Yet again another long break between installments and a lot has happened since the Big Walk we had.  Of-course it has taken a while to collect all the money, but that’s to be expected.  With the money we received from family and friends, coupled with some corporate sponsorship and the dedicated efforts of the people who walked with us on the day to do their own respective fund-raising, we are looking at a grand total of £ 15,574 raised for the day!!!! 

I’m sure you will all agree this is an absolutely astounding amount and it really has overwhelmed Beate and I.  More than the money, we feel so honored to know so many people that are willing to help out our cause and make a difference in this life and this is something that we will continue to do in Dennis’ honour.  Truly, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for all the effort and support.

Shortly after the big walk and after several long baths, we attended another event the following week that dear friends of ours (Debbie and Allan Fergusson) put together.   This was an end of year party for Kudos Financial Services and the theme was Elvis.  In addition to having a great time and good food, the night was also structured to raise money for the Dennis Ralph fund.  We arrived with an Elvis questionairre on each table with the intent of people to donate money to the Dennis Ralph fund.  The person with the highest score of Elvis trivia on the multiple choice would win a night in an exclusive hotel.  The grand total raised was £ 850 with Kudos rounding off to £ 1000!!  Later on that night the Elvis statues were auctioned off and that raised another £ 500....!!!!  Again a big thanks to Deb and Allan for a wonderful night.  I must also belatedly mention the great effort that Debbie and Allan’s children (Emma, Harry and Ellie) did when raising £ 150 earlier on in the Summer at the Kippie Lodge fun fair.  The kids set up a special game in aid of Dennis’ Charity (Great job Emma) and hopefully we can track down some photos to post shortly.

We have also been to see the Foo Fighters which turned out to be a great night.  We went along with Mark and Louise Ballantyne and joined up with close friends Barry and Vanessa.  There was an emotional song in the middle of the set and that was ‘05 My Hero.m4a’.  Beate and I decided to play that acoustic version of the song following Dennis’ funeral and they played it amazingly well on the night.  I can recall playing the acoustic album over and over again as I wrote this very blog during the hard times when Dennis was pretty low.  The song had a big impact on me and it felt so fitting to play it for him.

We are going to Disneyland Paris this Wednesday for a few days and will return on Xmas Eve.  We tried to go over the Xmas period but everything was fully booked.  Never-the-less, we are all really excited about the break off and will provide us with so happy moments in what will be of-course a very sad Christmas for us.

Thanks for tuning in again and I’ll update the blog with more photos and notes when we get back from Paris.

Merry Xmas to you all and all the best for 2008.

Stan, Beate and Steven