Archive for the 'Guest Blog' Category

Raywood tames the Royal Parks half

Published December 3, 2012 Fundraiser Stories , Guest Blog Leave a Comment
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Over the past few months we’ve received updates from first-time half marathon runner Dan Raywood.

Well, a couple of months ago Dan took to the start of the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon, raising money for NSPCC and Childline. We heard from Dan soon after he crossed the finishing line in Hyde Park:

“I finished the Royal Parks half marathon in 2 hours and 43 minutes. The experience was really something I had not experienced before – streets lined with friends and families of the 12,000+ runners, noisy charity workers (in a good way) including my chosen charities, the NSPCC and Childline, whose encouragement pushed me on at mile 12.

“The experience was fantastic, despite the early start and cold, muddy conditions, I got going around 9:45 and the first 9/10 miles went well. I ran my fastest mile to date (10 minutes 40 seconds) in mile 1. I would say all went well until around mile 9 or 10 when my legs really started hurting and my thighs went to sleep. But I pushed myself on.

“Crossing the line as any runner will say, is an incredible experience and this was no different. I cannot fault anything about the organisation of the Royal Parks Foundation, it was fantastic from beginning to end.

“As for my next step? I have some plans for December but nothing into next year. However I hold fast on my ‘not doing a marathon’ promise, maybe that is my aching feet talking!

“Final thing I want to say is the about three groups of people I did this for: the first is obviously me, as I always wanted to do this but never felt capable enough to do it until I actually tried.

Secondly – the charities for whom I raised over £1,500  in sponsorship. A big thanks to everyone who backed me.

Third is you reading this – if you want to do something like this, then I say you can. Hey I’ve  done it!”

Giving the GRIM a go

Published November 30, 2012 Fundraiser Stories , Guest Blog , Virgin Money Giving News Leave a Comment
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This weekend hundreds of participants will take part in the annual GRIM Challenge. We heard from Jake Kanter, who is tackling the course for the fourth time:

“Imagine spending your Saturday morning wading through waist-high icy puddles, wallowing in glutinous watery clay and climbing railway sleepers stacked as high as the bus that transports you to work every day.

“Imagine no more, because this is the reality of the Grim Challenge: a raucous annual celebration of mud and madness on the bracken-cloaked fields of Aldershot.

“The eight mile run is not your standard cross country fare. Situated on an army vehicle testing track and littered with military-style obstacles, even tanks struggle to navigate this terrain without wheezing with effort.

“I consider myself something of a veteran on these fields having completed the event four times. The reality is, it seems to get harder every year. Whether that’s down to the cunning of the organisers, or my steadily declining fitness, I’m not sure.

“What I’m certain of though, is Grim Challenge’s fun factor and its link to the charity I support every year: the Muscle Help Foundation (MHF).

“Like the race, this is an organisation like no other. It works tirelessly to fund and deliver Muscle Dreams – amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experiences for children and young people with muscle wasting disease Muscular Dystrophy.

“MHF fundraisers belong to an elite band known as the Muscle Warriors, who are tasked with straining their muscles to improve the lives of those that are losing their muscles. It’s a simple but compelling vision made tangible by Grim, where Muscle Warriors from all over the country gather to make a difference.

“Emblazoned with MHF’s trademark burgundy t-shirts and sent on our way with a Muscle Haka and an ebullient warm-up, Muscle Warriors support each other through the mud and bluster of the race. So far, every one of the charity’s supporters have crossed the finish line with a smile on their face.

“I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday morning.”

Top fundraising tips from Leonard Cheshire Disability

Published October 26, 2012 Fundraising Tips , Guest Blog Leave a Comment
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Leonard Cheshire Disability charity have had a fantastic year, with their fundraisers taking on a whole host of challenges to raise money and awareness for the charity that helps support over 21,000 disabled people in the UK.

