Pandemic or not, we smashed our target - thanks to everyone helping.

That's another successful campaign almost completed - massive thank you to everyone who has helped whether it be via cash/food donations or helping out with the shopping.  The success of this yearly campaign would not be what it is without everyone doing their bit.

Darren and I are extremely proud of how well the campaign has gone this year, you never quite know how these things are going to go especially given what's been going on in the world over the last 18 months.  We are truly humbled by your generosity to help others and although its been said many times, its really shocking that a place such as Surrey has three foodbank outlets.  Here is a quick run down of what has happened this year and a few thank yous along the way.... 

Firstly, to my absolute surprise we made the front page of the local Woking News and Mail, not only did we reach our online target of £750, but we smashed it, raising a total online to date of £1,410.00 which is almost double what we expected to receive.

By the time you read this article which I am hoping will be the end of the week commencing 6th December 2021, but that really depends on how quick my fingers and brain work together!!!! here's hoping. 

Three van loads of food have already been delivered to Woking Foodbank which was in excess of 75 individual food parcels  which has been kindly provided by very lovely people.  Behind the scenes we also had been doing food shopping to fill the gaps of shortages required with a combined weight of 879kgs!!

We have been busy browsing through lots of different food shops to find out where we could get the best deals for our money, but without compromising on quality. 

One thing we have noticed, you actually get less shopping for your money - staggering difference!!!!

To help the campaign I have been doing weekly radio interviews with a very good friend of mine, Jon Andrews who is situated at Radio Woking working out of Winston Churchill School.  These interviews have helped to spread the word and I will be undertaking the last weekly interview this coming Wednesday and to finally close off the campaign this year, I have been invited to attend the studio for a live show on Sunday 12th December, so please do tune in if you can.

There are so many people to thank this year, but I am going to start with all the companies that have helped and you never know one of these companies may be able to help you in return so please do take a look at the individual companies and give them a shout if you need some assistance I am pretty sure they will all be willing to help out.

Returners: Saint Edward Brotherhood these guys help out every year and are so generous towards our campaign.  They are situated in Brookwood Cemetery in the most beautiful building.  If you ever get a chance to wander around Brookwood Cemetery do pop in and see them they are very welcoming and as I said the building is breath-taking. 

Returners: Breast Cancer Charity - Walk the Walk  the staff of this charity have helped out again by donating cash and food parcels.

The charity is the organiser of the iconic MoonWalk that I have been reliably informed it will be taking place next year in both London and Edinburgh, so if you fancy pounding the streets of the capitals in a decorated bra at night, you can find out more here.

Funds raised over the last year have become part of emergency grants to small cancer charities in danger of not surviving the pandemic, so that people living with cancer can continue to receive emotional and practical support during this really difficult time.

Returners: Don't Just Sit There, sell Something this is a telemarketing company, run by owner Liam Brennan.  They have 25 years in B2B appointment setting.  Established in 1992, we set out to meet the needs of the marketplace by providing a senior level telephone sales function to support and enhance field sales activity.  We do this by running a non-scripted approach and only charging for success, tailoring our telephone marketing strategies to meet the unique needs of each client; from initiating the database, identifying decision makers, generating leads and b2b appointment setting and closing.

You will find us professional, motivated, highly trained and friendly. We genuinely want your business to succeed, as we then become an integral part of your business as well as an asset to your sales activity and growth: your success is our success.

Care Fertility This Company was new to our campaign this year.  They are currently based in the old Woking Hospice building and its nice to know that they are bringing life into the world being a fertility clinic and part of Care Fertility.  This company provided a wide range of food parcels for us. 

They stated: Family is at the heart of everything we do.  This year we wanted to give something back to the community, so instead of undertaking their usual workplace "secret santa" they decided to provide food parcels to our campaign to ensure that those struggling this time of year are able to have food on the table.   

We are so grateful that they decided to come onboard with us and it has helped provide more of those essential items that are needed.

Returners - Pre-School St Saviours - these guys are great and always manage to get a lovely parcel or two for us.  I know its really difficult keep asking parents/guardians for stuff especially at this time of the year, but yet again they have taken the time to help us out.  

If you are looking for a Pre-School place for your child please do contact the Pre-School at St Saviours for placement details, they are a long established Brookwood Village Pre-School and no appointment necessary, just call in and see us!

Returners - Fulk Butchers provided a wonderful food parcel, full of amazing goodies.  If you have not ordered your Turkey for Christmas, I am pretty sure its not too late to get your order in.  There are two branches, one in Brookwood and the other in Pirbright.  Click here: Christmas opening times over the Christmas/New Year break.

