Monday 30 January 2012

Magicians got it easyyyyy...

Yeah that's right...they do. Cuz they can magic shizz outta their hats. Kam and I on the other hand can not. Though we have been trying. But we do just end up looking stupid. Stupid but cool. Cuz top hats are another level in cool.

Oh boo hoo hoo.
We have been looking into the license for the production of the musical... which you have to get... and the fees are insane! Even for an amateur charideeee performance. Eeeeee.

Considering myself and Kam are both skint and don't have the money to put forward to start... we may have to have a little re-think this week.

It seems that as well as £500 to hire the venue and all that jazz you have to then purchase a license... AND hire stuff. Even if you don't want to hire stuff...

I'm confused! Numbers confuse me!! It seems theres about £750 to dole out to Joseph Weinberger etc for licenses and hires and whatnot.

What? Excuse me? Joseph. We need to have a word.

I mean I know people gotta make their money somehow hence the royalty malarky... but £750. Joseph what people do you know? Because I don't know anyone that has £750 lying around in their back pocket.

I feel a little downhearted right now if I am honest kids.

If anyone has any insight on these issues and can explain fees and things to me it would be much appreciated. I emailed the people but they just pointed me back to the list of what I was looking at in the first place. Which led me to believe that I was right on the "whole lorra moneh" conclusion I first came to.

Oh dear. Why aren't the heavens conspiring?! 

Dear whoever listens.... Right now all we are asking for is a little bit of luck... Thank you.

Much love and appropriate high fives.
A mildly disappointed Char
of Kam & Char - CRY Crusaders

The Late, Great Kirstie Lois Holmes

So... the point of our fundraising for CRY.
Burt... AKA Kirstie Lois Holmes.


Now, this lady was my best friend. From school. From when we were small.
We did things together. We did things apart. But at the end of the day we would always meet up in the middle and discuss. Mostly through the form of childish humour and distasteful jokes. In fact sometimes we could be downright disgusting with the things we said and often people thought we were a bit nuts. But we didn't care because we made each other laugh and we didn't care what other people thought. My ex boyfriend used to call her my little twin because he said we read each others minds and sounded alike on the phone.

Anyway... Our Burt, as we called her, as silly as she was, was a clever chick. She worked as a legal secretary and was studying for her LPC qualification to become a Conveyancer... Property law and all that... And she was wicked at words. Always getting the big words out. She was a talented singer and dancer and often took part in amateur dramatics. So.Much.Promise.

She'd married a boy in Vegas. She was a bit impulsive like that. They had a beautiful baby girl Brodie Scarlett Mimi Boo. (That's them there on the right of this blog...Bathtime chillin') He turned out to be a bit of an ass so she did what she thought was best for the both of them her and Boo and she left him and went to figure out their life just the two of them. (well...just the two of them and her mom and dad and all their extended fam!)

So that's where we got to. Burt & Boo doing their thang. Everything was progressing nicely.
Then Burt & her new boy went for dinner. On the walk home she had an asthma attack and her heart stopped. And that was that. The end.

I don't know if I will ever forget the call I got that morning. I was having a lie in and the phone kept ringing. I was pissed off. Who was calling so early. Bugger off. Few missed calls. It kept ringing. I answered.

I actually put the phone down and said it wasn't a funny joke. But then they rang back. And the worst news was confirmed.

I'm not one for declaring my feelings and as much as I screamed at the time, when I had calmed down I went into some weird bubble. Its hard to explain. I didn't want to talk to ANYONE. I didn't want to eat. I didn't want to go anywhere. I didn't want to see anyone. I didn't want anyone to see me. I wanted to sit in bed. I didn't want to think. I just wanted to sleep.

I didn't want anyone to say sorry. I didn't want anyone to ask how I was. I didn't want anyone to ask about Burt in case they didn't know. Even now, with things like Facebook, sometimes people ask how she is and what shes up to. I still am not very good with that.

All this happened June 6th 2008. She was 25. Brodie was 2.

