Bob’s Blog Part 11 – Appears first in the Congleton Chronicle.
“Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house not a creature was stirring
Not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there”
That famous poem by Clement Moore! I loved it as a child, and used to read it to my children on Christmas Eve. Then they read it to their children….. and so the tradition goes on! The hustle and bustle of the night before Christmas – preparing the veg, getting out the best dinner plates, finding extra chairs, last minute present wrapping – and when all’s quiet arranging them under the tree for morning. First out of bed and the cry would go up, “He’s been!” Grand memories!
I’ll be off to my daughter’s tomorrow – my contribution to the festive meal is par –boiling the spuds for the roasties! – so I’ll soon be rolling up my sleeves and peeling spuds for six, accompanied by a glass of Baileys and Bing Crosbie singing White Christmas.
I’ve got some lovely festive news to share with you. Do you remember I mentioned the Christmas Toy Appeal run by CVS Cheshire East? It all started when Astra Zeneca asked for help with their annual appeal –(every Christmas staff would take a gift for a child to their Christmas parties) CVS Cheshire East got involved with sorting and distributing, and this year have been raising extra funds at events, like a recent footy game at Crewe Alex. Sally at CVS was looking for a local toy shop where she could spend some of the money raised, and asked me if I knew of any. Hmmm not many small local toy shops around these , but as it happened I had been out for a Sunday jaunt with my neighbours and called in at Glebe Farm – a lovely little shop there! I mentioned it to Sally and she had no trouble spending a few hundred pounds on more than 50 toys ! – but the best bit – Sally commented, “…although I only spoke to the shop last week, they got in touch with their suppliers and managed to source free toys for the appeal worth £252 with more to come!” Isn’t that great. Have to say that one of the BIG names was not at all interested in supporting the appeal. It really paid off to SHOP LOCAL
Got some not so nice stuff to pass on too this week – I get news alerts from Cheshire Police – one of the PCSOs sent me this message, so just to remind you,
“Christmas is a time for happiness but history shows that Crime increases at Christmas, Please keep all windows, doors and vehicles secure at this time of celebration.”
It’s a shame we have to think about crime at Christmas – but for starters never leave a load of presents on view in your car – make sure they are in the boot!
I noticed in last week’s Chron, there was a warning about not being taken in by CONMEN who prey on older people. It’s horrible really – they make out that you have been a victim of fraud and ask for your bank card details and personal ID numbers. Reading this you think , “I’ d never be taken in,” but these people can come across as very believable ! So remember – don’t let them in – always ask for identification first (you can check out if it really is police ID by calling 101) – and the police will NEVER ask for PIN numbers or passwords or for you to withdraw or transfer any money. Well that’s all from me – off to start the spuds….
Keep safe, keep well, and have a peaceful and happy Christmas
Bob Bear signing out until next week……