They’ve shared some of their top fundraising tips with us:

“Let’s be upfront about this: raising money is not an easy thing to do. Unless you’ve got a convenient group of millionaire friends, you’ll probably have to put in a reasonable amount of effort and try a few different tactics to reach whatever fundraising goal you’ve got ahead of you. Here are five of our top tips to help you get on the way:

1) Find out as much as you can about your chosen charity. The more you know, the easier you’ll find it to persuade potential sponsors to give you money.

2) Create your personal online fundraising page straightaway. ‘Personal’ is the key word here – make it clear that the page is about you, your challenge and your reasons for doing it. Get a photograph of you up there (ideally in your running gear, or doing something a bit daft). Write a few words explaining what you’re doing and why and of course, give a few facts about the charity you’re supporting – especially if you know exactly what your fundraising will support.

Need inspiration? Gary, Ali and Martin have each set up great pages for our charity!

3) Ask for help, not just donations. While you might think asking everyone you know for money is the way forward, it pays off to line up a key group of friends who you don’t ask for money. Instead ask them to share the load by helping you draw up your fundraising plan, rounding up new contacts, or organising some mini-events for you. Probably best these aren’t your convenient group of millionaire friends, though.

4) Remember to say thank you. People like to give money to charities. They also really like to get something back from it. At fundraising events this is easy – they get their food, or a raffle prize, or the chance of being crowned pub quiz champion. For anyone giving a donation on your fundraising page, you can literally say thank you by tagging them in your Facebook status or in a Tweet, so they get highlighted as a generous person – and include the link to your page so anyone who hasn’t yet donated has the chance to save face!

5) Have fun, raise more.Don’t rely on sponsorship alone – make your fundraising as varied and fun as you possibly can. Got a group of friends who like a get-together? Invite them to a film night – unlimited dvds and a bowl of popcorn for £5. Work colleagues always snacking? Hold a regular cake sale in the office. It’s really important that you enjoy what you’re doing because the more enthusiastic you are about it, the happier your friends, family and colleagues will be to support you – and the more you’ll be able to raise.

We’ve only got space for our top five tips here, but if you’d like some more – including lots of ideas of different themes and fundraising events – then you can find them on our own events blog.

Good luck, and happy fundraising!”

Taking to the skies

Published October 5, 2012 Fundraiser Stories , Guest Blog 1 Comment
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In a few days time Graham Machin will be taking to the skies, skydiving for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.

We heard from Graham in the lead up to his daunting challenge:

“How did I end up signing up to throw myself out of a plane at 12,000 ft?

“Let me take you back to a certain Saturday in early August.

“I’d already seen Great Britain win three Olympic gold medals when in one magical hour saw Jess Ennis show us why she was the poster girl of the games winning gold in the heptathlon. This was followed by Greg Rutherford becoming the first Brit since Lynn Davies in 1964 to win a gold in the long jump. Then of course came Mo Farah.

“About an hour later after tucking into more wine gums and ice cream it hit me-what have I ever done? I thought the Olympics was supposed to inspire a younger generation, not some  middle-aged,  slightly over-weight granddad approaching 50. Inspired by these athletes I decided to do something for charity – the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.

“They do an amazing  job, made even more amazing by the fact that they are not state funded. Can you imagine calling for an ordinary ambulance and being told sorry you can’t have one because they haven’t raised enough money from the public?!

“After choosing the charity, I knew straight away it would have to be something that either a lot of people couldn’t do or wouldn’t want to do for people to really to support me. After a couple of weeks of looking at various ideas  I ending up looking into skydiving .

” I decided to do a Free Fall Level 1 skydive which is the most they will let brave or daft first timers like me do. Basically I jump out of the plane with two instructors at my side, free fall a few thousand feet and when they tell me open my chute and then I’m guided down by another instructor on the ground.

“Having booked it all up I decided to make this spoof training video which gave everyone a laugh.

“It’s getting really close now, and I cant wait to do it. You can sponsor me on my fundraising page.

Fantastic four year old fundraiser takes on challenge for Fire Fighters

Published September 27, 2012 Fundraiser Stories , Guest Blog 1 Comment
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In just over a week four year old Cameron is taking to the start line of the Edinburgh Run Mini Race. We heard from a very excited Cameron in the lead up to his big race.

