All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

I really love this picture.

Some of my  special Leonite friends were playing around on Facebook yesterday where your profile and the pictures shared could be analysed to say something about your character. I played around, had some fun and liked what the robot said about me.

I liked the little game which said I was PRINCE CHARMING. Never thought of myself that way before.

A nice thought but let's be honest CHARMING is not me is it ?

This one I liked......................

My arrest warrant. I am DANGEROUS to those who can not handle the truth. You know I think I am.

QUESTION - does that mean I am dangerous to myself ?

That fist picture, I think it does represent my character.

My wonderful best friend Jake.

Jake the dog..........

     Jake the dog ...............

There's no one quite like Jake the dog !

Ah well.

Ah well, I'd better stop rambling and report the latest news.  I have some exciting news to report.

Yesterday, I had a very special morning. It was another of those meetings where I presented a simple idea for an OurRebekah project to someone only to have it taken and turned into something much bigger and far more exciting.

I went to Broughton Manor Preparatory School to ask if children could illustrate my book T HE WILD ADVENTURES OF DI CENTRAL EATING so it could be republished with the royalties being given to Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham.

Little boy Di is about to become a pupil at the school. When his new friends have finished playing with him he will be famous.

More than thirty years ago I wrote ten stories, each a fictional adventure for little boy Di. His name is David but as an infant his brother could not say David, in his baby babble he would call him DI.  Central Eating ?  Nothing to do with a boiler and radiators. Di lost his baby teeth but his new adult teeth were slow to grow so he became CENTRAL EATING.

I wrote the story thirty years ago and dedicated it to Rebekah. Here is the original manuscript.

And as with so  much of what I do here's a bit of music from the story. You can't have anything without music can you?

All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth is a novelty song written in 1944 by an American school music teacher. He asked his class what they wanted for Christmas and noticed that almost all of the children had at least one front tooth missing as they answered in a lisp. He then went on to write the song.

THANK YOU Mr Wikipedia for that bit of i formation. That is weird.

In writing my story THE BRIDGE HOUSE, another book where the royalties are to go to Ronald McDonald House Birmingham,  I am approaching Christmas 1946. The character Kenneth has just written home asking his mother, Lily the central character in the story, to send him some puddings as the food where he is station in the RAF in Egypt is not good. I real life Lily made some Christmas puddings and sent them to him. Also in the letter home Kenneth asked what music was being played back in England.

I searched Google and YouTube but have not found anything from those days at the end of 1946 that has stood the test of time and would be recognised by my readers. Now I find that Di Central Eating's adopted anthem was the Christmas hit for that year !

Coincidence ? I don't believe in coincidences !

At Broughton Manor Preparatory School yesterday I was shown into the art room. The work the children had produced took my breath away.  We are going to have some stunning illustrations in the book.  

But as I write this blog I have had an idea !

How about the children from the school singing Di's song ?

We will be working in the school in the Spring to bring the book to publication in the Summer.

Do you remember this ?

Saint Winnifred's School Choir topped the hit parade in 1980 with this song. Do you think Broughton Manor preparatory School could top the charts at the end of 2018 with ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY TWO FRONT TEETH ?

WAIT - I have not finished yet !

Tony from Radio Secklow 105.5 and his wife came to dinner last night. We were chatting about the radio station, OurRebekah and ways in which we could support each other. Tony is making the presentation to Sheffield Wednesday Football Club next month.

While we were chatting we talked about The Stables at Wavendon. Just down the road, The Stables is something that Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine.  I checked out The Stables on the laptop.

"Oh look," I said. "They even have a recording studio members of the community can use."

We did not need a recording studio for the things Tony and I were chatting about. That would have been round about ten o'clock last night.

I am bringing this blog to it's conclusion at seventeen minutes past seven in the morning.

You know it is possible we do need a recording studio !

Doro - phones for the elderly

Wyvale Garden Centre held its Christmas launch yesterday. Maureen and I went along. These two little fellows jumped off the shelf and into Santa's Sack.

I shared with Maureen my idea to convert the car into Santa's Sleigh, to recruit some elves then drive to Bristol, Birmingham and Liverpool with myself dressed as Father Christmas. She thought it was a great idea. Now if Maureen thinks something is a good idea then by heck it has to be brilliant.

Give me a couple of days and I will update the website and start recruiting the elves.

My mobile phone died yesterday !

I am not particularly impressed that Doro sell their products as PHONES FOR THE ELDERLY !

I had not had chance to throw my busted old Doro Phone into the bin, the new one was still charging, when the ink on the printer ran out. AGAIN.

I now have three phones and goodness knows how many empty printer cartridges that need

to be binned.

I had an idea. Would it be possible to recycle these now redundant items and make some money for Ronald McDonald Houses ?

