Page 361 - She's One Crazy Lady!

building. It was at The Priory where we met Father Christmas!! True story! We were in their bar early one evening having had a stall there selling tombola and raffle tickets when this man offered to buy us ladies a drink. I looked at him and immediately said,
“Oh, you’re Father Christmas!”
“I AM Father Christmas!” he replied. ‘Bob’, as we got to know him, had the appearance of a good old-fashioned, Father Christmas that you see on the front of a Christmas Card – a white beard, white hair, a ruddy complexion and very kind eyes.
“Oh!” I said, My mind was whirring – we had a Christmas Function coming up shortly...
Bob kindly brought us all a drink and I jumped in and asked if he would consider coming along to our Ladies Who Love to Shop Evening. He didn’t hesitate in saying yes. Whoopee! We set up a Father Christmas Corner for visitors to pay to have their photo taken with him and found a wonderful roaring fire backdrop on Amazon to create the right atmosphere. When he stepped out in his outfit he really did look like the ‘real’ Father Christmas – he was so, so good and so lovely with everyone who went to sit with him – his smile was so warm – he made a lot of people happy that night and was kept very busy!
We had many loyal members who raised funds for us every year:
• Ann Newton and her friend Anne Levison, who made and sold cards, raising thousands of pounds.
• Jenny Ward who ran a hair salon in Northampton, who held a Golf Day and organised numerous raffles in her salon – even donating a large sum when it was her and her husband’s Silver Wedding – something that so many people did when they celebrated special days in their life.
• Julie Pratt who we first met when we moved into the office and were
getting the costs of a new kitchen sorted (which we didn’t have to “ spend out on thanks to Waites, next door, donating and fitting one for
us). It transpired Julie (known as ‘Stevie’) was just three days older than
me and was a very smart, bubbly person. She had been diagnosed
with breast cancer long before we knew her but was devastated when
her cancer returned. Nothing stopped Julie though and she lived life
to the full, organising many different events and attending nearly all
our events – even insisting on giving me ball gowns to wear – and –
doing a skydive!! We loved Julie – she was inspirational and proved
to be a great loss when she sadly passed away. Her family continued
to support us and her sister, Angie, came on board as a Committee
member wanting to keep Julie’s legacy alive.
Nothing stopped Julie though and she lived life to the full. ”
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