“My name is Cameron and I am just 4 years old. I will be competing in the great Edinburgh Run Mini Race on October 7.

“I am running my first ever race to raise money for the Fire Fighters Charity.  I’m doing it for this charity because my daddy’s a third generation fire fighter.

“Two generations have had to use this charity and they have helped to make them better.

“Not only that, the toy page for the fire fighters charity is cool!

“I don’t think I’ll be the fastest on the day but I’ll definitely do my bestest run I can. It’s just a mile but I think that’s a long way when you only have little legs like me.”

You can find out more about Cameron’s fundraising on his sponsorship page.

Tuk the High Road

Published September 24, 2012 Fundraiser Stories , Guest Blog 1 Comment
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This fundraising effort is really going the distance. 35,000 miles! Taking in the seven wonders of the world, fundraising adventurers Alex Saxon and Kev Pulfrey are attempting the around the world trip in a tuk-tuk.

We heard from them as they got ready to start their epic challenge.

“So, here we are…Tuk The High Road!

“Our plan is simple (or at least on paper it sounds simple). We are going to drive 35,000 miles around the world, via the seven wonders of the world, on a three-wheeled auto-rickshaw known as a tuk-tuk. This will be a world first and a Guinness World Record.

“Our adventure will see us driving across Europe, Asia and the Americas. We will traverse mountains, conquer deserts, explore rainforests and battle through snow. We will evade tigers, befriend locals and break down in the worst places imaginable. We will face danger, overcome fears and have our eyes opened to the delights of planet earth. We will do all of this in a year(ish) and you can follow us as our journey unfolds.

“We are doing this in the name of charity and goodwill, with the benefactors being The Alzheimer’s Society and War Child. We hope to raise a goodly amount of money for these two charities using our Virgin Money Giving page.

“It is not long until our departure from London where we will drive south to Dover and catch the ferry to France. Once on mainland Europe our journey will take us towards Rome and our first wonder: the Colosseum. We shall head east through Europe, crossing into Asia in Turkey where we expect to be met with some harsh driving conditions in a cold, desert-like environment.

“We will then pass through Iran and Pakistan to India where we find our second wonder, the Taj Mahal.

“From India we ship to Thailand, the birthplace of our little Tuk and the start of the Orient. Two wonders are here: Angkor Wat in Cambodia and The Great Wall buried deep in Northern China. The diversity of this part of the trip will be immense as we pass through hot and humid southeast Asia into northern China in the dead of winter, where temperatures can plummet to -20C. From China, and after over a month on a boat, we land in Canada where we start our Americas leg. Driving south into the USA, our journey covers a coast-to-coast route of the States before turning south into Mexico where we find Chichen Itza, our 5th wonder. From there we travel through the jungles of Central America, where our Spanish is really put to the test.

“Entering South America from Colombia, we kick start our final continent and will feel pushed to the limit. We have thousands of miles to travel through the Amazon rainforest and over the Andes mountain range to ensure we see Machu Picchu in Peru and Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, where our journey will be drawing to a close. All that will be left is a boat ride to Portugal and the steady drive back to the UK. I told you it sounded simple on paper!

“We will be blogging, uploading pictures, videos and being as active as possible on our Twitter and Facebook. So be sure to check out our website to track our progress and to see how you can support the two charities we are fundraising for: The Alzheimer’s Society and War Child.”

Channeling an epic swim for Diabetes UK and Rainbows Hospice

Published September 18, 2012 Guest Blog Leave a Comment

The cross channel swim. 21 miles. Cold, wet (of course) and busy with ferries, jellyfish and tankers. Next year Susan Taylor will be attempting to swim the channel, raising money for Diabetes UK and Rainbows Hospice.

Now deep into her training, we heard from Susan:

“In July 2013 I’m going to take on a challenge tougher than conquering Everest – Swimming the English Channel solo.

“Less than 1,000 people have completed the 21 -mile cross-Channel swim – only one in ten people who train for the channel actually complete it.

