Last year was my first Gathering and before hand I had a rough few years thanks to the reccession and various health issues but very, very kindly my brother Andy Dawes, bought me a ticket to The Gathering 2012. Andy has been a huge lifelong fan of The Alarm and Mike Peters and has always found Mike a huge inspiration both musically and his charity work. Andy has been so kind, loving and generous to me over the years taking me out and about when he could’ve easily done his own thing but he’s truly been ace. A life saver in his own right for me!! Myself being 6 years younger I was kinda brought up with The Alarm’s music thumping through my bedroom ceiling from my brothers room above so got sucked into the music too!! Over the weekend of The Gathering I met some fantastic people that were so warm, friendly, kind and just generally great people to hang out and talk with as well as enjoying a weekend of great music. I found the weekend truly uplifting and restored my faith in people too. It’s a unique weekend I think in the music industry. Not many rock stars do what Mike does for his fans. Fantastic.My brother has done Snowdon Rocks a few times and I was hoping to do this years but alas I was no where near fit enough so thought I’d draw a line in the sand. My main issue is/was my weight so decided between the two Gatherings 2012 and 2013 I’d see how much weight I could lose. A pound for a pound. The charity means a lot for so many reasons and I’ve lost too many friends and family to cancer. Lost my dad when I was 4 to Stomach cancer, Granddad when I was 7 to lung cancer and so it has continued all too frequently over the years. Research and a possible cure are only hindered by money so………… Weighed myself in January at 27st10 and have lost the weight over the year to a level where I’m now 21st8. So that’s 86 pounds so far!! Not much on it’s own but if we all did something the money would add up. Let’s see where I’m at at The Gathering 2013…………………
