Extreme Knitting Redhead: ARUK Coffee morning continued

Monday, June 3, 2013

ARUK Coffee morning continued

Something strange is definitely going on as my font and spacings seem to have gone awry and no matter what I do they keep defaulting to this. Humph! I'll just post details of the coffee morning and save the other stuff for when I've sorted it out.

So, on friday 31st May we held our coffee morning and cake sale to raise money for Alzheimer's Research UK.

It was absolutely brilliant. The sun shone and loads of people came to support us and they were all very generous. We took the scarf along to show people, together with my Guinness World Record certificate, both of which made a great talking point. People were amazed at the length and weight of it - we hung it over a door so they could see just what a monster it is (now why didn't we take a photo of that at least?!!!!).

The pub in our village and from another village nearby both donated a 2 course meal for 2 people and we had lots of other prizes so the raffle did very well. So many people had been busy making cakes and biscuits too.

Sadly, because we were so busy, I have hardly any photos. Even Mike, who usually snaps away and records everything, was so busy talking to people that it wasn't until we were packing things away that he realised, so all I've got is a few shots of some of the cakes beforehand and 3 of the ladies who helped out on the day.

The naughty computer is still stretching things sideways so the lovely ladies look rather strange shapes!

Left to right - Katie (Ann's daughter), Ann & Shirley

Some villagers enjoying the sunshine

I could hardly believe it when I counted the money at the end of the day as our total raised was £800!!! I'm still in shock, but in a nice way, and I just feel privileged to live in such a wonderfully supportive village. That evening, Mike and I took a walk down to the village pub and had a meal and a few drinkies to celebrate.

What a fantastic day and I think my village is definitely the best village in the world!

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.