More Publicity & Auction Progress

Exciting couple of days with bits of publicity popping up in various places - managed to get links to a few with the help of friends who have pointed me in the direction of them - local newspaper, national newspaper AND international newspaper!  Along with a Tweet from ITV Central and text on the Sky News website!  Links to all stories:

Sky News

Retford Times - My Local Newspaper

Daily Mirror

Times of Malta

Community Newswire

Great awareness and this publicity has generated quite a bit of interest in the Auction items - so much so that the proceeds this morning stand at £414 in total!  Gobsmacked.  With a lot of pushing via Twitter yesterday courtesy of good friends Becca and Allison helping ALL Auction items now have bids on them so all will sell.  Initially I was hopeful of about £500 for all items, but the first batch will smash that and I have loads more to add yet.  Hoping to list more tomorrow.  The first 3 finish tonight and the rest follow over the next couple of days.

To anyone who still wants to donate - there is ALWAYS time - Cystic Fibrosis is going no-where and this Campaign is going to run for a few more weeks yet with all donations we have and have still been promised.  I can see the £1000 target being beaten sooner rather than later!!

Possible Publicity on the Horizon!

Today I had a answer phone message from Radio Sheffield wanting to talk to me about the Xmas ebay Auction which I'll return call tomorrow - difficult having a quiet chat suitable for Radio airing when the boys are making a lot of noise! 

Also had an e-mail and Tweet from Trax FM, my local Radio station, wanting to talk about the Campaign and they are arranging to come to the house in the New Year to chat about the Auction.

ITV Central, my local TV news channel, have Tweeted about the Auction, which has generated a few more followers for me and Tweets.

All these contacts add up to more awareness for Cystic Fibrosis, which is fabulous.  Personally I'd rather be in the background as I'm a very quiet person, so as long as Cystic Fibrosis is getting the awareness that is needed, that's all that matters to me.

Auction items are slowly creeping towards £200 with the first batch of items - about another £30 to go, so hopefully that can be smashed easily.

I e-mailed ebay last night to ask if they would remove the restrictions from my account so I can list more items - they wanted more information about when the boys had been in Hospital thereby preventing me on getting all my previous ebay listings on out time - that is hard to remember when the year has gone so quickly!  I can only estimate.  I won't beg for the restrictions to be removed - I've asked - I've given reasons why I'd like them removed and if they don't remove them, there is nothing I can do about it.  Such a shame as I have so many more items to add which I can't until the first batch of 30 has finished.  Frustrating is an understatement!!

Auction Progress

Listed 29 items in the Xmas ebay Celebrity signed Auctions so far (ebay will only allow me to list 30 items due to their stipulations on my account - number 30 Auction is my Fun Auction for the brussel sprout!).

17 items have been bid on with 13 waiting for bids - most items have watchers and best item so far is Lisa Eldridge's signed make-up bag and make-up collection standing at £58.50 with 32 watchers.

Once the current items have finished and have been packaged up and posted out another 30 will be added - providing ebay allows me to that is!

Proceeds for all auctions (not including the brussel sprout!) stand at £138.28 and might beable to make a pound or two on postage (most items have free postage due to their weight).  On target to maybe raise £200 with the first batch of Auction items - which is fab!  Target to raise altogether is £500 - £1000 - if we make the £1000 I would be so happy, we'll see!!

Auction Underway!

After months of Tweeting for donations for the Xmas ebay Auction in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust from Celebrities/well known Tweeters, the Auction is now underway!  Listing items in spare time - which is limited at the moment due to it being Christmas, but over the next couple of weeks all the items donated should have been listed - bit at a time.  It is time consuming listing them, loading pictures, adding description, asking the Celeb's to re-tweet etc and I am just one woman working alone so bear with me - all will be added and hopefully all sold. 

There have been a couple of bids already on items and hope to get more exposure for these if the Celeb who donated the items help by re-tweeting - which was the general idea as this raises more awareness for the Charity, not just the Auction item.

Link to the first batch of Auctions: Christmas ebay Auction Listings

Hope all will support and if there is anything you would like to see listed sooner rather than later, just message me or Tweet me and I'll get it done asap.

