[Blonde]

what can be done for the victims of the latest earth quake?  What are people thinking.  Where  will the next one occur and will it be as big or bigger?   

[doganjo]

It's awful.  A St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow is twinned with the Christchurch one that collapsed and have raised £3500 at a benefit concert.  There are a number of other events going to be run throughout the year for both New Zealand and Japan.  I wonder if we could do anything?I have heard of online photo competitions, could we maybe do one like an agricultural show with classes/categories like they have at those for animals and flowers and veg too?  We have a resident photographer who could be on the judging panel and maybe Dan too, plus one other?  If we make the entry fee say £1 we could raise quite a bit on here alone, we're all crazy about taking photos of our animals and gardens, aren't we.  My friend Chris in NZ is waiting to hear if their home is being demolished or repaired - the back log is about 3 to 6 months so for that time she has to wait all the time wondering if it will collapse!  What do you all think?

[sabrina]

This is a great idea, I would be delighted to enter knowing the money was going to help these poor people, the classes could be fun ones as well to give everyone a chance who may not have a show animal, funny shaped veg, best country picture the list could be endless. When can we get started !!!

[egglady]

count me in too

[doganjo]

Ok, I'll have a think and a chat with Rosemary to see what we can come up with - don't go away - might take a few days to sort out.  All suggestions for classes/categories welcome - I suppose we could start with the forum headings, couldn't we?
We also need to decide where the money is going - Japan or New Zealand, or 50/50?  Rosemary/Dan - can we use the forum for this and any suggestions as to how to get the donations into a bank account? It takes ages and complicated froms to set up a new one - maybe an online account of some sort?  Paypal charges but they might forego them for something like this?

[Blonde]

Sounds like a great idea.......
So many people are going to perish in this natural disaster

Just where do people start to live or begin their lives, now they have to deal with reactors exploding as well.    I Just cannot imagine how I would feel if I was in that situation.  What would I do  or how would I pick up th pieces and keep going.   

 What ever we can do to support such a situation would be wonderful and I guess I am not alone on this forum thinking the way  I do.

[doganjo]

This is a message from my friend, Chris in New Zealand -

On February 21st Christchurch was hit with at 6.3 earthquake. Due to this tragic event, the
organising committee of the Brittany Club will be in abeyance for a while and this will also delay the
club's AGM. Please bear with us in the meantime.The committee has not been unscathed; we have all been affected with damage - especially Rich and
Claire who have been made homeless. Poppy is boarding with the Hill's for the duration. We allknow of family, friends and neighbours who are grieving for lost loved ones. It has been a disaster of unbelievable proportions.
We can only hope that our city will rise from the rubble. This will take us years to recover from and
we locals are doing all that we can to help each other, our families, our neighbours and friends.
We sincerely thank everyone for all the messages, phone calls and offers received - just knowing
you are there with us in spirit, if not physically, is much appreciated.   
I would never have believed that what we experienced could have been topped. It is an awful tragedy still unfolding and when watching the TV coverage, it puts you in awe of the power of forces beneath us. We have all taken much for granted for far too long.
 
We are all fine - still pretty jaded and don't know what to expect for the future. The gridlock and stress levels are still high and expected to increase with the 60,000 or so who bolted out of Christchurch in the first few days, now expected to return to the city and assess their lot. The damage is immense, yet someone has worked out the Japanese earthquake was 8,000 times more powerful than ours. It would have annihilated our city and surroundings. There would be nothing left now - as they have in northern Japan.

[pikilily]

count me in for this
Emma T