Just a short blog today. I found the notes for my speech this morning. A lot of positive things should have been said about Tony (one of the nicest CQN’ers I’ve met, and I’ve lots of great CQN’ers), Jim (more committed to the welfare of others than he would be comfortable you knowing), and David (combines the cynicism you can only get by spending 30 years in the publishing business with an often incomprehensive enthusiasm and positivity). Three people who make things happen.
The CQN Golf Committee have organised nine incredibly taxing CQN Charity Opens, which seems to require an addition to stress, as they clearly thrive on it.
I got my timing all wrong when I set the whisky auction to end at noon yesterday as I was otherwise engaged until late afternoon, when things were getting a bit hectic, but with minutes to go, E (abbreviated) stepped in with what was an opening and winning bid of £550. The money is already with Mary’s Meals. My thanks to E and to A Ceiler Gonof Rust, who donated the prize.
None of us had any experience at organising this kind of event. You think all you need is a mic. and a few speakers! I asked Phil Agnew if he would do the raffle and auction for us. He ended up supplying what would have been thousands of pounds worth of consultancy, which saw us over the line, wouldn’t take a penny for his trouble and provided a print signed by Henrik Larsson from his daughter. They are a family with a long-established link to Mary’s Meals.
The quality and sheer volume of donations for auction and raffle overwhelmed us. We made a call that it was probably wise to limit the number of items we put up last night, and hold some for a later date – all will go towards Mary’s Meals. Thanks to everyone who came forward.
These are just the thanks I didn’t get to last night, more to come.
I’ve no idea how much money you raised yet but I am sure the cash is in to build the second and third school kitchens. Within weeks your buildings will be feeding circa 2700 of the poorest children on the planet. That. Is. Incredible! Well played CQN.
I’m not going to pester you to read the Magazine or buy the Seville book today, but the MyDonate like to Marys’ Meals……
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snecker
10:49 on 17 March, 2014
Bmcw, I think all teachers should be questioned, it’s best to do that, than just accept everything then they can’t become complacent.
_______________________
That’s a dodgy subject in here mate, you may find them circling the wagons on you, you’ll find that teachers don’t care what you think, its what they say, but you are right, they do, not all but, get complacent.
HAMILTON TIM
Alright,bud?
I gather the gathering was a sight to behold!
Where’s the photies?
I’m not having a go at all teachers, don’t get me wrong, and yes your right, I can read and write and count because of them, but alas not all teachers are good, the same in any walk of life, but if they don’t do their job properly they should be held to account the same as anyone else, no? And I’m not looking for an argument, the best thing to do in any walk of life is to question not just accept someone in supposed authority, because nobody is always right.
The day I left school, I educated myself, I have NOTHING! To thank any anyone at any school I attended, and that’s a fact.
BMCUW
An incredible night mate and a truly astonishing sum of money raised for those in desperate need.
I avoided as many cameras as I possibly could but I think that Sanna has either some stills or some video footage.
Hollywood awaits :-)
How are you after your trip to the races?
snecker
11:02 on
17 March, 2014
I’m not having a go at all teachers, don’t get me wrong, and yes your right, I can read and write and count because of them, but alas not all teachers are good, the same in any walk of life, but if they don’t do their job properly they should be held to account the same as anyone else, no? And I’m not looking for an argument, the best thing to do in any walk of life is to question not just accept someone in supposed authority, because nobody is always right.
—————–
Can’t disagree with any of that mate.
tonydonnelly67
11:03 on
17 March, 2014
The day I left school, I educated myself, I have NOTHING! To thank any anyone at any school I attended, and that’s a fact.
————-
Ok, enjoy the rest of St Patrick’s Day.
Anyway time to go, if it’s ok I’ll try and post more, I do love all that’s discussed on here. HH
Imagine being at school for 10 years plus and not learning a thing!
You can see the result of self education…….
HAMILTON TIM
I am richer for the experience and for the wonderful company.
But poorer for lack of judgement.
I blame the teachers!
Had a great day,but no wifi meant I missed a text from TOMMYTWISTSTOMMYTURNS telling me the winner of The Gold Cup!
Heyho,God and his sense of humour….
Glad the night went well for all concerned. Seems the fleg is off on another leg of its round-the-world trip.
Back in time for the tenth though!
Just in from Mass, it is the priest’s birthday today as well. Wee donation made to BRTH’s highlighted cause and now tucking in to 2 pieces and skwerr with broon sauce, washed down with a big mug of tea. Thank you Frau PMTYH ;-).
