Who's running this town?

It looks like Santa is! At least in Newbury, Tunbridge Wells, Milton Keynes, Basingstoke, Cardiff, Salford, Reading... the list goes on and on (and everyone on it is nice, not naughty!). The folks of Hayling Island (19 December) and Sheffield (20 December) are still expecting a visit too, so it's not too late to get your Santa on!

A massive thank you to everyone who's dedicated their time, money, and effort this Christmas to helping us beat heart disease. You're all legends! And our events teams across the country have done a fantastic job organising it all.

Your intrepid online reporter volunteered for the Reading Santa Jog, and I have to tell you there really is no sight quite like several hundred Santas, elves, and suspiciously puppy-eyed reindeers cresting over the top of a hill! Take a look at some of the highlights so far:

Happy Christmas everybody!

L2B 2010 details revealed, summer just around the corner...

What better way to shrug off thoughts of the approaching wintry weather?

We've just published registration details for next summer's London to Brighton Bike Ride!

If you need convincing, or even just reminding, have a look at the photos from this year's ride (wow, what a warm day that was).

Sue's big day out

We get so many volunteers who do so much amazing work for us. We're really grateful that people devote their time to help out - you're all helping us to finally beat heart disease, together!

You can find our British Heart Foundation shops on nearly every high street (find your nearest one here), and they raise loads of money to help us fund our heart research, helplines, doctors and nurses. They're also a huge part of the community, as volunteer Sue Woodrow recently found out at the Colchester shop:

"Serena the Manageress of the shop greeted me and showed me around, I was introduced to John the Assistant Manager and all the dedicated volunteers. All the staff were very friendly and I was made to feel very welcome.

"There were lots of bags of clothes and bric a brac to sort out into various trolleys and bags and then clothes were steamed, tagged and placed on hangers, bric a brac was priced accordingly before all was sent to the shop floor. Thank you all for my cups of tea to keep me going.

"Mike and Jill showed me how to tag the clothes, more involved than I thought, had to put in different codes for different items on the price tickets, thank you both for being patient with me.

"I would like to say how hard Serena, John and their staff work and the dedication they showed, the shop was very well run and I was pleased to be part of the team. Thank you for making my day enjoyable!"

Find out more about how to volunteer for us.