CJM HR Services - new to our campaign this year and owner Julie White donated a very generous cash donation for us.  We have spent some of these money buying toiletries which the foodbank are in desperate need of.  

CJM HR Services was created 3 years ago to handle the HR needs of small businesses and individuals and improve the employer-employee relationship.  We do one off jobs, such as giving advice on a single matter or creating some HR policies. We also have several retained clients so we can be on hand as and when needed.  Since those early days we have grown,  predominantly through word of mouth and recommendations. 

Jules White, the Managing Director, says:

"At this time of year it's good to give back to the community that we are part of. I've known Trudi and Darren for a long time and am proud to be associated with this project".

Do contact Julie for all your HR needs, no matter how big or small, CJM HR Services CAN help you. Find us on Facebook, Instagram and our website (cjmhrservices.com).

Returner - Fletcher Autos (Motorcycle Specialist).  Owner Kevin Fletcher provided us with several large food parcels, stocked with all the goodies for Christmas, the extras that perhaps someone who is down on their luck cannot find the money to purchase!

Fletcher Autos have over 30 years of experience in this field, so if you have a motorcyle that needs an MOT, Servicing or Repairing, please do contact him.  Its a friendly family run business and more than happy to help out with anything motorcycle related.  You can find him on Facebook or alternatively give him a call tel : 01483-751828

Kevin states "I am more than happy to help out at this time of the year"

Returners: Beard Construction, local branch in Brookwood, Cemetery Pales got in contact with us again this year asking if they could help in anyway.  Of course I literally ripped their arms off.  They provided massive of parcels for us and I went along last week and met with their contact Sarah, its always nice to put a face to a name and collected all the boxes full of goodies.

Beard Construction employ over 300 people in various locations, but I am so pleased that they offered to help us.  

Their ambition is to make a positive impact in the communities in which they live and work, and I can honestly say that they have most certainly had a positive impact with helping us out.

Returners: Brookwood Primary School.  I went along to Brookwood Primary School last week and picked up lots of parcels.  Like St Saviours Pre-School above, it is hard keeping asking the parents especially as it was not that long ago that Harvest Festival was upon us, but despite all of that they provided lots of food parcels for us to help make up some of the 75+ that we received.

Returners: Brookwood Barber Box - you may already have seen the horse box outside the village fish and chip shop, but if not, it is our local barber Richard, so if you need a haircut just before Christmas do give him a shout, I'm pretty sure he will be able to squeeze you in tel : 07913060627.  Richard has very kindly provided a nice cash donation this year, which will be spent on essentials in the New Year...

Saturday 4th December was Brookwood Club's annual Christmas Tree light up ceremony, there was music from the Choir of Winston Churchill School, mulled wine, burgers and hotdogs which were delish...The campaign's sleigh was also present for people to drop off food parcels if they wanted to.  We also had the QR code for the fundraising page clearly displayed.  That night we took a few food parcels, but raised a further £220 to our fundraising total.  You can still donate if you would like to by clicking on the link below, there is still time or alternatively, you can scan your camera over the QR code and it will take you directly to our webpage.

I was lucky enough to be asked to switch on the club's lights this year and of course I happily agreed, I mean what could be better!!!

So how much did we raise, well so far we have provided Woking Foodbank in excess of 75+ parcels, we have delivered three van loads of food and we raised a staggering £2,220.00 which is a huge amount of money, but we are still taking collections and you can continue to donate via the JustGiving page , so please don't worry if you have missed the deadline, its only a deadline to get the bulk of the goodies in.  This money will go a long way to helping those that are in crisis.  If you know someone that needs a bit of extra help, please do point them in the direction of the foodbank as I am pretty sure they will be able to help.

We had a few bags of food and cash donations on our JustGiving page which were anonymous, so if this was you, I am sorry that I am unable to thank you personally, but a huge, massive thanks xx

So my final thanks to :  

My good friend Emma Cogger, who each year does an amazing job with the posters, I give her a brief of what I would like and she never ceases to amaze me.  Without these posters the campaign would be nothing.  They are bright, cheery, have all the details and most importantly this year they had a QR code, I mean we have all got used to using QR codes over the last 18 months, have we not!

Brookwood Post Office/Bakery - for being an amazing drop off point and a huge thanks to Penny and Shaun for letting us know when a parcel had been delivered ready for collection.

Brookwood Club for also being a drop off point, displaying the posters and allowing me to switch on the lights this year.

