Tuesday 15 December 2009

No cards thanks

I was in Edinburgh yesterday and was knackered by the time I got home last night. I wont be working too hard at home today. I am back there again on Thursday for a team meeting followed by a Christmas party. It will be awful. I saw the following in the horoscope in The Metro and will be waiting patiently today to be contacted!

The main reason for this blog posting is to tell you about my personal Christmas card decision.

Last year I decided not to send any Christmas cards and instead made a contribution to the Christies Young Oncology Unit which was being supported by Thomas Buckley. This brave young man was suffering from terminal cancer and sadly died in May this year aged only 24. He achieved his aim of walking from the east to the west coast of England and raised a huge amount of money in the process.

This year I be making a charitable contribution to Help For Heroes, a charity that aims to support our injured servicemen and women. Their projects include an £8m swimming pool complex at Headley Court, £3.5m to Combat Stress and now they are working hard to raise a further £20m to fund and build seven Recovery Houses across the Country.

I made this decision after reading about an 18 year old soldier called Craig Wood who lost his left arm and both legs in a bomb attack in Afghanistan. Craig will never get to do many of the things that we take for granted and has paid a huge price for simply wanting a career in the army. Whether you are for or against the war in Afghanistan, you will no doubt support the individuals who are doing a dangerous job and the ones that survive with horrific injuries deserve lifelong support. Craig's story is upsetting reading.

The environmental impact of sending Christmas cards is crazy anyway, so next year you may want to consider doing the same.

3 comments:

  1. Great idea. More true to the giving spirit of the holidays than a card.

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  2. I often don't send many - but that does tend to be down to inertia!

    I do get and respect the reasons why people don't send cards, but for me it is my only point of contact with some people... another area to try harder in!

    Andrew

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