Hello fellow Midlanders!

I hope that you are beginning to feel as festive as I am. I thought that I'd better blog now just in case I don't get chance for the next few days. Next week Christmas is well and truly getting under way as I have a number of festive events that I'm going along to.

On Monday evening I will be helping out at the Trust's third annual Christmas Concert in Wales. It's at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff and it is one of the events that I really look forward to each year.

On Wednesday night I'm staying in the Midlands and visiting the Heart of England School in Balsall Common to say a few words at their pantomime. The show is written, directed and performed entirely by students at the school and has been held in support of the Trust since a fellow pupil Tom Wyatt died of Meningococcal B in March 2007. This year's pantomime is Snow White and the Seven Dwarves so I can't wait to see what they have in store.

The following night I'm attending the Trust's flagship Christmas Concert at Gloucester Cathedral. This event has been going for well over a decade now and it really is a wonderful occasion, managing to be both enjoyable because of the wonderful choirs and musicians that perform, yet also poignant and a time to remember families that are perhaps facing another Christmas without a loved one due to meningitis.

I know that a few of you from the Midlands will be attending the Gloucester Concert this year, so I look forward to seeing you all there.

I hope that you all have a great weekend and that those of you that attempt to take on the shops don't get too frustrated with the queues!

Take care, Matt.