However, it is with sadness that I must now tell you that there will be some charities I will no longer donate to or support, such as Save the Children, Oxfam and the RSPCA. Why is this you ask? Well I am growing increasingly weary and irritated by the current trend of large national charitable organisations to use guerrilla marketing tactics and high pressure sales tactics to obtain donations. Firstly there are the tabard wearing young people who accost the general public for direct debit donations in the streets and shopping centres around towns. How is it that it is illegal to shake your collection pot to gain attention to your cause, but it’s okay to physically put yourself in the way of someone who obviously is not wanting to stop and talk to you and not give up until they have physically passed you by.

I find I have to either be incredibly rude to get my point across with a strong no whilst continuing to walk at a rapid pace or adopt my travelling mien where I don’t make eye contact, ignoring them completely and continue walking. I expect touts in foreign countries where it is the culture, but this is Britain and I don’t appreciate it in my own home, especially when they are canvassing for charity, which should be something that people choose to freely give not feel harassed to do as a duty! I find it disrespectful of my privacy, incredibly invasive of my personal space and highly presumptive that their charity is one that I want to support.

There are so many charities and worthy causes out there, but it is foolhardy to think that you could support every single one and most people pick and choose charities that address issues that most concern them. When I see traditional charity collectors out on the street I give my change to those charities which I care the most about. The difference between traditional charity collectors and the canvassers is that the charity collectors leave the choice to engage with them and donate up to me. It’s an important distinction, because it is my time, my choice and my money that these canvassers are trying to impinge on. I can see their tabards, I can see their clipboards, and surely it is not a hard leap to think that if I wanted to give to that charity I would approach them myself, in my own time and in my own way?

The other main issue with the canvassers is that there isn’t just one of them, oh no they seem to travel in a pack of at least three, fanning out along a street or shopping area thus ensuring that they have both sides and each end of the road covered for maximum accosting! The result being that if you are incredibly unlucky you are accosted by all of them in the space of just ten minutes.

I’ve taken to not going into my local town centre without headphones on and I find myself weaving in and out of certain areas instead of meandering as I would like to just so I can avoid being accosted. Just today I saw one representative of the RSPCA accosting people who were sat down relaxing on a public bench! The problem is also that it’s not just in the large cities or once in a blue moon that this sort of marketing tactic takes place, but quite regularly now, which means I find shopping in my town centre a much less enjoyable experience than I once did.

Compounding my grievance with these charities is their use of harrowing, exploitative imagery, with stirring music and inflammatory words on their advertisements. The just £2 a week or £10 month calls to arms and then should you sign up to regularly donate they are always badgering you to give more. I think charity is an important part of modern societies and that we should encourage and support it, but at the same time there are so many different charities out there that it is not possible for the average person to donate to every single one and the hard sell and marketing tactics don’t take this into account. I’m sure they are raking in the cash and perhaps that’s the only important thing here, but I thought charity was about more than just money?

I will continue to support local and national charities that have not gone down the hard sell and guerrilla marketing route. To local town and city councils I would urge that you think more carefully before allowing this kind of canvassing for support in your shopping centres for fear that it might put other shoppers off coming into town, further driving a move towards online sales. I’d like to stress that Oxfam, Save the Children and the RSPCA are not the only charities that use guerrilla marketing and hard sell tactics, but are the charities that in my area are the most prevalent and therefore the first that came to mind for the purposes of this article.

And lastly I would like to say please do not stop being charitable, with your time, effort, resources as well as your money. There are plenty of wonderful charities and causes out there, but perhaps we the public need to send a message that guerrilla marketing and the hard sell should not be part of charity.

Wealie x

They take over all your senses, the lightning and the brooding clouds burning into your retinas, the thunder pounding through your ears and the scent of ozone sizzling through your nostrils.  The feeling of anticipation that builds within me matches the building of power within the storm.

Here’s a picture of storm clouds over Glastonbury Tor, which is a black and white treatment of the picture Pregnant with power from my Up on the Tor flickr set that I took back in June 2007.  It was a strange day, I hadn’t planned to visit Glastonbury and ended up going on a whim as I was in the area.  The weather looked like it was going to downpour at any moment, but for the whole time that my Dad and I were up on the Tor the weather held and when we went down into Glastonbury and visited the chalice well gardens the clouds parted and the sun came out.  As you can see from the picture though and the rest of the flickr set, it was definitely pouring down elsewhere on the Somerset Levels!

Pregnant with Power - Copyright R.Weal 2007

Wealie x

WITNESS TO THE STORM

Today I bore witness to the storm
As others ran to shelter, I stepped out and watched it take form
Fat droplets of rain like a tentative caress
As lovers lips to lips might press
Each strike of lightening coruscating through my veins
Each clap of thunder danced across my emotional plane

The scent of the earth is spiced with heat
I sensed the social constraint within me deplete
A daughter of earth I stepped out from the fold
Waiting on Thor, for my vision to behold
My mood and the storm forever entwined in pace
The wisdom of ages writ across my face.

At one with the earth and sky
For a singular moment my soul could fly
I tasted of Mother Nature’s flesh
Understanding dawning of my one true quest
A conduit of power my body became
Perfectly contained, in this, my earthbound frame.

Dancing beneath the balming rain
Washing away my every pain
Absolved of all my sin
Soaked through beyond mere skin
Arms raised to heaven in supplication
Power mirrored within me in affirmation

Hunger for power, desire for knowledge
I unshackled the armour which society polished
Set free by nature and her storm divine
Even now it’s over, a part of her is ever mine
Mind and soul, body and storm enmeshed
I am blessed, I am blessed, I am blessed.

Ruth Weal
28 June 2005 7.29 pm

Copyright R.Weal 2005

I’ve just added a Grooveshark playlist widget to the website and it is currently rocking some classic Bollywood tunes, check it out for a bit of Asian flavour for the audible senses!

I’ve just watched the first three episodes of The Story of India, which is a 6 part BBC documentary written and presented by Michael Wood an English historian broadcast as part of the BBC’s India and Pakistan season.  I’ve always been fascinated by Indian culture, customs, it’s colours and diversity, it’s epic history and mythology and the beauty of the land itself.  It is a melting pot of different faiths, the birth place of many great ideas and concepts.

This series is a lavish and evocative exploration of the first 10,000 years of the life of India.  It’s a beautiful and interesting look at a culture and people on the surface so different from the Western European world I’m used to and yet highlights some of the key things we all have in common.

The flame that has burned within me to visit this great land has been inflamed once again and I find myself thinking more and more that India must be my next great trip.  I want to immerse myself in the colour, sights, sounds, tastes and spirituality.  Once my latest work contract is up I think I’ll be planning an imminent trip! I’m excited already about the way such a trip might enrich my life.

My research is already under way, I’ve purchased a translation of the Mahabharata to read and I plan to get some of the other key texts.  I’ve also been undergoing the hardship (not!) of watching a variety of bollywood films to tantalise the senses as well as a few great documentaries like The Story of India.  If anyone has suggestions of books I should read, films and series that I should view I would be most grateful.

The photos in this post are courtesy of my flickr friend Swami Stream please check out his flickr stream and his website, you will not be disappointed.  

If you want to purchase The Story of India you can find it on Amazon.  Perhaps if you view it, then you will begin to fall in love with this great nation and want to visit it too!