WELCOME

This website was originally set up by my son, Thomas, in December 2010 to publicise and record his efforts to raise money for Help for Heroes and, more specifically, for the Personnel Recovery Centre, Tedworth House. You can read all about exactly what he did in the Anthem and Cycle Ride sections of the site as well as in the blogs from December 2010 to July 2011 but briefly:

• Tom commisioned Ben Parry to write an Anthem 'Went the Day Well?' based upon two epitaphs written by John Maxwell Edmonds in 1918.

Went the day well?
We died and never knew.
But, well or ill,
Freedom, we died for you.
Went the day well?

When you go home,
Tell them of us and say,
"For your tomorrows,
These gave their todays".

• He arranged a concert at St. Paul's Cathedral at which the anthem was premiered on the 29th June 2011, at a most wonderful concert given by the Choristers in the presence of Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester. Tom played the horn, Jonathan, my eldest son, played percussion, and Harry, my youngest, who is one of the St. Paul's Choristers, sang the solo part of the anthem. It was a truly memorable evening;

• He arranged for the anthem to be recorded by the St. Paul's Choristers to CD and this was made available for sale through iTunes;

• He organised a cycle ride from John O'Groats to Land's End, on which he was accompanied by a school friend Alex Bridle and me, in July 2011. We did it in nine days and you can read about it in the cycle blog.

Just over £26,500 was raised!

We would like to thank all of you who contributed to this fabulous total. Our JustGiving site was finally closed in September 2012.

The website has now changed and is predominantly a family record although it does include two other interesting sections.

The 'Went the Day Well?' original articles

• These are articles written by friends and family which describe a day that was memorable to the author in one way or another. Please read them; many are excellent.

Wesley Roddie's 'Letters to a Young Methodist'

• Wesley Roddie was my wife Mary's paternal grandfather. He was a popular minister in the Methodist Church in Ireland in the first half of the 20th century and enjoyed a widespread reputation as an excellent preacher.

  He wrote a regular invited column in an Irish Methodist weekly, the Irish Christian Advocate, between 1925 and 1930 dealing with the problems being faced by the young in which he gave advice on how to tackle them. Many of these were preserved by Mary's father and Mary has given permission for them to be published on this site. Rather than put them all on at the same time, I have decided to add one every month or so. They are wonderful articles and many contain advice which remains pertinent today. Click on the link above and have a read.

Finally, it is important that we acknowledge the immense help and advice that we have received throughout from Tom's uncle, Neville Hockley. Not only did he help set up the website including the fantastic moving logo in the top left hand corner of each page, he also helped design the posters and flyers for the St. Paul's Cathedral Concert, the logos for the side of the support van during the cycle ride and the CD booklet. If you want to know more about him and his wife, Catherine - their website really is worth a look - then follow this link: zeroXTE

James Jackson