Jon Andrews at Radio Woking who has been promoting the event now every week with regular interviews with me since the end of October.  He is an amazing person, always willing to help out despite having a rough time himself.  Jon you are truly an inspiration for the work that you do.

All of my family and friends who have got involved with promoting the event, distributing posters, helping with the shopping, collecting parcels and other tasks where they go above and beyond.

And finally, to all of you for giving up your hard earned cash for our campaign.  Without you all this campaign would be nothing, so if you do nothing else today, give yourself a pat on the back because you are all true heroes in our eyes.

There is nothing else to say, and yes, I am sure there are some of you that are thinking "thank goodness for that", but to wish you all a safe Christmas and to

With all our love until next year!!!! 

Darren & Trudi 💖💖💖💖💖

Brookwood Village Christmas Foodbank Appeal 2021

There has been too much happen over the last day or so to put it all on our fundraising page, I only have limited space, so I thought I would take to blogging again.  

You may recall I used the blog a couple of years ago and it was very successful, but somehow I have just not had the time this year!!!!

So here I go:

Overnight we have doubled our intake on food parcels to what we had this time last year and we didn't think that that would be possible so it just goes to show you that people are more than willing to help out and this really warms my heart.

We've had a few more donors come onboard too:

Pre-School at St Saviours which is directly behind St Saviours Church in the village, did you know that the Church have two upcoming concerts? One this coming weekend and the other on 12th December so do get yourselves there if you love a Christmas carol like me, details below 😁  

We are very lucky with St Saviours Pre-School every year they help out and we can't thank them enough.  Some of you may remember a few years ago we had to take the wheelbarrow down to the pre-school to collect the parcels because they were so heavy and this of course led to us upgrading to the sleigh beautifully made by a fellow villager and donated for FREE, yes FREE by Homebase in Brookwood!!! 

Pre-School at St Saviours say:  "At Pre-School at St. Saviour’s we offer childcare and education for children in a friendly, thoughtful, motivating and encouraging atmosphere.  Every child is a unique individual and should feel strong and confident about their identity. They are supported and encouraged to progress at their own individual pace in harmony with their stages of development.  The children are treated with equality of opportunity and with the greatest respect.  The children’s happiness and well being is of great importance"

Fletcher Autos - you can find them on Facebook under Kevin Fletcher  This is a family run company and Kevin has been in the motorcycle industry for more than 30 years.  Fletcher Autos have provided much needed food parcels with lots and lots of goodies.  

Do get in touch with company owner, Kevin if your motorcycle needs an MOT, service or repair or indeed anything motorcycle related.  It's a friendly and local business in Cherry Street, Woking.  You can message Kevin Fletcher through Facebook or alternatively, give him a call tel: 01483-751828

Don't Just Sit There, Sell Something - This company has 25 years in telemarketing, and to quote from their website:

"the secret of our success lies in our ability to tailor our sales pitch at specific levels; identifying, understanding and addressing the need for a different approach means that we consistently achieve high levels of success, becoming a self-funding part of every client's business - and we only charge you if we get you results" 

Again, another local company who help out each year and they have provided a very nice cash donation which I am very thrilled to say has pushed us over the £1,000 mark on our JustGiving Page - massive thanks to company owner Liam Brennan.

We had the local rag get in touch about the campaign, Woking News and Mail as they had been keeping a track on our JustGiving Page, well one thing led to another and when I picked up the paper yesterday there it was on the front page, yes front page for everyone to see, well I can tell you everyone was texting me saying how proud they were of our achievements, but the truth of it is that we couldn't do without ALL of your support and it means so much to us that you take the time to get involved.

It's a great picture and I actually managed to persuade Darren to partake this time, he likes to remain in  the background whilst doing all the donkey work, he is the bestest!!!  

We still have just over a week to go on the campaign and we still have lots more parcels to collect, but please do get involved if you can.  I appreciate that it is a very difficult and busy time of the year, but thinking of those that are struggling and unable to cope will help ease their pain of that extra worry of wondering where they are going to get their next meal!!

We do have the QR code so its a lot easier to donate this year, its just a click on your camera and you will be in our fundraising page.  I have even put a copy of the poster below so you don't have to search for the webpage. Go on scan the QR code you know it makes sense 👍

For those of you that are still happy to go to the shops and get non-perishables, Woking Foodbank do have a Christmas wish list as below and I have also included their latest list of what they are short on as at 25th November.

