Kate's Chat

OCTOBER: Despite having no arranged events, October has proved to be a successful fund-raising month. Last week we heard that we are going to receive £500, plus a little bit extra, from the Frimley Green Carnival Committee. One Saturday night in October, the Holly Bush pub in Headley held a charity disco and raised over £100 for KatCanDo. We are extremely grateful for both these donations. We were also delighted to receive £500 from a gentleman who wishes to remain anonymous.

We have now received our  registered charity status from the Charity Commission.

The trustees will shortly be considering several medical requests for cancer-related equipment so I hope to bring you news on this next month.

Calendar - For latest calendar info please click here.

AUGUST: Plans for the production of the “Calendar Girls”- style 2005 male calendar are progressing well. Shooting starts on Monday 9th August and we have managed to con(vince) at least 5 dishy Consultants at Frimley Park Hospital that their careers can only be enhanced by posing for such a classy production.

This is definitely going to be the must-have calendar for next year (if not the next decade) so don’t make plans to buy anything else!

Watch this space for details of price and first issue date.

JULY: Our next event was the Frimley Green Carnival on July 11th. The theme was “tropical” so my sons, Greg and Ben decorated our mini and 7 of us mad fools braved the cool temperature and threatening rain to dress in short grass skirts and “salsa” our way along the procession route. Despite Chris being a dance teacher and Angela having been to salsa classes, I think it’s fair to say we were pretty hopeless, even though Greg tried to keep us in line by conducting through the sunroof.

Nevertheless, the Mayor of Surrey Heath couldn’t resist the sight of 7 middle-aged women in such appealing attire and awarded us 1st prize for best float in the “miscellaneous” section.

As we reached the green the atmosphere was fantastic and Angela turned to me and said “now I know how Princess Diana felt when she was on her walkabouts”. I think you’re getting ideas above your station, Angela! It was great to hear the cheers/heckles of our comrades, who had cowardly rejected the chance of notoriety by taking part in the parade to run our cake stall. There was a truly stunning display of cakes of all sizes, plus 2 trays of freshly made vegetable and meat samosas, which proved very popular. A big thank you to everyone who baked and helped us raise a magnificent £250 on the day. Also, as one of the beneficiaries of the overall carnival proceeds, we will be receiving some more money in November, so all in all it was a fun and very worthwhile afternoon.

JUNE: We then held a car boot sale at the Mytchett Canal Centre on 5th June. When one of the organisers saw my husband, Steve, trying to park our car and trailer in a suitable position for putting up our tables (accompanied by two other car loads of items for sale), he cheekily (but rightly) accused us of not having done this before. However, our charm and persuasive sales technique/arm twisting, enabled us to raise over £200, which I don’t think is bad for car boot novices! Thanks to everyone who donated items and helped on the day.

MAY: A big thank you to all who took part in the 10 mile, hilly Charity Walk from Shalford Park near Guildford on 25th April—our first organised fund raising event. I hope you all enjoyed the day and especially the refreshments afterwards - Steve’s plastic is still smarting!” There are plenty of photos on the Photos page and to read an account of the walk from a weary supporter click here. I was hoping to raise approximately £2000 from this one event, but in the end we raised nearly £7000, which was fantastic