boris, boris, boris.
why’d you do it?
as we entered number 10 downing street the aura of the building washed over me, kings, queens, politicians, great leaders of our country during history, and the boy from finsbury park, all crossing the threshold through that same iconic door.
me, chloe, tania and crawford made our way through the hallway, depositing our phones in the wooden cabinet with phone sized apertures, and made our way towards the famous staircase, with the pictures of past prime ministers adorning it, with a very powerful image of winston churchill standing guard at the top of the stairs, almost in a symbolic gold standard to be aimed for, though few seem to have achieved similar results.
as i privately in my head bowed to winston, i remembered how he had struggled with his mental health, and tales of his ‘black dog’, and wondered if he would be proud of us, and the work we do to help people with similar struggles, and as i descended toward the garden i knew he would, and smiled to myself, as i studied this beautiful yet simple staircase, a beacon of british politics.
as we reached the bottom of the stairs, there were more pictures, this time of past governments cabinets, which caused us to stop and inspect them, and i felt a pride as i watched my family taking it all in.
we stepped into the gardens, and i had to restrain myself from cracking some cheap gag about the recent goings on, but respect was the word of the day.
they were bigger than i expected, and had a number of gazebos set up, two for wine (😉) beers and water, and another for an artist, lucy kent, https://www.lucy-kent.com/acc who is doing some amazing charity work, and was painting live as we wandered the grounds.
the beers were supplied by a brilliant brewery called ignition, who employ and train people with learning disabilities to brew and serve great beer. more beer more jobs. https://ignition.beer/ check them out.
and in the distance i could see a lecturn which was soon to have the current p.m. standing behind it to address the throng of ‘points of light’ one of whom was the phenomenal little boy, 7 year old, tony hudgell, pride of britain 2020 winner, double amputee, who has raised £1.7 million for evelina london children hospital, and he has also inspired an english law change to increase prison sentences for those convicted of child cruelty and neglect, a truly remarkable young man, with an extremely traumatic story, one of which I was not aware of.
trigger warning this is sad and shocking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hudgell
as I heard tony’s story i felt very humble, and writing this blog this morning i intended having a moan about how boris johnson made me feel by what he said, but let’s not give that oxygen, let’s celebrate the beauty in human beings, and how post traumatic growth can often happen, and change the world for good, and tony hudgell i salute you young man, you truly are inspirational.
as we left number 10 we stopped for the obligatory pictures, and again pride washed over me, seeing that having my mate moose taken from us way too early, could be turned into a catalyst to build a dynamic life changing and saving charity, and as i looked above at the bright blue sky, i whispered, "this is for you.”
my fave pic of the day
so, that was tuesday.
but whilst we were hob nobbing it in london, a super powerful story was unfolding in beautiful bonny scotland.
now some time ago, my mate matt (blue jacket) had recommended i speak to his pal sophie in london, about bigmoose, which i did, and we clicked, really quick.
then covid hit and we didn’t catchup for almost two years.
one quick whatsapp message, and one long conversation later, and we were back on track.
then i received an email from sophie saying her mate stephen wants to hire me to do a talk for his business community https://wadds.co.uk/
i have never met sophie, and never ever communicated with stephen, these two are mad.
stephen and i arrange a zoom call, and we clicked, really quick, do you see the pattern?
on the zoom call stephen agrees to raise £10k for bigmoose.
i jump on a train to london, where we meet for lunch and discuss a plan.
stephen is planning to do a three peaks challenge with his son dan, which we conclude is the perfect vehicle for a £10k fundraiser, and i leave kings cross feeling amazed and really excited that the power of bigmoose’s project 1million can attract people to want to help so quickly.
so today (friday) stephen and dan completed their challenge, summiting scafell pike the third of the three tallest mountains in scotland, wales and england, which is great, and their fundraising is going brilliantly, but the bit i think i love most is the pure love between dad and son, sharing this beautiful experience, which i hope they remember fondly forever.
i love this pic
here is a link to their fundraising page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Stephen-Waddington3
i hope you’ve had a fun week, i’m off to an indian wedding in london and gonna be full in full kurta, throwing some bhangra moves, i can’t wait, enjoy your weekend, keep making memories.
i’ll be seeing ya,
blue skies,
jeff