Today I went along to the Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield to spread a little Christmas Cheer with local lottery winners Ray and Barbara Wragg. Camelot organized the event as part of their Winner Wonderland tour which travelled 1,000 miles around the United Kingdom in a week in an old London style double decker bus. The tour delivered gifts to hospices and good causes, and the visit to Sheffield took us to the Teenage Cancer Trust at Weston Park.
Today I went to Brinsley Animal Rescue to make a donation towards their hospital appeal. They are raising funds to build a dedicated hospital for the care of sick and injured small animals. The photographs below were taken when the Eastwood & Kimberley Advertiser and Nottingham Evening Post came to take photos of founder Beth Hewis and myself. Also featured in these photographs are Rocky the pig, two Dartmoor ponies, two rabbits and Boris the blind bull. I am delighted to have found a local charity to donate to where I know the money will be spent on the animals, [Read more]
These ten photographs were taken at the Nottingham Christmas Lights switch on in the Market Square on Wednesday 23rd November 2011.
Yesterday, I finally wrote a page for the Bracken House website documenting the landscaping project. Started in April 2010 and finishing in July of that year, the £100,000+ project transformed the overgrown land around the house into formal gardens, wildlife meadows and a large wildlife pond. You can see photographs of the project before, during and after by clicking here.
Last Monday (28th) I attended the Erewash Valley Landowners and Managers Event hosted by Broxtowe Borough Council, on behalf of the Erewash Valley Access and Wildlife Forum, in partnership with the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and The Nottingham Energy Partnership. The event was held at the Town Hall on Foster Avenue at Beeston and featured the following speakers: Steve Fisher (Broxtowe Borough Council) – Erewash Valley Trail project overview Gaynor Jones Jenkins (Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust) – the wildlife of the Valley Lesley Sharpe (Farming and wildlife advisor) – stewardship and grants Jerome Baddley (Nottingham Energy Partnership) – renewable energy [Read more]
On Sunday (27th), I finally got to visit the Brinsley Animal Rescue Centre on Hobsic Close. I have been meaning to visit for a couple of years, but I always seemed to be busy when they had their open days – they only have two a year. Anyway, over 500 people attended the Open Day and over £2,500 was raised towards the running of the site. They are trying to raise enough funds to set up an animal hospital in a garage at the Centre. They have planning permission to convert the garage, they now need the funds. The centre [Read more]
The Christmas lights in Nottingham were switched on at 18:20 on Wednesday 23rd November 2011, but before the switch was thrown, Santa abseiled down the ride that Capital FM’s breakfast hosts Twiggy and Emma described as ‘the big scary ride’. The ride in question is the 60 metre tall ‘North Star’ which was visiting Nottingham for the first time. The ride will operate throughout the Christmas and New Year period and really does look scary when you stare up at it. Not for me!