Are we mad? Maybe! That's why we called our July Christmas Party event a "Mad Hatters Tea Party".

We had whacky food such as inside out sandwiches, jelly eaten with chopsticks, giant size cakes etc, followed by a fancy dress parade and games like Giant Chess and Connect 4, coconut shy, bowling and Cheshire Cat photos etc.

It was really good fun. We were raising money for Viva Network, a Christian Charity with Headquarters in Oxford. In addition to all sorts of other initiatives they run, each year they offer street kids and other children at risk around the world, a memorable party at Christmas. A chance to enjoy fun games, a present and good food but perhaps more importantly, an introduction to projects and workers who will then be able to offer longer term support and assistance with the aim of getting them off the streets and into education or work.

It costs around £5 to invite a child to a party, so we were delighted to raise a total of £545. This means that an extra 109 children who live in slums or in sewers or on rubbish dumps will be able to go to a Christmas Party this December. Who knows what that party will lead to in their lives?

To find out more, check out Viva's website www.viva.org.

Last Christmas they funded parties for 17,700 children. Hopefully this year more will be invited. If you would like to host your own Christmas Party for this excellent cause go to www.viva.org and follow the Christmas

party link. Let us know how it goes.