Please scroll down and read the previous posts as I have had a busy few days blogging....
We travelled back from London after some final filming with the Battlefront crew, all the filming for this is now done!
On my way back to Warrington I received a phone call from a tv company called North One TV saying they were interested in doing a documentary on Organ Donation and would be interested in hearing my story! I really need to concentrate on University and my dissertation at the minute. The filming for Battlefront wasn't without stress and so I will have to think carefully if I want to be tied to another film crew. I suppose it depends how often they would want to film and what they want to film! Anyway I didn't say no... so watch this space!
Other news... I am now being followed by Sarah Brown on Twitter! I sent her a message saying how thrilled I was to receive the Prime Minister's support. She replied... "Happy to have support the campaign. Congratulations on Donor Day. All the best Sarah Brown"
I also got a great message from the lovely Ben Shephard on twitter which said... "Holly it was great to meet you and what a huge result for donor day, your website and challenge is inspirational"
I did an interview today for Real Radio (North West) 105.4 - it was a recorded one. The reporter came to my house and it went well, he then went on to speak to Nicola Stitt who helped to man a Donor Desk at The Royal Liverpool Hospital! This will be aired tomorrow at some point so for those of you who live in the North West listen out for it... or you can listen online here.
I have also had interest from the Manchester Evening News and they are hoping to run a story on my success with Donor Day!
I have now got to write a pitch of my campaign for the Rt Hon Ed Balls who I met last week. All the Battlefront campaigners were invited to do this so that he can read them and then try and find people who could help take each campaign forward! I have never written a pitch before so I am unsure how to word it, but hey, I will give it a go and let you know how I get on!
So although Donor Day is over I am still quite busy concentrating on my dissertation for the moment, so may be quiet for a while... normal service will resume shortly!
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Donor Day!
Well today was D-Day and what a day it was!
It started off with a very early morning! 5.30! The crew from Battlefront wanted to film me before I left for GMTV so they arrived at 6.20 before the car picked me up at 6.50 - It was a big chrysler car! I didn't really take much of the journey in as I was so nervous and was running through in my head what I was going to say!
I arrived at the GMTV studios, greeted by Amy who was clutching the Metro - with the masthead that clearly wasn't the usual one! It had a massive red heart in place of its O!
What a great start to the media frenzy that would hit Donor Day! There was also an article inside the Metro which you can read here.
There was a bit of filming with Battlefront outside the GMTV studios and then in I went and straight into make up! Whilst I was in make-up I did my first radio interview of the day with City Talk. I was really nervous but all went well and they were really supportive, vowing to plug Donor Day throughout the day! I had a quick pic taken with Richard Arnold - who was fab!
From make-up, no chance to think - I was whisked into the studio and was greeted by the lovely Ben Shephard and Emma. I gave them a mug each with my logo on it and slogan! Ben immediately transferred his coffee into it and used it for the rest of the show - RESULT!
The interview went well, I hope I got my point across ok? I felt myself stuttering a bit but Ben and Emma put me at ease - as well as the lovely John who was sat next to me from NHS Blood and Transplant! You can see some information from GMTV here! From GMTV we then made our way to Canary Wharf to set up the Donor Desk doing an interview with Allan Beswick on Radio Manchester in the car on the way!
At this point I also found out that an article had been put up on the Guardian Online website which you can read here.
Donor Desk was set up in Canary Wharf and we began giving out leaflets, some people just blanked us when we asked them about Organ Donation and whether they wanted to sign up. In fact some people were down right rude, however there were loads of nice people and some great stories to hear!
I left my Mum, Dad and my volunteers here (who were stars) and I went off to visit two more Donor Desks, one in Spitalfields market - run by Holly Cocker and her friend Oli Foggin (who donated a kidney to her - what a selfless act!) They were doing a great job and it was really good for me to see donor desks in different locations... the next one I visited was within a firm called Allen and Overy I was introduced to Shankari there who was lovely and was genuinely interested in my campaign, and even suggested working together in the future on a project she is interested in starting!
