The Soroptimist Evening of Glamour Fashion Show.

In March, ChildLine approached me again, this time to guest model as Miss Commonwealth Scotland for a fashion show organised through The Aberdeen Soroptimists. The clothes I was modelling were by The Fountain and Indigo.
It went very well and was a sell out. The raffle alone raised £700 and I believe the show raised around £10,000. The generosity of the public is amazing, and even The Queen’s Hotel where the show was held offered their services free of charge.

St. Cyrus Primary School Balloon Launch

The same week ChildLine also asked me go down to for a balloon launch at St. Cyrus Primary School. This was great fun, being surrounded by so many children. With comments of ‘I’ve seen you on the telly’ to ‘I wish I looked liked you’, I really did feel like a queen. But at times I forget I am……a pageant queen, Miss Commonwealth Scotland, and of course that is why my life is so varied. I released hundreds of balloons in aid of ChildLine and the funds for the St. Cyrus 2006 Gala, It was lovely day and I will be interested to hear how far the balloons travel.

Such a busy week, I was then invited to the
 
2005 Commonwealth Government Conference Civic Dinner

The invitation came in from The Lord Provost John Reynolds. Aberdeen had won the race to host this three day event which was attended by some very important dignitaries and delegates. These included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Presidents of Nigeria and Ghana and our own Scottish Minister Jack McConnell, so quite a change from other events as you can imagine.

I can’t believe how fast the time is going. I have so many events lined up all over Scotland. The Scottish Huntington’s Association & Anthony Nolan Trust events are fast approaching and I will have a lot more to report, including Wedding shows and modelling for designer companies. I will be meeting so many famous people including sports personalities, the cast of Emmerdale and Katherine Jenkins, famous opera singer………Again, Watch this space!

The Anthony Nolan Trust Junior Pop Idol

This event kicked off on Sunday 17th April at The Aberdeen Northern Hotel. Droves of keen young wannabes turned up to sing their little hearts out in the hope they would win through to the final on 1st May. I had the difficult task of judging the many hopefuls and it was extremely difficult to agree on the required 10. It was decided that we choose 20 for the finals..............The winning prize - to sing at……………..
The Anthony Nolan Emmerdale Extravaganza on June 18th.
This is a huge event which raises an enormous amount of funding to try and help children with leukaemia and raise awareness to the importance of finding people to donate life saving bone marrow and blood stem cells.
The event last year raised £147.000 and it is hoped this years event will raise even more. The cast of Emmerdale join the event and the public are invited to join them in activities ranging from Karting, 10K Marathon to Wing Walking. In the evening there is a grand charity ball to round off a very busy day.
Again my reasons for becoming involved in this particular charity are because I have lost a few dear friends to leukaemia. I watched a school friend endure two bone marrow transplants, but sadly he lost his fight for life aged 18. My best friends mum also contacted leukaemia and survived 10 years before the need to endure a bone marrow transplant. Sadly this time she didn’t pull through and my friend was left without her mum. My mums friend little girl died aged two. She was a miracle IVF baby, their last chance of having family and sadly she was taken from them.
But so many children and adults have survived and only because of the help such charities give in raising awareness that bone marrow and stem cell donations can and do save lives. The valuable funding helps patients with their relief and treatment whilst enduring leukaemia and brings researchers ever nearer to finding a cure.

The Cyrenians Sleepout Awards

The Aberdeen Cyrenians, a local charity for the homeless had their awards on Thursday 21st April for The Big Sleepout, which I was presenting. The Sleepout was held back in the cold month of January. Tricker PR had asked me back in December to front various appeals for The Cyrenians, The Christmas Box Appeal and Hats, Scarves and Gloves Appeal as well as The Big Sleepout. Not only fronting these appeals, I and several members of my family decided to take part. I presented the awards in April for the most amount of money raised by one person, the most raised by a school, church group, family etc., It was quite staggering the generousity of so many. This year, {and I hope this is partly due to the amount of publicity Miss Commonwealth Scotland received}, the figures of ‘volunteers’ as well as funding was up an amazing 45%. One lady kindly celebrated her 60th birthday at The Sleepout, asking her friends to donate money instead of presents. She raised over £800. The final total this year was almost £25,000 !!!!!