I did a quick bit of research, found out how easy it all is then registered OurRebekah to collect phones and cartridges for Ronald McDonald House Alder Hey in Liverpool.

That's another update I need to make t the website. For now can I ask you and your friends not to throw away your phone and cartridges. I'll get the project on-line asap.

10.30am will see me today at Broughton Manor Preparatory School, Rebekah worked there for a number of happy years.  I am hoping the school will add Di to their classes, take him on as a pupil then illustrate the ten chapters in the book. We plan to republish The Wild Adventures of Di Central Eating within the Books4Birmingham project.

Three books............ The Wild Adventures of Di Central Eating, The Story Of A Teenage Entrepreneur (Failed) and The Bridge House are all to be republished with royalties going to Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham.

Running round in my head are at least one thousand words for The Bridge House. This book is still a work in progress, I am working on the penultimate chapter. Those words in my head take the story from the year 1946, through 1947 and point towards 1950.

1950 !  That was the year I was born. OMG is Doro right calling me Elderly ?  My birthday is coming up far too quickly !

Tonight my friend and next door neighbour Graham is coming to dinner so I can introduce him to my friend Tony who presents two radio shows on Secklow 105.5.

Tony has a show Tony's Time Tunnel where he plays music from the 1950's, 60's, 70's and to quote Tony - DIPPING INTO THE EIGHTIES.  Exactly the same music as Graham plays in his retro disco.

We will be chatting and brainstorming ideas for our Gala Disco Party in May. This is going to be the biggest OurRebekah event of them all.

Tony is coming with us to Hillsborough on Saturday 18th November and will be making the OurRebekah presentation to the club to officially launch our Brummie Owls project.

I love music. I think that YouTube would go out of business if it was not for me !

I bring music into all of our projects.

Have you seen the bits I put together for Secret Santa, Sheffield Wednesday and so on ?

There is even something for Di Central Eating !

SECRET SANTA.......

AND FOR THE BOYS IN BLUE AT HILLSBOROUGH..................

I am looking forward to this evening's dinner. I want to run by Tony and Graham another piece of music CLICK HERE and listen for a moment will you.

Gerry And The Pacemakers nicked the song from the musical Carousel. Liverpool FC then nicked it to become the club's anthem. It has become an anthem for the city of Liverpool. Listen to the words. You'll Never Walk Alone. Isn't that exactly what Ronald McDonald

Houses do. Lovingly placing an arm around the shoulders of families in some very difficult times and making sure they NEVER WALK ALONE.

I find those words so haunting. 

Anyway.........................

I'm rambling ! Comes with age I guess. THANK YOU DORO !

On Monday the CEO of Ronald McDonald Houses UK is driving up from London to sit down and chat with me.  We are meeting for coffee.  I have sent him pages and pages of notes so it could be a big cup of coffee !

OMG I then have my birthday. My SIXTY-SEVENTH birthday coming up. After that I am going to Bristol, Birmingham and Liverpool to chat with house staff about ways OurRebekah can help them to make sure families in their houses NEVER WALK ALONE.

Doro - Phones for the elderly - WHAT A FLIPPIIN CHEEK !

I wonder how many of my former LEONITE friends can recognise this picture.  Look at the young me striding across the school sports hall.

Doro - Phones for the elderly - what a damn cheek. I mean do I look elderly ?

Look at my trousers, look at the very bottom of the picture. 1970's flares !  

I will be wearing something similar for tonight's dinner party. Well we are talking retro music

for our disco. Maureen says I should also wear my hippy shirt, the one I got for our visit to San Francisco ion April.

What do you think ?

Initial dealings with Buckingham Palace brought about some very prompt responses. Things are a bit quiet now. I am taking that as good news - very good news. Every day without a rejection letter dropping through the door means we are getting closer and closer to a Royal VIP guest of honour at Our Gala Disco Party.

I think tonight Graham, Tony and I need to discuss which dances at the disco we will ask our special guest to lead !

And with that I'll shut up !

I believe in Farther Christmas

Yesterday the blog had 98 readers, we did not quite make the ton as I named and shamed some discourteous and bad-mannered people.

I do not like negative things, today's blog is very positive.

Allow me to introduce you to someone you probably recognise - FATHER CHRISTMAS or for our colonial cousins in the US of A Santa.

He is a real person you know, of course he is. Well I for one believe in Father Christmas. 

He exists in the hearts and love of people who make his time of the year special.

NO, I do not mean the money-grabbing retailers who think Christmas begins in September but REAL people, REAL people like you here reading these words.

We have given way to our American friends and called this our SECRET SANTA project.

Yesterday another gift came along to put into Santa's Sack for families who will have children sick in hospital over Christmas.

When you do your Christmas shopping, or did you do it back in September, will you spend a little bit of money and a lot of love and buy a gift to add to Santa's sack ?