Christmas Eve Donations

More donations arrived today for the Christmas ebay Auction - 2 from Fedex which came from American & Canada:

Signed book from Margaret Atwood - The Year of the Flood:

Signed picture and jeans from Le Ann Rimes :

And two donations arrived via Postman Pat this afternoon:

Signed CD from Kim Wilde

Signed Benidorm DVD from Kathryn Drysdale signed by: Siobhan Finnernan, Derren Litten, Sheridan Smith, Jake Canuso, Tim Healy ..... Kathryn Drysdale, Tony Maudsley & Adam Gillen.

The Auction listings are due to start this evening and links will be sent out to those who have donated.  Can't list them all at once, but will do them all over the next few weeks.  Here's hoping the Auction "does what is says on the tin" i.e. raises the maximum amount of awareness for Cystic Fibrosis and for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

New Donations

Received some lovely new donations for the Auction while we were on holiday listed below:

Clare Balding sent these fab donations: Signed picture, Signed Sea The Stars - The Horse of a Lifetime DVD, Signed Totesport Media Guide for Investec Derby Festival, Silver Investec Tankard and a signed t-shirt - wonderful generous donation.

 Signed A5 picture from Seal:

This donation was aqcuired by Holly from Hypnogaja - signed CD, t-shirt and cap:

The lovely Lisa Eldridge sent this signed make up bag filled with make up goodies which include: Chanel Chintz Lipstick, 2 x nail varnishes, Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus, Lipgloss, Clinique C Lip Smoothie, Bobbi Brown Lip Shine, Estee Lauder Eyeliner and Estee Lauder Gold Eyeshadows.

Darius Campbell sent this signed t-shirt worn by him and a signed picture and flyer:

Excellent donations and that takes the items to well over 50 with more to arrive over the next couple of weeks.  Auction will start this evening barring now more hold up's so that it still can be known at the Christmas Auction - hope all will support.

Kelly Osbourne

Allison received this signed book from Kelly Osbourne for the Auction while I was away on holiday - hope this generates some interest for raising awareness for the Auction, the CF Trust and a few £1's to be donated to the Trust:

I received a few more donations while I was on holiday but due to the harsh weather robbing us of our central heating system through frozen pipes and flooding our lounge, I haven't had time to take pictures, update the Blog or start the Auction - hopefully once hubby has finished welding pipes and searching for any other possible leaks I'll have heating and less numb fingers to get the Auction underway!  Watch this space!!

Peter Andre

A lovely Twitter follower @denisecollins1 arranged for this picture to be taken of the very lovely Peter Andre posing with the GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST t-shirt created by me to raise awareness for Cystic Fibrosis.  Sadly the pen didn't work for him to sign it (drat!) so hopefully next time their pathes cross she can arrange for it to be signed and I'll use it in the Xmas ebay Auction - if that is not possible before the Auctions start, it will be used for another CF Fundraising venture ... possibly a Ball arranged by me later on in the year.

Peter Andre

The Auctions will start from 23rd December, but as ebay has limited my listings due to their petty rules despite the fact that I have 100% feedback, the items will be listed in batches of 30 until all items are gone so the Auctions will run in to the New Year.  Will give me time to promote each item to the fullest and not swamp me with posting and questions.  The overall total raised will be totted up over this time.  Here's hoping it raises plenty of awareness for Cystic Fibrosis and in turn a few £1's to be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust so they can continue their vital research in to finding a CURE ... it is what I dream of and one day it WILL happen.

Last 24 Hours to Seek Donations

We are fast approaching the final stages of the seeking donation stage of the Christmas ebay Auctions now ... or I personally am!!  Fingers crossed the snow stays away until after Wednesday so we can fly to Cyprus for a much needed week's break ... although sadly it's raining & thunderstorms over there - joy!!

Hope to exhaust as many avenue's as I can within the next 24 hours with the help of my Twitter friends to see if we can get any more Celeb's to donate to the Auction.

Certainly been an eye opener for me over the past few months trying to get this Campaign recognised and to get donations in from Celeb's - it has shown me those who will bend over backwards to help no matter what you are fundraising for, those who won't reply AT ALL to a charitable Tweet and the few rude one's with no consideration for what we are trying to do and why.  Such is life and we can't all be generous and giving.

