Hello all! I'm back again! I'll keep this fairly short as some of you will have just read War and Peace (that's what Hannah's calling her last blog post xD) but here's some bits and pieces from me...
The fundraiser on Sunday was just wonderful! I know I speak for both of us when I say we're so grateful to everyone who made it happen, especially the amazing Deb, and everyone who came. Public speaking is NOT my forte so I was kind of terrified - honestly I was more worried about standing up and talking in that hall than I am about walking across Britian! - but we got that out the way without the world ending (I am SO sorry to everyone for accidentally saying that the seventies were a really really long time ago, though - they weren't, I know they weren't, it was just the fear of being on stage and I forgot how to do maths and did my verbal diarrhoea thing that I always do when I'm terrified...) and aside from my ramblings it was a really fantastic night! The big highlight for me was, of course, meeting Gloria Jones and Harry Feld - WHAT IS MY LIFE?! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?! They both just walked in with no fanfare whatsoever and continued to be thoroughly lovely and just...just so normal...all night. Gloria is such an inspiration. She's warm and funny ("We have to get this thing built before Harry and I die!") and kind and not starry at all, but still has such energy and presence that you just know she's very special. As soon as she walked in it was obvious why Marc loved her. You can't not love her. Her speech moved me to tears, as I know it did with Hannah too, and her passion for this school, determination to get it built, and her love for Sierra Leone and its people are infectious. I really wanted to help with this project before - believe me I wouldn't be planning this insane walk if I didn't think it was a deserving cause - but having heard her speak...I can't tell you how important this place is. She talked about kids going to live on the streets out of choice because it seemed like the best option, how they want to go to school rather than having a life of weapons and ammunition, and how they go to visit the site of the school every day, looking forward to going there when it's built. We're so lucky in this country. We complain when the wifi stops working for half an hour and moan that we don't have anything we fancy in for pudding after our main meals. If we all club together and give a little bit each, we can do huge, life changing things for these children and their community. Gloria gave up a life of luxury to go and help, and it was an honour to be near her and speak to her. Harry, too, is just lovely. He told us stories of Marc before he was famous, and something that will stay with me forever is him coming over as we left the stage and saying 'You're just like Marc used to be'. Wow. I went slightly speechless at that. I don't know if he realised how much that would mean to me but frankly he's lucky I didn't burst into tears on him :P
It was also really lovely to meet the architects (Bolans Architects! What an awesome coincidence that name is!) - again, really nice people and I enjoyed chatting, but rather importantly they told us more about their plans for the building and we got to see the little model! It all sounded so exciting and it looks wonderful!
It was also really lovely to meet the architects (Bolans Architects! What an awesome coincidence that name is!) - again, really nice people and I enjoyed chatting, but rather importantly they told us more about their plans for the building and we got to see the little model! It all sounded so exciting and it looks wonderful!
Another great chat we had was with Gabriella from the Red Cross - and it's a small world, we grew up in the same town, and her best friend knows my brother apparently! But what was brilliant about talking to her was that she believed in the importance of this school as much as we do. A couple of people have said to me that there are bigger problems to try to solve, but she disagreed. Education is a path to a better future, to strengthening communities, being able to earn money and giving people skills to improve their situation for themselves. It's not a nice bonus thing, it's a necessity. Perhaps at some point I'll do a blog post about the role music plays in Sub-Saharan Africa, too - I studied it as part of my Masters degree - because it's important, and really interesting...I thought so, anyway :P I feel like it'd explain an extra bit more why I'm so drawn to helping this project in particular. We'll see...
I won't say too much more, as I'm in the middle of tweaking our route for day 2 and my thoughts and feelings are much the same as Hannah's anyway so you can read it from her, but a big hello to everyone else we met on Sunday - everyone was so kind and encouraging about the walk and it was really great to meet you all. Hello to Fee and Kevin (and thank you for the rose, I will do everything I can to keep it alive!), Emma, Jennifer, Gary, Paula, Sandy...everyone, to be honest. You were all lovely to us, even after my idiot moment when I implied you were all really old :P (I just want to say again - I really didn't mean it like that! I didn't! I just meant it's amazing how so many people still find so much happiness in Marc's music even though it wasn't exactly yesterday that he made it and...oh never mind...I'm going to stop digging...) I'm sure I've forgotten people I shouldn't have done. Brian! Hello to Brian! I'm glad we both got to thank you in person for 20th Century Boy...just...THANK YOU! We love you! xD <3
And lastly in my ramblings about Sunday - Hannah's counted it all up and we made a huge £158 through sponsorship and wristband/biscuit sales (that's just our part, the event itself made a lot more!) so thank you everyone who contributed to that, it's far more than we expected! <3 Just a couple of pounds here and there really does build up. Please know that even if all you can afford to sponsor us is a few pennies you found down the back of the sofa (I know what it's like to be poor, believe me), you're contributing to giving a whole bunch of children and their community a whole lot of hope and happiness and that's an amazing thing :)
I'll get back to my walk planning now...
KALMIYH,
Claire xx
I won't say too much more, as I'm in the middle of tweaking our route for day 2 and my thoughts and feelings are much the same as Hannah's anyway so you can read it from her, but a big hello to everyone else we met on Sunday - everyone was so kind and encouraging about the walk and it was really great to meet you all. Hello to Fee and Kevin (and thank you for the rose, I will do everything I can to keep it alive!), Emma, Jennifer, Gary, Paula, Sandy...everyone, to be honest. You were all lovely to us, even after my idiot moment when I implied you were all really old :P (I just want to say again - I really didn't mean it like that! I didn't! I just meant it's amazing how so many people still find so much happiness in Marc's music even though it wasn't exactly yesterday that he made it and...oh never mind...I'm going to stop digging...) I'm sure I've forgotten people I shouldn't have done. Brian! Hello to Brian! I'm glad we both got to thank you in person for 20th Century Boy...just...THANK YOU! We love you! xD <3
And lastly in my ramblings about Sunday - Hannah's counted it all up and we made a huge £158 through sponsorship and wristband/biscuit sales (that's just our part, the event itself made a lot more!) so thank you everyone who contributed to that, it's far more than we expected! <3 Just a couple of pounds here and there really does build up. Please know that even if all you can afford to sponsor us is a few pennies you found down the back of the sofa (I know what it's like to be poor, believe me), you're contributing to giving a whole bunch of children and their community a whole lot of hope and happiness and that's an amazing thing :)
I'll get back to my walk planning now...
KALMIYH,
Claire xx