Flashback to 2004: Paul is a leading light as town celebrates magic of Christmas
Paul Hill was setting a sparkling example of fundraising by turning his home into a blaze of colour and light with a brilliant array of Christmas lights.
“There’s a box on the lamppost outside with a little sign on it saying all donations are going to the Telford Hospice Appeal ,” said Paul, who used his Christmas lights display to raise cash for various charities. And Paul who lived in Edgmond, near Newport, said his display was better than ever.
“I’ve had to upgrade my fuse from 16 amps to 30 amps, so it’s more or less doubled,” he said.
The collection box was emptied every night and the total was due to be totted up at the end of the light show, which was running until Twelfth Night. Although he said the lights had always attracted favourable comment, his experience was that so far people had not been as generous with their charity cash as in the past.
He lived in a cul-de-sac and said people drove past to look at the lights and had to turn round, and he thought some of them couldn’t be bothered to get out of their cars to make a donation.
Telford Hospice Appeal fundraising officer Lucy Proctor sent out a “Christmas message” to say thank you to everybody who has helped with the appeal so far.
She said: “I want to say thank you to everybody who has helped us over the last few months. The public response to the appeal has been tremendous and so many people have donated Christmas card money, organised events, taken collections at carol service or helped in some other way.
“We also have lots of promises from people who intend to start fundraising in the New Year and we are looking forward to working with them.”
Meanwhile, youngsters suffering the horrific after-effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster were enjoying a festive trip on the Severn Valley Railway. Eleven youngsters from Belarus were staying in the UK on a trip organised by bank manager Jean Palmer.
For every month they spend in the UK, the children could live up to two years longer, as it gives their bodies a break from the radiation levels present in their own country.
Miss Palmer, who lived in Belbroughton, got involved in organising the trip when she learned about the international charity Chernobyl Children Life Line. The 11 children, who were aged between two and 15, had spent most of December with families around the West Midlands.
Their country was one of the worst affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident of 1986.
Miss Palmer said she had been able to take advantage of an employee volunteer scheme run by her employers to organise the trip to the West Midlands for the Belarussian youngsters. Barclays contributed £1,000 towards the visit.
Miss Palmer said one of the highlights of the trip for the youngsters was their visit to Santa Claus during their trip on the Severn Valley Railway.
And a Telford tile factory had been drafted in for a very glamorous task-producing a set of red tiles for former Page 3 model Samantha Fox.
The Horsehay-based Tile Factory, run by Paula and David Franklin, manufactured ceramic wall tiles, specialising in colour and texture.
Their latest adventure had seen them take part in five show ‘Celebrity How Not To Decorate’ which, needed tiles matched to a specific bright red for a makeover on Samantha Fox’s house.
Two days before filming started, the programme makers still hadn’t found anyone who could supply the colour – then a trade journal recommended The Tile Factory.
Mr Franklin said: “A good red is very difficult to achieve in ceramics but we knew we could do it for them. The problem was the time scale and the fact that we hadn’t seen the colour to match to and it can take several firings to get it right.
“In the event the match arrived on Tuesday, December 14 and Paula unloaded the kiln with the finished product in the early hours of Friday morning.”
First thing on Friday they handed the tiles over to David Pitchford from Pitchford Couriers to take them down to Chingford in Essex.
David said he unloaded the tiles in front of the cameras and took them into Samantha Fox’s house where they were to be used in the kitchen.
He said: “The camera filmed the three designers unpack the tiles and it was as if they were opening a Christmas present.
“They were excited and amazed at the colour match, and the quality that hand colouring gives,” David concluded.
