Vodafone World of Difference

I was lucky enough to win one of the awards in the Vodafone UK World of Difference. This is an annual award that allows 500 people to work in the charity of their choice by supporting them with funding. So talk about fortunate! This means that I can expend effort and energy over the next few months looking at funding streams and ideas for FirstLight Trust and hopefully start to get the ££s rolling in, keep the donors informed of what we are doing, and build awareness of our work. But of course most importantly help get veterans off the streets and supported back into their lives and the community. So a huge thanks you to Vodafone for their support. It really does make a difference.

Walk for Life, Scarborough

I love this picture... But even more I love the fact that Christine went out and raised nearly £200 for us, and that McCains then matched the funding - which is simply fantastic. In case you are wondering which one is Christine - she is, apparently, to the left of Cruella when you look at this picture. And these are all the other ladies she walked with. So a massive, massive thank you Christine.

The Yorkshire Terrier

And just when you feel like giving up people show how much faith they have in what we are doing with the charity..... and I love but love the picture.... So here is our very own Yorkshire Terrier, Dave A 10km yorkshire terrier race that 20 of our members including 3 of the Barons Staff (myself, Vicki and Daisy) got involved with. The event was held on Saturday at Newborough Priory, Coxwold and consisted of 10km of obstacles, Mud running and River crossing. We were all running to raise money for charities including the FirstLight Trust, MS Multiple Sclerosis Society, and also Little Heroes (Childrens Cancer Charity). In the months before I held training sessions to prepare everyone for the event; the training was made up of outdoor runs using the clubs surroundings including lots of hill running and cross country running. A number of our runners completed the event wearing fancy dress costumes including Flat caps and braces to go with the true Yorkshire theme of the event. The course itself was around 70% uphill and was made a lot harder with the wet and muddy condition. Our top runners were Tommy Alexander who completed the event in 1 hour 5 mins and our fastest female runner was Mikki Swann who finnished in the top 6 women runners for the event. Everyone completed the event in good spirit and came back nice and Muddy! We are now focusing on our next event and will be entering more events more frequently taking people from the club. Training sessions are going to be held for anyone joining us in preperation for which ever event we decide to enter.

Technology!!!

Yes, I know it is supposed to be easy, but I am soooooooooo not good at technology. Setting up JustTextGiving is supposed to be a doddle to set up - and it is, particularly if you remember to save the code..... which I did not. However it is now sorted and we have a JustTextGiving code of LIGH20. So all you now have to do is to text 70070 and put in the code LIGH20 followed by the number of pounds you want to donate (£1 - £5 or £10) hit the send button and we get the lot with no fees. Hurray! I am off up to Scarborough this weekend, so if it is sunny I will take some pictures of the progress we are making with the vegetable garden..... roll on summer.

Brief update

Yes we are still alive and kicking, and there has been a lot going on. The main news is that by the end of next week we should have our phone lines active at the Stepney Hill Farm office. Our mobile numbers are active are as the 0845 numbers but we hope to have real landlines within a fortnight....... We also have some fantastic people on board helping us, who I hope to introduce you to over the next week or so. And even more importantly, we hope to have some pictures of progress which I will post....... Watch this space (again!!).

Happy New Year

I am really excited about 2013. There is so much to look forward to. Working with great people for great people and starting to actually 'do'. The team we are putting together at FirstLight is amazing. We have Bernard Cornwell, OBE, our patron..... We have Justine Dignam who is helping with the marketing and PR for FirstLight. We then have our amazing team on the ground headed up by the indefatigable Gill. We have our office, will soon have our landlines, broadband will be up and running shortly ... And most importantly we are doing what we said we will do give back 'Honour, Respect and Hope' to our veterans. Thank you for supporting us. I will keep you updated as we grow.

A fabulous patron

We have been incredibly lucky and Bernard Cornwell has agreed to be our patron. Which is, not to put too fine a point on it, absolutely fantastic news. He is being unbelievably supportive of what we are doing, and to be truthful I cannot say it any better than he can, so here it is..... When asked about his appointment Cornwall commented “ I’ve made a living writing about the adventures of soldiers, and it just seems appropriate to give something back to the men and women who’ve provided me with so much material over the years! I have a huge admiration for those who serve in our armed forces, they risk everything to make certain we have a comfortable existence, and too often their problems and needs are ignored when their service ends. A very good soldier once told me that his career had been spent ‘fighting battles for those who can’t fight for themselves’, and now many of those men and women who fought those selfless battles need help themselves, and FirstLight is trying to offer that help, and I’m honoured to be involved” He continued “I think Firstlight have identified an need that has been overlooked; it isn’t enough to provide housing or employment for veterans, though God knows those things are hard enough for many ex-servicemen and women, there is a need for psychological support that a low-key and welcoming organization like FirstLight can provide”. So a huge, huge thank you Bernard. Your support is the best Christmas present anyone could have hoped for.