Hair - A disco of love

 

HAIR - A DISCO OF LOVE

 SUPPORTING CHILDREN AT UNIVESITY HOSPITAL MILTON KEYNES

 FENNY POPPERS FESTIVAL

 Sunday 14^th August 2022

 Raising £1,000

CAN WE MAKE THIS HAPPEN ?

Will YOU help make this happen ?

Elvis Presley, The King of Rock and Roll, said: AMBITION IS ONLY AN IDEA FITTED WITH A V8 ENGINE. I say that REALITY IS ONLY AN AMBITION FITTED WITH A TURBO CHARGER.

 IDEA – AMBITION – REALITY

 This is an IDEA for which I am seeking support in order to turn it into an ambition then together we can move on and make it a reality. 

Will you help ? Let me begin by sharing the basic idea then I will brainstorm my ideas to take it through to the ambition stage.

This IDEA is part of my writing project MIRACLES STILL HAPPEN THEY ARE CALLED OUR NHS. The book will be published in July 2022 with all royalties being given to NHS charities. July 2022 marking the seventy-fourth birthday of our National Health Service.

SUNDAY 14^th AUGUST 2022 is set in the diary for FENNY POPPERS FESTIVAL. Will you help me raise £1,000 for two projects within University Hospital Milton Keynes Charity ?

From the charity’s website:

BabyLeo Incubator Appeal

Our BabyLeo appeal launched in September 2020 and funded three new state of the art incubators for the neonatal unit.  The BabyLeos are the “Rolls Royce” of incubators and offer the latest in neonatal technology, with in-built weighing scales, special heating systems and personalisation, too.

AND

Children’s Ward Appeal

In 2016 we raised £200,000 to transform the children’s wards at MKUH – funding bright new artwork, sensory items and play equipment – and better support young patients at the hospital.

I have been a loud supporter of our National Health Centre since our infant Milton Keynes General Hospital in 1984 diagnosed my young daughter Rebekah to be suffering from renal failure. Following this she spent most of her childhood in and out of Guys Hospital in London. Then in adult life until she passed away on 

17^th May 2017 she was cared for by Churchill Hospital in Oxford.

Her story and my obsession with our National Health Service are told in my book OUR REBEKAH A LOVE STORY FROM OUR NHS.

On the first andsecond anniversary of Beck’s passing I took part in a sponsored haircut. On both occasions the first snip was made by the Mayor of Milton Keynes,.

With the pandemic nothing happened in 2020 but on Becks passing anniversary I published the Our Rebekah book. Pandemic again meant no haircut in 2021. For 2022 I dabbled with the idea to have a sponsored haircut as part of the publication of my sequel to Our Rebekah MIRACLES STILL HAPPEN THEY ARE CALLED OUR NHS.

Another writing project I am involved in is IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SAMMY LEON which is a sequel to my 1991 book IN SEARCH OF THE LEONS. This book opens with the firing of Fenny Poppers. You  are still with me aren’t you !  If I do have my hair cut I would like it to be at Fenny Poppers Festival on Sunday 14^th August. The picture left was taken on Sunday 5^th February, TWENTY-SEVEN weeks prior to any scissors. If this does go ahead I will have some mega hippie locks needing a sharp pair of scissors !

Finally within the idea I guess we need to have a target to focus on. How much could a sponsored haircut make ? Let’s go for a modest figure - £1,000 ?

OK ON TO AMBITION:

Sunday 14^th August 2020 – I understand the event runs from 11am to 6pm. So with set up and breakdown time we are talking 9am to 7pm (ish)

I would like to have a series of activities orbiting around the haircut and generating money for children in our hospital.

HAIRCUT:  While this was previously done in one go I am suggesting for this cut my head is divided into three areas with each cut at a different time: 12 noon – 2pm – 4pm. I would like to make this a very silly event.

Who will cut the hair ?

I would like to have a team of REAL people who are front-line workers within our NHS.

SMILE CARDS:

We have used this card for four years. Currently we are signing the rear with messages of love to NHS front-line staff, hospital patients, medical centres and through Ronald McDonald Houses in ten different locations around the world to seven hundred families every month with a child sick in hospital. Each month we sign and hand out two thousand cards.

I am suggesting people can sign cards which we will give to patients in University Hospital Milton Keynes as get well cards.

I will talk about collecting money on the day but subject to the Fenny Poppers agreement there could be a bucket into which those signing cards could toss coins. We could also wrap a tombola around the cards

 TOMBOLA OF LOVE:

When we used to run the Lunch of Love, pre-pandemic, for Milton Keynes homeless rough-sleepers we had the tombola of love. Tickets were free with every ticket winning a prize. These were in the main cheap packets/bars of sweets. We could use the idea within the signing of SMILE cards, everyone who signs a card and throws some money in to the bucket gets a free tombola ticket. EVERY ticket is a winner.

BALLOON RACE:

I need to check if this is environmentally friendly or not. Milton Keynes company Partyrama can supply gas and balloons.