“The English Channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, with over 600 tankers and 200 ferries crossing it every day. Other problems include debris, jellyfish, currents and tides.

“As part of the challenge you are not allowed to wear anything that aids buoyancy or warmth, but I’ll be accompanied by a support boat to ensure I stay out of trouble.

“I hope to undertake this epic challenge in the week beginning 13 July 2013.

“Rainbows Hospice helps support thousands of families who have a child with a life threatening or terminal illness, while Diabetes UK has set itself the mission to improve the lives of people with the condition and work towards a future without diabetes.

You can find out more about the challenge and sponsor me on my fundraising page.”

Team Toby tackle the Thames

Published August 9, 2012 Fundraiser Stories , Guest Blog 1 Comment
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In just over a week two Tobys will be tackling the Thames – in a pedalo. We heard from Team Toby in the lead up to their epic 125 mile event.

“Our fundraising event is to pedalo down the Thames, from the start in Oxfordshire to Putney Bridge in London, a leg-numbing 125 miles!

We set sail on the 17 August and land at Putney Bridge 9 days later on the 25 August (provided we haven’t drowned on the way). We hope to reach a blistering top speed of 2mph, and will be pedalling for 8-10 hours a day. Our trip will take us down the Thames, through towns and cities such as Reading, Oxford, Henley, Windsor and London.

“Last summer we decided we would like to do a large (and preferably ridiculous) fundraising event for charity. Luckily, we struck gold whilst watching people pedaloing just off the beach whilst on holiday in Croatia last year. With little or no regard to our knees - we decided pedaloing a large distance would be ideal for what we wanted to achieve. Our thinking was that this would be novel, ridiculous, fun and yet, still a challenge.

Originally our plan was to attempt to pedalo the English Channel however due to shipping legislation this was not possible. We therefore settled on the Thames. As the 2nd largest river in the UK (after the Severn) this will still be a great challenge and the fact that we will finish in London hopefully gives the opportunity for lots of support as we finish.

We chose to support two charities in this event.

Army Benevolent Fund

Last year I (Toby Morris), along with other members of the Sheffield Officer Training Corps, joined Andy McMenemy on Challenge 66 (66 ultra marathons in as many days AND cities for the ABF) in Sheffield. Several of us completed the ultra-marathon with him, and also met a soldier who had returned from combat with severe disabilities, and whose life had been transformed for the better by the work of the Army Benevolent Fund. The entire day was a huge inspiration, and after training with the OTC, and seeing the immense effort individuals such as Andy were putting in, I decided I would like to do my bit to support a great cause.

Action Against Hunger

I (Toby Balaam) have been sponsoring a child in Africa for a number of years now. They work in countries all over the world – with the ultimate aim of ending child hunger.

For the best part of a year our stupid idea remained just that – a stupid idea. However once we decided to get the charities on board, and came into possession of a pedalo (very kindly donated by the Hyde Park boathouse) it suddenly became very real (though it was definitely still a stupid idea). We started fundraising halfway through July and have been absolutely amazed by the amount of support we have received. We have smashed our first target of £2,000 and are now pushing towards a new target of £2,500.

We’d really like to thank the Hyde Park boathouse for the pedalo, Skytech AIC for their incredibly generous donation, Kristie for making our poster, our Sophies for putting up with us and everyone who has donated and helped us out!

This event will test our endurance, patience, and our knees! We are really hoping it will raise a massive amount of money and publicity for these two charities, and are both really looking forward to the challenge!”

Tackling 26 sports for CAMFED

Published July 27, 2012 Fundraiser Stories , Guest Blog Leave a Comment
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In just a few hours the Olympic countdown will be over and the games will begin. We’ve seen lots of fundraisers take up sporting challenges over the past few months inspired by sporting heroes, from cyclists keen to follow in the tyre marks of Bradley Wiggins, to runners looking to complete the marathon distance.

