I have had a series of lovely skills exchanges during the last couple of weeks, which I would like to share with you all. Perhaps the biggest group effort was a coffee morning and fundraising event I held on Friday morning at my home to boost funds for Macmillan Cancer Care and for Ward E38, the paediatric oncology ward where our friend's brave daughter Rose is undergoing treatment for a rare and aggressive neuroblastoma. When Rose asked if she could be part of my event I was determined to make it as successful as possible and enlisted the help of a whole posse of Skills Exchangers to help. Steve, Mike, Dianne and Corina all brought along beautiful crafts to show and sell and helped create a lovely feeling to the event. Steve also took photographs, which are a fabulous memento of the day. Steve (again!), Anne and Lucy donated very generous raffle prizes and Liz and Jo brought delicious baked goods to eat and sell on the day. Paul, the Teaman from Totally Locally, donated and served all the teas and coffees on the morning and I simply couldn't have managed without he and his son and their unfailing enthusiasm. We managed to raise over £700, which I was thrilled with and which just goes to show that together everyone achieves more. In my spare time (!) I have asked Alex to re-cover some chairs, Kate Troy for help with our badly behaved printer and have attacked bindweed (a new found pleasure!) in Karina's allotment. Thanks to you all, Catherine