I then did another interview with City Talk - this time talking to Dean Sullivan (Jimmy Corkhill) from Brookside! Although I was unaware of this at the time until I was told later that day by my brother! Next a quick radio interview with the Warrington radio station Wire FM. Both interviews went well although Dean did grill me more than the others. This was probably a good thing as he was asking the questions that most people would want to know the answers to!
Back to Canary Wharf for more of handing out leaflets and encouraging people to sign up! I also did an interview with the London Docklands newspaper at this point as well as the Daily Mirror! It was then time to pack the desk up and make our way to the drinks venue! My feet were so sore by this point (I don't know how I was still standing) yet we walked to the tube and traveled in rush hour! Not such a good idea. We went along a few stops but gave up at Waterloo and hailed a taxi as I was feeling pretty sick at this point!
We arrived at the drinks venue Adam Street Private Members Club and didn't even really get chance to put out any of the leaflets I wanted to! Battlefront wanted to film and I wanted to get changed (guests were arriving and I still hadn't got my dress on!) I got changed in the loos (very glam) and was able to greet some of my guests. This was very brief as I was whisked off to Sky News' Westminster studio to do a live interview with Matt Smith about how the internet had given me the platform to campaign! By this time I was shattered and felt that I didn't really do a good job as I was stuttering! But hey, I think I can be forgiven as I had been up 14 hours! I was rushed back by car to the drinks reception and was barely there 10 minutes and I had to do my speech. Mine followed my mentor Oli Barrett's (he is a fantastic speaker and I really couldn't compare) I was so emotional by this point I couldn't bring myself to read out the whole speech. I burst into tears when I started talking about my Donor and decided Emily should read it for me! BAD IDEA - she was in floods if tears as well! It went down well anyway and I'm glad I got some of it out before I turned into an emotional wreck!
More pictures to follow!
The emotions didn't stop there as I had to take a phone call which was the 2nd most amazing one of my life (after the one saying that a kidney had become available for me). It was from the Prime Minister's Health Advisor saying that the Prime Minister had put out a quote of support for my campaign on the Number 10 Website!
“I want to give my support and thanks to Holly Shaw and all those involved in her campaign. Joining the organ donation register is a selfless act of kindness which can save many lives and offer new hope for potentially thousands of families across the country.”
Yay! I began to well up and I couldn't believe it. The best was yet to come as he then went on to say that Gordon Brown had been so impressed that he actually wanted to meet me to discuss the campaign and a letter would be in the post! I'm still grinning!
I couldn't wait to to tell Oli (my mentor) and we both went down to tell the awaiting room of guests the good news. It was so great to see their faces when we announced what had just happened! Everybody was so pleased for me and at that minute I knew Donor Day had been a wonderful success, thanks to everyone that was involved!
What a fantastic day... and that was the icing on the cake... my feet have hardly touched the ground!
It started off with a very early morning! 5.30! The crew from Battlefront wanted to film me before I left for GMTV so they arrived at 6.20 before the car picked me up at 6.50 - It was a big chrysler car! I didn't really take much of the journey in as I was so nervous and was running through in my head what I was going to say!
I arrived at the GMTV studios, greeted by Amy who was clutching the Metro - with the masthead that clearly wasn't the usual one! It had a massive red heart in place of its O!
What a great start to the media frenzy that would hit Donor Day! There was also an article inside the Metro which you can read here.
There was a bit of filming with Battlefront outside the GMTV studios and then in I went and straight into make up! Whilst I was in make-up I did my first radio interview of the day with City Talk. I was really nervous but all went well and they were really supportive, vowing to plug Donor Day throughout the day! I had a quick pic taken with Richard Arnold - who was fab!
From make-up, no chance to think - I was whisked into the studio and was greeted by the lovely Ben Shephard and Emma. I gave them a mug each with my logo on it and slogan! Ben immediately transferred his coffee into it and used it for the rest of the show - RESULT!
