Short Version
Adam & Livi lived in a nice house with a hole in the chimney that they were told would not be a problem. Vibrations from the road and roadworks caused the hole to expand. The chimney's possibly going to fall on the house before the insurance people get around to paying for it to be fixed. Help raise the money to repair the house before this happens by buying a rather good children's book.
Longer version
As some of you may know Adam and Livi having been having a really, really stressful time of late. In the last year they have just bought a beautiful house in a historic part of the town they live in. They thought they had the world by the tail and they were going to take on the world. Sadly it seems that the world had them by the tail. Livi started to get ill, she's seen many doctors and still doesn't have a firm diagnosis to her illness. She's had to give up her job due to being unable to work. She has lost at least 40% of the vision in one eye which she is currently being treated for and they are hoping to recover the rest of her vision in this eye but there is a real risk that she could go blind in that eye. While the doctors suspect that she is suffering from an autoimmune disease there is not enough evidence of this.
When they bought their house, they had a structural survey done. The engineer said that the chimney of the house would need to be repaired at some point but he failed to pick up on just how bad the chimney was, that it was in fact close to collapse. They have had to move out of the house and are living with Adam's parents right now. With the new engineer in place it's been discovered that no only was the chimney one brick away from falling down totally, the chimney also helps to support the roof. The roof joists have all cracked or broken fully, the load bearing walls are now cracking and they have just discovered that what's left of the roof has rotted away due to all the other damage. Previously they'd thought they had time to budget for and fix this problem, but now they are in danger of having their home quite literally fall down.
Instead of giving up these wonderful people are doing everything they can to pay for the spiraling cost of fixing their house.
They have help, especially with the practical stuff, from relatives and friends and their local MP, and some work has been done to shore up their home in the short term. In long term they will hopefully win compensation which will help cover their repair costs, but those repairs need to be done now.
And that's where you come in.
Sir Parsley and the Dragon
At the moment they are trying to raise some extra cash by selling more
copies of Adams book Sir Parsley and
the Dragon
and Other Stories.
By way of
endorsement: if I recall correctly
this book came about at least partly at the request of his friends so
that they could more easily share
Adam's fun and amusing rhymes with their children. Maybe like me you
have or know some small people who like fun and amusing rhymes too, or
you know others who might be interested.
It's available from:
- Amazon.co.uk: http://tinyurl.com/bxpz8m
- Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/bjv2ps
- Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/al8mk3.
If you don't want to buy the book or already own a copy you can donate directly to the fund.
When the litigation with the previous surveyor is finished any money left over after paying for the repairs will be donated to Shelter.
A review
Sir Parsley and the Dragon and Other Stories is a fun and fascinating read. Beautifully written in a way in which adults and children alike will find humour. The characters in every single poem speak to you and seem completely real.
I bought a copy for my autistic son and my autistic nephew as well as a copy for myself, and I am very much looking forward to reading it to my son because I know he will love it.
This is a truly adorable book and well worth the small price of buying it, especially for a worthy cause! I'm very glad I decided to buy it myself.
Gemma Knight