ITEMS WE NEED (LAST UPDATED 25TH NOVEMBER)

• NAPPIES SIZE 4 & 5
• TOILET PAPER
• TINNED SALMON
• SMALL JARS OF COFFEE
• TINNED POTATOES
• JAM
• PASTA SAUCE
• CHOCOLATE BARS
• LONG LIFE SPONGE PUDDINGS
• WASHING DETERGENT (SMALL)
• LONG LIFE JUICE
• CHRISTMAS ITEMS

Finally, for anyone that may be in need on Christmas Day, Foodbank users can book a free Christmas dinner.  

Families who receive support from Woking Foodbank are invited to a free festive dinner on Christmas Day.

The meal has been organised by community volunteer Norman Johns with help from the trustees of Old Woking Community Centre, who are providing their premises for the occasion.

Norman bought five turkeys several months ago - they have been stored by a local butcher and he has a batch of Christmas pudding provided by the Woking branch of Morrisons for dessert.

Boz's the greengrocers have donated fruit and vegetables and money has been donated by the staff and managers of businesses including Poundland in the Peacocks shopping centre and Morrisons.

There will be two sittings at the Centre in Sundridge Road, at 12.30pm and 2pm.  Bookings should be made through a form that is available at the distribution points where foodbank clients collect their parcels, so please spread the word if you know of someone that may benefit from this service.

Right that's it for this week, we are in the run down now to closure only just over a week to go, but the sleigh will be down at Brookwood Club for its annual Christmas Tree light up on Saturday 4th December.  Its an open event so you do not need to be a member!!! If you are thinking of coming and would like to drop a parcel off too that would be blooming fantastic.

Just by way of reminder, my drop off points are :
Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen 8am til 5.30pm
Brookwood Club in the heart of the village 4.30pm to 11pm

My email address should you need one of my team to collect a food parcel is trudifletcher@rocketmail.com

Don't forget the Carols by Candlelight and Noel carols & sons for Christmas as per posters below.

Merry Christmas

So as we come to a close for another year, there is a few more things to squeeze into the remaining blog!!!!

You may remember last week, Lisa (my sister) and I attended Winston Churchill School where Radio Woking is situated and were guests on The We Love Woking Radio Show presented by DJ Zahir Ahmed, you can listen to the two hour interview here : Radio Woking - Zahir Ahmed We had an absolute blast and my regular interviewer Jon Andrews came along too which was just awesome.

So the last Wednesday morning interview for the campaign with Jon Andrews can be listened to here if you missed it  - scroll to 18.16 in: Radio Woking - Jon Andrews

Darren and I attended Brookwood Christmas Tree light up and were approached by a couple who had come up from another nearby village, the lady of the couple was a little upset because she only had a few items of food to give, but as explained to her its a few more items more than we had yesterday and I was so pleased that they had made the effort to come up just for that purpose and how heart warming is that in the first place?



Massive thanks to all the donors including local companies:

Bentleys Garage - newbies this year and what a haul they provided. I had to take two trips to collect it all.

CSGI - Woking - Linda Silvester organised a great collection for me from this Company, way to go Linda they provided food parcels and a cash donation.

Walk the Walk Breast Cancer Charity - do contact them if you have any concerns about lumps or bumps or if you find yourself needing some help.

East West Indian Restaurant whom I have reliably been informed will now be open Boxing Day, so if you fancy a curry, get on their website and make a booking they are a great bunch.

Decormate tel: 07877 172066 for all your decorating needs

DIO Landmarc Securities  - again these guys were new to the campaign this year and I was very pleased to have them on board.

Pre-School @ St Saviours Church - these guys are great they come on board every year and always supply a beautiful parcel or two its almost a shame to take it apart...

Fulks Butchers, so if you have still not ordered your turkey I am sure they will happily take your order, but dont leave it too much longer.

Surrey Woodflooring who have just today very generously donated a cash sum.  Many thanks guys this will help the foodbank well into the New Year now and massive thanks for getting in touch again.

Brookwood Memorial Halls -massive thanks to these guys for donating the halls for the additional fundraiser for free, it defo pays to be a villager that's for sure.

Beard Construction  we literally had a last minute delivery from these guys yesterday, in fact I had no idea they were even collecting for us, so it was a fantastic surprise when I got a message from the Post Office to say that a large delivery had been left - massive thanks to you guys and welcome aboard this year and becoming another business to join our campaign.

Some of these Companies are located in the village, but its so nice to have companies involved that are outside of the village, its great that they have taken the time to get involved.  Please do visit their websites if they can be of any use to you.

