Thursday, November 24, 2011

Mike Comes Up Trumps Again

Brittain's,

We spent the weekend in Provence, which involved a drive of over 1,000 kms. We had two objectives. One was to spend the weekend with our good friends the family Scriven, Americans who live temporarily (intention 2 years, now going on 5) in le Rouret, near Nice. We had a great time with them, including spectating at our first ice hockey match in Nice.

Our other aim was to attend the monthly quiz and fish supper at Brittain's Salon de The and Restaurant in Valbonne (superb fish and chips). Mike Preston organises this quiz and each month the money raised goes to a different charity.

I met Mike before Vic's Big Walk, as a result of his own personal donation and excellent support of my project. Also, just before the start of VBW, Mike's monthly quiz made a substantial donation into my JustGiving fund for pancreatic cancer research. We have kept in touch and now we even have a mutual friend, Rose Mary Boehm, in Lima, Peru.

We nearly won Friday's quiz. We came joint first and lost a tie-breaker. Before this I had been required to stand up and say a few words about pancreatic cancer and the urgent need for some progress with this awful disease. The first, second (us) and third prize winners returned their prizes to the pot and it was agreed that the total takings would be donated to my JustGiving page. This amounted to the equivalent of £150, plus £37.50 in Gift Aid (tax rebate).

The fund is still open and well above the target of £7,000 which I originally set (although the displayed link seems to be stuck on 100%). You can donate by clicking on the JustGiving symbol on this page.

Once again we shall not be sending Christmas cards out this year, but will instead be putting the equivalent amount into the fund, where it will do much more good.

And - just a reminder - don't forget that all the proceeds from my book also go direct to pancreatic cancer research. So you do some good at the same time as - according to the reviews - you get a good read.

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