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Hi everybody, well, it's been a big week for me and my two favourite charities this week. On Thursday night I was privileged to MC/DJ at the Think Pink Ball. Think Pink is an international phenomenon which promotes breast cancer awareness to women from all walks of life, nationalities and ages.
It was first brought to Bahrain by a lovely lady called Julie Sprakle (who I call Sparkly!) and she is an inspiration. I've interviewed Julie a few times now over the radio and her enthusiasm and verve always shines through during our chats.
The ball took place this year at the Diplomat Radisson SAS Hotel which was decked out resplendently in pink for this special evening. J
ulie gave a moving opening address thanking the many and various sponsors and congratulating everyone on both the money and awareness that had been raised.
She said that what moved her most this year was when she went to the Pakistan School to give a lecture; and lots and lots of the students were wearing pink headscarfs in support of breast cancer awareness. They all went outside and an aerial photograph was taken of them forming the shape of the 'Think Pink' symbol, forming what she described as a beautiful 'human ribbon'. Then, Breast Cancer leaflets were handed out to all the students to take home to their mothers that had been printed in their native language Urdu.
What a wonderful idea! It's not hard to see how lives can be saved.
During the auction I got Phil Jones (also known as Pee-Wee) from the Royal Golf Club on stage to help me. The club had kindly donated three rounds of golf with some famous players who will be visiting Bahrain later this month.
Some fantastic money was raised and 'big' Des Prunty making a very generous bid to play with Colin Montgomerie and if you missed the chance to win at the ball turn to the back page of today's GulfWeekly and have another go!
All in all, a great evening was had and lots of money was raised for this very worthwhile cause. However, as the night came to a close I looked at my watch and thought "Oh no!" It's almost 2am already and I have to be up in the morning to run the first leg of the Bahrain Relay Marathon.
Last year I ran for the British Club and coincidentally the monies we raised went to Think Pink. This year, I was running (or more accurately, I was hobbling along on my dodgy knees as fast as I could) for another charity which is also close to my heart; the BSPCA.
Now, the day earlier on my radio show I read out the weekly BSPCA pet report and mentioned that I would be participating in the marathon with my dog to help raise more money and awareness for the charity.
I repeated this several times throughout my show and soon after I got off air I got a phone call from Dave 'Beasty' Wakefield saying that the committee of the Bahrain Relay Marathon had got together and that whilst it was a worthwhile cause, there was just no way that a dog would be allowed to run with me!
I tried my best to explain that she was beautifully behaved, has had her injections, would not make any doggy messes and that she was pretty fast too, but he was having none of it. I just wished that he had telephoned during the show; I would have carried on winding him up for a lot longer because in fact my 'dog' was none other than the lovely (and fit) Nicky Pearce wearing a fabulous Scooby-Doo costume.
He stuttered and replied: "Oh that will be OK then". (Thanks, Bahrain Round Table!)
Anyway, on the morning I met Nicky and she looked absolutely amazing in her full length zip-up furry costume.
We got down to the start and lots of people came over to take photographs so it was good publicity for the BSPCA. I put the lead on 'Scooby' and when the siren sounded, off we trotted. After about 300 metres she slipped her collar and flew off ahead of me. There was no way that I could catch her and anyway, as she had the baton, there was no need to either.
We met up at the end of our leg and Nicky said the support she'd was received had been amazing and she overtook lots of people ('cos of having four legs I suppose). She looked pretty hot and thirsty too but I'd not thought to bring a water bowl!
The Relay Marathon is a great way of collecting money for charity, but maybe the organising committee should have a think about having a staggered start like in other marathons around the world; because some of the professionals that enter take it really very seriously (Someone told me that last year the 3rd and 4th best 10,000 metre runners even competed!) The rest of us just want a fun day out whilst getting fitter and raising some money for charity.
When I got home it was still reasonably early and I had time for a little rest before gathering myself up and heading out to work; this time at the Bizzy Bees Halloween party. BOO! And Boo Hoo too as I really wanted another 40 winks. But, as always I had a great time once I got going. The party was very well attended and a great success, and when I got home it was to even more Halloween fun. There was a post 'trick or treat' get together going on at my house. So, I sat down and got stuck into some sweets with the kids.
Keep happy and stay sweet,
Krazy Kevin
