Morris - not looking a bit like a cheap Christmas decoration at all.

Following my piece a couple of days ago about Walsall Council’s ‘Shop smart,shop local’ campaign for Brownhills, @tracey_q from The Co-op Travel Centre in the High Street contacted me on twatter to ask if I’d help our local businesses promote their Christmas festive raffle, in support of the Help the Hospices Appeal. This is something I’m only too happy to do. The competition is being organised by the Brownhills Town Centre Partnership, and the result will be drawn at the Parkview Centre Christmas Event, on Friday, 4th of December 2009.

Prizes have been donated by a host of very generous local retailers, and include a 19″ flatscreen TV from Claridges, a £100 Hoseasons holiday voucher from Co-op Travel and a portrait sitting from Starlight Photographic Services. As if that were not enough, proprieters and staff have donated a whole heap of great stuff for a tombola to be held at a Christmas event in Brownhills on Saturday, 28th November 2009.

Tracey Costello, branch manager of the Co-op Travel store and head honcho of the Town Centre Partnership was full of praise for the the generosity of the town’s traders, “We’ve been absolutely bowled over. People say there is a recession on and things are tight which is true which makes the response all the more amazing. There are some really generous people in Brownhills and we ask people to rally round now and buy a ticket.”

You can get yours by calling in at The Pine Shop, Co-op Travel or The Big Discount Store. Come on, who doesn’t fancy the chance of a new telly before Christmas?

As soon as I get any more Christmas event details, or indeed anything else relating to community events in our town, I’ll publicise them here. You can mail me your stuff on Brownhillsbob at googlemail dot com. All contributions gratefully accepted.

A tip of the Santa hat to @tracey_q for filling me in with this one. Anything more I can do, don’t hesitate to ask.