New staff, new skills, new computer...Hurrah!

Howdy all,

We’ve had an exciting few weeks recently. Firstly, we have a new staff member. A HUGE welcome to Christian! Christian is already the favourite staff member because he is Swiss and brings back Swiss chocolate for us. No one can compete with that. Secondly, he’s a counselling psychologist and just an all-round brilliant guy really. We’re lucky to have him and look forward to working with him :D

Secondly, Horatio has been recovered. This has obviously been fantastic news for me personally, but also for the many, many supporters that Horatio has enthralled across the globe with his winning smile and glorious beard. He currently resides in the Kale woodland with his favourite mushrooms. That said, I didn’t see him this morning so Jimmy may have been up to more mischief.

Thirdly, Michael is back! Hooray! We’ve missed his witty banter and obnoxious jokes. I’ve actually heard that he can kill weeds and common garden pests just by talking to them for hours on end, although I do occasionally see him with roundup in his mucky paws, so it could be a myth.

Massive thanks to Graeme who gave (yes gave) us a computer which is specifically for our veterans to use. We canny thank you enough Graeme – you’re awesome! Andy and Alan have got it set up and connected to the internet and now all our guys can be silver surfers. Or indeed, bald surfers. I should apologise for that before someone gives me a duffing up behind the compost bins. Still, worth it. Sorry not sorry.

Equally ginormous thanks to Lara and her team at the DWP. In honour of DTG, they had a fundraiser and last week handed us a lovely cheque for £169.10. As a small charity, donations like this mean a lot to us. We can put it towards funding the massive amount of tea we drink (or maybe our veterans’ projects). We are very lucky to have such generous supporters. Thank you.

In other news, Andy and Alan ran a self-defence course on Friday last week. We all learned how to defend against knives, guns and general lurkers with malicious intent and I think I’m right in saying that we all feel just that little bit more confident in our ability to protect ourselves. That’s a pretty important gift to give to people, so thank you Andy and Alan. We will hone and develop these skills in the next course and soon we will be total ninjas.

It’s raining today. Michael is squelching around the garden damply. I will try to stay indoors in the warm and drink tea. Speaking of, kettle’s boiled. Laters potaters.