It doesn't seem 12 weeks, let alone 12 months, since we finalised our plans for last Christmas and New Year – but the truth is that another year has rushed by and we're just weeks away from seeing in 2010.
That means it's time to bring donorflex users up to speed with a handful of festive details. In a few lines, well bring you our holiday opening hours, but first we'll start with our annual donation.
Every year, we elect to swell the fundraising coffers of a fondly regarded charity in lieu of sending Christmas cards to our friends and colleagues in the world of donorflex.
Last year, Andrew Gray's sterling service as a wise and willing donorflex user drew our focus in the direction of Toybox. In 2007, the fire disaster at Atherstone-on-Stour – which was close to home in more than one way – captured our thoughts.
This year, we've elected to donate to jacksplace, the hospice for young adults that has risen from virgin ground alongside Naomi House, near Winchester, in little over a year.
donorflex's Steve Mason and Mark Higgitt spent a day touring the new building ahead of its opening and were mesmerised – as all visitors must have been too – at the remarkable new standards that it sets.
The speed with which its new beds can be opened for young adults of the Wessex region will depend on how the organisation fares in its sterling efforts to claw back funds frozen by the Icelandic banking crisis.
"It's a small contribution in relation to the overall demands on the fundraising team at Naomi House," says Steve, "but we're delighted to help out this Christmas."
So far as our holiday helpdesk times are concerned, here's when we're available:
- Thursday, December 24: 9am to 4pm
- Friday, December 25, to Friday, January 1: Closed
- Monday, January 4: Return to 9am to 5.15pm availability
All that remains is to wish you a happy Christmas, followed by a peaceful and prosperous new year.
