I have been walking around Melksham this weekend asking people to hug each other and have their picture taken ... why?

"Melksham has a heart"

Management Summary

* Melksham Needs Portable Defibrillators to help save lives.
* A Fund Raiser is running at the Assembly Hall on Sunday, 20th to support this
* I am taking pictures of pairs of people hugging to say "Melksham has a heart"
* If I haven't asked you yet, please pop in to Well House Manor to have your piccy taken

Background.

Melksham is 3rd from worst of 20 Wiltshire areas for heart attacks / strokes, and every minute delay without treatment / defibrillation lessens your chance of survival by 14%. Many communities have portable defibrillators with trained people nearby to use them and they save lives. But Melksham does not. And it's a long way to the RUH in Bath ... no wonder we're third from worst.

We should have portable defibrillators - and people trained to use them - at key point. Outside the Assembly Hall for starters, and perhaps 6 more spread elsewhere. They cost £1500.00 each, need secure locked cases and maintainance but they would SAVE LIVES.

Campaign.

Mel from the Assembly Hall is leading this one ... holding at event on Sunday, 20th November at the hall with lots of stalls. 10% of all takings to the cause. Plus raffle, a modest admission charge and she should be well on her way to the first machine. There are other sources of funding that may be tapped into, but those are often match funding - so for each pound Mel raises, she may be able to get a pound elsewhere.

The Heart pictures.

Lisa is putting together a montage - a whole lot of small pictures - of Melksham people hugging each other and saying "Melksham has a Heart". And so I've been walking around with my camera asking people to hug for Melksham. The final picture will be on show on 20th and we want YOU to come along and see if you can spot yourself. And we've still got room for more picture too.

"How can I help"? You ask

1. If you have not yet had your picture taken hugging someone, please pop in to Well House Manor on Spa Road, any day this week (that's up to Sunday, 13th November). One of the team will be happy to take your picture for Lisa to include on the montage.

2. Come along on 20th November ... that's a Sunday ... from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; I was having a chat with Mel earlier and understand there are some two dozen stalls booked already. We will have a limited number of prints of the montage for sale, and in this case ALL of the profits will go to the campaign.

3. If you have friends or relatives coming to visit you in Melksham over Christmas or winter weekend, but you're a bit tight for space, have them stay with us as Well House Manor. For stays of 2 or more nights, we're offering double rooms which are usually £95.00 for our lowest delegate rate of £72.00 ... and we'll donate 10% of that to the appeal. Please quote "heart" when booking.

Want to know more?

See the British Heart Foundation's website [here].
View the event Flyer [here]
Well House Manor - where to come to have your picture taken [here]

We have 65 different hug pictures ... can we make it 100?
(written 2011-11-06)

 Z403 - Organisations
  [3712] Some unpublished and historic pictures - Museum of Melksham - (2012-04-28)
  [3704] The Bowerhill Villager - a newsletter for Bowerhill, Melksham - (2012-04-22)
  [3677] Some advise for guest speakers at meetings - (2012-03-31)
  [3604] Melksham Campus - a blog you can read, and a place you can comment - (2012-02-08)
  [3484] A Melksham Timeline - Domesday to present day - (2011-10-17)
  [3317] Self Portrait (in words) - (2011-06-04)
  [2902] Community consultation - a true open input - (2010-08-04)
  [2869] Contact Information for Melksham Oak Community School - (2010-07-13)
  [2807] Canal through Melksham - the options and issues - (2010-06-13)
  [2585] Consultation in Melksham, on Melkshams future - (2010-01-17)
  [2574] Summary of Wiltshire Core Strategy responses - (2010-01-13)
  [2271] Dogs Trust, Dog Show, Newbury - (2009-07-06)
  [2236] Alumni - revisiting and supporting the old University - (2009-06-13)
  [2128] Wiltshire - where everybody matters - (2009-04-13)
  [2026] Melksham Climate Friendly Group - (2009-02-05)
  [2015] Service Excellence Awards - (2009-01-30)
  [2012] The Wiltshire Police - (2009-01-29)
  [1280] West Wilts - no longer Wet Wilts - show - (2007-07-28)
  [1278] West Wilts Show - (2007-07-26)
  [1258] A day looking ahead for Well House Consultants - (2007-07-05)
  [981] Finalist reception - Wiltshire Business of the Year - (2006-12-13)
  [472] Are you free on 29th October - Charity ball - (2005-10-21)
  [307] Farming yesterday - (2005-05-10)
  [58] Call Centres, selling, and a pause for thought - (2004-09-22)

Z950 - Purely Personal
  [3711] Kiss - (2012-04-28)
  [3602] Emerging proposals for land to the east of Spa Road, Melksham - (2012-02-03)
  [3566] Initial thoughts - response to GW Rail Franchise Consultation for Wiltshire - (2011-12-31)
  [3556] Aeryn at 1 - (2011-12-19)
  [3450] A threat in the post? Poor marketing practise from Smiletrain? - (2011-09-19)
  [3413] If its Sunday, must it be Weymouth? - (2011-08-30)
  [3298] Quiet Monday in - (2011-05-23)
  [3283] The juggler - (2011-05-08)
  [3240] Melksham Town Council - vacancy in the Spa Ward - (2011-04-10)
  [3224] Melksham Campus - a win / win opportunity, but a severely lacking decision process - (2011-03-31)
  [3108] My First Christmas - (2010-12-26)
  [3055] Zyliana Kyrei Cox - (2010-11-16)
  [3037] Looking back and forward personally - 6 years each way - (2010-11-08)
  [3034] Birth Notice - Aeryn Cassandra Ellis - (2010-11-07)
  [2982] Travel, Transport and Tourism - A vision for Melksham, 2026 - (2010-10-03)
  [2886] Congratulations, Kimberly - (2010-07-25)
  [2698] Ruth Davis, 1916 - 2010 - (2010-03-28)
  [2547] The great thing about snow .... - (2009-12-23)
  [2195] A two day gap - first time in five years? - (2009-05-24)
  [1051] Too busy to blog it - but it's great (mostly) - (2007-01-24)
  [1014] Christmas Season Piccies - (2006-12-30)

Back to The skull above the door in Melksham Town Hall

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to A colleague and friend who changed my life

PHP - moving from ereg to preg for regular expressions
Microblogging - what I should have tweeted in the last 48 hours
Olympic Torch - dates and places in Wiltshire in 2012
A colleague and friend who changed my life
Melksham has a heart - have your picture taken and support the defibrillator appeal
The skull above the door in Melksham Town Hall
Operator Overloading, Exceptions, Pointers, References and Templates in C++ - new examples from our courses
Destructor methods in C++ - a primer
Melksham Forward - meeting summary and pictures
Cold call contacts - preference services and turning off spam sales approaches