I am looking at my diary:

FRIDAY 15th December I am thinking I may transform my car into a sleigh, hitch Rudolph to the front then drive to Bristol and deliver the Secret Santa gifts to Ronald McDonald House.

Monday 18th December let's make an early start to be at Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham by 10am then drive on to Ronald McDonald House Alder Hey in Liverpool.

I'll go as Father Christmas aka Santa, who would like to come with me as Elves ?  Be my little helpers.

If we took the gifts ourselves wouldn't that show more love than having a courier company make the delivery ?

We could pack the boot of the car with mince pies for the staff and volunteers at the houses.

No big thing, just turn up unannounced, hand over the gifts and go. That's Santa's way isn't it ?

Would you be up for coming with me ?  Would you be one of my Elves ?

First of all we need to fill Santa's sack. We need 21 gifts for Bristol, 61 for Birmingham and 69 for Liverpool. Do the Maths - 21+61+69 = 151  At the moment Santa's Sack has 22 gifts - we need another 129.

Watch the video above.

Check out the Secret Santa project: www.or-santa.co.uk

Go and buy your gift to put in Santa's Sack.

Check your diary.

Find an Elf costume - OH YES WE ARE ALL GOING IN COSTUME - then come with Santa to take love from OurRebekah to families with a child sick in hospital.

Naming and shaming some bad mannered people

Blog readership has fallen a bit over recent days, yesterday we had only 88 readers. I hope today we will achieve record figures as I seek to name and shame some not very nice people.

Let's start with Eddie Stobart Haulage. You see their trucks on the road every day don't you ?  When I now see one it makes me angry ! Behind those trucks resides a bad mannered company.

As a teenager at school the headmaster would stand up in assembly and say A GENTLEMAN IS NEVER RUDE EXCEPT BY INTENT. It was a school rule that every boy had to show courtesy in everything he did. To be discourteous would always end up in a painful experience !

Eddie Stobart and his trucks are discourteous.

In trying to set up our Three Peaks Challenge to support families with a child sick in hospital I wrote not once but twice to Stobart's asking if they would put the project to their drivers and see if one would like to work with us and drive the team from mountain to mountain.

Did Eddie Stobart give me, give the families of children sick in hospital ,the courtesy of a reply ? NO - ABSOLUTELY NOT !  Disrespect, discourtesy BIG TIME.

But this unfortunate company was not the ONLY one to ignore TWO letters asking if it could put our desire to help families with a child sick in hospital to its drivers.

Bletchley Ambulance Station in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, showed the same level of ignorance.

I am sure the ambulance drivers, as are the people behind Stobart's steering wheels, are good people. Loyal and dedicated to what they do. I have nothing but praise for the ambulance crews but fear they are supported by a discourteous and failing management system.

A company by the name of Polar Speed Medical used to deliver Rebekah's medication. Lovely people when I spoke to them on the telephone concerning deliveries. Happy, smiling drivers who brought the medicine. Ignorant, bad-mannered management which also ignored two letters.

The list goes on. I do invite you to share this blog on social media and get as many people as possible to understand the fact that ARGOS, BP RETAIL, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE AND MILTON KEYNES FIRE SERVICE, THE GOVERNOR OF HMP WOODHILL, HEART RADIO MILTON KEYNES all failed to give us the basic courtesy of responding to not one but two letters asking if they would put the project to their staff to see if anyone was interested in taking part.

Five more management systems which need to be named and shamed, humiliated and called to account for their ignorance.

Do you ever shop here ?

Tesco, Kingston, Milton Keynes. Their so called community champion was contacted by a member of parliament's diary secretary inviting support for our project. I wrote a detailed letter to this community champion then drove to hand-deliver it to the store. I followed up with not one but two e-mails. Result ?  SILENCE !

Community champion ?  Champion of discourtesy !

Frosts Garden Centre and the Area Commander of Thames Valley Police both said they would look into the project and get back to me. Get back to me in silence !  Following up the initial contact brought the discourtesy of not answering.

ALL I WAS ASKING FOR WAS TO HAVE OUR THREE PEAKS CHALLENGE MADE

KNOWN TO STAFF MEMBERS TO SEE IF ANYONE WAS INTERESTED. I WAS NOT ASKING FOR THE COMPANY OR

ORGANISATION TO ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING, I WAS NOT ASKING FOR MONEY.

Oh, I nearly forgot, The TA Centre in Bletchley, Milton Keynes also showed us the same level of disrespect.

To return to those school assemblies when I was a boy. Headmaster W A Simson would stand on the stage and say A GENTLEMAN IS NEVER RUDE EXCEPT BY INTENT  I was taught courtesy and it has stayed with me all my life.  If someone treats me with respect then they can expect me to be a firm, supporting and reliable friend. I will always be courteous. However, if anyone disrespects me as have these people, then they will find me a formidable enemy.  

