Small talk

Award or prize giving ceremonies usually bore me to death or turn my stomach. The thought of making small talk, laughing at a local Councillor's shit jokes and generally being nicey nicey to smarmy business types makes my skin crawl. This evening however, I've been pleasantly surprised. I attended The Hilton Community Foundation's £10k Giveaway ceremony, unsurprisingly, at The Hilton in Reading.

Small talk was on the menu, but on the whole everyone in attendance was from an organisation or small charity were interesting, engaging and were doing some fantastic things for children in Reading. The story of The Red Balloon Learner Centres, who work with children who are experiencing severe bullying, brought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes. They were successful in getting funding for tonnes of new musical equipment which will be used for increasing the confidence of the young people they work with. A local music shop came forward and helped the cause by offering their experience in selecting equipment and would also maintain their instruments for free. An great example of local collaboration between a small charitable organisation and a small local business being supported by the clout money from a large multi-national company.

The organisation I work for was successful in getting a big cut of the £10k to provide accredited qualifications for 16-25 year olds who have been affected by homelessness. We were lucky enough to be joined by a young lady who had recently left our services after two successful years. She spoke with eloquence and passion about how the organisation had shaped her life into what it is today, after the turmoil she experienced whilst she was homeless. Although it wasn't a competition, we definitely got the loudest round of applause.

There were 8 other really worthy charities, who shared the rest of the £10k... Happily, there weren't any long speeches and that was left photos, a sip of champagne and a smutty joke with the Mayor (she's a good sport). I was home and eating a bowl of Shreddies by 8.15pm.

UPDATE - Got sent this link earlier today - http://www.getreading.co.uk/community/s/2105089_hiltons_10000_christmas_gift_to_reading_children AWFUL photo.

In less charitable but more exciting news, Tennis release their latest 7" "Origins" and "Deep In The Woods". Along with Yuck, these guys were the soundtrack to my summer - so I had high expectations.. Which have been met with abundance. Their latest offering of twinkly piano'd, starry eyed pop songs whisk your thoughts off to warmer climes on even the frostiest of days. Get involved.