The interview went well, I hope I got my point across ok? I felt myself stuttering a bit but Ben and Emma put me at ease - as well as the lovely John who was sat next to me from NHS Blood and Transplant! You can see some information from GMTV here! From GMTV we then made our way to Canary Wharf to set up the Donor Desk doing an interview with Allan Beswick on Radio Manchester in the car on the way!
At this point I also found out that an article had been put up on the Guardian Online website which you can read here.
Donor Desk was set up in Canary Wharf and we began giving out leaflets, some people just blanked us when we asked them about Organ Donation and whether they wanted to sign up. In fact some people were down right rude, however there were loads of nice people and some great stories to hear!
I left my Mum, Dad and my volunteers here (who were stars) and I went off to visit two more Donor Desks, one in Spitalfields market - run by Holly Cocker and her friend Oli Foggin (who donated a kidney to her - what a selfless act!) They were doing a great job and it was really good for me to see donor desks in different locations... the next one I visited was within a firm called Allen and Overy I was introduced to Shankari there who was lovely and was genuinely interested in my campaign, and even suggested working together in the future on a project she is interested in starting!
I then did another interview with City Talk - this time talking to Dean Sullivan (Jimmy Corkhill) from Brookside! Although I was unaware of this at the time until I was told later that day by my brother! Next a quick radio interview with the Warrington radio station Wire FM. Both interviews went well although Dean did grill me more than the others. This was probably a good thing as he was asking the questions that most people would want to know the answers to!
Back to Canary Wharf for more of handing out leaflets and encouraging people to sign up! I also did an interview with the London Docklands newspaper at this point as well as the Daily Mirror! It was then time to pack the desk up and make our way to the drinks venue! My feet were so sore by this point (I don't know how I was still standing) yet we walked to the tube and traveled in rush hour! Not such a good idea. We went along a few stops but gave up at Waterloo and hailed a taxi as I was feeling pretty sick at this point!
We arrived at the drinks venue Adam Street Private Members Club and didn't even really get chance to put out any of the leaflets I wanted to! Battlefront wanted to film and I wanted to get changed (guests were arriving and I still hadn't got my dress on!) I got changed in the loos (very glam) and was able to greet some of my guests. This was very brief as I was whisked off to Sky News' Westminster studio to do a live interview with Matt Smith about how the internet had given me the platform to campaign! By this time I was shattered and felt that I didn't really do a good job as I was stuttering! But hey, I think I can be forgiven as I had been up 14 hours! I was rushed back by car to the drinks reception and was barely there 10 minutes and I had to do my speech. Mine followed my mentor Oli Barrett's (he is a fantastic speaker and I really couldn't compare) I was so emotional by this point I couldn't bring myself to read out the whole speech. I burst into tears when I started talking about my Donor and decided Emily should read it for me! BAD IDEA - she was in floods if tears as well! It went down well anyway and I'm glad I got some of it out before I turned into an emotional wreck!
More pictures to follow!
The emotions didn't stop there as I had to take a phone call which was the 2nd most amazing one of my life (after the one saying that a kidney had become available for me). It was from the Prime Minister's Health Advisor saying that the Prime Minister had put out a quote of support for my campaign on the Number 10 Website!
“I want to give my support and thanks to Holly Shaw and all those involved in her campaign. Joining the organ donation register is a selfless act of kindness which can save many lives and offer new hope for potentially thousands of families across the country.”
Yay! I began to well up and I couldn't believe it. The best was yet to come as he then went on to say that Gordon Brown had been so impressed that he actually wanted to meet me to discuss the campaign and a letter would be in the post! I'm still grinning!
I couldn't wait to to tell Oli (my mentor) and we both went down to tell the awaiting room of guests the good news. It was so great to see their faces when we announced what had just happened! Everybody was so pleased for me and at that minute I knew Donor Day had been a wonderful success, thanks to everyone that was involved!
What a fantastic day... and that was the icing on the cake... my feet have hardly touched the ground!
Monday, 6 April 2009
Photocall Day!
