Festive Time 2022

🍹🎄Festive time & favourite tipples with Flock of Tits🎄🍹

It's officially a tradition, but with one change of task. So, the annual Christmas card  plus each babe's chosen charity remains steadfast. The third part is a quiz based on favourite tipples to see in the New Year. The quiz is at the bottom of the blog. Can you work out who drinks what? 

Send your answers to me by 1st January 2023.  

Answers revealed later in the New Year with a prize for the winner! 

Cards and messages are in the order received. I'm sure you will agree with me that we are supporting, often with great emotion, a wide range of charities with 'humanity' at its heart of all of them. 💝

🎄Alison🎄

To all the Gelly Babes. 

Wishing you a happy Christmas and a peaceful New year. 

With love from Alison

My chosen charity is guide dogs for the blind. We have an old friend whose eyesight was never great, but it has progressively worsened over the years, to the point where he is virtually blind. We go out for lunch with him every month. 

The photograph was taken at such a meeting on Wednesday of his beautiful guide dog Odin.

🎄Helen 🎄

My donation has gone to Mind once again in memory of my beautiful boy.

🎄Maggie🎄

To all the Gellybabes, 

Wishing you a Happy Christmas and a wonderful 2023

love from Maggie x

With so many crises at home and abroad I am going to donate to the British Red Cross again this year. A recent email said that with the rising cost of living they were getting more appeals for help than ever before.

🎄Helen J🎄

I have chosen to support the Guardian Appeals again this year, which covers three charities: UK for UNHCR to provide refugee families with Winter Survival Kits. Plus, closer to home: Citizens Advice  and Locality to help support local grassroot projects from food aid to warm rooms, money advice and mental health.

 🎄Lynn🎄

Christmas love to Our Gang from Lynn 😘

One of my charities this year is Christians Against Poverty because they actively lift people from financial disaster and stand alone, and all without preaching; wonderful organisation.  My other one is RNLI because I've been able to put Les's name on a new lifeboat soon to be launched in Anstruther, Fife. 

🎄Jane🎄

Wishing all the Babes a very happy Christmas and hopes for a peaceful 2023.

My chosen charity donation is Medicins Sans Frontiere (MSF)

🎄Pam🎄

Many, many warm seasonal wishes to all my GB chums.  I always enjoy our meet ups, blogs and coffee-chats... and my birdie education.  Thank you so much for being such good friends.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 

I have always admired MSF's work across the world but I found this intervention in Ukraine particularly inspiring. 

🎄Julia🎄

Happy Christmas to you all!  Looking forward to meeting up in the new year.  

Much love, Julia xx

  

This year I have made a donation to the Tressel Trust who support a nationwide network of food banks and provide emergency food and support to people locked in poverty.

🎄Charlotte🎄

Season's Greetings everyone.  Have a fun but relaxing Christmas.

Wishing you all a healthy New Year and Peace in the World.

Love Charlotte & Ian xxx

My chosen charity is, of course, Sofia & Satyam. Sofia in now in Year 11 and planning A levels (Art, History and Spanish) We are fundraising for her next study visa to enable this.

Satyam is in Year 10 and thoroughly  enjoying all aspects of school life. He is doing so well and is loved by both staff and students. He first started studying French in Year 9 and is now doing it at GCSE (predicted Grade 7!) We are fundraising for the cost of a school trip to France in October 2023 plus the special visa he needs.

🎄Jo🎄

Wishing all the Gelly babes a very jolly Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Love Jo xxx

My chosen charity is to Cancer Research in memory of my friend Ann, 

whose funeral I sadly attended last week. 

🎄Janice🎄

Merry Christmas to my fellow Gelly Babes, have a lovely Christmas & good wishes for 2023.

My chosen charity is UNHCR to support those who have had to leave their homes & have nowhere to call home this Christmas.

🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹

And here is the much anticipated Flock of Tits Festive Quiz 2022!

All you need to do is match the drink to the Gelly babe. Please send me your answers (A-K)via my WhatsApp by New Year's Day for a chance to win a prize. There will be no need to prove it over the New Year, but maybe someone will. 

Its now the first week of Jan and I've matched the tippler with the tipple. How well did you do? Winner to be announced at next meet up. 

A  Ardbeg single malt whisky - Helen J

B  Bombay sapphire (or Aldi's) G&T with ice and lemon - Helen M

C  Fettercairn single malt whisky - Pam

D  Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) - Janice

E  Lemon Blossom cocktail * - Maggie

F  Prosecco- any brand - Julia

G  Seval blanc white wine with Veuve Clicquot champagne - Charlotte

H  Sloe gin, home-made - Jane

I  Timothy Taylor's beer - Lynn

J  White port (or a cup of tea) - Alison

K  Wodkaleys (Baileys with vodka) - Jo

*  Lemon blossom cocktail (30ml each of limoncello, elderflower cordial, vodka, lemon juice, ice) 

Cheers!

🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹

Pre Christmas Brief Encounters

 Pre Christmas Brief Encounters at Carsington

8th December 2022

On a bright, crisp but very cold morning a select group of us gathered at Carsington Visitor Centre. Maggie was away in the big smoke, Charlotte and Helen J were under the weather and at the last minute Lynn couldn’t make it either. Plans for the day had been made but not everyone could stay for the proposed lunch so plans were very flexible.

We settled down for the obligatory long coffee session along with plenty of chat and catching up with everyone’s news. Other subjects covered at some length were the craziness of current DBS requirements for any one mad enough to want to work and the perils of cycling both for the crazy cyclists and us as extremely considerate drivers who never get irritated by those on two wheels - they should all be subjected to Janice’s training regime! Jo entertained us with Bob’s latest exploits, causing more havoc for her long suffering sister! There was also a competition to see who was wearing the most clothing layers - Julia won!

Our coffee cups empty we headed out into the freezing cold - Julia most definitely won the best scarf award! But Alison two coats also needs a commendation!

At this point I had to leave having double  booked myself but the remaining hardy souls headed out in search of the Great Northern Diver so thank you to Jo for the next bit…,

    These are some of the ones they didn’t get.

The reservoir is 55% full now ro having gone down to 40% during the drought so plenty more rain needed yet.

Jo and Julia had to leave too after the bird spotting session so the flock of tits was reduced to just three who enjoyed lunch in the sunshine