the Bournemouth hero abseil event, I couldn't wait to get into planning another. I decided to hold a tea, coffee, cake and raffle sale for the day to try and raise as much funds as possible. 

Surprisingly I managed to organise the event really well and by myself with help from family members and friends, the turn out exceeded my expectations! We had huge interest from companies who donated a lot of amazing raffle prizes which I think helped raise the most funds. I spent countless nights sending emails and writing letters to local businesses in my city and even ones who I thought wouldn't be interested in my small scale fundraiser, I was really surprised. The best prize we had up for grabs for the raffle was a £200 Brittany Ferries voucher....Everyone was hoping to win that!

On the day of the event it was lovely to see so many old family members and friends who I had not seen for a long time. 

We still have funds to collect for the Wig Wednesday event so don't have an exact total amount raised as people are donating on my just giving page and doing their own mini collections but so far we have managed to raise over £900. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and this event, helping to raise awareness and make a difference to children and young people with cancer.