“Helping promote the campaigns, causes and charities that you believe in”
Give up a Gift for Africa – African Children’s Choir
Stockings are my favourite part of Christmas by a long way. There is such joy in choosing, tiny, personal gifts for loved ones; in wrapping them; in stuffing them down into the stocking in exactly the right way, filling the spaces with gold chocolate coins and sweet smelling clementines. I am so glad that Santa needs my help to create that perfect little moment of magic for my son every year. But Santa isn’t the only one who needs our help at this time of year. The African Children’s Choir, who performed with Gary Barlow at this...
read moreThis isn’t just a poverty issue -it’s a feminist issue
When I was growing up my mum worked from home repairing clocks, my dad was a postman. If you asked me what I wanted to do before the age of 15,which heralded rebellion for me, I would have said ‘mend clocks’. My parent didn’t smoke, I grew up a non-smoker. My parents have always voted Labour, as I have always done. So I can see how my parents beliefs and role-modelling had a huge part in how I developed from a child through to a woman to a mother. But… What if I had been born in Bangladesh? What if my mother was one...
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Grab your Christmas Jumpers! #whereswoolly !
Save the Children launches a social media campaign today called #whereswoolly to run until December 14th when it will be Christmas Jumper Day . Save the Children are looking for people to take photos of themselves wearing jumpers and tweet the photo with the hashtag #whereswoolly - it can be somewhere as unusual or fun as you like! Woolly jumpers will be popping up in unusual places, with Save the Children’s emergencies staff who have deployed abroad recently taking photographs of themselves in a Christmas jumper to ask...
read moreChildren’s charities benefit from rising living standards in the West
Whatever people might say about David Cameron’s Big Society, there is no doubt that, however tough the economy is right now, people are still managing to contribute an enormous amount to charities and this takes quite a bit of strain off the public services which otherwise would have to take the strain. This was always what the Prime Minister hoped would happen, not least because he thinks that privately run charities tend to achieve more with their money than state run bodies. Taking politics out of the equation, it is quite remarkable how...
read moreAre you an #ANIMALPERSON ?
To mark the inaugural Lush Prize, the cosmetics’ company has launched a social media campaign asking people stand up against animal testing by declaring they are an #ANIMALPERSON. Demonstrating how you’re an #ANIMALPERSON is simple; just upload a picture to Instagram or Twitter illustrating your love for animals and remember to tag it with the hashtag #ANIMALPERSON. To celebrate this initiative everyday until the end of this week (16th November) Lush will select their favourite image and giveaway a £100 Lush Cosmetics voucher. For...
read moreAre you an animal person?
Are you an #AnimalPerson? I am an all-kinds-of-animal-person. We don’t have any pets at the moment, because of where we’re living, but I have such fond memories of the dogs that we had growing up. There is nowt like a snuggle from an animal to warm your heart (and often your feet too, if said animal happens to fall asleep on them…) At the moment, we are having to make do with the squirrels in the park near our house. I’m down with that. I like the cheeky wee fellas. They are not as cuddly or as loyal as dogs, but I am...
read moreFrom One Election to Another
I was very envious of my American husband getting his Presidential Election ballot paper through the post a few weeks ago. There’s nothing I love more than sticking a tick in a box. (I wish I was joking, but I’m really not…) As luck would have it though, there’s an election that I have a vote in coming up soon too. On November 15th, we will be electing our new Police and Crime Commisioners – 41 of them across England and Wales. Now. I’ve not heard very much at all about these elections. I’ve not had...
read moreScope’s Keep Us Close Campaign
The disability charity SCOPE is currently running a campaign about the Children and Families Bill that the Government is currently putting through Parliament. The Bill provides a unique chance to get good local services for disabled children, and provide the essential support that families need. There are more than half a million families in the UK with a disabled child. Disabled children need schools and other services that are right for them and this can mean travelling a long way to get the right support. One dad told Scope: “My...
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