I remember I cried. EVERY.DAY. Then I remember I just cried in the shower. That was my time. I used to always wear bright make up. I stopped because, silly as it sounds, make up reminded me of her so I couldn't apply it for sobbing. (we were big on good make up. our make up bags were and mine still is...something to be proud of and probably the most valuable commodity I own!) Even now silly things shoot my straight back to old memories.

ANYWAY... enough on that... The reason we are fund raising for CRY is in memory of Burt and to raise awareness of the charity which does so many good things.

Please check out the website http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/

Through fund raising for CRY you don't realise how close to home all this stuff is. A friend of mine lost her sister. And a boy I went to school with got in touch as he had lost his sister too.

You cant put a label on grief or relationships but I can only imagine how they felt losing their siblings.

At one of the last events I held, a Cupcake & Cocktail evening, a couple came along wearing CRY t-shirts. It was very sweet and moving. They wanted to talk to me about their son who they had lost. It was honestly heartbreaking.

So, yeah, CRY provides support for these families and research into the causes of these sudden deaths and all our help counts. No matter how big or how small.

A great blog to read is http://www.23b423.blogspot.com/ Grace lost her brother in 2006 when he was 23 and she is trying to do 23 things before she reaches 23 and is blogging about it.

Its a very sweet and motivational read. I can see what shes saying when she says she doesn't want people to see her cry. And I can see what shes saying when she says that sometimes people don't want to ask for a cuddle or something like that but sometimes that's just what you need.

I guess the reason I am doing all this fund raising is because I don't want to forget her. And forgetting her is what scares me the most. I have got to that point where sometimes I daren't mention her because I feel like people will think.... its been nearly 4 years... get over it! That sounds bad doesn't it. And that's the paranoia in me... but that's how I feel. I feel like people will forget to care. And I don't want that to happen.

Anyway. The blog is gonna carry on upwards and in a more cheery fashion from now on!

Please follow us on our blogging journey...
Please follow us on Twitterrrrr www.twitter.com/bitsyscrusade
Please like our Facebook Page: Bitsys Crusade

Much love and big cows eyes.
Char xxx
of Kam & Char - The CRY Crusaders!

Thats a nice picture. That was "bad hair day" at school. Me on the left Burt on the right. It was an actual "day" not a style choice....

Friday 27 January 2012

What are we doing....

So... Kam & I decided that we would put on a musical. For Cardiac Risk in the Young. As a cupcake company Bitsy's Cupcakery (www.facebook.com/bitsys.cupcakery) we have already done a fair bit of fundraising for them.
And being as I have wanted to see Little Shop of Horrors for AGES... like since I was 10 or something and I saw it at the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester, which is long gone...booooo, we decided that if Little shop of Horrors wouldnt come to us we would go to it.

So thats what we are doing.

For charity. Cardiac Risk in the Young. http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/ ...Go look.
Yeah so. This is where the fun starts because we had a meeting with the Y Theatre (http://www.leicesterymca.co.uk/y-theatre.php) to ask if we can use it....
1. Because its B-E-A-UTIFUL!
2. Because its well central
and 3. Well there is no 3. It's just cool.
And they would have us... But it will cost us about £500 for the night... Which if you think about all you get included in the price, which is a LOT. You know, like all your sound and light and the bar and staff and backstage and generally nice helpful people running the theatre it really is not bad AT ALL. But as a non profit thing we have no money and we want to give all the money we can to CRY so we need to fundraise to put the bloody thing on. But at the end of the day the word FUN is in fundraise so thats all that counts yeah?

We made a Just Giving page anyway for any generous people that want to be kind and helpful and lovely and sweet and just donate because they can. We LOVE that. Even if all you can give is a pound its all for the cause and its all uber thoughtful and we are so appreciative of anyone and everyone that helps us in ANY way even if it isn't money but you know general hands on help or ideas or cuddles when we feel fed up or tired or even just a dinner so we dont have to do it ourselves... There is only two of us after all!

So anyway! The link! http://www.justgiving.com/bitsyscrusade

At least go have a look and read it.... Even if you can't donate please share it on all your social networking wotsits. That would be cool of you.

Oh yeah we're on twitter dont you know. www.twitter.com/bitsyscrusade

Lots of Love and Cool beans. Char
of Kam & Char - The CRY Crusaders.