2006 Air Ambulance

Wednesday 26 July 2006

In aid of The Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance

Amount raised: £2227

Running total to date: £11687

Our fifth charity event was in aid of the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance which is a charity Beechy has always supported.  

The Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance is a dedicated medical air service which first began operations in Lincolnshire in April 1994.

They are based at RAF Waddington, south of Lincoln, and unaffected by road congestion, country roads, heavy vehicles or road works the helicopter can reach any destination in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire in 19 minutes (from their info - didn't make it up!)

Every year they fly approximately 1000 missions and they are reliant upon charitable support to continue their work so we were happy to fund raise to help with their running and upkeep costs.  

As the rescue helicopter is yellow we decided on a dramatic black and yellow colour scheme this year!

We covered tin cans this year for our table centres - this meant that we were all frantically eating loads of beans and soup to get the tins!  We searched high and low to find a paper cutter in the shape of a small helicopter or aeroplane but no luck so in the end we had to make do with yellow hearts but they still looked very effective against the black background we sprinkled them on. 

Music was once again by the wonderful Manhattans and Ben's fabulous 'Shooting Star' disco - thank you once again for your continued support Ben.

And again we had a brilliant response to our appeal for raffle prizes - just look at this lot!

A few weeks before this event I had won this huge black and yellow cuddly wasp (think he's a wasp as he's got stingy things - but might be a bee?) at another charity raffle.  His colours were perfect for our event so he was immediately added to the raffle prizes (with much reluctance I might add - everyone needs a wasp/bee like this in their house don't you think?!..)  So he has already helped to raise funds in two raffles - and may still be doing the rounds helping out more charities!  

Does anyone know what happened to him?...

There's Aunt Margaret again - she's sitting with David (cousin) and his wife Christine - two more regular attendees.

 Although Aunt M is sitting quiet and pensive there we have seen another side to her...

She reminds us very much of mum (well they are sisters!) and is great fun.  In the pic on the left she is in disguise at another event (she was actually having a water fight!) and on the right she is sipping sangria from a jug with a long straw (as you do!) - with a glass of wine in the other hand!  Go Aunt M!!  Sorry - I digress...

For some reason once again we seem to have very few photos for this event.  If you have taken any which you would like to be included on the blog then please get in touch with us.


Beechy and Jules presented the cheque and had another write-up in the local paper.

And they added another 'well done' certificate to their growing pile!

More for Julie to put in to her scrapbook of proud achievements!

Another great night and another great result.

Thank you for your continued support.

2006 Seventies night - how it all began...

This wasn't actually one of our charity events but it was a 70's night which had been organised at The Elms in 2006.  As Ian was doing his official Beechy disco for the evening we decided to dress up and go along too.

This was probably how and when our wig collection started ...

...and it also gave us the idea for adding another event to our yearly charity repertoire.  We had actually organised several other smaller fund raising events such as pop quizzes and a darts tournament but it would be several years before we actually formalised a proper fancy dress event.

So for this 70s night at the Elms Julie opted for the Abba wig with a dinky silver sequinned baker boy hat.  Ian stayed true to his roots (no pun intended) with an out of control afro.

Mike went for the Rick Parfitt look - with a nod to hippydom in his tied head band.

My wig was the Linsey de Paul model.
All together now - Won't somebody dance with me, start up a romance with me..

Carol opted for the no wig look as she didn't want to get her hair messy!...

And this is how the wig swap started...

Julie and I have swapped wigs at every event we have been to.  It made us giggle as we'd just pop into the loo and secretly swap the wigs then act quite normally and people weren't sure at first if they were seeing things or were just totally confused!  But everyone joins in now and sometimes we end up having a right wigfest swaparound!

Even Carol was eventually persuaded to join in with a bit of swapping.  

I'm not sure who Mike reminds me of here but Carol looks like she is wearing a head of wet seaweed!...

This was another non charity party (cowboys and indians) - you may notice a pattern beginning to emerge...

I am wearing the Dolly Parton wig in this one and Julie has gone for the black Hiawatha look. Carol opted once again for the no wig look as she didn't want to get her hair messy!...

Mike went for a soldierly short back and sides and Robin decided on cigar, designer stubble, poncho and pistol waving.  

Once again we did swopsies but with moustaches this time and I don't remember where they came from - I have a vague memory that someone had them in their handbag but I have no idea why!..

A good moustache is so versatile and can be worn in many different ways...

Another non charity event for halloween - oh yes - there's a definite pattern here...

Mike was wearing the Morticia wig here (not to be confused with the Hiawatha) and Ian was not bothered about wigs - he was too busy trying to work out how to drink his beer!

This time Julie chose a natty red number with horns - I think the colour quite suits her - I wore a black and purple bob cut - and Carol opted for the no wig look as she didn't want to get her hair messy!...

Yes - with the benefit of hindsight you can certainly see how it all began!...

And this was how my children arrived for a family fun day at Robin's house - they definitely take after their Aunty Juju!  We had been talking about arranging an Olympics type sporting afternoon but unbeknownst to us Manchester outcasts the theme had changed to rodeo bull and cowboys - but no one had told the girls!

I think that they look as though they are auditioning for a 118 advert (shame we didn't keep the moustaches!) - not sure about the stiletto and leg warmer look though.

So basically this is how and why we started our in-between fancy dress events - we all like to have a bit of fun and dress up in silly costumes.  And if we can raise some money for charity at the same time - then even better!

You have now been introduced to many of our wigs and I'm sure that you will be able to spot them again in different guises on different people at many of our fancy dress evenings!

Happy hunting!