A massive thank you to all my drop off points:

Bentleys Garage
Brookwood Club &
Brookwood Post Office/Bakers Dozen

And finally to all the donors....yes that's you :)

We have made two full van load distributions to Woking Foodbank already and we have lots of cash in the bank to help see them through to the early months of the New Year and that's all because of you guys.  What an absolute fabulous achievement its been this year.

I have reconnected with some old faces and made some new friends along the way.  May it continue for many years to come.


It never ceases to amaze me just how much everyone gets involved in this campaign and more so people that can't really afford to give, but still want to help out whatever way they can.

Here are a few more piccies of the load I have delivered this morning, lots of parcels from DIO Landmarc Securities, fellow villagers and a last minute delivery from Beard Construction who is located in Cemetery Pales, Brookwood.

In total we have delivered in excess of 120 food parcels which is way up on last year and will obviously benefit lots of needy families this Christmas and well into the New Year.

Jigsaw - Woking which is located on the ground floor have taken at least 20 parcels off of us too which is amazing, so lots of preschoolers will be getting books, toys and more importantly clothes and blankets.

All of the food that is delivered to the Foodbank is weighed
and this is whats happening here

We have plenty of cash in the bank which will be used in the New Year once Christmas supplies start to dwindle and taking into account the amount of people currently using the foodbank that won't take long to spend, but at least we have it to fall back on.

 Apologies if I have missed anyone off of the list.




Lastly, Darren and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy 2020.

Best wishes and once again thank you so much for getting involved in this joint venture this year.

Darren & Trudi xxxxxxxx

That's it for another year.....

Wow what a year its been for the campaign this year.  It seems to grow from strength to strength each year which is truly amazing and I have met some fabulous people along the way.

Do you remember Dawn from last week's campaign, she has been back in touch and has provided yet another bag full of goodies which will be passed to Jigsaw which occupies some space in the Foodbank. This is vital for all those young pre-school kiddies which wont have books and toys etc.  It also helps parents that are struggling with the basics that perhaps they cannot afford to buy and a few luxuries for the kiddies development.

Many thanks Dawn, you truly are an inspiration as it could have been so easy to have put the clothes into a clothes bank, but this way its helping local people in the Woking area.

Please do contact Jigsaw direct if you have anything that you would like to pass on to someone else.

At the time of writing this article we had in excess of 90+ food parcels so it was agreed with Alison from the Foodbank that we would make an interim distribution.  This distribution has now been done and you can rest assured that your parcel is now well and truly on its way to its new owner.  Take a minute to think about that!

You have helped someone have the basics this week and possibly a few luxuries over Christmas - thank you so much for all your help, this campaign would not be what it is without the input from all of you.

Its been a busy week out and about collecting parcels and donations, but there is always time to squeeze in another interview at my fav place - yep you know it, Radio Woking.  Radio DJ, Zahir who runs Wednesday evenings 6-8pm - The We Love Woking Show, contacted me and asked would I like to pop along to the studio for a couple of hours and talk about the foodbank and the campaign.  Well of course the answer was yes, so my sister, Lisa and I went off on Wednesday evening to Winston Churchill School and had a great time.  We were also joined by fellow DJ presenter Jon Andrews.  Piccies and interview recording to follow.

I also popped along to see Jan Treacher-Evans at Walk the Walk Breast Cancer Charity located at Genesis Business Park in Woking and look what they provided. Its a massive box full of goodies and also some much needed cash too.

Many thanks to Jan and her team for getting involved again this year.

Please do look at their website if you are worried about any lumps or bumps its important to get checked out especially if you feel unwell, as I found out this year!

So as the campaign draws to an end this year its for me and my team to thank you all as I said above we couldnt do it without you.  What a great team we all make and you should be so proud of our joint achievement.

Please do keep the parcels coming in I will of course still collect them.

For me personally the campaign this year has been an emotional journey. I don't know whether its because I have been so poorly myself this year or if its the generosity of people, some of whom really cant afford to spend the extra pennies, but have done so anyway.

May be its a complete mixture of all of the above.

And just before this article is about to go live, we have more donations in the form of kiddies clothes which have been very kindly donated to us by a very nice lady called Charlie from Knaphill and a bit like Dawn above, she didn't want them to go into a clothes bank she wanted them to go to a good home and to someone that can make good use of them.  Many thanks Charlie, your clothes and accessories will be working their way to Jigsaw in next 24 hours or so and will be helping out a local family.  I would say that that was perfect timing.

I am privileged to know so many generous people who are willing to help out and provide either a food parcel, cash donation or even just time. 

