Easter 2009

This may take some time, so may I recommend that you find a comfy chair, a nice cup of tea and a few ginger nuts for dunking?

We need to talk about being credit crunched.

Everyone, of course, is being affected by the ‘financial downturn' (such a genteel, low-key expression, I always feel …) but as you'll probably appreciate, small charities like this one have been amongst the first to feel the full impact of it. When people are nervous about the future – about pensions and jobs and investments – they take a good long look at their outgoings and cut back where they can.

Many people have contacted us to say that – for now at least – they're having to cancel standing orders and/or donate less towards healing treatments. At the same time, due in no small part to rising stress levels, the demand for what we offer is increasing.

Our commitment to treating everyone who comes to us in need - irrespective of whether or not they can offer to make a donation – remains unchanged. We turn no-one away.

You don't need to be an economist to work out where that scenario could lead if we're not very careful.

We've therefore had to sit down and consider our financial position, and as a result, we've taken one or two hard decisions.

The first is about this Newsletter. Our mailing list has grown over the years to just short of 3,000. We keep saying we're happy to take people's names off it if they've grown tired of what I like to think of as my cheerfully unhinged approach to newsletter-writing, but hardly anyone ever takes us up on the offer. Previously, the Newsletter has always raised as least as much as it costs us to send out (about £1,000 per mailing), so – in terms of PR alone, it's always been a worthwhile exercise. The LAST newsletter, however, failed to break even. We can't see that the situation is likely to improve any time in the immediate future so – at least for the moment – we've decided to send out just ONE Newsletter – and this is it.

If you don't think you can survive without your twice-yearly fix of mildly diverting waffle, there are other options – so don't despair.

For those with an internet connection, there'll be up-to-date news both on the Centre website (cccare.org) and on my blog – ‘From the Centre Manager's desk …' – (www.centcompcare.wordpress.org) which is updated three times a week and contains all the news that's fit to print (and won't get us sued).

Also, every month I write a page in the local Parish News. If you're not IN this parish, you'll find that on the blog, too.

Alternatively, if you become a Friend of the Centre, you'll receive a newsletter bi-monthly (that's every other month) or thereabouts … my idea of ‘bi-monthly' is a bit – well – elastic, as existing Friends very well know.

By the way – if you ARE on the internet – could we ask you to consider receiving this Newsletter by email? If you're happy to do that …could you please tick the relevant box on the enclosed form and send it back to us. True, it'll only save us the cost of one sheet of paper, one envelope and a 2 nd class stamp, but it all helps …

Speaking of helping, there are many ways you can do so.

Firstly, could we ask our friends and clients – when they're looking at their finances with a view to deciding where they can make some savings – to remember that we have to survive in the same economic climate that's squeezing their resources. We can't survive on goodwill alone.

We have it on very good authority that small charities around the country are going down like flies – and some of the bigger ones are looking distinctly green around the gills, too.

There are other ways to help, of course … some financial and some in kind.

Which brings me to the second big decision that we've had to take – this time about fundraising events. In past years, we've run around like little headless chickens organizing many small fundraising events … concerts, table top sales, book sales, what have you … that have actually cost more to set up and run than they made – especially if you factor in the time and effort involved in carting stuff around, setting it up, selling it and taking it all down again. We've also very nearly ruined several good volunteers doing it.

However you look at it, it's nuts to carry on. So from now on we're concentrating on big events only … unless someone comes along with the offer of – say – running a marathon for us, for instance – which only involves us in providing the paperwork.

Funny you should mention marathons … because there just happen to be two coming up:

On April the 26 th Gretchen's son-in-law Bob Stern (who is a philosopher and is therefore lovely, but a bit devoid of sense) is running in the Sheffield Half-Marathon for us. Wife Crosby , and offspring Adam and Lucy (being infinitely more sensible) are taking part in the three-mile fun-run on the same day. If you'd like to sponsor the Stern Family in their selfless efforts, you'll find the wherewithal on the accompanying form.

On May the 17 th our old friend Andrew Easterby (for the avoidance of doubt – that's ‘old' as in ‘he's been a friend for a long time', not ‘old' as in ‘enough to know better') is taking part in the Great Manchester Run . Again … your support on the enclosed form would be very welcome indeed.

If you genuinely can't afford to contribute to the Centre financially … and we fully accept that that is the case for many people … then please consider the OTHER ways you can help us.

