First up, huge thank you to everyone that came to the Easter Egg run today. Was great to see all you guys and for all the kind donations of (too many!) easter eggs and other bits and bobs… I think next time, we need more toys though So thank you to, in no particular order, lottie, her parents, Danielh, Mr. Induction, Big_Bad_Ian, RoyalVXR, jiraffe and astra_life… plus the other couple of tag alongs.

And another big, big thank you to lottie for all her efforts organising this day. A lot of effort went into organising it and making it run as smoothly as possible… and I’ve got to say, so with so much to go wrong, not a single thing did… other than Maidstone Hospital had no children in the ward, but luckily we were told this before we set off down there! So thank you lottie for organising this day I was thinking as you handed Dan & Alistair (did I get his name right?) their certificates for being the Easter Bunny, I was thinking we should’ve made you one for organising such a great day… In fact, you’re getting one tomorrow at Lydden Hill

And another big thanks to Danielh and Alastair (did I get his name right again?) for doing the job of easter bunny. You guys did a great job

Now, I didn’t get as many photos as I thought I had got. Thought I got loads more, but I got enough anyway Lottie’s dad got loads and probably better ones, so hopefully we’ll see those soon

So for those who want all the juicy details..

Early start, Ian was supposed to be at mine for 7:30, to which I get a text message at 6:45. “No rush, but I’m out side when you’re ready” Talk about early! Headed off to Lakeside for some brekkie… All good as nobody appeared to get lost at the start of the day, although astra_life did an Ian with the Dartford crossing I hear

All the donations of easter eggs! Thanks to Morrisons Maidstone, Tesco Larkfield, a couple of people I work with, plus everyone elses kind friends, family and colleagues that made these generous donations!

Anyone fancy some chocolate?

Trip to Basildon went pretty smoothly… except the entering the car park where the car park entrance looked quite wide, so went to give myself a bit of space on the drivers side to avoid hitting the kerb, and smacked my passenger side alloy straight into the kerb And it’s not a small curb mark either… Goes about 1/3 of the way round the wheel So that’s going back in for another refurb on my next pay day

Met a nice lady from the Basildon Echo newspaper when we’d all parked up, who then got us all together for some photos… We also hid Danielh’s car under a mass of easter eggs for her

Meanwhile… the easter bunny (Danielh) got dressed

We were then escorted over to the children’s ward by a very kind lady who worked with the hospital charities. We split into two groups to cover the ward, where Ian made friends with quite a young baby who couldn’t get enough of the easter chick hand puppet. We felt it right we should leave him there and he become another member of the staff team in that ward, but unfortunately we weren’t allowed Handed out eggs to all the little kiddies, their parents and the staff as well. We also handed out a few toys and things like puzzle books and clouring-in books. Unfortunately we gave all these out so had none left for the other hospitals! When we left, I think it’s safe to say we were all feeling pretty happy. It was such a shame to see the kids stuck in the hospital, but it was definitely a feel good feeling knowing that we’d done something to help brighten their day

After leaving Basildon hospital, we went the scenic route to Darrent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent. I quote myself to Ian as we came off the M25… “Where the bloody hell is Lottie taking us?”

Didn’t get any more pictures here… but after a wander around the hospital to the Children’s ward, we didn’t actually seem very expected. Nobody really knew where to start, but eventually we got a wander around handing out some eggs, when we were then unexpectedly met by a photographer for the Dartford Kent Messenger newspaper. We knew we were meeting them, just didn’t realise they were coming to Darrent Valley At one point we had a comment from astra_life, “So the easter bunny is off to lay more eggs”, which we never let him forget for the rest of the day So we had some photos taken as a group and a couple of us together with some of the kids. After leaving the all the kids with eggs, and again some more with the staff, we all left feeling pretty happy again… although the odd mention of “when’s lunch.” We then parted with Dan (a.k.a Mr. Induction) who had to get home to the little one.

So a nice drive down to Pembury for a stop off at KFC for lunch.. we were then joined by an unusually happy jiraffe. Took a drive up to Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury, where we managed to lose astra_life, somehow… not that it was particularly difficult to find or get to.. up one road, over the signposted roundabout and look out for an arden blue Vectra

While here, we were then greeted by another newspaper photographer from the Maidstone Kent Messenger (I think). Took a few photos of us outside the hospital with the eggs, and also a few of the easter bunny with a few kids. A few guys then had a wander around the ward handing out the eggs. I’m not sure exactly how this went as there were only a handful of kiddies at Pembury and we could only send a few people in, so most of us hung around in the waiting area where lottie then decided to have a play with the childrens toys

Unfortunately, while were at Pembury, we were informed that Maidstone hospital didn’t actually have any kiddies in their wards today, as they like to try and send them home as soon as they’re fit to go hom so they don’t have to spend time in hospital over Easter if they don’t have to… so Maidstone had managed to empty it out and it would just be A&E entrants which we wouldn’t be able to go and visit ourselves and there was no telling who would be in and when… So we gave Maidstone a miss, which in the end would’ve been a good shout anyway, as it was a good half hour away…

So that left us with well over a hundred eggs as we were well over donated! So we had a think and a chat and we popped up the road to Tonbridge Cottage Hospital, who weren’t expecting us at all. This hospital is a very small hospital with a stroke unit and another section for elderly people. We decided it’d be nice to go the other end of the scale, as it’s not only the kiddies who would like to see the easter bunny and get a small gift of a little chocolate. They were definitely pleased to see the easter bunny (now replaced by Alastair, rather than Danielh)

For our final stop, we drove up to the Sunrise car home in Sevenoaks for yet another visit from the easter bunny. They were also very happy to see the easter bunny and receive their gifts. We didn’t have a chance to hand out too many eggs here due to their rules of things like dinner before they can have some chocolate, and some of the residents conditions (such as dementia) meant that probably wouldn’t understand why they couldn’t have it there and then… so we left the remainder of the big eggs with the staff to hand out over the next few days

After that, a well deserved trip to the pub for a drink and then off to 7Diner for relax with a nice American style burger

So all in all, a fantastic day. Once again, thank you to everyone that made today happen and it really does feel good to have done something good in the community today :thumbs: I hope we can do things like this again in the future.