Apologies for the deafening silence that has populated this site for the last 8 months.... gulp. There has been so much going on and we are still too small to be able to afford a dedicated blogger.... The FirstLight shop at 63 Newborough has become much more than just a shop; it is a drop in, the centre from which we run our Ebay and there is always a brew and a chair available for a chat - you never know who you are going to meet there. Gill is busy beavering away up at Stepney Hill and is growing not just vegetables, but absolutely amazing flower. Produce is available at the farm shop; you never know quite what you are going to find. And we have honey on the go courtesy of Kevin and his amazing bees. We sold out at Armed Forces Day, and hope to have some more on sale soon. But it slightly depends on how much is made as the bees need to make enough for winter before we can draw any more off (I hope I have that right, Kevin?). So rather than babble on, I have uploaded a whole mass of pictures to give you an idea of what we have been up to.....

It is amazing who our veterans get to help them with the work!!

Even pouring rain doesn't stop them helping out, and it soooooooooo rained.

And then we had Matalan collecting for us at @It's a Knockout' and we are looking forward to collecting the proceeds at the beginning of September - a huge thank you to Matalan and all those brave participants.

And now for something completely different......

create & buy custom products at Zazzle "Our products are now on Zazzle - please buy them and support our incredibly worthwhile charity. You can find them on http://www.zazzle.co.uk/firstlighttrust*"

We are SO getting there

I can hardly wait to get up to Scarborough to see the the gardens at Stepney Hill Farm. The progress has been absolutely amazing. And I simply have to thank Yorkshire Coast Homes, Jewsons, and HESCO who have come up with the goods and how. I really really do hope that these companies realise what a massive difference they are making and how we are so incredibly grateful. How about these for some raised beds?! We are going to have such a celebration when this work is completed - see below.....

Dance Day UK launch

Well despite the weather forecast, which had been dire, Scarborough sort of put out the bunting - well at least it did not rain although it threatened it. But most importantly we all had a great time.

Matt Flint did us proud. After Mayor Andrew Backhouse with Mayoress Sue Backhouse opened proceedings, events were kicked off to a lively start with Jonathan Blazer teaching some Zumba to the fabulous young dancers who turned up from Stage Coach and Dance Warehouse....... I so wish I was not so old and crook! Then it was Matt's turn who coaxed, inspired and bribed us into well, almost strutting our stuff......

Miracle worker

How can I ever thank Phil, and M J Builders for doing this work? It is such a massive step for us in creating gardens for the Veterans and for us to run our occupational therapy programmes from. A heartfelt thank you.

A nearly blank canvas.....

A massive thank you to Phil the miracle worker on the digger - what a day's work and on a Bank Holiday.... thank you so much....

Now we only have to get rid of the pig pen, remove that interior fence, build a bund, paths, fencing.... but oh the joy of seeing soil!! Thank you guys.

The gardens......

At last..... and thanks to the massive perseverance of Gill Taylor, Viki Bayes, Andy Scholes, with the assistance of Yorkshire Coast Homes, and Jewsons (how can we ever, ever thank you enough) the work has started on the gardens at Stepney Hill Farm. And just in case he thought I had forgotten, none of this would have been possible without Ashley Tyson whose willingness combined with Gill's vision this is. A picture conveys more than one thousand words, so here they are.... the bottom garden before the digger gets to work........

Scraping the bottom garden:

The top paddock before work starts with the digger......

What a difference!