Yay!
The photo call was great! I'm not going to lie, it was one of the most stressful things I have ever done! I had to co-ordinate everyone, setting up the desks and making sure everyone knew what was happening as well as going to collect deliveries from Dave!
3 photographers turned up! Including one that Amy Maclaren had organised to come along, she was fantastic and had some really interesting ideas regarding the photos!
Everything was set up, photographers in place and they started clicking away taking photos and it was decided that a celebrity was really necessary to make it a success. Luckily Emily got on the case and stood outside the capital FM HQ and came across the lovely Fay Ripley who kindly agreed to don a t-shirt and have her picture taken which was fantastic! She was really interested in the campaign and thought it was a great idea!
We all packed away the donor desks and then I received a phonecall from someone called Melissa Bell. She asked if we had finished as she had only just seen the email inviting her to the photo call. I was a bit confused (as I hadn't invited her) I said awww we've just packed up and I think I am on my way to a meeting now! She then spoke to another lady who came to be in the photoshoot and everything started to click... Melissa Bell was the lead singer of Soul 2 Soul and the mother of Alexandra Burke, who also happens to be waiting for a kidney transplant!!! She said she would be there in 15 minutes and so we got the desk set up again ready for another round of pictures - the only problem was there were no photographers, they had all gone! We quickly rang round and the lovely Holly Cocker came back as she is a superb photographer and thankfully hadn't gone too far!
So no celebs at the start of the day and by the end 2! yay! The pictures turned out great and the photocall was a huge success. Thanks to everyone who turned up Lynne, Maribel, Holly, Oli, Sarah, Helen, Abby, Molly, Audrey and of course the lovely Emily, I couldn't have done it without her! She was really good at calming me down and really good at taking control when I was in a bit of a fluster!
I then got the chance to have another chance to chat to Amy who prepped me for my GMTV interview that was planned for the next day! That put me at ease a little and was a great practice run! I also caught up with my mentor Oli Barrett who I was relieved to see as he had been away in America and we had only really chatted via email. We finalised some details for the next day (Donor Day) and discussed media interest in Donor Day.
In the afternoon I got the chance to visit the drinks venue Adam Street again, everytime I see it I get more and more excited about it! I was hoping to go back to the hotel for a rest, but Battlefront wanted to film my nervousness the day before Donor Day... The camera lady didn't leave till 10.30 and I still had to wash my hair and get up at 5.30 for GMTV....
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Photo Call Tomorrow
So its photo call day tomorrow, I am a bit stressed about it all really....
Will everyone turn up?
Will a celebrity turn up?
Will photographers turn up?
Will the designs from Dave turn up?
Wish me luck!
P.S - My very own website (designed by airlock) is up and running now yay!
Check it out - www.thegiftoflife.org.uk
Will everyone turn up?
Will a celebrity turn up?
Will photographers turn up?
Will the designs from Dave turn up?
Wish me luck!
P.S - My very own website (designed by airlock) is up and running now yay!
Check it out - www.thegiftoflife.org.uk
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Campaign Developments...
Recently regarding my campaign I received quotes of support from Connie Fisher which said
“There is a key saying in life, ‘Your health is your Wealth’ and this is certainly the phrase I live by. Organ transplant lists are always growing but with people like Holly launching a national Donor Day hopefully we can raise awareness on a subject that can often be over-looked. Join me and pledge your support by putting your name on the Organ Donor Register. You too could give others the gift of life.”
I also received support from Nina Wadia - "Give someone a second chance by giving them the gift of life. Put your name on the organ donation register and support Holly's campaign. The gift of Life is a great campaign as it is raising awareness of the shortage of organ donors, it is a subject that young people don't want to think about, but they should as it may affect them."
And finally Alexandra Burke - “It’s so important for people to understand what it means to give something back. Hundreds of people die every year in the UK waiting for a transplant and this is why I am supporting Holly's campaign and encouraging people to sign the organ donor register."
