Choctober (please help!)

Okay, everyone, brace yourselves.  For the month of October, I might be:

• Stressed
• Hormonal
• Hungry

Why?  Because, along with a group of other McBusted fans, I've decided to take part in "Choctober."  Yes, despite my utter devotion to all things chocolate-y, in October, not a single mouthful will pass my lips.  No chocolate bars.  No hot chocolate.  No brownies, choccie biscuits or chocolate ice cream.  Nothing.

The reason behind this frankly mad decision is simple: we want to try to raise as much money as possible for a wonderful appeal called Eyes Alight.

Eyes Alight was set up by Izzy Judd (wife of McBusted/McFly drummer Harry) and her family, after her brother Rupert suffered a brain injury that changed his life, back in 1997.  Rupert was involved in a serious car accident and needed long-term brain injury rehabilitation.  Watching her brother go through this rehabilitation, Izzy soon realised that certain things could make the process much easier and she set up the Eyes Alight appeal (a reference to the way patients' eyes often light up at the mention of doing something they had enjoyed prior to their injuries) to raise money for men and women who use the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust's services and community housing (as Izzy's brother Rupert does).  The money raised by the appeal goes towards making life that bit more enjoyable for those undergoing rehabilitation.  It can pay for special day-trips, fund items to help people pursue the interests they had prior to their injuries (by purchasing musical instruments or sports equipment etc) and by providing laptops etc to make communication easier.  The appeal hopes to continue providing group musical therapy, improved communication and special days out, and even to open up green gyms that men and women undergoing rehabilitation can use.  I'm sure you'll agree, it's a pretty brilliant appeal to be supporting and well worth giving up my beloved choccie for.

Not that it's going to be easy!  I'm a self-confessed chocoholic and I can't imagine how I'll manage a whole month without cracking.  But it's got to be worth a try for such an important cause.  And it's just going to mean that on November 1st, I'm liable to eat an entire chocolate cake to myself...

So, here comes the begging bit (come on, everyone, you knew it was coming, right?!).  We've set ourselves the pretty ambitious task of raising £1000 for Eyes Alight.  I know, it's a lot, but we're not messing around - if you're going to go for it, you may as well really go for it.  We've set up a Just Giving page, which makes it super easy for people to donate, should they want to.  And you know, we really hope people do!  Obviously, we know money's tight for most of us with Christmas around the corner, so we really do appreciate any donation, however small you might think it is.  The link to the donation page is here.

To keep everyone informed with our progress, we've also set up a Twitter account for our Choctober mission.  We'll be posting regular updates as to how much we've raised, as well as fascinating chocolate facts, recipe ideas and general chit-chat from the girls taking part in the challenge.  Even if you can't donate personally, it would mean a great deal if you could give the account a follow and RT the odd tweet, just to spread the word of what we're up to.

Well, I guess all that remains is to say thank you to everyone who has offered donations or support so far!  I'm going to need that support in bucket loads, I swear!  In the meantime, there's a Black Forest Gateau in the fridge with my name on it...  May as well eat this stuff whilst I can!