News

A few things I am doing/intend to do to raise money and prepare for the trek.

07 Mar '07
Trekking!

Well I made it! Currently at Santa Elena Field base for our trek - I'm doing La Ruta Maya which is an annual boat race here in Belize, and am staying at the field base for a bit of training, hence having internet access! Have completed my Jungle training and it was great fun - really hard at times but all worth it - stayed out at Gallon Jug, and did a week of first aid, survival, rescue scenarios, how to stay hygienic, building fires, shelter, water collection and lots more. After that we started our projects, I'm up at Rio Frio in Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. We are building facilities for eco tourists, researchers and ultimately the people of Belize - to allow them to visit the area and hopefully encourage the protection of the rainforest through education (without the facilities, the are would not be very useable as an area for educating people - especially not children, for example.). The work is going well- we had laid the foundations for two blocks and also rethathched a Palapa - an open wooden shelter, before I left for this trek. Will be back there in a week to finish the blocks and carry out some work on nature trails and various other jobs! Its been really great so far and I'm positive it will be even better as our work progresses!

11 Jan '07
Quiz night cancelled...

Unfortunately the Quiz night had to be cancelled as we couldnt cover the cost of hiring the venue. Ticket sales were no where near where expected. :'(
Shame, but nevermind.

10 Dec '06
Bag Pack Success!

Wow! The response for the bag-pack was unbelievable! People were genuinely interested when we told them why we were fund raising and the pounds poured in!
The final count was £651.07p! Amazing!
Thankyou to everyone who helped, particularly my happy bag packers (Mum, Dad, Debbie, Uncle Dave, Tim, Kerry) who furiously packed for hours! Also to Maggie and Granny for manning the guess-the-wieght-of-the-cake stand. Thanks to the check-out staff and management for allowing us to do the bag pack and for being so helpful!

01 Nov '06
Bag-Pack and Quiz Night

The Co-op at St. Peter have kindly agreed to allow me to hold a bag-packing event on the 9th December. I am incredibly grateful to them for this, and it should help a lot; not just with fund raising but awareness also.

I should also be holding a Quiz night at the Jersey Rugby Football Club on the 13th January '07, so keep that Saturday free -- it should be a great laugh, and the bar will be open, so no excuses :)

Sept 10 '06
CAR BOOT SALE - Result!

The car-boot sale went amazingly well!
I managed to raise just over £400 from selling pitches, and a further £260ish from the BBQ!
I could not have done this without all the help from many people -
Mum and Dad & Sara - For postering, organising, reminding, prompting, contacting, cooking, cleaning... and everything else!
Debbie, Anne, Granny - for helping out with traffic directing, tea/coffee/burger/hot-dog making/selling!
Marie at the CO-OP for the use of the car-park and generally being very well organised!
Margaret for the loan of float, food heater, serviettes, cups and many other essential catering bits and bobs and helpful tips!
The Battersby family for the loan of the Broil King BBQ
Pauline and the Battle of Flowers Committee for the loan of various postering/information/catering goods
And everyone else! Pitch buyers, handy hinters, customers, food buyers...
Anti-Thanks to the rude little oiks who stole/broke/dis-orientated the posters - go and get yourselves a hobby.


Thankyou again everyone!
:-D

Aug 19 '06
CAR BOOT SALE!

I will be holding a car boot sale on Sunday the 10th September, 2006 at St. Peter's CO-OP. Pitches will be £8 and there will also be a BBQ and Tea! If you would like a pitch, contact me on 07797 769012.

July 31 '06
Slight Change

My trip to Belize has changed a little. Trekforce Expeditions will cease to be as of December 2006 and as such, my trek is going with them. Trekforce Worldwide is taking the place of Trekforce Expeditions, and a trek will be going out a few days later than my planned trip (27th January). The only difference between the two trips is that Trekforce Worldwide are a limited company, whilst Trekforce Expeditions are a charity. Obviously this changes my fund raising standpoint somewhat, and while I am still 'authorised' to fund raise, it should be known that this is now for a company not a charity. I spoke to Rob Murray John (the MD of both entities) today and he assured me that the money raised will go to exactly the same place - that is funding the conservation trip, the money still goes where it is important. The reason why they have become a company seems to be purely for reasons of ease - it is easier for them to do what they do effectively as a company than a charity, and the focus has been taken off 'gap year' expeditions. So essentially, the money I raise won't go anywhere other than where it was going before. It sucks that they are a company from one point of view, but the way I see it, they are still carrying out key conservation activities, and while they are under a slightly different guise, the ethos remains the same.

July 29 '06
The gauntlet...

So, having emailed people, Tudor has replied saying he will sponsor me when i do something...

a) outside
b) which does not involve a keyboard
c) which will produce blood or sweat
d) have some photographic evidence to prove that the event has taken place
e) people laugh at or with you... i dont mind as long as people are laughing!

So I went for a run there and then. My first run in my new running shoes. Training officially begins here! Although it was a brief run because its dark and I almost got hit by a few bats. More tomorrow!

The Evidence.

July 26 '06
Return to Jersey

I am back in Jersey, and both training and fundraising will shortly be under way...
I hope to be running a few times a week as well as cycling, swimming and a few hikes over the sand-dunes in full trek gear in preparation for the trek!
I have a few plans for fundraising, including a car-boot sale, a night at the splash (?), some sort of pirate extravaganza and more to come... keep an eye on the news page!

January '06
Website up!

Website created and put online! I hope to use this site to thank the people who have helped me out both monetarily and with general support.