I don't believe it!

Journal Picture


It’s difficult to express my emotions today, after such an incredible experience yesterday at Charlton Farm. The days leading up to the Celebration Granny Trek were increasingly exciting and tense, as all the plans were completed, and on Friday evening Diane telephoned to tell us that the number of walkers was 180 and rising! The weather forecast was for sunshine and showers, and during Friday night the rain fell heavily on the heavy clay, turning it to slippery, soft, brown sludge.

A call from BBC Radio Bristol on Friday afternoon, booking me for an interview at 9-15 on Saturday morning, meant we must start off really early, so Nanny decided to come and stay the night. I rose before the crack of dawn and took Rudi and Fritz for a good run, to ensure their good behaviour throughout the day. They had looked really beautiful, following a thorough grooming on Friday, but by the end of their walk they were covered in mud, necessitating the use of the hose pipe! Fortunately their coats are very forgiving and they soon looked beautiful again.

We arrived at Charlton Farm soon after 8 o’clock to find Louise, Paul, Naomi and Terry fighting a strong, cold wind for control of the two marquees. There was that frightening feeling that nothing would be ready, but Louise has never let us down yet.

Terry drove me to the BBC in Whiteladies Road and I was delighted to discover that my interviewer would be Ali Vowles, a firm favourite of ours on BBC Points West. She was friendly and supportive and the five minutes went really well. I hope to have Steve put it on the website for you to hear.

On our way back to Charlton Farm, the news came on Radio Bristol and, lo and behold, I was on the news! It was the strangest feeling as Ali read out about Granny Trek and our Celebration Day. Of course, everything was ready and walkers had started arriving, along with Eddie Farwell and Lizzie. Before we knew it, it was time to make the presentation, and Julia and I handed the cheque for £37,500 to Eddie, to the accompaniment of Rudi’s vocal encouragement (as usual!) in front of a huge crowd of walkers. Then the walkers all trooped off, including Tony and me taking the 2 milers. It was great that all the family were there – the grandchildren following Granny’s example and striding out (well, most of the time!) except little Maisy, of course, who viewed everyone enigmatically from her perch on her Daddy’s back.

Nanny Julia did a great job of taking in the money, with Fritz and Rudi for company. They were tied to the leg of her trestle table and all went well until Valerie Sparkes entered the tent with her two sweet little Papillion dogs. In an instant the trestle table, with its money and sponsor forms, flew across the tent attached to my careering Finnish Lapphunds, and chaos reigned briefly. But Nanny was supremely calm and order was swiftly restored.

The lunchtime soup was scrumptious – made from butternut squash – and although the walks were hazardous with wobbly stiles and slithery mud, everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time. There was so much happiness and goodwill and a bonus was to meet up with many Nailsea friends that I hadn’t seen for over twenty years, as well as many new friends made over the last months of Granny Trek and new faces glowing with friendship.

There must have been two hundred people there during the day and the money kept coming and coming. Julia began to look aghast as she hurriedly totted up figures whenever she had a moment to breathe, and by the end of the day everyone was stunned at the result. Including the pledges and the Barclays doubling, the total is conservatively £15,000!! It’s just unbelievable and incredibly humbling. It makes the toil of last summer so hugely worthwhile and even though I’ve now typed the figure and told several people – I still can’t believe it! About £1200 had already been banked before the day, so we guess £51,300 is about right at the moment, but Tony is positive that there is still some that we don’t know about and I haven’t yet worked out the Gift Aid total. As the modern saying goes – watch this space!