Muscles volunteers, – Kev, Tony, Alan, Bernie, Simon and Phil - hard work drew praise from a relieved Tricia,  “Can I just say thank you so much for such a great job yesterday – it’s taken a load off my mind, I used to worry about looking outside every day in case the fence had disappeared!  I was a bit worried this morning as it was very windy again, but now I’m reassured that I don’t have to worry any more – the fence is intact, sturdy, and looks fantastic! Thanks again, for the hard work and the friendly attitude.”

For the work at Tricia’s Martlesham Heath home her chosen charity was NSPCC.

Muscles for Charity starts 2012 by reaching another milestone.                                              100 registered charities have now benefited from our work.                                                          Thanks to the efforts of all our volunteers.

December 2011 and Muscles volunteers have notched up over 9.550 voluntary hours, benefiting 99 registered charities in seven different countries.   GREAT JOB EVERYONE.

                                          From the Muscles Christmas Archive

A festive story from the Muscles archive. The team were invited to install Christmas decorations at the home of the Mayor of a small rural town. The team were not aware that the Mayor’s wife was a Walmart enthusiast and appeared to have imported almost the whole stock and range of that stores festive decorations. On a bitterly cold Saturday morning the team worked hard to install, connect and check the installation whilst the male family members remained (uninterested) in the warmth of the family home. Mid afternoon the (frozen) volunteers departed. Overnight a winter blizzard hit the area and redistributed the decorations across the town and adjacent fields. Christmas karma.

A phone friendly version of the Muscle for Charity website is now available on your android mobile phone or iphone.

Visit http://www.musclesforcharity.org anywhere!

Denver based Muscles volunteers Chris Manos, Brenda Cartwright and John Marx (with help from Deanna Hay) firmly placed ‘Muscles for Charity’ in unchartered waters during a trip to one of the small island groups in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific.  The four small islands, (population 11,200) that make up the ‘State of Yap’ consist of rolling hills covered with dense vegetation, surrounded by an outer barrier reef.  Promoting Muscles, introducing the logo and concept, the trio helped raise funding and awareness across the Pacific island.

How did Muscles for Charity feature in Yap?    International Magician, Chris performed a series of magic shows at no cost benefiting the non profit organisation that promotes local traditions for the small island.  Chris performed his magic in front of a crowd of around 500 people at Yap’s Third Annual Canoe Festival.

Two one hour slots represented the first time that magic had been performed on the island, and was broadcast live on Pacific regional              radio to islands as far away as Guam and Palau.   This resulted in Chris, Brenda, Deanna and John being involved in an increasing number of impromptu ‘magic shows’ as the word spread.  Chris was subsequently presented with a special canoe paddle by the Island Chief, and left the island with the satisfaction of watching the faces of hundreds of new fans.

Muscles for Charity are regular contributors and during the last decade have completed a number of projects for local people. This year, the event was visited by a Gospel choir from Birmingham, wearing ‘Love Haiti’ shirts.   In the summer of 2010, an international group Muscles volunteers joined the Belgian team to raise money and awareness for the earthquake victims in Haiti.  This link was quickly identified and featured at the Charity Fair and our photo (below) features a member of the choir with Amanda from Kyzone Kidz Group (a local play group and recipient of a Muscles project).

The Muscles (Belgium) contribution to the Haiti disaster fund an be viewed on this website by visiting Muscles – Belgium 2010

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For many years Muscles for Charity has been associated with Bellevue, WA registered charity, ‘Helping Hands for the Disabled’, and the volunteers who attended the annual Auction and supper on Saturday 5th November 2011 proudly displayed the Muscles banner for the first time outside Europe.

Visit the Muscles USA 2011 page for more details and photographs.

Rendham 2011 and the Muscles team returned to an almost idential spot to assist Terry and Fran Titmus by removing trees and rubbish from the same river, and re-roofing their garden shed. Progress on clearing the river is reflected in the before and after photos.

While the majority of volunteers were busy working near the river bank, Steve was sharing his professional knowledge and experience with Terry and Bernie, Kev, Ed and David re-roofed the large garden shed.

Terry and Fran acknowledged the teams efforts ;  “ What can we say – except a very very big thank-you for a great job on Tuesday (midweek team) and Saturday (main team). I’m sorry I was unable to see everyone on Saturday as the chest and throat infection took hold big time. Wrapped in a blanket I did manage to go down to the river late afternoon and “what joy” we have at least forty foot more at the bottom of the garden and it looks really beautiful (I knew it would). As well as the store being extra watertight now and Steve giving Terry much appreciated advice on our house repairs we now have three sizeable worries off of our list. We are going to donate to “Parkinson Disease Society”, to “Madsods” and to “Wallace Kennels”. Once again thank-you all very very much for your support, love and for a fabulous job “  Fran and Terry.

Thanks everyone, especially Johan and Rob who flew over from Antwerp for this project.

Meet wheelchair bound, guitar playing Colin Dowsett, and a bunch of Muscles volunteers enjoying a sunny September Saturday painting the inside of an immaculate bungalow owned by Colin and his wife Linda.  Their e-mail requesting assistance with decorating caught the teams attention, especially as Colin suffers from Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.

Result - smiles from the team and sincere thanks from Colin and Linda.

The first ‘memory stone’ is laid close to the Beach hut.

“Hi – it’s Linda from Handford House. It has been a real delight looking at all your pictures and photos, including the ones of the Handford Hut project but also to see your other projects and all those familiar faces and people that gave their time up for us.

I can tell you all that only today Irene and Iris from upstairs have visited the hut and Irene was able to remind herself of the memorabilia as it was her who decorated the shelves with me. But also Iris then remembered times at her own beach hut in Felixstowe in younger days and it just made it very special for them and staff member Nicky. Iris is 93 so this is wonderful. I will send you some pictures of our new gentleman who sat
inside the hut last week in his wheelchair and had a good look round. On Tuesday we have a working party outside and we have 200 daffodil bulbs to plant – so the garden continues thanks to you all.” 

Linda Owens 15th September 2011

Photographs from the various phases of this project are available in the March and April 2011 archives.  Here’s a brief reminder of previous phases of this five month project.