What a day! A day long celebration across the county saw Pudsey all around Hexham, gungings galore, huge amounts raised for charity, and so much more.
The glorious, but well organised chaos, of live TV was seen by all of us as we prepared for the final take which saw poor Charlie Charlton, of BBC Radio Newcastle fame, being gunged, much to the delight of the crowd. Thankfully we saved the beautiful blue coat she was wearing (which had been given to her by her mum!) and her shoes and microphone, before she had her hair rearranged by gunge. In prep for that live segment I was meant to be given 3 envelopes to open, but they got lost, so we wrote on three bits of paper that were crumpled up. It was like blue peter, but brilliantly carried off by the professionals.
The effort put in by the Hexham community has to be recorded. The individuals and organisations are too numerous to name but in particular the organising committee, the town council, and all the people who volunteered to be gunged for charity. The stallholders and shopkeepers were fully supportive of everything that was going on and all the stores I popped in to said what a great night they were having.
For my part I cannot thank enough all the people who gave money when I asked them. The biggest cheque was from Egger for £500. But everywhere I went yesterday people were putting coins in my bucket. I do not know how much I raised but it is likely to be many hundreds of pounds.
Highlights of yesterday were my time shadowing Barry, the chief Porter in the Hexham Hospital. I learnt a lot from the ground up as to how the hospital runs and the little things that make it work. There is pretty much nothing that Barry does not know about his hospital.
Loved my time as a Waiter / sandwich maker at Mucho Gusto. Managed to be the creator of a new sandwich "the Pudsey Special" a winter warm sandwich that has to be tried!
Working at Egger, on E line with Sam, and the team was good, and I got a much better understanding of the complexity, skill and sense of teamwork that comes with the running of a line and the testing process that goes to ensure that the product is up to scratch. Aside from seeing all the businesses and public sector organisations at work, I also did some work as a Politician, doing the day job in interviews on BBC Radio Newcastle, and doing several mobile surgeries, and a drop in visit to all the team working so well in various roles at Adapt on Burn Lane.
I will blog more on the lessons learnt and the people I met over an epic day, but my thanks to all the people who opened their doors to me and welcomed me into their businesses and organisations.