On the 29th of March I went down to London for some filming for the Battlefront programme, for a few meetings about my campaign but most importantly I got to meet all of the other Battlefront campaigners at the Battlefront event at County Hall!
It was a great day with some really interesting and inspiring people. One of the highlights was meeting Ed Balls he was a lovely man and was genuinely interested in hearing about our campaigns and our aims! He offered to receive information regarding the campaigns and then forward them on to relevant people who may be able to help us!
I also got the opportunity to discuss my progress of The Gift of Life campaign with Esther Rantzen among other influential people. They seemed impressed! I then was asked to do a speech in front of about 60ish people (including Ed and Esther) I was reluctant to do this at first as I hate public speaking (I get nervous doing presentations at university) however I overcame my nerves. It was a short speech but I am so glad I did it.
I got the chance to meet up with one of my mentors Amy Maclaren from Colman Getty and we discussed the photocall (which was taking place on 6th April) and what still needed to be planned and what would be the general focus of the photo including the location. We decided that it would be best to set up a Donor Desk in a public space so that people would be able to recognise the flagship one at Canary Wharf!
It was decided that my campaign needed a BIG idea and some branding so Battlefront organised for me to meet Steve @ designers Dave from dave.biz the next day. They were fantastic and had some great ideas, including the fact that it only takes 2 minutes to sign up to the Organ Donor Register - the time it takes to make a cup of tea!
2 minute heroes was born and the slogan Be a Hero: Put the Kettle on! They made me T-shirts, badges, leaflets and mugs. I absolutely love them and will continue to use them throughout my campaign!
That same afternoon I got to see the venue for the Donor Day Drinks night for the first time - Adam Street, Private Members Club (very swish) I fell in love with it straight away! So its all happening, not long to go and still lots to plan.....
“There is a key saying in life, ‘Your health is your Wealth’ and this is certainly the phrase I live by. Organ transplant lists are always growing but with people like Holly launching a national Donor Day hopefully we can raise awareness on a subject that can often be over-looked. Join me and pledge your support by putting your name on the Organ Donor Register. You too could give others the gift of life.”
I also received support from Nina Wadia - "Give someone a second chance by giving them the gift of life. Put your name on the organ donation register and support Holly's campaign. The gift of Life is a great campaign as it is raising awareness of the shortage of organ donors, it is a subject that young people don't want to think about, but they should as it may affect them."
And finally Alexandra Burke - “It’s so important for people to understand what it means to give something back. Hundreds of people die every year in the UK waiting for a transplant and this is why I am supporting Holly's campaign and encouraging people to sign the organ donor register."
On the 29th of March I went down to London for some filming for the Battlefront programme, for a few meetings about my campaign but most importantly I got to meet all of the other Battlefront campaigners at the Battlefront event at County Hall!
It was a great day with some really interesting and inspiring people. One of the highlights was meeting Ed Balls he was a lovely man and was genuinely interested in hearing about our campaigns and our aims! He offered to receive information regarding the campaigns and then forward them on to relevant people who may be able to help us!
I also got the opportunity to discuss my progress of The Gift of Life campaign with Esther Rantzen among other influential people. They seemed impressed! I then was asked to do a speech in front of about 60ish people (including Ed and Esther) I was reluctant to do this at first as I hate public speaking (I get nervous doing presentations at university) however I overcame my nerves. It was a short speech but I am so glad I did it.
I got the chance to meet up with one of my mentors Amy Maclaren from Colman Getty and we discussed the photocall (which was taking place on 6th April) and what still needed to be planned and what would be the general focus of the photo including the location. We decided that it would be best to set up a Donor Desk in a public space so that people would be able to recognise the flagship one at Canary Wharf!
It was decided that my campaign needed a BIG idea and some branding so Battlefront organised for me to meet Steve @ designers Dave from dave.biz the next day. They were fantastic and had some great ideas, including the fact that it only takes 2 minutes to sign up to the Organ Donor Register - the time it takes to make a cup of tea!
