Lancashire

When people ask me where I am from the answer is easy, I am from Burnley of course in Lancashire. On today of all days it is a day to celebrate all of the good things that Lancashire has to offer. Starting in the east, we have the formidable sight of Pendle hill. Tall and proud it stands, casting a shadow on the villages that surround it. The likes of Barley, Blacko and Sabden too. Fence and Newchurch if I was to name another few. The mill town of Burnley on one side & the old market town of Clitheroe on the other side. Locals would argue that it should be mount Pendle but a mere 50 meters stand in the way of that being the case.
Pendle is best known for its Witches and the trail of 1612 where if you ask anyone in the surrounding towns they know of someone related to one of the 12 witches that went on trial that particular autumn. 

North of the hill is the Forest of Bowland which stretches all the way up to the North of the county and Lancaster, our original capital.  Much of the land here is owned by the Queen and it is not hard to tell why. It is a designated area of outstanding natural beauty and its lush green trees and spectacular valleys speak for themselves. 

In the far West of the county, we have Blackpool. Or the Las Vegas of the North. A great family fun town with lots of seaside entertainment and most famous for its illuminations of course. The place of choice for many of the county's hen parties and stag do's. A mini Eiffel tower and an historic ballroom along with one of the countries best theme parks, the little town of Blackpool really has everything. 

The rest of the county, has plenty to keep anyone busy with ancient castles to explore and shopping trips to be had. Lancashire really is the place to be!

  

  

Children in Need walk ..

Today I did a charity walk from the B&Q chorley store to my store in Preston, via Bamber Bridge as part of B&Q's 1 million pound pledge to Children in Need. There was 13 of us in total, including Pudsey (AKA Paul Ainsworth) himself. The day started with everyone in good nature and looking forward to the challenge of walking almost 13 miles through the heart of Lancashire. For some more than others it really was a challenge and that became evident as the day progressed. Every time I do an event for charity, I always feel very humbled to be asked to take part and this was no exception. The weather did its bit for us and the dreaded rain that was forecast stayed away. It was a bright and breezy day, with a chill in the air but once we were on our way it soon warmed up, especially for Pudsey.

We got lots of support along the way and a lot of drivers and people we walked past stopped to donate and give Pudsey a big hug of course. We saw mothers and fathers walking with children and seeing their little faces light up when they saw Pudsey and gave him a big hug made us all smile so much and gave us the morale booster we needed to carry on walking to help other children who need our help. One of the best moments of the day was when we walked past a Primary school and all the children were on their break, when they saw Pudsey they could not contain their excitement and all went a little bit crazy. Good luck to whoever had to teach them this afternoon.

We didn't quite get a huge welcome party at Bamber Bridge when we got there, but alas it was time for a quick pit stop and chat to to some of our colleagues who worked there. We then had a bit of a lunch break at Morrisons where unfortunately Pudsey had a bit of an accident and walked straight into a ballard, Clumsey Pudsey :P. But like a true professional he carried on waving to his adoring crowd and we all collected a bit of money from the shoppers there. I don't think the Dogs Trust were too happy, but hey you can't compete with Pudsey.

The final stretch and 2 miles from home, well my store anyway and a nice woman pulls up and donates £40 and wishes us good luck on the rest of our journey. Some people were clearly struggling at this point but they carried on and that womans generosity gave each and every one of us the determination to get to the end.
After a long walk up London road, we were almost there and rang ahead to let our colleagues who were working know. I don't think anybody has ever been so happy to see a B&Q as much as us before and outside we had a big welcome party with champagne to congratulate us on our efforts of the day. I just want to say from everyone who walked if you were one of the people just giving us a pip on the road or waving at us and donated on the walk thank you very much you kept us all going today. Thank you to everyone else who has kindly offered to sponsor us and if you haven't yet, it is never too late :P