What have we been up to? (quite a lot really!)
Bridgnorth Walk 2010 on 31 May 2010. A small team of brave souls set out once again to complete the walk - all were sucessful. Thank you to Sara, Neil, Maggs and Jim for raising money to go towards the second piece of equipment so desperately needed at colorectal unit in the hospital.
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Please see the 'Announcement Page' for further news of what we have raised and what this has achieved.
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The Appeal Party took place on 10th October. We had a fabulous time. 120 people turned up to join in with the fun. All around the venue, The Castle Hall, Bridgnorth were photographic story boards showing the story in pictures of some of the events that took place. An alphabetical list of everyone who had taken part in the fundraising took pride of place. We had a fabulous buffet produced by Julie M. who did us proud with her creations - thanks Julie. Thank you to Mr Schofield MS, FRCS, Colorectal Consultant Surgeon came to the party and received the presentation cheque which I presented on behalf of The 21Kay Appeal fundraising team. We were then treated to fabulous live music from the Dockers, the dance floor was buzzing all evening. The raffle had fabulous prizes, there was no difficulty in selling raffle tickets - thank you everyone for your generosity.
As the evening drew to a close and the tidying up began I looked down from the stage (I was thanking the band not performing you'll be glad to hear!) I saw a sea of pink team t-shirts clearing everything away and felt such happiness and pride at the enormous amount of support I have received - to me that momentary view just signified the magnitude of all the help and support I have received along the way, I felt so moved by everyone's generosity and willingness to help me reach my dream. Thank you to you all.
The Appeal Party raised an amazing £1046. An HUGE thank you to Anna and Andy Pierce, who's idea, organisation, efforts and hard work created this evening into such a wonderful and meaningful experience. Thank you to you both.
Thank you to David for donating his 20p piece collection. David has been collecting 20 pences all year and donated them to help us reach our target. Thank you for your help and support.
Chelmarsh Mums and Toddlers held a coffee and cake morning on 29 September. Theresa Cole organised the event raising a fabulous £50, well done to you all. I had the opportunity to sample some of the cake and it was fabulous (I'll be round for some more!!) Thank you for your help and support.
Hampton Loade Ferry Crossing held a fundraising day on 27 September. Customers using the Ferry Crossing were given the opportunity to donate to the appeal. Thank you to Theresa and Nick Cole for orgainising this. Your help and support is most appreciated. It was such a wonderful suprise to be greated on that Monday morning with the donations collected and it felt like you were handing me a little box of sunshine, thank you.
Donation Boxes were kindly located at the following places during the course of the last year - thank you to you all for providing the opportunity to your customers to make a donation, every penny has helped and gone towards reaching our appeal target: Simon Gibbons Butchers, Broseley: Broseley Cricket Club, Broseley: Simply The Best, Bridgnorth: Small Sports, Bridgnorth: Seal Fuels, Bridgnorth: Innage Lane Resource Centre, Bridgnorth: Bridgnorth Health and Fitness Centre, Bridgnorth.
Bike Ride around the Isle of Wight - John Hewitt enthusiastically cycled around the IOW on 20 September raising £150. Thank you John for help our appeal, I know you had great fun too.
A 'dress down' day at SSP in Birmingham, on 21 August raised a wonderful £150, thank you. A big thanks to Debs for nominating the appeal to be the beneficiary of the funds raised on the day.
Friends Paul and Mary donated £199 following a family celebration for which donations in leiu of gifts were received. Thank you for your support and generosity.
Gorge Womens Institute presidents fundraising day took place on 12 August with a walk and afternoon tea on a lovely sunny afternoon within a beautiful setting. Thank you for helping and supporting the appeal with £80 raisied on the day.
Excaliber Martial Arts, Bridgnorth raised £210 for the appeal's fundraising by entering a team in the Senior and Junior Bridgnorth Walk in May. Seamus McGinley recently presented the cheque to me, which I was delighted to receive. Thank you for your help and support - it is much appreciated.
A big thank you to the Bridgnorth Walk Committee who granted an award of £500 to help with the Appeal's fundraising effort - your help is most gratefully received.
Yummy cup cakes went on sale in Birmingham. The cakes made by Juliette O'Neill were snapped up by hungry colleagues at the Symphony Hall. Ken's (Juliette's husband) colleagues couldn't resist sampling them with their coffee, showing their appreciation with generous donations. Many thanks to Juliette, who has raised £105 with her fabulous cakes.