I took the Bhoy down to Geenock college this morning and was pleasantly surprised listening to Chris Evans giving it heavy St Patrick’s day on Radio 2. I seldom listen to any other station now when I’m back in the UK.
Friday night’s Taxi driver is doing a wee gig in Heraghty’s tonight so will probably make a point of visiting there this evening.
I hope everybody has a great day today.
Hail! Hail! PMTYH
TD
The day I left school, I educated myself, I have NOTHING! To thank any anyone at any school I attended, and that’s a fact.
You left school unable to count, read or complete a coherent sentence ?
SNECKER
When I were a lad…
Rubbish teachers-who can’t be dismissed-were shunted to Guidance and RI departments.
Might still be the case today.
I think it’s a bit harsh castigating teachers for failing to treat everyone the same,btw. Does anyone in here treat all of the people they work with the same? Much as they may try,I doubt it.
Everyone expects us to go out there and finish the job tonight, but we’ll take our opponents seriously” vows Albion Rovers boss James Ward.
Good luck to the wee rovers
snecker
ask a teacher about the difference between your and you’re!
Folks
I have a few NOT THE VIEWS including 1-20. All in good condition posters an red card for the cup final addition. Free to a good home.
Anyone?
BMCUW
You know that TTTT will rib you without mercy for that :-)
I believe that my inebriated state may be the cause of the flag not being in its intended destination, apologies for that.
Looking forward to the 10th and a wee catch up auld yin :-)
Lionroars67
When are you away?
It’s the moves to try and quantify how good or bad teachers are and getting them to prove it that are ruining the education system.
Teachers eh?
Parents eh?
Pupils eh?
Priests eh?
All a total washout. World would be better off without them… ;-)
DimorphantruanthumanistCSC
BRTH 01:51
Donation forwarded.
HH
BIG CUP WINNERS
I’ll post that to JIMBO67
He contributed to it,but may not have them anymore due to travelling.
Can you await a reply,please?
Do you question every thing ? BMCW,rubbish teachers in RI? Creationism will be fair game then? I want to be in that class
HH
BMCUW
Meandering down memory lane.
What about the Ingledene?
Is it still there? Or am I correct in remembering that it mysteriously burnt down a number of years ago?
Memory is going!
HH!!
Hamiltontim is praying for Oscar
11:18 on
17 March, 2014
Lionroars67
When are you away?
Leave tomorrow morning mate, hopefully no teachers there lol
BRTH’s cause, please donate if you can. If you can’t please e-mail to your friends and family or post on Twitter, FB and other social media
https://www.justgiving.com/NCCAUKNicolasJourney
Lionroars67
Ha ha have a brilliant time mate, you deserve the break!
Listen, I’ve been here wi you lot, and you know the score with me and my history with teachers, the ones I had where of no use to me, now I’ve said that I have no one to thank from any school I went to, and now your questioning me? I think I should know what I am talking about, that being me, what do you want a full report on how bad I was taught, on how good was my spelling, my arithmetic, how thick I was, you want me to say it was all my fault because a teacher didn’t do his job properly? You are only proving my point, and you will never get it, my cry for help on my education was in the 50s and early 60s, so don’t you lot start challenging me now, that boy your old pals ignored, grew up, and not with any help or encouragement from any of your Boys Club.
SHUGGIEBHOY
That was the case at my school. They could do less harm there. By the time we hit secondary,most of us knew as much as needed about Catholicism.
Getting an occasional interesting RI period from someone who knew their stuff thus became a pleasure. Strangely,I remember those few more than I remember the others.
But Religious Instruction/Education was largely in church or learned at primary.
Personally speaking.
I don’t remember Creationism/Darwinism being an issue,tbh.
brogan rogan trevino and hogan supports oscar knox, mackenzie furniss and anyone else who fights neuroblastoma
01:51 on 17 March, 2014
Another thought provoking post which will once again tug at the consciences and purse strings of the CQN community.
While it is dreadful that there are people out there who deserve our attention and support, it does give us the opportunity to pull together and demonstrate our endless compassion for the plight of others less fortunate than ourselves.
It is one of the wonderful things about being a CQNer, that feeling of humility I certainly felt on Friday evening of being in the company of some life’s best human beings.
TALLYBHOY
I believe The Laurieston is the last of the shore-front venues.
That’s my childhood gone,haha!!!!!!
Tony Donnelly – in my opinion, and remember it’s my opinion and not open to challenge (a method you’re keen on yourself), you didn’t apply yourself fully at school and you’ve realised too late that you could have made a much better life for yourself.
Now you’re seeking to blame others instead of taking responsibility for your own actions.