A reminder of why we continue to fight for more awareness for Cystic Fibrosis - the dreadful unseen condition robbing us of our young adults and children - some of these CF Angel's lost their lives this year .. take a moment to think about their families and friends who will be spending their first Christmas without them and DONATE ... something .... anything ... even a signed picture will help .... it might not raise thousands of pounds, but it WILL raise awareness.  Thank you.

Cystic Fibrosis - A Harsh Reality

Blog Stat's

Glad I put the "Stat's" on the Blog as it is very interesting to see where "traffic" is coming from - which websites - how many times - from which type of application i.e. iPhone, etc and which countries.  Tonight I went through the Blog and since I started the idea we have had 47 Celeb's donating - some have donated more than one item so from guess work I would say we have about 70 items to Auction so far.  The country stat's are interesting and I'll put them below: 

United Kingdom 482 United States 133 Germany 19 Netherlands 17 Greece 14 Malaysia 10 Russia 9 Finland 7 France 6 Ireland 6 Not bad for a couple of months Tweeting Celeb's - a small idea turned in to a bigger idea!!!

Shobna Gulati & Norton Mouse

Received two donations for the Auction today - a signed GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST t-shirt picture from Shobna Gulati (Sinitta from Coronation Street):

Shobna very kindly arranged for other cast members of Coronation Street to support my GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST Campaign earlier on in the year along with Craig Gazey - slideshow below for all Celeb's who helped with this Campaign (well over 70 helped): 

Celebrity support for GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST Campaign

Also received a signed book, limited edition book and Christmas posters from @nortonmouse from Twitter:  Norton Mouse

Joe likes Norton Mouse so no doubt he will be having a look through before these go on ebay!!

Olly Smith

Received a book from Olly Smith today - Eat & Drink:

James Caan

Received a signed copy of The Real James Caan - My Story from Brick Lane to Dragon's Den - from @74promotions on Twitter today:

Donation offers are still coming in - an average of 1 yay a day with only 6 days left for me to seek as many as I can from EVERYONE and ANYONE before our holiday.  This Campaign was originally Celeb's donating signed items - but ANY item is most welcome from ANYONE - it all helps and makes a difference.

Victoria

Harsh at this may sound this Christmas may very well be Victoria's last if she does not get the life-saving transplant she so desperately needs.  Her lungs no longer work properly for her and she relies on oxygen to breath.  She is 23 years old and has Cystic Fibrosis.  This is the end stage of Cystic Fibrosis - it is not nice to think about is it?  A young woman who should have her whole life ahead of her who is struggling to survive - who has waited over 3 years for "that call" to give her that chance of a life.  This is the possible future for my children - which is why I work hard giving as much time as I can to raise awareness for the dreadful condition which is Cystic Fibrosis.  Take a moment to help this Christmas if you can and either contribute to the Xmas ebay Auction by donating "something" ... "anything" - it all makes a difference and the idea of this Campaign is that it will drum up much awareness on Twitter via the Celeb's who have already donated - we hope they will re-tweet to their followers letting them know about the ebay Auction and in turn maybe they will bid on their item.  It doesn't take a second to re-tweet so I hope this will be possible.  It also takes very little time in the lives of someone "famous" "well known" to contribute something as small as a signed picture - let's hope more consider doing this between now and the start of the Auctions on 23rd December ... time is running out .... but more than anything .... time is running out for Victoria.  Take a moment to read her Blog - and then look at your own day and grumbles - we have nothing to really complain about - do we?

Victoria's Blog

Please also send her a SMILEY Tweet (@Tor87) - they do make a difference and make her see that there are people, strangers, who care and want to help.  Then if you have a couple of minutes you might also consider signing the Organ Donor Register - after all, you can't take it with you - LIVE LIFE THEN GIVE LIFE.  Thank you.

Organ Donor Register - GO SIGN IT - PLEASE!

Victoria .... waiting and waiting and waiting .....

Tom Chambers

Allison has received a signed flyer and programme of White Christmas from Tom Chambers today - think it is also signed by Ken Kercheval & Adam Cooper:

Have a picture of Tom Chambers supporting the GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST Campaign courtesy of @tomsgal on Twitter - nice to know that some are willing to support even for just a moment - it makes a BIG DIFFERENCE.

