In a Worthy Cause

Very occasionally in life we have the pleasure of meeting truly remarkable inspiring people.  I have been blessed with the privilege of getting to know Neil and Rachel Salmon.  Joseph was a healthy happy three-year old enjoying all the things three-year old boys do trains, cars and doing stuff with mummy and daddy.   On the 1st of April 2005 their lives were turned upside down when their beautiful son Joseph fell into a slumber from which he would never awake.  While many people in their position would fall apart they set up the Joseph Salmon Trust in his memory. Please when you have finished reading this click on the link and check out their website.

The Joseph Salmon Trust help families who suffer the loss of a child not just by offering support but by helping them financially.  It is a time which is devastating enough without the added worries of how to give your child the respect in their final journey while many of us may think about starting trust funds for a child’s education no one would ever think about saving for a headstone this charity through their own experiences realise the pain and pressure bereaved parents fell and work tirelessly and selflessly to help as many people as they can.  While at the minute the trust is still a local one it is telling they are one of the only charities in the country to offer financial as well as emotional support, it is this that inspires their followers to go to great lengths to help fundraise and raise awareness.

Last nights event was a charity comedy evening, and was a great success.  The weather certainly attempted to put a downer on this evening but no amount of rain could spoil what turned out to be a wonderful evenings entertainment.

The evening was held at The Keys restaurant in Huddersfield.  The Keys is actually the crypt of St Peter’s Church in the town centre and made the perfect location for an intimate gathering which suited the evening immensely.

It was heartwarming to see how many people had come out and braved the weather in order to support this worthy charity.  I am always a little nervous when it comes to comedy after all people’s ideas of humour can vary wildly in fact even in our house we are split in terms of what we find humourous so we settled in with a couple of drinks and enjoyed the pie and pea supper.  My daughter not a huge pork pie lover wanted to know where they got the pies from and enjoyed a second helping.   I am not sure how many comedy evenings have ever been held in crypts but the low ceilings certainly added to the atmosphere possibly the only thing lacking was an actual stage.  Instead the two performers did their acts in a clearing in the centre of the room which worked just aswell.  Neil drifted around the room greeting his guests and making everyone feel welcome and I have to say you really do appreciate the family feeling that the charity and its supporters cultivate at these gatherings.  Rachel was not with us last night instead she was home caring for the couples other children to allow the grandparents a night out to enjoy the show.

The compere for the evening was Riley who was more than the average warm up act and could easily have been qualified as a third name on the billing.

The two comedians were the perfect balance for the crowd gathered Kai Humphries was a risqué Geordie who had my other half in stitches as he told jokes about sex, relationships.  The highlight for me were the alternating advice on relationships gleaned for his two grandfathers or as he described the angel and devils on his shoulders all told while doing a rubic’s cube.

The only real judge of comedy is the laughter in the room and there was plenty of that from all corners of the room.

The second performer was Mrs Barbara Nice and I have to say she had me in stitches.  She reminded me of a mad aunt who was not afraid to comment on life in the way most of us think but are too politically correct to comment on.She talked about relationships, the problems of growing older and general social commentary.  She had the whole room up on their feet joining in singing, dancing and clapping along.

All in all it was a wonderful evening everyone had a good laugh and went home happy and the real winners of course are the families that will benefit from the brilliant night out we enjoyed.

It is a real testament to the trust that they pull off these events and i look forward to enjoying many more that I can come back and share with you here. You can also check out their facebook page here and see the other things they get up to including Marathons, half marathons, swims and maybe even if you don’t live near enough to come to one of their wonderful events you might consider sponsoring some of the people competing in these various events or even just click like and spread the word,

And in the spirit of sharing just so you can see what we got up to I took a quick video sadly the sound is not brilliant but enjoy.