For the tenth year since she put her own inimitable seal on fundraising for the nation’s M.E. charities, Anna Redshaw will be holding her annual Blue Sunday Tea Party on Sunday, 15th May.
Last year, the event raised a magnificent £21,000, her highest-ever total.
This year, the sky’s the limit as people from all round the world will be bringing out their best china to take part in the event. Many will be baking a cake or buying in something naughty but nice.
They may have family or friends in or sit outside, if the weather’s fine. Even if you’re on your own, you can turn it into a special occasion by linking up online with others who are also taking part.
If you want to support the ME Association, we’ve made it easy for you to find the event by creating this link to our JustGiving page:
Anna’s’ message to us all this year is wear something blue (and ‘’yes”, she says, pyjamas count!), post a photo of your tea party to your social media, persuade loved ones who can’t be with you in person to join you in a video call and donate the price you’d normally pay in a café – if you were ever able to get out to one.
“Coming together and breaking the isolation so many of us experience because of M.E. was one of the very reasons why the online tea party was started in 2013. So I hope you will join me online during the afternoon for a chat”, she says on her JustGiving page.
“For those of you who don’t know me, I was diagnosed with ME/CFS in 2010. It affects every minute of every day.
“Blue Sunday – the Tea Party for M.E. – came about when I didn’t want to donate to other people’s fundraising efforts; I wanted to be a part of something myself.”
She’s delivered in spades. Starting out as an exclusive promotion for the ME Association all those years ago, she then widened it out to include a range of M.E.charities. So far the annual event has raised a total of over £40,000.
You can post photos of your party to:
Anna’s blog at M.E. myself and I or to her Twitter account @theslowlane_ME, her Instagram teapartyform.e or her Facebook theslowlaneME
Above all: relax, enjoy the afternoon and, please, donate a little something to your favourite charity!