Next week will be the closing week for the blog and radio interviews for this year......hooooray I hear some of you say, I will let you know how we did, but in the meantime you can hear me live on Radio Woking next Wednesday morning just after 8am with Jon Andrews.

Thank you everyone that has donated so far

Trudi and Darren xx

We made the local rag!!!!

So here it is, the article in the Woking News and Mail: click on this link for the Online article following our fundraiser for Woking Foodbank in Brookwood Memorial Hall, Sunday just gone or alternatively pop into a local newsagent and pick up a copy as a souvenir 

There are lots more piccies online, so if you would like to purchase any please click on this link : Fun Day Photographs

Firstly, massive thanks to Anthony Gurr of Woking News and Mail and my very good friend Gary Avery for covering the event with their amazing photos and secondly to Brookwood Memorial Hall Committee, who very kindly donated the hall to me for free to enable the event to happen which completely took me by surprise.  That is such a generous and kind thing to do, but yet again it shows me just how much the community helps out when its needed.  I love it when things like this happen it certainly gives you that feeling that there are truly some lovely people out there who are willing to help out in a time of crisis.  You can't buy that sort of generosity! I have to say with a few simple decorations the hall looked pretty amazing and it most certainly put you in the mood for Christmas!

Live Radio Interview from the Fundraiser - please click on the link to listen: Live interview from Fundraiser

Listen to some of kiddies wish lists here :  Kiddies wish lists

and finally my live radio interview Wednesday morning : Radio Woking - live interview

It was interesting listening to some of the kiddies at our fundraising event and how much they wanted for Christmas and I am most interested to see whether the little one who wanted a car, yes a car whether he actually gets it, I guess only Santa will know that answer!!

Its been a crazy old campaign this year, with lots of new people coming on board and also some amazing companies returning that are located in the village.

East West Indian Restaurant staff

This week I went to visit the guys in my favourite Indian Restaurant, East West - finest Indian cuisine They are a great bunch of guys and the food is amazing. East West very kindly donated some vouchers to dine in their restaurant, which I was so tempted to keep for myself!!!  Anyway as in previous years I put them up for sale for the cash value equivalent and they were gone in seconds that tells you just how good the food is.  

Its nice to have a takeaway, but much better to dine in - you get top class treatment.

Also returning is our village decorator Lewis from Decor Mate who provided a very nice food parcel.  No job is too much trouble for Lewis and his team, so if they can help you with any of your decorating needs interior or exterior do give him a shout.

To date we have collected in excess of 70+ food parcels so that's a lot of food and that has all now been delivered to Woking Foodbank to enable them to organise parcels which The Salvation Army will deliver to the elderly and vulnerable and that is a lot of families that will get the essentials and some little luxuries that they couldn't possibly afford otherwise.

I had a call from a nice lady called Dawn this weekend to see whether the foodbank could make use of any kiddies clothes, and the answer to that is absolutely YES!  The foodbank does not only supply food it provides a variety of other things too, so please do check on their website to see what else they help out with, massive thanks Dawn, your used clothes will help someone else.

And finally, for this week, don't forget its the Brookwood Club annual christmas tree lightup this coming weekend Saturday 7th December, commencing around 6pm.  Please do come along its an open event and all our welcome.  As explained in last week's blog the sleigh will be in situ so if you have not yet donated a food parcel and would like to you can leave your parcel that night.  Currently what the village campaign is short of is Marmite, oil/vegetable oil, mayonnaise, sponge puddings.  That of course is what we are short off, I am sure there are lots more.  Below is the wish list provided by Woking Foodbank so please feel free to provide anything that is on the list.

Please do leave a comment if you have enjoyed my blog, or indeed if you would like to get involved then send me an email: trudifletcher@rocketmail.com

Although my campaign finishes on the 7th December, please do not think that I will not continue to take supplies, so dont worry if you are a little late, I get that its a busy time of the year.

Massive thanks to everyone that has donated so far, whether it be time to help out, cash or food parcel donations, Darren and I could not do it on our own and for that we are very grateful.

Santa does exist.....

Photo courtesy of Anthony Gurr

Our hand and feet Christmas painting was a ho ho ho ho lotta fun, the kids seemed to love it and the parents sat with tea/coffee in their hands and just took a moment to relax. 

The gingerbread was great mindfulness for the kiddies, so if you need something to keep them occupied between now and Christmas I can highly recommend it.  When they weren't doing their hand and feet prints they were sitting nicely colouring in, or making themselves busy inside the house - it was lovely to watch. 

