R.I.P. John the Cobbler

Yesterday, sadly, I was told that John the Cobbler had died the day before following his long battle with Cancer. I shall miss walking up the High Street and stopping to chat to John, and I shall miss his humour, eg "Cobblers to the Old Town" being the name he gave his business! The photograph above is of when Paul Denny (Sun Tan) presented John with a Macmillan Nurses certificate as he and his customers and friends had contributed £110 towards Paul's fundraising for Macmillan Nurses, in respect of his running in the London Marathon in honour of another character lost to Hastings the year before, Debbie McSweeney, who had died due to Cancer too (blog).

My thoughts are with his wife, family and friends, R.I.P. John... 😪

Macmillan Nurses: Where the donations came from!

You may remember that over the Christmas period, and earlier this year, Paul Denny raised £359.62 for Macmillan Nurses by making homemade pickles and leaving collection boxes at a number of sites, as mentioned in earlier blogs. He since ran the London marathon and raised a further £891.53, thus bringing the total raised to £1,251.15, again blogged about here previously (and don't forget, another £100+ in 'gift aid', so he probably raised over £1400 in total!).  

He took just over 5 hours to complete his 12th marathon; 10 London, 1 New York and the Hastings Marathon in 2008 (only staged every 100 years!). Though not his fastest run in a marathon, taking into account he injured his ankle 2 weeks previous to the race, which prevented him training, and that the same injury reoccurred at the 10 mile mark of the marathon, it was some achievement just to complete the course, so very well done Paul!  

So, where did the extra £891.53 come from? 

  

Well, money raised at John the Cobblers amounted to £110.00, here is Paul presenting John with the certificate from Macmillan Nurses. 

The Dolphin raised a further £62.00. 

The Jenny Lind contributed a further £50.00. 

Together with a little more 'pickle money', the First in Last Out contributed a whopping £669.53 more!  

Debbie McSweeney (1962-2014) R.I.P. 

Macmillan Nurses, London Marathon Donation Forms at...

The shirt that Paul has had Debbie's face printed on for the London Marathon, where he ran in her memory and for Macmillan Nurses, Sussex. As I said before, forms were at various sites around the old town; and they have now been collected in: 

The First In Last Out (FILO), 14-15 High Street.

The Dolphin, 12 Rock-a-Nore Road.

The Jenny Lind, 69 High Street.

And, if you didn't fancy entering a pub, the Old Town Cobblers, 64D High Street. 

Paul is grateful for all the donations made, and confirms that all monies received have now been sent to Macmillan Nurses, Sussex, many thanks! I shall post further when receipts have been received from the charity. 

Debbie McSweeney R.I.P.   

Good luck to Paul!

My best wishes to Paul Denny when he runs in the London Marathon today, in memory of Debbie McSweeney, and to raise funds for Macmillan Nurses Sussex! 

There is an article in the Hastings Observer this week, well worth the read (see above), and just a reminder that collection boxes, and donation forms for Macmillan Nurses, are placed in the Old Town Cobblers in the High Street, also in the same road, at the Jenny Lind and FILO, at the Dolphin Inn, Rock-a-Nore. 

Al monies raised are going to Macmillan Nurses, Sussex, many thanks... 

Once again, good luck to Paul, and all runners, and all donations welcomed! 

Only 4 days to go!

Only 4 days to go, and Paul will be running/limping/crawling the London Marathon, whatever, he has promised to complete the race, and he's already run well over a dozen marathons in his life, but this one has more importance for him, being in honour of Debbie McSweeney. As I have said before, there are collection boxes/sponsorship forms at the Old Town Cobblers in the High Street, and at 3 pubs, the FILO and Jenny Lind in the High Street, and at the Dolphin at Rock-a-Nore... 

All donations would be much appreciated, with all proceeds going to Macmillan Nurses (Sussex). Latest news on the marathon is at their website.