Charities who get it wrong

When you get to my age, birthdays tend to pass unremarked. After all, I'm a bit old for cake and balloons (well, balloons at least). It was a bit of a shock to find that there is one group who certainly don't think I'm passed the age where a birthday needs to be marked.

A card from family, a couple of phone calls which were nice and otherwise nothing, much as I expected. Then I checked my email.

Nineteen "Happy Birthday" messages from charities, all of which boiled down to "It's your special day - now give us money!" I thought on birthdays people were supposed to give you things, not the other way round?

Instead of ranting about the culprits, I'm going to take the positive step of requesting donations for a charity that didn't spam me and who I do support:

• Donate here