Remember it’s only my opinion, and according to you these cannot be challenged, regardless of whether they’re based on fact or supposition.
Repost of the BRHT piece from earlier
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Oscar Knox, MacKenzie Furniss and anyone else who fights Neuroblastoma
01:51 on 17 March, 2014
Good Morning & Happy St Patrick’s Day.
If I may — let me tell you a story — & to start with let me ask a serious question.
Do you believe in The Wee People? Leprechauns? Fairy Dust? Kissing the Blarney Stone and the luck of the Irish?
Or even just — fate?
You see — for all that I think I am a logical person there are some things and feelings that I just can’t explain. Certain nights at Celtic Park you get a “feeling”, something that tells you something that you just cannot actually know kind of thing.
Anyway, here is my story…… a very recent story.
Prior to CQ10 I had been exchanging many an e-mail with Paul67 about the event and one strand of conversation was about how the parents of both Oscar and Vanessa were going to be there.
Then, last Thursday I got a message from Paul saying that he had heard from someone who wants to run in the New York Marathon for a Neuroblastoma sufferer, and so could I come up with a suitable candidate.
I went back to Paul and offered two possibilities.
One was a wee boy called Charlie who is aged three — basically Wee Oscar all over again!
The other was Nicola.
Nicola is not three — she is in fact 26 years old.
I slanted my reply pretty heavily in favour of………… Nicola…….. as I reasoned that loads of people will get behind Charlie as he he just such a wee mite…… again just like Oscar —- whilst it was far more likely that Nicola will not appeal so much as she is not a baby.
Surprise Surprise, Charlie won and so someone will run for him in New York in November and that is great.
Yet as I said to Paul something tells me this girl Nicola needs help and I ended my message saying that I would try to find out more about her and ended ” time for a lottery ticket there”.
Well , I bought the lottery ticket and won precisely nothing.
Those of you at CQ10 may recall that I alluded to this girl just after Stevie and Leona Knox were interviewed by Helen (Mynx) — but in the general din and mayhem the message was lost I suspect — in fact I know it was.
So come Saturday after all the CQ10 rushing around had finished my mind turned to 26 year old Nicola and at 13:20pm in the afternoon I e-mailed Paul again about the night before and in passing said I had had a great chat with the Knox’s and the Riddles and ended saying that I would keep an eye on Charlie’s campaign — but that I wanted to find out more about Nicola as I had an idea.
As many of you will now know, I ended up going into the Independent bar on Saturday night where I had the great company of Richie, Mick, Four Green Fields and of course Hamilton Tim ( a gem of a human being by the way ) and the wonderful Mynx.
On the way in I bought another Lotto ticket……….. and yet again won the square route of sod all– c’est la vie.
So, there I am in the pub quaffing a few pints and talking my usual amount of — to be frank — shite ( my mother hates me using that word though it makes her laugh and it is onomatopoeic ) — when Chris or Helen announce that the Knox’s are coming to join us.
If you have never seen Steve and Leona Knox I have to tell you that they are a devastatingly good looking couple — Hollywood good looking.
Anyway both arrive and are warmly greeted and both go out of their way to say what a good night they had had the night before.
Drinks all round.
Now I should add that when I gave the names of Charlie and Nicola to Paul I had added that I could approach the Riddles and the Knox’s for advice about who to nominate but added that such an approach might put both couples in a difficult position and that given they had read the book and bought the T shirt so to speak I was reluctant to do that.
However, there in the Independent I decided to get the thoughts of Stevie Knox and started to tell him about Nicola and why I thought someone should do something about helping her.
Unlike a 2 year old or a 3 year old — a 26 year old has had a glimpse of life — more than a glimpse.
By 26 a young woman will probably have fallen in love, maybe lost her heart to someone, or maybe had it broken — though in reality hearts are never broken– merely dented or bruised. She will know what it is like to be kissed, have someone hold her in their arms hold her hand and maybe walked along a beach with someone she loves and all that kind of thing.
Maybe think about a wedding, children, a new job and all the possibilities of a future … the kind of thing that a two year old or a three year old will have no conception of.
And now this Ba****rd disease threatens to steal all that!
Think back to when you were 26…. and all that you were doing, all that you hoped for and dreamed of.
Everything in my instinct told me that this is where Nicola McCurry was in her 26 year old life — but I knew nothing about her other than that she came from Cushendal and that like Vanessa and Oscar she had had Neuroblastoma as a child and believed she had beaten it… and now it was back with devastating effect.
So — I started to explain all that to Stevie Knox in a pub in Queen Street and as I spoke to him all of a sudden a strange look crossed his face and he stopped me in my tracks.
