Something Funny for Money ...

Well, she did it!

Kezia pulled off her first fundraising feat with real style. Kezia had a target of 50 jumps over a 30 min period and her fundraising target was £100.

Well, thanks to the totally awesome support of everyone who sponsored her, she has raised to date over £140!

This money will give sight to 1 infant in Africa who is blind through cataracts; it will provide over 30 mosquito nets to protect children against malaria; it will vaccinate dozens of children against malaria; it will provide life saving oxygen support machines for children who are dying of malaria (in Africa 1 under 5 yr old dies every 45 seconds from Malaria); it will provide enough Plumpy Nut ( a peanut butter based foodstuff enriched with essentials medicines for severely malnourished children ) to feed over 20 children for a month and save them from death (1 in 7 children in sub-saharan Africa die before reaching the age of 5 and just over 40% of all child deaths now occur in the first month of life.) ... the list goes on

So thank you from the bottom of my heart. As someone who hates the unbearable injustice in this world I was overwhelmed by your immense support. For every little face that was shown on telly that night, I could just see my little Kezia and my heart broke to see so many children die needlessly; either from abuse, starvation, illness or war all over the world, including here in the UK - all of it preventable. how those poor parents cope having to face watching their babies die but for the price of a Big Mac Meal (£5) I do not know. But for once I felt that, thanks to Kezia's efforts and your generosity, I had contributed enough to make a signifiant difference to people's lives.

I was so proud of Kezia - she put her all into her fundraising. So, the big question is did she hit her target of 50 jumps in 30 mins? Check the edited video footage to see!

Today I will be mainly digging ...

This weekend we had the Hoopers up to visit to celebrate Chance's birthday as we have friends staying on his actual birthday weekend.

On Saturday Chance, Robin, Kez and I all went to the swings in Ampthill. Kezia found a stick and spent most of her time there moving from molehill to molehill to have a good dig ... I reckon that Welsh and Cornish Mining blood is making an appearance! Even when she was on the slide she had her stick in her hand and completed each ride with a quick stab in the ground before carrying on. It was hilarious! We laughed our heads off at her for most of the trip. It was great fun ... even the adults got stuck in!

The End of an Era ...

"The OU will never be the same again without Martin"

"It's the end of an era"

"He will be missed at every turn by every one of us"

"Martin was one of the best, if not The Best, person to have work for you"

These are just a few of the lovely things that many people said to me on the occassion of Pops' retirement.

The retirement party at The OU was an emotional affair. Over 150 people turned up for the party - quite a few of whom had retired from the OU many years before but had made special arrangements to travel to Milton Keynes to wish Pops well.

Quite a few of his staff dressed up in outfits that had been worn by dad's office to raise money for charities like Children In Need, The Salvation Army, Great Ormond Street ... the list goes on ...

There was a 'Martin quiz' which was brilliantly done, and an awesome presentation was given by Ruth where she had incorporated pictures of Pops on a great big projection screen. The photos that she had were from the past 35 years and were highly amusing. I had been scanning in photos like mad in the weeks before to send over to her! Not to mention frantically baking in the kitchen to make and decorate a cake big enough for 150 people!

Throughout the party there was Rock n Roll music being played, a non-stop stream of photos of Pops through the ages running on the wall and the mirror ball in the middle of the Old Lecture Theatre was especially fixed and made to work for the occassion too!

It was definitely evident throughout the whole event just how fond everyone has been of Martin throughout his entire working career and just how much respect they have for him - not just for his job role but because of the fair, honest and caring boss/colleague that he is.

And now for a personal note from me.
I have spent 31 years watching Pops trundle to and from The OU. I have learnt more from him about Higher Education and the running of The OU than from any of my OU bosses or work colleagues. I have listened to him talk about the good work and strong ethics of The OU and wanted to have myself that same belief in HE and what The OU can do. I listened to other people talk about what a fair boss he was - how he was always keen to promote and advance his staff - a quality sadly lacking in most other bosses at The OU. He really did represent what The OU was all about. A strong and tall pillar of OU ethics. Many would say the last bastion of how The OU used to be when it started. And what have I learnt from all of this? I have learnt that my father is deeply respected by all who meet him. I have learnt the importance of equality, of fairness and of second chances. I have learnt that to forgive is not the same as to be taken for a fool. I have learnt that second, third and fourth chances are not failures, so long as it is not the same mistake repeated each time. I have learnt to be patient with others and to respect their personal, ethical and work boundaries


But most of all pops, what I have learnt from you is how to be a good person. In this busy world we are all too eager to give quick congratulations and move on without telling someone really what they mean to you. How much their struggles or victories make you proud. How strong that person always seems and how proud you are just to stand next to them and be counted.Well, that's how I feel about you Pops. All through my life you have been my moral compass, the person I least wanted to ever disappoint, the person I always wanted to be as proud of me as I am of you. And I know you are proud of all of us. You love us all so much, you are so proud of us and it's only right that you should know the feeling is totally and utterly recipricated. I love you dad.

So - let's charge our glasses and give a HUGE toast to Martin. Well done boy. You made it out the other side! Here's to the next 50+ years of history, memories and fun.

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