BLIND DAVE'S BLOG

BACK ON TERRA FIRMA

06-12-2006

Back from his exploits in the New York marathon, Blind Dave Heeley from West Bromwich gets to switch on the Christmas lights in Wednesbury, and finds out his final fund-raising tally for theyear.

Hello Stirrers,

It's lovely to be back on terra ferma, New York was fantastic, but now it's back to every day things and concentrating on our variety night whichwas be the finale for our fund raising year, but what a very pleasant surprise the night before.

I was invited down to Wednesbury town centre for the switching on the Christmas lights ceremony, rubbing shoulders with the Mayor of Sandwell, both old and new and our very own Mr. Adrian Goldberg. It was certainly nice to be apart of such a thing, a totally new experience.

The visit was certainly made very worth while as the Mayor from last year,Bill Archer and his deputy Elaine Costegan presented me with a cheque for £15,000 which was money they raised through last year, as they had taken Guide Dogs for the Blind as one of their charities -the people of Sandwell proving how generous they are.

The family came down with me and it was a very pleasant evening, a bit fresh weather wise but the Wednesbury folk had done us proud, a little fun fair for the kids, late night shopping, Christmas carols sang by a children's group, tea's, coffee's, burgers and candyfloss, all mixed together with some friendly locals, what a good evening.

Next was my variety night at the Walsall FC Supporters Club.It wassuperb -no, much better than that. Inmy daughterGeorgie-lee's words it was Fantabulous! The night began with Miss Hayley Evetts. Her claim to fame wascompeting inthe first Pop Idol series, and she is currently starring as Sandy in the musical stage performance of Grease.

Next came a local Walsall singer songwriter Miss Caroline Seven, who recently performed at the Robin 2, then came the Black Country Boys, who certainly livened the night up. They started with numbers from the Blues Brothers, then the Rat Pack, before turningon the comedy with Freddie Starr's Hitler routine. The second half was opened by Mr. Shel McCrae, of the Fortunes fame, great to hear those classic songs again, then we had a Freddie Mercury tribute singer, no other words than brilliant and to finish the night a great soul band, Souled Out 2 Funk. Likeevery other time the'veplayed for us, theywere guaranteed to fill the dance floor.

This great night was held together and compared by Mr. Paul Burrell of Classic Gold Drive time, I also had that stalker again, Mr. Adrian Goldberg and his trusty video camera. In between we managed a few raffles, a couple of speeches but most important of all we presented a cheque to Guide Dogs for our year long fund raising campaign worth£50,112.88. Itmade all the hard work we put invery worthwhile.

I had a long chat to Hayley and her mad Scottish manager Fi and what always makes these nights worthwhile is the spin off's. Hayley not only has agreed to run the London marathon in 2008 for Guide Dogs buthas now persuaded the cast of Grease to donate all the money they've collected for charity on tour to go to Gide Dogs. Hayley isdue to complete her first album next year and she may also put on a show for us, a lovely start to 2008, what a star and what a result.

So that's2006 fund raising over, mind you 2007's efforts have already started. The fact is you relax a little, and here we go again,the dreaded cold crept up on me and from the Sunday I was feeling terrible. In fact it got me that bad I haven't run all week, that's really bad -and to top it all I haven't been out for a pint, which iseven worse. Rest is the order of the day and as Arnold always says, “I'll be back”, so here's Blind Dave signing off and just remember if you talk with me too long you might get roped into running those 26.2 miles or catch a cold, see you next week.

www.justgiving.com/blinddave