We held a very successful AI Woking meeting in December where 9 of us signed cards for the AI W4R 2024 campaign. So in total, signed 81 cards within the group itself, plus Monica had provided us with letters to government officials as well for each of the individuals (a further 18 letters)!!! Thank you Monica and everyone for supporting this event. The non-alcoholic gluwein and sweet / savoury treats were delicious!

Plus we had Allison from the Church also provide us with some more signed cards with the generous donation of about £90+ from the church itself.  (thank you so much Allison - please extend our sincere thanks. really generous).

We were meant to have a W4R stall outside Waitrose on Saturday, however, due to the awful weather conditions we had to abandon the event altogether.  Disappointing as I really enjoy this particular annual event. But alas, extreme weather conditions are something that we will need to factor into our future winter campaign.

That being said, Jennifer has organised a super little W4R event at our local Pasha Cafe in Chobham for the morning of the 11 January between 10-12!!!   I will be attending (and happy if anyone else wishes to come along too) with Jen as it is local for us to get there and we shall do some social media advertising and local promotion. So we can still continue our card writing campaigns.

Both Lynda and Keith are also organising some W4R card events at their local churches too, so I have no doubt that in the end, our small but passionate group of individuals will have signed well on the way to 150 cards!! Perhaps we could do a rough tally once all the events have taken place.

I will see about contacting the local church in Goldsworth Park as well to see if they would be willing to hold a W4R event there (we probably do need to think about this so that our event isn't dependent on weather conditions in future).

We also signed a letter for Zhan Zheng, a Chinese human rights defender.

Nataly confirmed that The Sun newspaper has agreed to support her case over the festive period and also that she and a number of other mothers separated from their children have written to a number of MPs directly.  I will discuss this with Adrianna about AI UK taking this on again in the new year.

Separate to this, we have agreed to donate money to AI UK to the sum of £500, plus we have agreed to pay our annual Group subscription to AI UK (£72) and to give £85 as a donation to Trinity Church for the monthly use of the room.  This leaves us with a healthy balance of about £200.  We also agreed that we'd expense the cost of W4R postage back to our AI account which I think is best given how expensive postage is these days, particularly international.

Anyway, I think all that's needed now is to wish everyone a really calm, relaxing festive break, not too much travelling and not too much overindulgence (oh well maybe just a bit!). And, with belts duly buckled, a 2025 that proves significantly calmer than 2024 and certainly one that brings much needed peace, cease-fires and reconciliations and families reunited. 

The work we do will always be needed and now more so than ever.  Thanks for your support.