Samantha and Corné Vermaak are taking on 26 sports over the next few weeks – raising money for charity and competing against each other. We heard from Samantha:

“My husband (Corné) and I are raising money for CAMFED by taking each other on in as many of the 26 Olympic Sports as we can. The idea is that we find someone who loves their sport who will coach us for one/a few hours – and then adjudicate our match! I came up with the idea because we ran a 10k relay-around-the-world last year and I needed something that outdid that!

“So far we’ve completed volleyball (which we normally play so that one was easy), boxing (our first time boxing), fencing (first time), badminton, judo (first time; we had six lessons and got our red belt grading before our match), and triathlon (our first ever, which we completed recently).

“Additionally we ran the London 10k on the 8 July as part of our Modern Pentathlon. We’ve also got rowing, dressage, swimming, cycling and athletics lined up, and just need to set dates for basketball and football – and in the meantime we’re still trying to convince people to teach us the rest of the sports on the list!

“Sadly for me, Corné is currently 4-2 up on our overall medal table, but there’s plenty of time for me to catch him yet.

“We’re aiming to raise £1,000 for CAMFED, a great charity that helps girls in Africa stay in school, get their education, and hopefully get out of poverty – while both men and women face difficulties in poverty, worldwide it is estimated that 70% of people in poverty are female.

“We have a blog about our Challenge and a Facebook page both of which have photos and updates about our training and matches as well as links to all the people who have helped us in our Challenge – we’ve been continually amazed and humbled by everyone’s generosity in terms of their time and effort to help us with our Challenge, as well as all the sponsorship and encouraging words.”

You can keep up to date with our challenge and sponsor us on our Virgin Money Giving page.

Raywood takes on the Royal Parks run

Published July 3, 2012 Fundraiser Stories , Guest Blog 1 Comment
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In less than 100 days, thousands of runners will be taking to the start line of the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon – many of them raising money for charity. One such runner is Dan Raywood. He takes up his story:

“I started running in January of this year, not as some New Year’s resolution but as a way to get into some routine of fitness.

In the past, I had gone to a number of gyms and had become more and more demoralised with busy facilities and poorly put-together programs, not to mention paying monthly for something I didn’t get full use of.

I had always wanted to do something outdoors and on my own terms, and running seemed to be a natural choice. I started with a couch to 5K programme in January, bought some decent trainers and just started. This concluded with me doing a Parkrun 5K inFinsbury Park as a practice for the Sport Relief 5K, which I did in Bounds Green in March. I far exceeded my fundraising target of £250, eventually raising £443.

To do this, I used social media such as Facebook and Twitter and was able to use our magazine newsletter to promote my sponsorship page. At the start of the year I also entered the ballot for the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon and got through, so I have had to increase my training over the past few months to be able to cope with the increased distance.

I write about information security for SC Magazine and the chosen charity for an organisation in the sector is ChildLine. So I decided to raise money for this charity as it was launched when I was a teenager and I hoped to draw moral and financial support from my sector.

To raise sponsorship, I have also just tried asking people for sponsorship and with a notable charity this has not been hard to achieve. I am a little far off my target of £1,000 at the moment but I will keep training up and continue to update my social networks on my progress and achievements! My next effort is the British 10K on 8 July and I have been working towards that for the past few weeks.

I would encourage anyone to just give running a go as it is something I could have done at any time, but took a major decision to begin. I have really enjoyed this experience as it has got me outdoors, allowed me to discover more about my local area and helped me when running for the bus!”

UPDATE

Since I wrote my last blog I have completed the British 10K and despite the pouring rain and the fact that I was tackling this distance for the first time, I came in a better time than I had predicted for myself of one hour and 17 minutes. I was delighted with this time.

After this I eased up a bit on the training and started working on a ten week half marathon plan for the Royal Parks Half Marathon which has me tackling three mile runs a few times a week. As I have conquered 5K runs this is challenging, but not too taxing on my runs or time.

My training will take me right up to the day of the race and while I haven’t been too great in getting out in the last two weeks, I will step it up in the next few days and let the Olympians inspire me!

 

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Earlier at the Virgin Money Giving Mini Marathon start kaavmw 90b3nf 1qdxbi ^AS

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