Turn Up:

A charity event is a very hit or miss affair for all concerned with its organisation because of the numerous ways, from weather to the potential number of the public prepared to attend.

The 28^th May 2017 was a case in point and one that has provided me with this blog post.  My decision to ‘Turn Up’ to one event which was cancelled and go to another one meant that from a day where potentially nothing was going to happen except sitting on my backside, turned into a day of proper enjoyment.

I was due to offer my shiatsu services at a charity event in Nuneaton and made an early start to arrive in time to set up and prepare. So early in fact that I missed the text message saying the organisers had been hit by illness and needed to cancel and re-arrange. So, when I arrived in Nuneaton to find the message and confirm that the organisers were OK apart from the bug that had hit them.

It left me with a decision to make. Do I return home and sit in all day on the computer working on the upcoming workshop? Do I have the Sunday off and chill or do I ride over to Tamworth and see if I can help with the event organised by the Buddy Bag Foundation. I’d seen posts about the day from Julie Scott of ‘Great Scott Marketing’ and since Tamworth held fond memories for me from my ‘soccer day’ I decided to make that the run. It is 19 miles from Leamington Spa to Nuneaton and 16 miles from Nuneaton to Tamworth, and I had prepared myself for a day’s session of shiatsu.

Happy memories for me from my ‘soccer days’ pushed me to work on a hunch that it would be worthwhile going to the Buddy Bag Foundation Day. I decided to make that the run. It is 19 miles from Leamington Spa to Nuneaton and 16 miles from Nuneaton to Tamworth, and I had prepared myself for a day’s session of shiatsu.

The forecast wasn’t great, clouds and some showers forecast but if that’s the case I know that organisers make contingency plans, so I took the decision, Tamworth it was. The road from Nuneaton to Tamworth is special to me because of my interest in Roman and Viking history, the A5 the Roman Road was less than a few miles up the road and a direct route through.
(Reminder of a story my Mother told me of the times they would catch a train to Tamworth for a dance and then, on the way home, buy bags of chips and give them to the engine driver to put on top of the boiler until they were back in Nuneaton).

The Moat House Tamworth is a 16th-century building now converted into a hotel, with grounds at the back and ideal for a family day out. As those who attended now know, it was a superb day of blue skies, hot sunshine, loads of families, beer, wine, ice cream and BBQ. It was the ideal setting for a charity event with an almost, captive audience. But it takes more than that to be a success, particularly when the day has been organised by people with outside jobs, families and the safety of the children to juggle. This was the standout part of the day. The set up of the gazeboes where weather conditions can be a hazard. The games and the raffle. The collection of donations and the general control of the areas around the location of the bouncy castle (always guaranteed to have a couple of youngsters coming off in tears). The guide ropes around the gazebos, the queue (always) for the face painting, the stocks and wet sponges and then a man on a scooter offering to do seated shiatsu massages which weren’t expected.

Fortunately, and is this the crux of the story, the decision to ‘turn up’ rather than go home, meant I was able to be introduced to new people, help push the money collected towards its goal and have a great time into the bargain. I followed a hunch.

A big thank you to Julie and the ladies connected with the day, their partners, the people who bought the raffle tickets and donated to the charity by sitting for 15 minutes shiatsu. I enjoyed the day, and I do know that well over £300 was raised on the day.

Do you make decisions to follow a hunch after a problem has hit your plans?