3 Peaks Challenge, our team of 4 seasoned walkers courageously took on this challenge on 10/11 July. Neil, Jim, Pete and Lee are no strangers to tough challenges - in August 08 they cycled 280 miles along the Cheshire Way, in torrential rain and completed what they had set out to do regardless of what the weather threw at them, and Neil and Jim were also on the Bridgnorth Walk team. Well I am happy to report the weather was kinder to them on this challenge. It was a very exhausting experience for them, but they triumphantly completed the challenge with 7 minutes to spare! Well done guys, what an achievement, I am very proud of you all. Thank you.
Bridgnorth Lions. With great joy I have just received a cheque for £1,000 from the Bridgnorth Lions. What an amazing donation to the appeal, your help and support is most truly appreciated, thank you.
Name the toy. Ellie Harrington of Smartkids based in Wombourne raised £70 naming the toy. Ellie, what a great idea - every penny raised goes towards reaching our 21K target, thank you.
Party in Manchester. On 4th July a party hosted by Sara and Emmett raised £292 from donations in lieu of birthday gifts - thanks guys! We had a lovely evening dancing the night away and celebrating their milestone birthdays. Thank you for all the help and support you have given to me.
The tandem Skydive Team boldly went where others fear to go on 20 June at Tilstock Airfield in Whitchurch, details at: www.theparachutecentre.com. The Parachute centre were fabulous, making us feel welcome and supported. At 10,000 feet we went skydiving through the air dropping back to earth at 120 miles per hour with the wind rushing around our heads. Once the parachute opened there was a whole different experience to be enjoyed. It was now quiet and tranquil gliding and floating back down to earth. We went into and around a cloud - it wasn't all 'wet' as you would imagine just calm and peaceful. Then came the most amazing views of the countryside and in the distance were our spectators who from this height looked like ants! I was absolutely amazed that I didn't feel scared at all, given my intense fear of heights, that was quite remarkable, it was just an absolutely fabulous experience. We dangled over our spectators with the exchange of a bit of banter and ever so gently landed back on to the ground on our feet as if we had just got up off the sofa. It was an amazing and awe-inspiring experience. All 10 of the team completed their jumps. We had done it. Mission complete. We all had one thing in common - a huge cheek aching grin! the skydive team have collectively raised just over £7,200. Well done team, there was some fantastic sponsorship gathering done, thank you.
The Tandem Skydive Team in alphabetical order: Wil Foord, Charlotte Gillam, Ness Hicken, Debra Jarvis, Gemma Langley, Teri Lycett, Karen Matthews, Clare Mitchell, Vince Neads, Kay Shinton.
The Sponsored 7-mile Solstice walk over the Malvern Hills took place on 21 June 2009 at 4 am. On a dry morning just before the dawn broke the 21 members of the Solstice team set out on their trek across the Malvern Hills. Meeting up at the British Camp car park in the dark the team set out to see in the dawn up on the hills. Everyone on the team enjoyed their early morning walk, the peacefulness of the hills and watching the sun come up. There were some serious hills to be walked up and down! We celebrated the completion of the walk and toasted the new day with champagne and strawberries. The Malvern team raised over their team target of £2,100 and achieved a collective total of just over £2,600. Well done to all the team, thank you for all your efforts and cheerfulness at that time in the morning!
The Solstice Walk team, in alphabetical order: from Bridgnorth: Vicky Clarke, Sarah Bright, Sharon Evans, Ali Pipe, Pete Pipe, Louise Berry, Heidi Kempner, Keith Rogers, Jan Daly, Alex Daly, and Catherine Connery. From the Malverns: Amelia Davies, Heather Fryer, Katie Fryer, Ali Harris, Fleur Hewitt, Clare Johnson, Mike Leach and children Helena and Cameron, Vicky Whitehouse, Gary Whitehouse, and Clare
Promises Auction organised and run by the Bridgnorth Lions on the 18th June 09 at the HQ Bar in Listley Street, Bridgnorth. Details at: www.bridgnorthlions.org.uk. There was a fabulous range of promises on offer: from a luxury hot air ballon ride with signed certificate from Richard Branson to a Greg Norman t-shirt and from afternoon tea in the Houses of Parliment to 4 bags of charcoal for the b-b-q. Tempting tasty snacks were on offer provided by the Lions to everyone for free. The auctioneer had both style and charm and kept us all entertained whilst not forgetting that all important sale to be clinched. Thank you to the Bridgnorth Lions for all your hard work and efforts in bringing together a fabulous array of promises which were all snapped up at the very well organised auction.
A Coffee Morning held at Innage Lane Resource Centre on 3 June 09 raised a fabulous £118. Thank you to everyone for their wonderful support and help.
