This year, as has been our custom of late, as a group we decided not to send Christmas cards but to donate to our chosen charity – The Alzheimers Society.
This is a particularly relevant charity to several members of our group, who have relatives and friends sadly suffering from this debilitating disease. We raised £94 from our Friday class, an amount which we were very proud of.
Even former class members and their families gave readily; keep fitters from other classes too. Donetta, who now lives in sunny Spain, sent her own contribution
Alongside this initiative, we were challenged by Jacky to produce an array of cakes for the coffee morning which she was to organise at her church – a place where we sometimes are lucky enough to rehearse on a Saturday. (We love going there as they do coffee and toast half way through the session!)
There were mumblings of “I hope Tesco’s has got something nice on offer this week…” but nevertheless we all trouped into the Dance Exchange with tins of various sizes and Jacky went home laden with the delicious offerings.
The following morning, aided by Josh her son and other church members, she quickly sold nearly every crumb and along with the proceeds from a raffle and a donation from a husband to make it a round number (!); altogether we raised an astonishing £500, including our Christmas card money.
It was a good excuse to try out a variety of delicious creations – Shirley probably thought we had to work twice as hard to burn the calories off, but hey ho…and more importantly the money will be put to great use to maybe come up with a cure in the not too distant future.
M. Starkey Birmingham KFA.