Tristan Gemmill

Received some signed pictures from Tristan Gemmill (Dr Adam Trueman - Casualty) today 2 x Casualty cards and 2 x signed pictures of his Twitter profile image which I sent him.  Unfortunately, the Twitter image pictures are smudged and that's my fault because my printer settings are rubbish, but if you like Tristan Gemmill, am sure you can look beyond the smudges ..... I did!! 

Three New Donations: Alfie Boe, Hayley Tamaddon & Hazel O'Connor

Now I've never been very supersticious really, but am starting to think that I might be a bit that way inclined... I mean, why do all the donations arrive in 3's?  Not complaining, just think it rather interesting.

Today I received two donations - a signed picture from Hayley Tamaddon (Winner of Dancing on Ice 2009 and Actress): 

And a signed CD from Alfie Boe - Les Miserables:

Alison received 2 signed CD's and a signed card from Hazel O'Connor today ( my era! ):

Fab day for donations and has re-newed my faith in mankind - it's been a tough week with the weather robbing us of our much needed holiday in the sun - things can only get better from now!!

Auction Start Date

Due to the weather denying us our much needed holiday to Cyprus the Auction will now start on 23rd December instead of 20th December to allow us to squeeze a week away before Christmas.  Will start listings on 23rd and do as many as I can that day, if not all, and the rest on 24th December. 

Hoping to get more donations this week, but again, due to the weather, we've had no post for 5 days.  Hope when he eventually manages to plough his way in to the village he arrives with a donation or two!!

More updates to follow.

Signed Pictures & Thank You

Received a nice picture of Phillip Schofield & Holly Willoughby from This Morning for the Auction yesterday: 

Carol received a piccie from Mark Blundell (Formula 1) ... which I can't load because it keeps putting it up side down and I have no idea why!!

Also received these signed pictures from @tomsgal on Twitter - someone who always bends over backwards to try and get Celeb's to sign pictures for me or pose with the GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST t-shirts I created to raise awareness for Cystic Fibrosis:

Signed Colin Firth picture:

Signed Tom Felton picture (Draco Malfoy - Harry Potter films):

I'd like to thank ALL the Celeb's so far who have donated signed items for the Auction - far exceeded my expectations and hope that the Auction raises much awareness for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust - and a few £1's along the way. 

Cheryl Baker & Loose Women

Received two donations for the Auction today - a GET IF OFF YOUR CHEST t-shirt signed by Cheryl Baker (Bucks Fizz) via @noktoksmum from Twitter ... mother to Oli with CF:

And a signed Loose Women in New York DVD donated by Carol McGiffin (signed by Sherrie Hewson, Carol McGiffin, Denise Welch & Lisa Maxwell) ..... I love Loose Women so I might just have to watch this before it goes on the Auction!!

The Kindness of Strangers

Since I started this Campaign a couple of months ago I have been overwhelmed with the support of total strangers on Twitter who have offered a helping hand without being asked.  Followers who are re-tweeting my Tweets to Celeb's, who are asking them if they will consider making a donation and also kindly offering to seek donations themselves through contacts or sending donations they already have - extremely touched by this generosity.  Never underestimate the helping hand of someone who is touch by your plight.

Yesterday I received these lovely book marks hand made by a follower - lot of detail in them and much time made making them: 

It's this more than anything which I'm overwhelmed with - the kindness and thoughtfulness of people I've never met.  Renews your faith in mankind and drives you on to seek more support.

Gabby Logan

Allison received a nice signed t-shirt from Gabby Logan today:

Received another donation from a follower on Twitter today which will add later when I find my camera!

Press Release

Received the draft Press Release for the Campaign from the Publicity Officer at the CF Trust today - just reading through it and amending/adding a few things before sending it back to be sent out to media.  Here's hoping that it generates some interest as I'd dearly love to have more awareness raised for Cystic Fibrosis and hopefully more donations sent from Celeb's for the Auction after hours/months spent Tweeting Celeb's seeking donations.  I know many are probably fed up of me, but the one's who have the most followers might have not seen my Tweet, so I tend to ask again "just in case"!  Sometimes it pays to ask again - if they have more time they tend to reply or sometimes if they've said yes it pays to ask again as a reminder - which proved correct this evening when one said he hadn't forgotten and would be sending a donation soon.