” Nicola McCurry? From Cushendal? — She is my COUSIN”
And so it turns out that the young woman that I had been thinking about is Oscar’s second cousin — a full blood relative of Stephen’s.
Not only that, my thoughts on her needing help were bang on as even the Neuroblastoma Alliance was initially not prepared to support any campaign for her because she is not a child — they only help children– and Stevie Knox himself had had to go to the charity and plead her case — she had had the disease as a child.
So, I have discussed this with Paul and with Stevie, and here I am in the early hours of a St Patrick’s morning typing away and asking a question:
Who is going to shout for Nicola McCurry?
As I type her just giving page shows that she has received not a single red cent — not a penny — not a rupee — towards her fund. Nada– Nil — Zero.
The story continues, Nicola is a twin — she has a sister called Naomi who is a big Celtic fan and who sometimes gets to Celtic Park courtesy of the Glens of Antrim No1 CSC which is based in Cushendall — and Nicola’s boyfriend Paddy is also a big Celtic fan.
Stevie told me that he and Leona have offered help and advice to the family given their experience with Oscar — but it is a different battle for a 26 year old and no one wants to appear to piggy back on Oscar and his battles and campaigns.
Now, we are raising money for kids in Malawi and the money going to Malawi benefits a whole lot of kids rather than just one individual — and so I don’t want to distract anyone from the Malawi project.
But who shouts for Nicola McCurry?
There is no Mary’s Meals organisation for her.
Instead she faces a situation where her life may be saved but only if she raises the money to pay for life saving drugs the price of which are kept ludicrously high to make a huge profit as the drug companies know that desperate parents will cough up — or find a way to cough up.
It is a disgrace and morally indefensible and down the road we have to do something about such creatures.
So Stephen Knox is going to do what he can to help start a campaign in Northern Ireland — and I have contacted a journalist here so that we can maybe get some momentum for Nicola
….. but to start with I need your help in a couple of ways.
First — the journalist says that the story is all about Celtic fans coming to the aid of Nicola … so I am going to make a donation and I will post the link to her page at the bottom of this piece.
But I stress please don’t give if you can’t afford to or if it lessens the Malawi campaign as that campaign is a CQN community thing as opposed to my personal hatred of this disease and those who would deny people available treatment.
However, if you have a son or a daughter of a similar age can you ask them to maybe do something about it — maybe a campaign at their work or student union or wherever?
I don’t know how many women we have on the site but can we get to mums-net and get some publicity there?
If there is anyone who looks in on here from Cushendal — can we get the CSC on to the case? Can we get other CSC’s to do a collection on their bus next Saturday?
Medtim — can you send the message out via the Huddleboard and if Auldheid can you weave your indefatigable magic on Kerrydale Street and elsewhere?
Anything that helps raise a voice for Nicola.
It is St Patrick’s day and someone somewhere needs the luck of the Irish….. and my vote goes to Nicola…… and yes I will be buying a lottery ticket come Tuesday.
And yes I do believe in the luck of the Irish and the wee people…… time to get them on this lass’ side.
Hail Hail and happy St Patrick’s Day
BRTH
Please read
https://www.justgiving.com/NCCAUKNicolasJourney
Did you know you can also donate by text message? Please text NCMC87 and your amount between £1 – 10 to 70070 a maximum of 3 text donations can be made in anyone day up to to the maximum amount of £30.00 thank you.
Weeminger
Where you there? I’m telling you actual facts of my life, you can believe it or not, on your opinion I couldent care, you where not there, I was, so don’t try and psychoanalysing me on a computer, you don’t get it.
OMG what a small world we live in, I posted the BRHT piece on a few Tim timelines on Facebook. Just got a private message that Nicola has family in Helensburgh and I know them well they are real generous and warm individuals who incidentally spend half of each year raising money to take sick kids to Lourdes.
BMCUW
No problem.
I actually decided to post because of a comment about big pharma, then asked Tonyd about teachers, now I won’t say sorry about what I’ve said, because also as I said I never said all teachers, but the ones who were crap and the ones that affected myself or my children, then I will question, my right as a human being. I’m a time served baker/ confectioner by trade, and I know that I will never know everything about my trade, but when I help apprentices, I help the best I can, because at the end of the day, I was there once and still am. I treat people like I would like to be treated myself. As for comments about my punctuation, oh well. Also just to add, my wife was found to be dyslexic at the age of 33, so you have to question the capabilities of teachers at times. Yes they are not doctors, but if someone struggles is it better to find the cause rather than decide they are stupid!