If I am to have my hair cut at 12noon 2pm and 4pm we could have a balloon release at each time. I will fund the costs. Could we sell balloons which people to write SMILING messages on tags at 50p as a donation to the fund ? Then release 50 at each haircut time. Could we wrap this into a white elephant and bric-a-brac stall ?

BRIC-A-BRAC STALL ?

Could we collect toys, ornaments, books etc (NOT CLOTHES) which we could sell. Partly to generate income and partly to attract interest and draw people to the stall. We could give a race balloon to every person who makes a purchase.

MAX ROBINSON BOOKS:

I have more than one hundred editions on my Amazon Bookshelf. These include paperback books, e-books covering short stories and essays. There are sixteen books which I could purchase at an author’s discount. By the date of the haircut there would likely be twenty which could be considered. MIRACLES STILL HAPPEN THEY ARE CALLED OUR NHS will be available.

I would be happy to purchase fifty books, five a month, paying for them out of my own pocket. They can then be sold on the stall at £4 each with ALL money going into the collection buckets.

1.    Yesterday I Wrote A Poem – Tomorrow Will You Write One Too

2.    The Eccentricities Of Crime

3.    A Hive Of Essays

4.    Dancing Through The Decades

5.    ABC Of Poetry

6.    Plant A Tree ‘Til Seventy-Three

7.    Lives

8.    Our Rebekah A Love Story From Our NHS

9.    Music With The Geriatric DJ

10. The Key Is The Answer

11. MIT Case Files

12. Who Needs A Pub To Have A Quiz

13. Milton Dreams The City That Never Was

14. Not The Concrete Cows

15. Pip Diamond The Prince Of Rock And Roll

16. The Bridge House

There will be more publications available by August.

We could make this part of my writing challenge. I am probably the most prolific Amazon Author. Since 1^st January 2020 to 31^st December 2022 I am writing to claim the title of t hye most prolific Amazon writer in the world.

In the year 2020 I published fifteen works: books, essays and short stories on Amazon which were wrapped in 528,254 words.

In the year 2021 I published sixty-six works: books, essays and short stories on Amazon in which were wrapped 2,281,425 words

Across the three years Wednesday 1^st January 2020 to Saturday 31^st December 2022 I have set myself a target to write and publish with Amazon a minimum  of one hundred and fifty books, essays and short stories wrapped in a minimum of three and a half million words

MUSIC:

I really would want music playing as part of the stall. I  am calling this project HAIR A DISCO OF LOVE. If this is possible we need to decide how we make it happen. It could simply  be a playlist through loudspeakers from a laptop. It could be a recorded radio show using Virtual DJ from a pc. Volume levels would need to be agreed.

STALL AND CONSTRUCTION:

If we agree to move from an ambition to reality we need to book a stall ASAP. When the cost is known I will fund this myself.

I think we need to have the stall away from the main stage so such does not interfere with our music.

Can we accommodate everything under one, two or even three awnings ?

What tables and chairs will we need ?

We need to consider signing.

Could we be adjacent to a shop from where we could draw electricity ? 

STAFFING:

We are going to need:

·       Help setting up and breaking down the stall.

·       Help transporting everything to and from the event.

·       If we operate the white elephant/bric-a-brac someone to coordinate the collection of items.

·       TWO people to manage the SMILE card signing + tombola of love.

·       TWO people to manage the balloon race + bric-a-brac stall.

·       Someone to be i/c of the music.

·       Someone to be overall i/c of the haircut and to co-ordinate cutters.

·       Someone to set up and manage the JustGiving site.

Without this level of support the event could not happen.

MEDIA:

·       I operate Mkeneyanys and The Sunshine Smile Crew on Facebook

·       Milton Keynes Citizen has recently been supportive across a number of my projects

·       BBC News Look East is supporting my Pets in Need project

However:

·       BBC Three Counties Radio appears to be to e deaf and has failed across a number of issues to engage. Particularly the signing of SMILE cards.

HOW MUCH MONEY CAN WE MAKE ?

I am suggesting we set a target of £1,000. I am not a fan of JustGiving but have used it in the

past raising money for Ronald McDonald House Charities. We could set up a donation page to invite gifts in advance of 14^th August. If agreed when do we set it up ?

4 weeks ahead of the event Sunday 24^th July ?

·       8 weeks ahead of the event Sunday 26^th June ?

·       12 weeks ahead of the event Sunday 29^th May ?

 I am thinking Sunday 26^th June may be the right day to start.

 I would not want to set up and manage the Just Giving page so would be looking for someone to take charge.

If we set the Just Giving target at £1,000 then try to get as close to the target as possible by Haircut Day then to top up and hopefully pass it by the end of the event.

Sources of income on Sunday 14^th August:

·       SMILE CARD SIGNING: Could we target 200 people signing cards with each tossing an average of 50p into the collection buckets. 200 x 50p = £100

·       BALLOON RACE: Could we target 100 people dedicating a balloon with each tossing £1 into the collection bucket ?  100 x £1 = £100

·       WHITE ELEPHANT STALL: Could we collect 100 items which we would sell at an average of 40p each ? 100 x 4p = £40

·       BOOK SALES: Could we sell 50 Max Robinson books at £4 each ?  50 x £4 = £200

This gives an on the day income of £440. Is this possible ?