Photo courtesy of Anthony Gurr

We had a special guest arrive at the event, I have no idea where he came from, but I am guessing all these kiddies have been good and Santa wanted to make sure they were all on the good list.  Whilst at the event and of course it is the 21st Century, Santa made a note of their wishes for Christmas, but not by ole fashion pen and paper, but by recording and I will put the link up in next week's blog once its ready, I mean its up to Santa to do it and he is a very busy person this time of the year!  

We raised a few more extra pennies for Woking Foodbank - the volunteers worked tirelessly throughout the day and I take my hat off to them, it wouldn't have gone so well without them

Some of our beautiful volunteers 

Anyhow, thank you to all that came to the event and supported our campaign.  Massive thanks to all the volunteers that turned up to helped out, look at them all smiling away, they are a lovely bunch of people.

The picture of happiness 

New comers to the campaign this week are: Bentleys Garage. Bentleys have been in the village since 1985 and are located at the far end of the village towards Pirbright. They currently have 8 staff.  Bentleys started out as a father and son business which has grown into a successful third generation family run business who are available for all your car/motorcycle vehicle servicing/repairs, please do give them a call if they can help you out in anyway.  You can also find them on Facebook so please check them out and give them a follow.  You never know when you might need them!

I went to visit Natasha at Bentleys during the week as they have very kindly offered to be an additional drop off point for the campaign and will be providing some much needed food parcels as you can see from the stash in the sleigh and that was just one visit.

Please do drop your parcels at Bentleys if you are in the far end of the village and I will happily pick them up on your behalf.

I understand from Natasha that they wanted to get involved last year, but thought that they had missed the deadline.  I know my posters have a deadline of 7th December, but please don't think that is set in stone. I am always happy to take any parcels after my deadline, but it's nice to get the majority of the donations to the foodbank in good time for Christmas to ensure that the vulnerable get what they need in plenty of time and this takes some organising.

.

We also have returning to the campaign breast cancer charity Walk the Walk.  They have kindly offered to collect some food from the staff for us which is just lovely.

Having been affected by breast cancer myself this year, it is important to get checked.  

Walk the Walk quote on their website "Pick a day in the month to check yours, and get to know your breasts or pecs (guys we’re talking to you too!). In the UK "1 in 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in a lifetime and 350 men in a year".

Charities can offer you so much when you are poorly and for me its a huge honor to be able to give something back.  Should you find yourself at a lose end, please do look up a charity they are always looking for volunteers to help out with something whether it be fund raising events or administration, there is always plenty to do.

Saturday 7th December 6pm Brookwood Club - event not to be missed - Yes, its the annual village Christmas Tree Light-up. Its a great event where the villagers come together to drink mulled wine, eat hot dogs and be merry.

The lights are being turned on by the new Headmaster of Brookwood School, carols will be sung by the children of the school and students from Winston Churchill School will also be performing with musical instruments.

Our sleigh will also be on site, so if you have not had the opportunity to drop a food parcel off yet, then you are welcome to leave it in the sleigh on that night and I will ensure that it will get delivered in good time. Its will also be the closing night of the campaign so a fitting finish I think.  

Make sure you come back next week to hear some of the Christmas wishes from the kiddies from the fundraiser and indeed some of the interviews made by none other than the amazing Lara McNamee

Oooooo gosh I almost forgot, its been a busy weekend!!! This week's radio interview with the fabulous Jon Andrews can be heard by clicking this link :Woking Radio and don't forget I will be on the radio again this coming Wednesday just after 8pm so tune in to Radio Woking to listen to the interview live.

Have a good week everyone, and I ho ho hope you enjoy the blog.

Trudi xx

Christmas is coming...

Whilst I have been out and about this week, I have noticed that several houses have been putting up their Christmas trees.  This can only mean one thing! Christmas is coming!!!!!  

Now for me Christmas is a festivity full of family, friends, fun, presents and food glorious food, but for some families that find themselves in crisis its their worst nightmare.

Its that time of year when we go mad with food shopping, filling up our cupboards to the brim so the doors hardly close with luxury chocolates, biscuits, smelly cheeses and Christmas puddings!  

Could you imagine having a young family, waking up Christmas day to no food, not even a Christmas selection box for your little one?  For some families this is the reality and this is where we can hopefully help.  By you providing a small food parcel of non perishable food or indeed a cash donation, its one less family that will have to worry about that dreaded day and you never know it could be that one parcel that gets them back on their feet.

