You Need Hands

A charity auction took place in Beeston on Saturday, which was raising funds for the Forever Stars charity.

Several local shops and artists donated gifts to be auctioned off by professional auctioneer Charles Hanson, who has appeared on television in the auction game show Bargain Hunt.

There were around twenty lots, which ranged from cinema tickets to tea at a local vintage cafe.

I'm not sure what the final figure raised came to, but it all went to the worthy local charity that has helped to create a bereavement suite at the local QMC hospital, that supports parents that have lost their baby during its birth.

Jamming On The High Street

There was some live music in the air this morning in Beeston, as there was some promotion of the next Oxfam day, which happens in two weeks time.

Some of my Oxfam friends were standing outside the shop, handing out flyers and trying to sell some tickets. Their endeavours were being helped by my musical friend Emma Bladon Jones, and this young lady, Lucia, who had a fine voice. I was talking to her father, who was proudly taking photos of her as well.

She, Emma and plenty more artists will be performing at different venues across Beeston and Chilwell, for what is turning out to be the best one yet.  I for one can't wait.

Monkeying Around

I bought a large box of PG Tips tea bags today, that came with a free cuddly chimp toy that often features in their TV ads.

PG used to use real chimps in their TV adverts up until the late 80s. I think the most famous, or well known advert is the piano one, with the immortal line "You hum it son, and I'll play it".

The main aim of the free toy is that it promotes the Red Nose Day charity, which this year falls on the 13th of March.

Barefoot In The Park

Sunday morning saw a few hundred people walk around Wollaton Park without any shoes on. It was all done in the name of charity.

The Nottingham Barefoot Walk was thought of by Lee Todd, and which aims to publicise the fact that there are people in the world that have to walk barefoot every day and so old shoes are collected, to be sent to countries life Africa through the Shoe-Aid scheme.

Fortunately it was a lovely sunny & dry day, otherwise people might end up with very muddy and very dirty feet.

There was a choice of either a 3km or 5km walk and afterwards a few local bands entertained everyone  in the sunshine.

Nice Ice

Over the weekend I was nominated twice to do the now infamous Ice Bucket Challenge.

Being a believer of not wasting water, I had no wish to throw away a perfectly good bucket of H2O, so  I thought about how I could be involved, but by not getting wet.

I had seen some variations on the theme, but they all seem to involve wasting water in one way or another. So I went with this concept, of an ice bucket chilling a small bottle of water. Like it was like champagne,;which in some African countries it is.

I also wondered about which charity to give my donation to. After some consideration, I decided to go with the local animal rescue that I wrote about a few weeks ago, especially as they put out a message asking for some pouches of wet cat food.  They are only a little charity, so every penny counts. Unlike some of the more well known charities, that pay large salaries to the bosses and can afford TV ad campaigns.

So after work, I called in to one of our local supermarkets and bought some boxes of cat food, which I then took up to the rescue, so the dear little cats that are looking for a loving forever home will have a nice meal or two tomorrow.

A Charity Record

You may remember last October, the 19th to be precise, I wrote about Oxjam; the day long music festival that took place in Beeston to raise funds for Oxfam.

Well on Saturday Beeston saw the official launch of the Oxjam Beeston Takeover CD.  Nineteen of the artists that played during the day have donated one of their songs for the CD, which is on sale for a bargain £5.

Of course I was there to capture the event. Here's one of the photos that I took and includes some of the artists and people that are involved in the Oxjam project, who are also friends of mine.

At the moment, I think the CD is only available at local Oxfam shops, but I believe there are plans to sell it on line.

If anyone's interested in buying one, then do leave a comment and I'll let you know where else you can buy it from.

Lunch On The Beeston Express

A lovely eatery in Chilwell called The Flying Goose Cafe held a charity event yesterday to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The were serving very tasty vegetarian breakfasts all day, supplemented by some live background music.

One of the musicians is my pal Dave Mitchell. He was also helping out on the day. Here he is serving some customers on the street, which is still closed for the tramworks, as they are around a year behind schedule.

Apparently the event raised £500 for the charity. Which is good news all round.

Tempest Fugit

Well the Emitt clock has completely disappeared and is now on it's way to Birmingham, and the seating area around it is also vanishing; brick by brick.

After I put up the previous photo of the clock sans faces, a friend of mine put a photo of the area on Facebook (thanks Jane), so I popped over at lunchtime to see what the area is like now.

It's quite sad to see, as it's been there for 40 years. Thousands of people have met under it's gaze, listened to the music and tossed money into the pool, whilst wishing for something nice.

I read somewhere that all the coins have amounted to over £250,000, and the money has gone to charity for some good work with dogs for the blind.

So where will the shoppers, friends and family all meet up with each other now? By the orange fencing, doesn't really have the same feeling to it as under the water clock.