These unfortunate, disrespectful organisations have not only shown their disrespect to myself but also to families with children sick in hospital. I here publicly DESPISE them all. I hope they all get to read today's blog but nobody need contact me. Too late now for that.

I am a gentleman and fully intend to be rude by ignoring their contact.

Where is the hook ?

Life is a ballet - so point your toes.

I love The Ballet. Last night I went to watch The Royal Ballet perform ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND.  It was a good evening, I was, however, feeling tired so almost did not go but I am glad I did.

This is a new work, commissioned in 2011, I am a big traditionalist so wondered if I would enjoy it or not.

Usual problem with Covent Garden, the sound lacks depth and volume but it did get better as the performance went along. Act one was slow and the plot needed to be developed more quickly. By act three it was moving at a pace. 

The tap dancing Mad Hatter was very good and almost the star of the show. Almost. The number one has to be Laura Morera as The Queen of Hearts. Ballet is all about music, dance and mime, her mime was the finest I have ever seen in any ballet performance.

The costumes were the also the very best I have seen in any performance, quite spectacular. The scenery ?  OH DEAR. Sorry but I am a traditionalist, I do not want film and cinema effects in a ballet.  The use of a smart phone at the very end of the ballet was an anti-climax. Dressing the Knave in jeans and a tee shirt did not work. I understand the significance and what the producer was trying to achieve but a curse, the zombi phone, of the twenty-first century did not fit easily in a Victorian story.

Something I particularly like about The Royal Ballet is the children from the ballet school being included in the production.  (All the Billy Eliots) That did not happen last night save for a few small roles, very small roles, in act three. Shame.

The music was good as a background to the story and the dancing but it was only background music, like that you could expect in a film. There was no theme to take away in my head by which I could remember the ballet. THERE WAS NO HOOK !

Costumes - 11 out of 10

Scenery - 4 out of 10

Dancing - 10 out of 10

Music - 4 out of 10

Hook - MINUS 1 out of 10

Returning to the car to drive home I put a CD with Tchaikovsky's ballet themes, the HOOKS, into the player and turned up the volume.  If you want something to be a success and to be remembered it has to have a hook. Listening to the CD I wondered what could be considered the HOOKS within the OurRebekah events we have organised.

For our Frog Challenge which raised more than £300 it has to be Mayor David Hopkins wandering about with a python wrapped round his neck.

Mayoress Susan said to me, he will never touch that snake !  Touch it ? He could not put it down.

What about the Fun Run ? The fun run made more than £1,500.

There are two hooks for me. That group photo at the end where we are all wearing our medals and young Tyler standing by the 3k marker.

As I trotted past that marker myself I thought - HALF WAY - god I am knackered but at least I am on the home straight - well almost.

I am proud of these two events and all who made them possible, events with HOOKS to be remembered.

So what about the events we have running and those we have in the planning stages ?

Sheffield Wednesday ?

The hook will come after we have made the presentation at Hillsborough on Saturday 18th November and the crowd starts SINGING THE BLUES.

The Bridge House ?

During the two intervals at the ballet last night I took out my notepad and scribbled about five hundred words to add to the story. When The Bridge House is published in May next year all royalties will be given to Ronald McDonald House Birmingham.

Hook ?

The hook will come in the last few paragraphs of he final chapter when I pull everything together and people will say AH as it finally drops into place and all the preceding chapters take on a new meaning.

The story has reached 1946, my father has recently lost his older brother Billy when his Lancaster Bomber was shot down over Germany in the final weeks of the war. My Dad is serving as a signaler with the RAF in Egypt.

I am convinced he was nothing of the sort, I believe he was a spy and so I have written him into the story as a spy. That in itself, I guess could be a hook !

I spent most of yesterday working on a presentation to bring in all the people we need to make our Acrophobia Challenge happen in January, February and March next year.  I am not sure yet where the hook will be but think it may well be a musical hook. Perhaps the biggest hook we have in any event.

The project involves three cities, Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol.

Three cities, four tall buildings in each and each city with its own Ronald McDonald House.

Liverpool is the world capital of pop music.

There is one particular song which the city has adopted as its own. CLICK HERE AND LISTEN

I am sure when all the buildings have been conquered that will be the HOOK for the project.

That theme so much sums up the work of Ronald McDonald House and the way it cares for families with a child sick in hospital.

WALK ON AND YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE.

Yes, that will, be the HOOK for this project.

Now that should be the end of today's blog BUT I have forgotten to tell you - silly fool me - sponsorship for the goals Sheffield Wednesday score on Saturday 18th November has now reached £100 per goal !

RESULT !

HOOK !