Having got some statistics from Woking Foodbank it's actually pretty shocking how many more people are using the foodbank.  In some ways thank goodness its there, but in other ways it is a sad and troubling time.  Between January and September 2018: 1370 Adults and 649 children received help and yet the same time this year 2019:  2031 Adults and 1252 children.  This makes me feel very emotional, it has almost doubled which is pretty shocking- I am wondering whats going on in our society to make these figures double in just a year!

So what are Woking Foodbank looking for?  Well anything that is non-perishable please: Tins of biscuits, Christmas themed cakes, selection boxes, long life sponge puddings, powered potato, canned casserole meat, canned fish, UHT milk, canned spaghetti, rice pudding, canned chick pea......I think you get the idea.  

I get that some of you don't have time to do the extra shopping, so I am happy to take cash donations and do the shopping for you.  My drop off points are Brookwood Club, Brookwood Post Office Bakers Dozen.

I forgot to say that last week, I started my weekly radio interviews with Jon Andrews at Radio Woking which will continue until the campaign closes on the 7th December.  

Did you miss it, don't worry you can catch up with it here: Interview with Jon Andrews at Radio Woking  or indeed this week's chat was with Lara, so you can find out what I have been up to this week : Interview with Lara McNamee at Radio Woking .  

Do listen in Wednesday mornings just after 8am you can get more details about the fundraiser which is happening on the 24th November in Brookwood Memorial Hall and it only costs £5.00 yes £5.00 per child.  My advert is being rolled out on a weekly basis by Radio Woking so tune in to get the details or email me trudifletcher@rocketmail.com for more info.

Please get in touch if you would like to get involved we would love to see you, we have this giant gingerbread house which needs colouring in and I can't do it on my own, well I probably could, but where's the fun in that!  This is a great opportunity for the kids to have some mindful from their busy lives too.

Several companies have come on-board this week and a couple of newbies to the campaign.  DIO Landmarc contacted me to see if they could help in anyway and of course the answer is yes.

Graham from Landmarc told me "that the company is a world leading provider of integrated support services in military training facilities management, range and training area design, operation and management, range safety,specialist environmental services, rural estate management.  The company currently has 1300 people strong and is active across 120 military training sites in the UK.  Its so lovely having the military attached to this campaign again, I don't know if readers can remember? but a couple of years ago we had The Welsh Guards involved before they were deployed to Afghanistan.

Attached to Landmarc is Sandes Christian Charity  (The Soldier's Friend) which was founded in 1869. 

Sandes serves the military community working with the solders in centres located on military bases across the UK.  These neutral, non military spaces provide a home from home for soldiers and their families who can face incredible pressures and stressful working lives.  These centres are designed to be sanctuaries where soldiers can find a welcoming space on camp, free from rank and the pressure of military duties".

Landmarc and Sandes Cafe will be providing a joint effort which is amazing, I will let you all know how this goes. 

It's nice to have some people back from last year, Fulk Butchers in the village have provided a lovely parcel for me, its such a great community spirit - don't forget to call in and get your order placed for that Christmas dinner if you haven't done so yet.

Pre School at St Saviour's Church are kindly displaying my posters and the lovely ladies have said that they will do their bit to help with the foodbank campaign.  This might be where I will have to get the sleigh out for a little trip.  The parcels that the pre-school have provided in the past have been absolutely amazing, but my god so heavy and lets face it, its a great opportunity to get the sleigh out and get the villagers talking about what's going on in the community.

The absolutely amazing Linda Moss is back with her company CSGI based in Woking, again you can look back on  Last year's blog for more details.  Linda is an absolute treat to work with, she rallies around getting in parcels and cash donations for me and it just shows you that I don't do this campaign on my own, everyone does their bit.

Oooooo and do you remember Kris Kringle from last year, if not you can look back on my blog The Show Must Go On!!! well I am very pleased to say that he is back again this year and has kindly provided a very nice donation and some very kind words for good health. 

So Mr Kringle thank you so much for your contribution its going to make a huge difference to some people. 

And the above leads me onto my biggest question.......dun dun dun.......can I persuade anyone to be Santa for my fundraiser, guess you will have to keep tuned in and see what happens....

In the meantime, I will be about the village to see if I can get anyone else to come on-board with this amazing initiative - whats the worst that can happen, they say No!

I still have spaces available for the fundraiser, so please do get in touch if you would like to come along and indeed if you didn't feel like doing any hand/feet painting pop in for a cuppa tea/coffee (£1.50 per cup), put ya feet up, listen to some Christmas music and simply enjoy the moment of having some time to yourself. 

All are welcome and we would be very pleased to see you.