Children In Need

Today the UK goes charity crazy with the yearly extravaganza called Children in Need.

Its broadcast by the BBC and events are shown that are happening around the country, as well as special programmes.

The Nottingham Tennis Centre was chosen to be the base for local broadcasts, and of course I just had to pop along to see what was happening.

The lady with the microphone is Anne Davies and she co-presents East Midlands Today; a half hour local news programme that is shown every weekday evening, plus shorter versions late at night and at weekends.

The group with the photograph are members of the Photographers Hub, a local charity that helps disadvantaged youngsters through photography, that has received some funding from the Children in Need charity.

A Charity Record

A little summertime music tonight, on this, the longest day of the year,  to raise money for Oxfam.

Oxjam came to Beeston today and sadly I missed some of the acts, as I had to work, but I was lucky to arrive in time to see the ever talented Emma Bladon-Jones again. This time in the open air.

Broadgate Park, is a small open space very close to the High Road. So you can do your shopping and then sit and look at the trees, the grass and a statue of Queen Victoria. And possibly enjoy an ice cream from one of the local cafes, whilst listening to the birds tweeting away.

I also managed to watch the tail end of Ed Hope's gig, who incidentally was very good as well.

Oh how I wish sometimes that I could understand music. But I don't, so I guess I'll have to keep to photography as my creative output.

On The Garden Trail

I popped over to the Park Estate this afternoon, as they were holding an event to raise money for various local charities. 21 Gardens had been opened up to the public, so they could have a look around and see what is usually behind closed doors and high walls.

Some gardens also had art displays, like these resin heads; that were in various colours. I didn't take that many photos of the flowers, but couldn't resist this Kiwi fruit bush that was growing quite happily around an archway. And had even produced small fruit, which you can see if you look carefully.

Another garden had a display of wedding gowns on show. Possibly because the owner of that particular house organised weddings.

There was a fair bit of walking involved, as the gardens were quite spread out around the many different streets that make up this exclusive neighbourhood. I was quite excited to see this old MG parked at the side of the road, and fortunately I managed to get a shot of it, without capturing any modern vehicles.

The first garden trail was in 1986 and raised a modest £520. Last year's event raised an impressive £11,500. I'll let you know how well they do when I hear what the figure is. But I think it should be pretty good by the number of people I saw walking around with the programmes in their hands.

Lighting Up Time

By the time we had left Beauvale Priory it was getting dark, commonly known as the Blue Hour. Just as we were driving down the main road, Gail and I had spotted this overtly decorated semi detached house.

Of course, I just had to stop the car, as it was a great photo opportunity, as it's not everyday you see a house lit up in such a way.

It was really eye-catching, with several Santa's, snowmen and reindeer. Plus trees, vehicles and a nativity scene. There was a serious reason behind the light show, as the owners of the house have done it to raise funds for the special cancer unit at the City Hospital.

Whilst we were there, passers by and motorists were continually stopping to add their donations to the growing mountain of cash. The collection point was novel; a long pipe, leading to a chimney with Santa sitting on the top.

Jammin For Oxfam

Beeston was taken over by music and musicians of all kinds today, all in the name of charity.

The town hosted the second Oxjam event; a countrywide celebration of music, with the aim of raising lots of money for Oxfam.

Things kicked off at lunchtime with a gig by The Jar Family in the Square. A band clearly influenced by groups like Oasis and the Stone Roses. And very good they were too. Melodic, and all original tunes as far as I can tell.

The crowd loved them, and people kept popping coins into the collecting buckets. I put some in too, as they were worth it.

Music fans have been invited to buy a wristband for £5. For this they could visit all the locations and see all the bands that were appearing during the day and evening. The locations include cafes, pubs and Barton's, which presently are showing an art exhibition.

Jampacked

As I mentioned yesterday, Gail and I went to a quiz night to help raise funds for Oxfam.

It was being hosted and compared by a friend of mine called Matt, AKA Lord Beestonia. Although now that he has moved to the neighbouring village, he has tried calling himself Lord Attenborough. But I said that the well known British actor and film director Richard Attenborough may have something to say about it!

Anyway, there were 50 questions in total, together with a picture round. Another friend of mine called Lewis and his mum Karen joined us, together with another couple they knew.

We went by the name of 'Oddshots' as most of us are involved in photography. Alas we didn't win, but we had the satisfaction of doing our bit for charity.

There were quite a few people there, and there was also a singer/guitarist called Martin Jackson, who played to us a couple of times during the evening. He wasn't bad, and produced his own way of playing well known tunes.

My shot, shows Matt in full flow in reading out one of the questions. Matt by the way is also a blogger and edits a local free magazine called The Beestonian. If you want to know more about him and his work, HERE'S A LINK to his website.