Congratulations to the Bridgnorth Walk Team! All 23 members completed the walk raising a collective total of £3,500. The Bridgnorth Walk is not for the feint hearted, it does require training and preparation before hand, not only is it just short of a marathon it has many inclines to negotiate. The team had a great day, the weather was dry and a reasonable temperature. Just watching over 1,000 people set off on the walk from Bridgnorth High Street on 25 May was quite a moving experience, the atmosphere is electric with anticipation of everyone stepping out to raise money for their cause, and in amongst them all was our 21K Appeal team. They all returned home safe, tired with some sore feet and aching limbs, it was fantastic to welcome them back on the finishing line. Well done everyone!
The Bridgnorth Walk team was in alphabetical order: Sandy Anderson, Jan Arthur, Jim Bell, Theresa Cole, Tanya Draper, Lauren Draper, Oliver Hawkins, Jenny Huxley, Jess Matthews, Kayle Partridge, Anna Pierce, Alison Pipe, Keith Rogers, Maggs Ross, Andy Seymour, Justin Shinton, Karen Thomas, Vicki Thomas, Roz Wallington, Sara Winstanley, Neil Winstanley, Richard Wood. Thank you to you all.
Shropshire and District IA kindly donated £210 to the appeal. Thank you for your support, it is much appreciated.
The lovely team t-shirt worn by all the main sponsored event team members produced by Corporate Togs in Bridgnorth raised funds for the appeal. The t-shirts are sponsored by Coloplast, Salts Healthcare, ConvaTec, SecuriCare and Seal Fuels - thank you for your support, it is most gratefully received. Wearing the team t-shirts raised a most welcome £873
A very successful raffle was held at Schnieder Electric in Telford during April 2009
raising £350 for appeal funds. Thank you for your help, it is wonderful.
A coffee morning held in Manchester raised a warming £50. Thanks mum for all your hard work and baking.
The Fancy Dress 70's 80's 90's Disco took place on Saturday 7th March 09 at the Irish Club in Chorlton, Manchester, raising a fantastic £872. All tickets were sold and a few extras paid on the door to join in with the fun. We were very fortunate for DJ Andy Prince gave his time freely, the spectacular Ozzie on the Karaoke also gave his time freely and the venue was very kindly provided without charge. Fantastic raffle prizes were donated and a cash prize for the best fancy dress was also donated. It was lovely to see so many wonderful fancy dress outfits. The dance floor was very busy all night with lots of people enjoying great music and a great night out was enjoyed by everyone. Thank you to the organisers of this event, Sara and Neil for all their efforts and hard work to ensure such a successful evening.
Donations in lieu of Christmas cards in December 08 raised a sparkling £211. Thank you to Bridgnorth Libarary, Shreswbury Library, Innage Lane Resource Centre and Jim.
A 21-mile sponsored bike ride nick-named 'around the world in Wickwar' raised £153. Daniel Swaine and Mark Green both 14 yrs old heard about the appeal and wanted to help. They independently organised the bike ride in Gloucestershire and raised funds for the appeal. Thank you you two, you did brilliantly and I am very proud of you.
Debbie stepped out on the Norton walk during wet and windy November raising £40 for the appeal. Thank you for your help, it is very kind of you.
Phil and Karen Matthews kindly raised £140 with raffles held at car rally events in October and November 08. Thank you for your support and encouragement, it is much appreciated.
Fleur Hewitt decided to go for the cash and forgo hostess gifts and raised £50 for the appeal at a jewellery party held in Reading during October 08. Thank you for your help and support.
Coffee break time became eagerly anticipated when cake and chelsea bun treats became a regular weekly event. Paula Swaine raised an amazing £100 by producing the most mouthwatering looking cakes - I know they often sent me the photographic evidence by email to prove it. I would open up my emails and what should be there - a very clear close up of the most wonderful looking chelsea buns I ever saw - I am ever hopeful that I may one day sample these delights! Thank you Paula for your sterling efforts with your fundraising.
Jon Chedgzoy kindly donated £15 raised from lapel pin badge donations. Thank you for your help and support Jon.
The first fundraising event took place in August 08. Neil, Jim, Pete and Lee set out on an impressive 280-mile bike ride along the Cheshire Way. Some of you may remember (or may prefer to forget) last August was extremely wet and soggy. Neil, Jim, Pete and Lee cycled in torrential driving rain with high winds thrown in aswell. They determinedly completed what they set out to do - plus a few extra miles because they got a bit lost in Chester (oops wasn't I supposed to mention that!!!) raising £430 for the appeal. A great achievement guys, well done. Thank you for all you hard work and extreme efforts.