Out and About Blog: Christmas Events Aplenty in This Week's RedShift Round Up

Liz 's Christmas tour includes Weston Lights, Richmond Village, Residence and the RedShift Christmas Party ...

How much can I cram into my article this week? It's been spectacularly busy and my plan was to go for a chronological approach ... but one event stood out as the highlight of my week.

Weston Christmas Lights

It's Sunday evening and I have just returned home from one of our community’s most fabulous events: The Weston Christmas Lights. I wasn’t feeling 100% on Friday for the launch night so I popped along tonight with my Mum and Michael-John. We were just a few minutes ahead of the switch-on so I was able to video it as each and every light sprung to life, and I have to admit, once again, I found the experience quite moving.

Graham Witter, from Carter Green’s Farm on Jack Lane, Weston, first opened his parents' farm five years ago to raise money for the Donna Louise Hospice, a charity very close to his family's heart.

Graham’s sister Jessica sadly passed away on New Year’s Eve 2015 and had received a huge amount of support and respite care from the Donna Louise. Please help Graham and his family smash the fantastic £22,680 raised last year by popping down between 6.15pm and 9pm every single evening until 28 December.

You can enjoy the wonderful lights, a chat and selfie with Santa, and even an ice cream from the Whitby Morrison ice cream van in return for a donation.

Richmond VillageTraditional Christmas Market

On both Saturday and Sunday I enjoyed the Richmond Village Traditional Christmas Market. I was playing the festive tunes with RedShift and also running my Tropic Skincare stand. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, watching the children enjoy a festive donkey ride and face painting by former RedShift presenter, Sharon from Hullabaloo Kids.

South Cheshire Chamber Business Awards

On Friday last week, I hosted my annual four-hour Chamber Business Awards Show. I love being able to chat to the winners and sponsors in more detail than the time allows on stage at Crewe Hall at the Awards themselves. The AudioCasts from the show are available to listen to via our website www.redshiftonline.org.

RedShift Community Hub Christmas Drinks

Back to Thursday of last week and it was another special annual event - our Community Hub Christmas drinks at the Residence of course!  We had a lovely evening and must say a huge thank you to Ben Rafferty and his team for looking after us so well and sponsoring our canapes and welcome drinks.

RedShift Team Christmas Party

I am looking forward to our team Christmas party tonight at Regent’s Park. It has been organised by our youth volunteers who have invited the #ClimbKili2017 walkers to thank them for the fundraising that is going directly towards the running costs of our youth projects and activities.

Crewe Pledge Meeting

Last week I attended a Crewe Pledge meeting at South Cheshire College. I haven’t been able to attend the last couple of meetings and it was good to see how well the team of business and education members has grown. Communication and knowledge sharing has really developed to help relationships and opportunities prosper for businesses and education in Crewe. Find out about the Crewe Pledge here: www.thecrewepledge.co.uk

Santa Floats Visit Nantwich

I promised to give Santa himself a mention this week ... well, his team of helpers from Crewe Rotary, Nantwich Rotary and the Round Table! Yes, we have three super teams of Santa Floats that cover Crewe & Nantwich collecting for local charities. If you would like to help one of the teams of volunteers, please drop me a line and I will pass your details on: hello@redshiftonline.org.

Volunteer of the Week

My Volunteer of the Week needs no further introduction as it has to be - of course - the fabulous Graham Witter (photographed at the top, with me and my Mum). Graham not only gives up his December (and hundreds of hours throughout the year to prepare and build sponsorship) to raise a huge amount for his favourite charity the Donna Louise Hospice, but he also gets stuck into other events throughout the year including the Nantwich Food Festival, Nantwich Show and our Big Day Out event. The world needs more Grahams and in my humble opinion, at his young age of just 23 years old, he is a superb addition to our great community. Happy Christmas and thank you Graham!