Page 189 - She's One Crazy Lady!

The county
goes crazy
March 15th 2002. “What a day!”
The build up to the Crazy Hats Day was intense right
from that memorable minute when Marilyn and I first
tried those hats on in Debenhams. Neither Marilyn,
nor I, let go of the idea of seeing this day through,
knowing the potential was there to raise such a lot of
money to support the Breast Cancer Unit at Kettering
General Hospital – to raise money in a fun way! It was
a crazy idea, for nothing had ever been done like this
before and it is a tribute to everyone that the Crazy Hats Day became a reality and a huge success. The enthusiasm and support from the children, the parents, the staff, the Headteachers, local companies, the general public and, of course, the hospital itself, grew like ripples in a pond. I must not forget my family here, for they were totally behind me, knowing the reasons why doing something like this was important. My brother and sister-in-law really threw themselves into it by completely decorating their market stall in Corby – the effort they put in was remarkable. The Evening Telegraph and other local papers had given, the event magnificent publicity and photographers went out to other schools taking part, snapping away at the hats on show and publishing a huge variety of photographs. Above all it was bringing Northampton- shire people together, for not only were they talking
about the day, but they were also talking about cancer more openly.
It was also a lot of hard work getting everything together and special thanks must go to the people behind the scenes who were so generous with their time and practical support: the Breast Care Team and other staff at KGH who were so keen, so patient and obliging, the press, the printers, the Post Room; the hat makers from Essex; my ex-music teacher and her choir... the list is quite exhaustive. I was being
“I must not forget my family here, for they were totally behind me.
”
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