Volunteering: As you will see below, we have three big events coming up this year and we're going to need all the help we can get for them. We need people to man stalls, sell raffle tickets, bake cakes, park cars, take money, set up, clear away, serve tea and sandwiches - or just be friendly and welcoming, if that's what you're good at.

PLEASE, if you can spare any time at all , we'd really appreciate hearing from you.

We also need regular volunteers for clerical chores like folding newsletters, stuffing envelopes and recycling greetings cards – or, for the more outdoorsy-types amongst you, gardening. Wednesday every week is the day all of this happens and – although it's not exactly a bribe … we reward everyone who turns up with lunch – in which CAKE features prominently.

If you would like to come along, please could you ring beforehand – because quite apart from anything else, we need to know how many to cater for.

Should you decide to help with the garden, you might run into the apprentices from Shepley Engineering . This is a really exciting development for us, which has come about through the good offices of the Cumbria Community Foundation (of whom, more anon). Shepley Engineering (the brains and muscle behind – among other things – St Pancras Station) are running a pilot project here aimed at both developing the apprentices' technical skills and their social awareness, through learning about the Centre and working with our volunteers. They are already at work on wheelchair access to the garden, refurbishing the path which leads from the front drive up through the arch into the sunken garden.

While we're on the subject of the garden, (please pause for a moment to admire the way one section of this Newsletter segues seamlessly into the next …) this is probably an opportune moment to thank everyone who's helped us get it back on its feet.

We have repeatedly pleaded for local support to keep the Centre going and to develop the healing garden as an integral part of the therapeutic work we do. We're working to restore the garden to its Victorian pattern and usage, providing pleasure, solace, inspiration and education to our clients and their families, volunteers, art groups and friends of the Centre who stop by for a few minutes' peace. We need all the help we can get.

To our delight, the West Cumbria community has responded magnificently to our Garden Appeal and it seems only right and proper to acknowledge the terrific support we have had this year from local funders.

The Cumbria Community Foundation (yes, them again …) got the garden ball rolling by funding a power chair to enable a volunteer with a disabling illness to reach every nook and cranny, high and low, in his task of helping to create a sensory garden. It has been a great success and made his gardening work much more effective and much more fun. The chair is useful for any workers or visitors with mobility problems, who would otherwise be limited to a tiny part of the garden.

The ever-helpful, ever-generous Sellafield Charity Snowball Fund made a donation towards other essential garden equipment, which explains why our lawns always look tidy and our hedges trim. The Friends of the Lake District made it possible to repair the wall of the walled garden, which was not only potentially lethal, but also resembled a bad set of teeth with gaps where capstones had gone missing. Fluor then funded a greenhouse, being built where the original Victorian glass house was. Now we can propagate to stock our flower beds, enlarge vegetable production and re-create an orchard of old species of fruit trees and bushes.

Grants from the Lake District National Park , Nuvia Ltd , the CN Group , HSBC and the Lions Club of Whitehaven have bought the initial plants and supplied general garden needs. Nuvia also arrived with a crew of volunteers to dig and plant the first fruit trees where the old cankered apples were. Those trees will shortly be joined by others against the now-secure wall and also in the nuttery we are establishing.

Our thanks to them all.

Right … enough of the garden - back to other business, of which there is much:

Gifts in kind are always welcome. We have a permanent and on-going need for jumble, books, old jewellery, unwanted presents, toiletries, old ornaments and china – in fact – anything saleable. Our eBay sales are thriving (we've made over £500 since the beginning of the year, which is not to be sneezed at) and the turnover in The Butler's Pantry where we sell stuff here at the Centre is pretty impressive, too.

You can access our eBay sales page from our website by the way – click on the ‘Donations' tab, and select “Purchase goods from our eBay account” from the drop-down menu.

2009 Major Events:

First on the horizon is Muncaster Castle 's annual Festival of Fools – Sunday 24 th of May to Thursday 28 th of May. This, of course, is when the Castle chooses its new Fool (to walk in the steps of the original Tom Fool – a thoroughly nasty piece of work if there ever was one …) and the castle grounds are given over to jesters, street entertainers, walkabout artists and sideshows. As ever, we'll be running said sideshows for the whole five days, and taking the proceeds therefrom, so we really DO need all the help that's available, please. If you have any time at all to spare on any of those days, let us know and we'll love you forever. Really. We will.