If we agree this is possible we need to achieve an income via Just Giving of £560 in advance of the haircut.

We are going to need a street collecting licence if we are to have collecting buckets about the stall.  We need to check out what is needed and set things in motion.

IN CONCLUSION:

I am distributing this document during w/b Monday 14^th February 2022. I would ask that offers of support be given by Monday 14^th March 2022 from which it can be decided if the project will happen or not.

David John Bekah Ashford

 

 

 

 

Memories of a French lesson at school

I ATTENDED BOLDMERE HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS FROM 1962 TO 1967. I hated school so it's a bit strange how i ended up as a teacher myself ! 

Writing is a hobby of mine. I have just published this silly bit of fun with Amazon. It  is an alternative autobiography where I turn back the clock and do everything again. That everything is fiction but the opening chapter is FACT.

Memories of a French lesson with Mr Torode

Friday 11^th October 1963: All French teachers at school are traditionally known as Frog, I suspect both within the pupil and staff membership of Boldmere High School for Boys in The Royal Borough of Sutton Coldfield but on this day Frog used his real name of Mr Torode, or at  least we kids used it for him. A kid I was, I was a month away from being a teenager so that, I assume, left me still in the age of being a kid.

Mr Torode had a portable record player on his desk at the front of the class. Before playing a seven inch vinyl single on the turntable he passed round to every boy a Banda duplicated sheet of paper upon which were typed these words.

 

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien, qu'on m'a fait
Ni le mal, tout ça m'est bien égal

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
C'est payé, balayé, oublié
Je me fous du passé

Avec mes souvenirs
J'ai allumé le feu
Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs
Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux
Balayer les amours
Avec leurs trémolos
Balayer pour toujours
Je repars à zéro

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien, qu'on m'a fait
Ni le mal, tout ça m'est bien égal

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Car ma vie, car mes joies
Aujourd'hui, ça commence avec toi

Before placing the needle onto the record Mr Torode said, “Follow the words as you listen to the song.” A simple enough instruction and a simple song.”

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien, qu'on m'a fait
Ni le mal, tout ça m'est bien égal

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
C'est payé, balayé, oublié
Je me fous du passé

Avec mes souvenirs
J'ai allumé le feu
Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs
Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux
Balayer les amours
Avec leurs trémolos
Balayer pour toujours
Je repars à zéro

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien, qu'on m'a fait
Ni le mal, tout ça m'est bien égal

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Car ma vie, car mes joies
Aujourd'hui, ça commence avec toi

“Je ne regrette rien,” Mr Torode said when the record finished. “I regret nothing,” he translated into English.

He then held up a photograph. “This is Edith Piaf, she sang the song you have just listened to. She died yesterday.”

The photograph had been cut from a newspaper. Torode gave it to the boy sitting in the desk nearest to his own and told us to pass it round the class.

“Edith Piaf,” he explained was a world famous French singer who died yesterday.”

“How old was she Sir ?”

“She was born in 1915 so do the Maths.”

French was my least favourite subject at school but Maths was my worse subject.

“Forty-eight Sir.” I wasn’t me who put my hand up to answer.

“She was old enough to be John Lennon’s mother then.”

Mr Torode ignored the flippancy and went on to tell us of Edith Piaf’s life story. Looking back across the decades I am reflecting on what a sad life she had lived, Mr Torode pulled no punches even tell of how Edith Piaf had been a prostitute in order to earn money to eat. Yes, I can reflect on that now but way back when Mr Torode spoke to we kids he totally engaged us.

“Yes I am a fan of the Beatles,” Torode said, “but I doubt when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star will be remembered for their music when they are fifty-eight years old.”

“How old are you then Sir ?”

Torode smiled and ignored the impudence. “Let me just say I am double your age. Double your age and a bit.”

I did the mental arithmetic and guessed every other member of the class was doing the same.

“I am going to play Edith Piaf’s song again then I will set you your homework.”

 

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien, qu'on m'a fait
Ni le mal, tout ça m'est bien égal

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
C'est payé, balayé, oublié
Je me fous du passé

Avec mes souvenirs
J'ai allumé le feu
Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs
Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux
Balayer les amours
Avec leurs trémolos
Balayer pour toujours
Je repars à zéro

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien, qu'on m'a fait
Ni le mal, tout ça m'est bien égal

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Car ma vie, car mes joies
Aujourd'hui, ça commence avec toi

“I regret nothing. Even at double your age, double your age and a bit I am too young to look back on my life and say I regret nothing. Perhaps when I am fifty-eight I will be old enough but I doubt I will be able to say I regret nothing.”

This was a French lesson not an RK lesson. (RK – religious knowledge). Was Mr Torode preaching a sermon ?

“Homework. Take home your Banda sheet and translate Edith Piaf’s words into English. Bring it back to class next lesson. A second piece of homework, when you are fifty-eight look back on your life and see if you can say I regret nothing.”

David Ashford writing under the pen-name of Max Robinson www.maxrobinsonwriter.com