Make a note of Friday 26 February - it's National Wear Red Day!

February is National Heart Month and we’ve got a stack of exciting things coming up to celebrate it!

You can get involved too by doing something red at work, school or home.

Last year, Amanda and her friends got in the spirit and had a great time...

"We went red for my daughter Victoria, who underwent surgery for an unexpected heart condition at just 21 years old, and has since made a great recovery.

"We had a red party at home and asked people to interpret red however they wanted - the photo shows how inventive they were feeling. We had a great night and raised £750 for the BHF."

What will you do this year? Anything you like, as it happens!

Join National Wear Red Day on Friday 26 February. Bake red cakes. Paint your face red. Anything goes as long as it’s red.

Get your free fundraising kit at bhf.org.uk/red or call 0845 241 0976.

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.

Making a difference in Cookstown, Northern Ireland

We've recently launched a huge £9 million programme called Hearty Lives, and we're using the money to help people in isolated or deprived areas to look after their hearts.

One of the first places on our long list was Cookstown in County Tyrone, NI. This lovely picturesque town nonetheless suffers from the third highest premature death rate from heart disease in Northern Ireland, so we're setting up an innovative £200,000 heart health programme for them.

We'll be concentrating first on the parts of Cookstown where people are most likely to die early from heart disease. We've got a nurse educator on board, who's going to visit community groups and workplaces, like local meat factory Vion, to give free advice and support.

We're also going to train up local people with emergency life saving skills, and helping heart patients get access to cardiac rehabilitation, which can dramatically improve quality of life!

Hearty Lives is already doing life-saving work in Hastings, Dundee and Newham, and we're all set to help bring help to even more places in real need of better heart health. Keep an eye out next week, when we'll be announcing our next project!

Are you ready to see Red?

Get set to go Red for Heart in 2010 - get everything you need in our
free fundraising packs (that's it on the right).

Plus, our new Red for Heart Facebook fan page is now open for business!

It's a great place to start meeting and talking with other fundraisers about what you'll be up to for National Wear Red Day on 26 February.

Latest from Leanne's blog

"When I woke I was not a happy lady. Apparently I threatened to sue anyone and everyone around me, including a poor student nurse who had no idea what she had done wrong. But I blame that on the lawyer in me, I must have been dreaming about my degree - which is a bit sad..."

Catch up with the latest post from our young heart patient Leanne (pictured above) who's just had the heart valve operation she's been waiting for and writing about for us.

Find out how it went, and how she's feeling now on our sister site for young people yheart.net