Next up is a rather special event. You see, it was in 1989 that Gretchen first set up shop in a converted barn down the Birkby Road , which means (if you work it out on your fingers and toes) that – against all odds - this year we celebrate our 20 th Anniversary . By one of those odd quirks of fate which happen from time to time if you hang out with us a lot, it turns out that it's also the 10 th Anniversary of the Cumbria Community Foundation – who have been faithfully supporting us for most of that time. They helped us survive the Foot and Mouth outbreak, when we had to close the Centre; they paid several salaries for us; they've funded volunteer schemes … and all with a minimum of fuss, fanfare and bureaucracy.

We therefore thought it would be a great idea to throw a party – to stick two fingers up to all the Men in Suits who shook their heads and said we stood as much chance of survival as a frog in a blender; to say ‘thank you' to the Cumbria Community Foundation and everyone else who has helped us over years – but most of all just to kick up our heels, let down our hair and simply celebrate the fact that joyless, unimaginative nay-sayers, Foot and Mouth, 9/11 and sub-prime mortgages all failed to bring us down.

We took a look at the diary, and decided that SATURDAY, AUGUST 22 ND seems a pretty auspicious day and with breathtaking originality, we've christened it The Great 20 & 10 Birthday Party (look, it was late and we were tired – okay?)

Among the planned attractions are live music indoors and out (weather famously permitting), refreshments, some of our ritzier stuff for sale, tombola, garden tours, birthday cake for all and a really classy raffle … plus anything else we dream up between now and August.

Central to the day, however, will be a short Thanksgiving Service (held out of doors in the ‘secret garden' if the weather is kind) led by our Patron The Right Reverend George Hacker, retired Bishop of Penrith.

Doors open at 10.00am and the Thanksgiving Service is scheduled for 11.00am .

Inevitably, an event on this scale won't run itself – so if you can help out either during the day, or before and/or after, please sign up as soon as possible, so that we know where we are, volunteer-wise.

Finally … and I apologize now for uttering a dirty word … we have our Christmas Fair on Saturday November the 14 th . All the usual attractions will be in place, including Christmas cards and gifts for sale, the infamous trivia quizzes and the 2010 Centre calendar.

If you'd like to be contacted nearer the time when the Calendars and/or trivia quizzes are available, just let us know on the enclosed form and our high-tech filing/notification system will hum effortlessly into action. (Translation: I'll find a cardboard box and write ‘Christmas 2009' in big wobbly capitals. I might even stretch to alphabetical order).

While I'm on the subject of Trivia Quizzes, there's just space and time to mention the winners of the 2008/2009quizzes.

Trivia Quiz (the one for normal people):

1 st :     with a score of 99 out of 100 – Tony Pennick of St Bees.

Joint 2 nd :    with a score of 98, Mary Hart of Allonby and Sally Breach of Lowestoft .

Abandon Hope (the one for wild-eyed, card-carrying loonies):1 st :     with a score of 48 out of 50: Mary Hart as above.

2 nd :     with 47 out of 50: Tony Pennick - as above.

3 rd :     with 46 out of 50: Jon Pennick of Broughton Astley.

If you haven't received a copy of the answers, they're still available. Either call in and pick them up, or get in touch,say ‘please' and we'll put them in the post to you.

Easysearch:

 Here's a wizard way of raising money for us – without ever leaving the comfort of your own home. Do you have an internet connection? Do you ever use Google to look for things? If the answer to both of those questions is “Yes”, then use Easysearch instead.

All you have to do is set our unique Easysearch page as your homepage, and use it instead of Google everytime you search the web. If you use it just 10 times a day, in the space of a year you could raise £20 or more for the Centre – which they pay directly to us. It's as simple as that. It combines several engines – Yahoo!, Ask and MSN, among others – so it's a useful piece of kit.

To find our Easysearch page, just go to:  easysearch

and search for “Centre for Complementary Care”. Set the resultant url as your home page (any passing 5 year old should be able to tell you how to do that … and if you don't have a 5 year old handy, give me a ring or email me – it's very straightforward).

That's it for this time around. You should find that the enclosed form includes everything you need to volunteer and/or register an interest … but if you have any comments or suggestions to make in response to anything in this newsletter, then we'd be delighted to hear from you.

----o----

MKB/7.4.09

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