2 minute heroes was born and the slogan Be a Hero: Put the Kettle on! They made me T-shirts, badges, leaflets and mugs. I absolutely love them and will continue to use them throughout my campaign!
That same afternoon I got to see the venue for the Donor Day Drinks night for the first time - Adam Street, Private Members Club (very swish) I fell in love with it straight away! So its all happening, not long to go and still lots to plan.....
Friday, 3 April 2009
Please Repost!
On Tuesday 7th April, people all over the UK are going to be doing something big. Very big.
They're going to take two minutes to become a hero.
Please repost this flyer wherever you can to help spread the word and encourage people to be proactive in spreading the word.
It takes two minutes to save lives. Get involved, Be a hero: Put the Kettle on!
Thank you.
They're going to take two minutes to become a hero.
Please repost this flyer wherever you can to help spread the word and encourage people to be proactive in spreading the word.
It takes two minutes to save lives. Get involved, Be a hero: Put the Kettle on!
Thank you.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Photo Call - 6th April UPDATE
WHAT'S GOING ON?
We need to get people together for a rather awesome photocall! This is to promote my Battlefront campaign called "The Gift Of Life" and the photo will be made available to all National Media.
WHEN IS IT?
Monday 6th April at 11am
WHERE?
The Green in Leicester Square, London.
WHAT DO YOU NEED?
People! Particularly those affected by transplant, and especially anyone currently waiting for a transplant.
WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO DO?
Have their picture taken with the Donor Desk - which will be set up in Leicester Square!
WHY DO IT?
In order to create an image that the papers will want to use, we need lots of people! PLEASE if you possibly can, come and support this huge push for Organ Donor Awareness. Can't come but know someone who might? Pass it on! Thanks!
I will need to do some updating on the Blog but I am so busy with preparations for Donor Day this may have to wait till its all over and I can do it in retrospect!
In short... highlights this week
Media stuff to watch out for...
Obviously none of the media stuff is a dead cert as it depends on news stories that come in etc. Will keep you updated and I promise to do a more indepth Blog next week! Wish me look for the Photo Call and Donor Day! Arghhhhh less than a week!
WATCH THIS SPACE!
We need to get people together for a rather awesome photocall! This is to promote my Battlefront campaign called "The Gift Of Life" and the photo will be made available to all National Media.
WHEN IS IT?
Monday 6th April at 11am
WHERE?
The Green in Leicester Square, London.
WHAT DO YOU NEED?
People! Particularly those affected by transplant, and especially anyone currently waiting for a transplant.
WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO DO?
Have their picture taken with the Donor Desk - which will be set up in Leicester Square!
WHY DO IT?
In order to create an image that the papers will want to use, we need lots of people! PLEASE if you possibly can, come and support this huge push for Organ Donor Awareness. Can't come but know someone who might? Pass it on! Thanks!
I will need to do some updating on the Blog but I am so busy with preparations for Donor Day this may have to wait till its all over and I can do it in retrospect!
In short... highlights this week
- Going to London
- Getting quotes of support from Connie Fisher and Nina Wadia
- Meeting all of the other Battlefront campaigners
- Meeting Ed Balls
- Chatting to Esther Rantzen about my campaign
- Doing a speech in front of about 60ish people (including Ed and Esther)
- Meeting up with one of my Mentors Amy Maclaran from Colman Getty
- Meeting Steve @ designers Dave from dave.biz
- Seeing the Venue for the Donor Day Drinks night - Adam Street, Private Members Club (very swish)
Media stuff to watch out for...
- in the Metro
- in the Guardian Online
- in the Warrington Guardian
- and..... GMTV
- They are filming a bit at home with me tomorrow and then I will hopefully be live on the couch on the morning of Donor Day (Next Tuesday)
Obviously none of the media stuff is a dead cert as it depends on news stories that come in etc. Will keep you updated and I promise to do a more indepth Blog next week! Wish me look for the Photo Call and Donor Day! Arghhhhh less than a week!
WATCH THIS SPACE!
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