Being shortlisted!

I spent a fair amount of time recently putting together an application for a charity placement so I was absolutely delighted yesterday when I received confirmation that I’d been shortlisted for one of the available places. According to their website, over 11,000 folk applied to the Vodafone Foundation World of Difference scheme last year (which I first mentioned in this post), so I’m chuffed to have made it to the final 750!

Basically, the foundation funds 500 UK placements in the hope that the recipients will ‘make a difference’ to their chosen charity. As much as I get a whole load of satisfaction out of volunteering, I couldn’t afford to devote 15 hours a week for a four month period doing it. So, the idea is that the foundation pays the charity to ‘employ’ people for a short spell who would love to have a go at doing more for their chosen charity; it’s not a huge amount of money you’re paid, but it would be enough to allow me to justify sacrificing some of my ‘work, work’ time to doing more for Strathcarron Hospice.

The application process involved: coming up with a proposal of how I could ‘make a difference’ to Strathcarron; presenting it to the Hospice for their approval; then presenting it to the foundation judges in the form of an online submission. There was also an option to submit a supplementary video and, as I figured it was important to use every possible option available to make the application stand out from the other however-many-thousand that the judges would be sifting through, I wrote, recited and recorded me reading a wee poem about my plan to help the hospice. (I know it sounds naff, but I guess it kind of worked!)

So, some time during the next few weeks: my referees will be contacted; the hospice will be contacted (to check that they’re fully behind me working for them); and I’ll be contacted for a telephone interview (Help ma boab!). Then I’ll be told, anytime up to the middle of January, if I have a place. Once I know whether I’ve made it or not to the winning 500, I’ll be able to say more about what I’d actually be doing at the hospice, but I don't feel right about doing that till the placements have been awarded.

Suffice to say that the jist of my proposal would involve bringing ‘A Myriad of Music’ to the hospice, so it just seemed fitting that music has featured a lot in what’s been making me happy over the past few days. One of the things I miss most about the kids being away from home is the ‘sound’ of them being around the house. So, singing along with Gemma, as she was pottering about at the piano on Saturday afternoon when she was home for a flying visit, was just braw. I started secretly recording her with my phone – I’m obviously biased, but I just love to hear Gemma play and sing – and the wee video below is us giving it big licks with one of the songs that we love to sing together (I’m giving it my best shot with the low harmony that I’ve been taught at choir in the background! Hope I'm not infringing on Annie and Jane's copyright!). Me and Gemma would never make it on X Factor (thank goodness!), but the pleasure we get out of having a sing-song together beats all the fortune that that that kind of fame could bring!

So, that was the first thing. Then, I had choir last night. We’re full in the throes of rehearsing for our concert at Stirling’s Albert Hall on the 10th of December (have I mentioned that before?!) and last night the band that’ll be accompanying us came along to practise. I absolutely loved it. Aw man, I could’ve stood there singing all night. And, one of my favourites of the night was the one that Gemma and I had been playing around with on the wee video; Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’. It was the first song I learned with the choir, and it’s one of our family favourites. Just seemed so apt that it was so awesome last night.

Lastly, Alex and I are heading through to the Playhouse in Edinburgh tonight to see ‘We Will Rock You’. In a similar vein to the real Queen having two birthdays, me and Alex have two anniversaries; the 28th of June (to celebrate the day we got married) and the 29th of November (to celebrate the night we started going out – 31 years ago today!). So, what better way to round off my ‘Myriad of Music’ weekend than going to a musical that celebrates the music of a band that I love with the man that I love!

I'm feeling quite brave posting this wee video, I think I'm a bit carried away with the excitement of the past few days! No doubt I'll regret it tomorrow and pull it off the blog, but, in the meantime, here's me and Gemma making some noise (with no pictures to go with it)!