Christmas

If the lights up around town are anything to go by, it's heading towards Christmas time again!

It seems hard to believe that it's nearly a year now since the Another Christmas EP was released. If you don't already have a copy, it's available as a download on various sites including iTunes, Napster and CD Baby. I'm looking into getting a handful made as physical CDs too so watch this space... Another Christmas is also available on the new album, Octagon.

I had a good time performing with the band last Saturday at the Oxjam Unwrapped gig to make money for Oxfam. It was our first time performing all together and it seemed to go pretty well. We didn't have the video on for this one but for photos, check out the event's website at oxjam.dayve.co.uk or keep an eye out on my Flickr feed at flickr.com/dayvedean. You can find out more about Oxjam at their website at www.oxfam.org.uk/oxjam or check out the Oxfam website at www.oxfam.org.uk.

It's looking as though our next gig is going to be on 20 December at The Woodlands in Alsager. It's a jam night - so feel free to come and join in - but we'll be doing a fair bit of playing as well. We're going to be working on a number of covers and Christmas songs for the night so if you've any requests in advance, send them in to mailinglist@dayve.co.uk or contact via the blog comments or message boards at dayve.co.uk/forum. And if you're not already on board, why not join the mailing list - sign up from pretty much any page at www.dayve.co.uk?

It's the time of year that people send out Christmas cards, and I'm never really sure how I feel about this practice. At a basic level, I like to receive them as it's nice to hear from people that maybe I don't often hear from and I like the idea of sending them. I rarely actually get around to it though for several reasons, including not knowing people's addresses and running short of time. There's also the ethical argument to contend with. One one hand, it's a terrible waste of paper and resources especially if they're not made from recycled materials and recycled or reused after Christmas. On the other, charities are able to raise funds from the sale of the cards so good causes can greatly benefit. Maybe a solution would be to send ecards (but then I never know anyone's email address!) and either donate the money saved to charity or buy gifts such as Oxfam Unwrapped. I'll see what I end up doing this year.

In the meantime, I've come across some cool cards at a favourite company of mine, Howies. You can check them out here - http://www.howies.co.uk/product.php/1593/18/. They're recycled and donate to charity so maybe that's another solution.

Have a great Christmas if I don't get around to blogging again before then!

Oxfam World Food Crisis Appeal, a greener Local Transport Bill, Energy Saving Week

Some more campaigns you might like to get involved in:

Oxfam launches report and £15 million appeal to tackle world food crisis

Oxfam has launched a massive fundraising appeal to tackle the impact of rising world food prices, which have pushed an extra 119 million people into hunger, taking the global total to nearly 1 billion.

The appeal has been launched on World Food Day alongside a new Oxfam report, Double Edged Prices, showing that the increases in food prices have pushed the world’s poorest further into destitution while quadrupling profits for some international businesses.

Oxfam needs an extra £15 million to pay for its international development and humanitarian work on food and agriculture, and to campaign for changes to the flawed trade and agricultural polices that have left poor farmers vulnerable.

Read more about this campaign on the Oxfam website.

Ask your MP for a greener Local Transport Bill

The Local Transport Bill will determine what happens to transport for many years to come. At the minute it doesn't say anything specific about cutting CO2 emissions. Ask your MP to support an amendment to the bill which requires local authorities to make sure their transport policies tackle climate change.

Find out more and take part in the campaign at http://tinyurl.com/637dwo.

Energy Saving Week

While I'm blogging, take a look at the Energy Saving Trust's website as this week is Energy Saving Week. While I will happily waffle on about energy saving in ANY week, this one's a good excuse to take a look at how you can reduce your energy usage, saving both money and CO2 emissions. Check out the website at http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/What-can-I-do-today/Support-our-campaigns/Energy-Saving-Week.