Martin Turns 50 on the 26th October and a number of people have asked me what he would like for his Birthday.  I did ask him and the best he could come up with was a refill for his biro. That was getting us nowhere.  So I planted the seed about maybe raising some money for a good cause instead.  Because he has no idea that we will all be celebrating his big day together I had to tell a few white lies to extract from him which cause he thought he would like to raise money for.  Of course there are many but one that stood out was the West Berkshire Mencap Society.

Alot of you may not know but Martin lost his sister Caroline a few years ago. Alot of you probably didn't even know he had a sister.  Caroline was his older sister who had Down Syndrome. When Caroline was a little baby Martin's mum and dad felt that they could not look after Caroline so she went away to live and be cared for by Mencap.  Martin had very little contact with Caroline.  In fact he hardly knew her.  He would visit Caroline once every couple of years and always sent presents and cards at Christmas and Birthdays.  She did not know who he was either so visits were always a bit awkward.

When Caroline died we went to her funeral.  It was one of the most amazing experiences.  The Crematorium was packed with friends and carers who had looked after Caroline for over 50 years.  Her favourite music was played and everyone clapped and danced along to the music.  Her friends even danced around her coffin.  She was clearly dearly loved and everyone had such lovely things to say about her particularly about her great sense of humour.  She had had a lovely life living in her home in Cromwell Road, Newbury with the help of the amazing volunteers who cared for her.  I know that Martin left that day feeling like he had really missed out by not getting to know his sister.

For this reason he has chosen the West Berkshire Mencap society to thank them for taking care of his sister Caroline.

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