I still haven't got a "wow factor" for the Auction - something unique which will drum up much interest, and don't know if I will secure that, but will keep on trying right up until the last minute.

This Campaign started off fairly small and has turned in to something far bigger than I expected!  Have been overwhelmed with the replies from Celeb's - Twitter has proved to be a marvellous networking site for my fundraising ... something which I never thought would happen!  Where else can you "talk" to Celeb's - well known people you've admired from afar ... AND get Direct Messages from them.  For someone like me a simple Tweet, a little message, makes all the difference and definitely drives me on knowing that people do care and they want to take the time to help.  Fantasy can sometimes become reality - if only you work at it!!

Matt Evers

Received two signed pictures from Matt Evers (Dancing on Ice) today for the Auction - my favourite of the professional male dancers!!

The past few days have been really good for yay's from Celeb's on Twitter ..... here's hoping the yay's turn up with real donations for the Campaign.

Well Known Celebrity Needed!

With only 9 days left for me to get as many donations as possible for the Auction before our holiday I'm in desparate need of a BIG well known Celebrity to support the Campaign in order to raise the maximum amount of awareness as possible for Cystic Fibrosis. That is hard work when the BIG Celebrity Tweeters tend to not reply to Charity Tweets - I understand the reasons why as am sure they get asked many a time to help, but that won't stop me trying. If you don't ask, you don't get! It won't cost them anything if they just send a picture - I can quite easily supply the stamped addressed envelope if only they would reply! Me and my little Team of helpers will do their best in the next few days.

I also have a big ebay problem at the moment as my account has been limited to the amount I can list due to ebay's rather millitary rules - I have 100% feedback - go figure! Hope this can be solved with the help of some friends - would hate for the Charity to suffer due to "jobsworth" rules. Watch this space!!

Donations so far ....

I've made a quick slideshow showing most of the donations so far in one place as I fear that some will log on to the Blog and think that we have only had the donations they see on the Home Page ... you need to scroll down to "Older Posts" to find more:

Celebrity Donations So Far

Have had LOADS more promised, but I am not that green to think that they will turn up - passing me on to Websites/Agents/Managers means GO AWAY!!  99% don't reply.  I wish they would - it would make so much of a difference - sadly, not all have time to respond to EVERY Charity request.  It's hard not to take it personal when it affects you in a big way - they don't see that - they just see their own busy lives and their clients - and as one very knowledgeable Celeb told me "if there is nothing in it for their client, they are not interested".  Ho hum - moving on - continuing to ask regardless!!

Children In Need

Tonight is Children in Need on BBC1 and I, like many thousands of others, will be watching and no doubt donating later on.

Never one to miss an opportunity to highlight the need for more awareness for Cystic Fibrosis I hope to catch a BIG Tweeter (not in size - in followers number!) in the hope that they will re-tweet for Cystic Fibrosis awareness in return for a donation to Children in Need.  I intend on donating anyway, but if I can use this BIG event to the advantage of children living with Cystic Fibrosis in need, then so be it.

Cystic Fibrosis is an unseen condition and unless you are affected in some way by the condition or know of someone, then you are blinkered to the harsh reality - the reality that it affects over 8500 people in the UK and that 5 babies are born with Cystic Fibrosis a week in the UK and 3 lives are lost to the dreadful genetically inherited life-threatening condition.

Here are just a few children with Cystic Fibrosis In Need:

Shelby

Dylan

Eva

Hannah

Daniel

Joseph

Joseph

PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO RE-TWEET FOR CYSTIC FIBROSIS UK AWARENESS OR HELP BY DONATING SOMETHING SIGNED FOR THE CHRISTMAS EBAY AUCTION - MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO THE LIVES OF THOSE LIVING WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS - THANK YOU.

Arsenal FC

Received these four pictures of Arsenal FC players today from another Twitter follower (arsenalchick) : Theo Walcott, Emmanuel Eboue, Jack Wilshere & Bacary Sagna.