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Please here here for Ride For Life archived news before 18th June 2004. |
Dec 19th
There is £358 in the bank account now bringing the final (?) total to £24,488 plus about £2,600 in gift aid. Many thanks again to all who made this remarkable total possible.
I will send of £179 to both hospitals in the new year.
Matthew's final chemotherapy session is just after Christmas so he is almost at the end of his treatment and doing really well.
Below is another thank you letter for all Rideforlifers from the PB ward.
I hope you all have a great Christmas.
Nov 8th
Both hospitals have now had £12,065 given to them from the ride for life. We were up at Stanmore last week and it was great to see they have purchased the laptops/pc and the patients were using them!!
The bank balance now stands at £60 and Mike Walton's hair cut stunt has a bit more to add to the magnificent £1163.
I will update the site with any news so please keep looking.
Oct 19th
Total now stands at £22,815. This extra cash was raised in a raffle amongst the staff at Argos , Heywood, Lancs - tahnks a lot.As you can see the rideforlife website is back up and running, I will update as neccessary, although its difficult to get pics uploaded etc now I'm on the cheapskate version (free).
We are again in the paper tonight - the article in the Soton Echo details Mike's haircut stunt and also has a summary of where the fund stands, picture of Matt,Shaun and Clever Trevor (Sinclair).
Oct 10th
The total raised now stands at £22,705 and there is still approximately £1200 from Mike Walton's haircut to come. Additionally the total sponsorship has amassed a whopping £2600 in gift Aid. So all things equal the Ride For Life total should be in the region of £26,500
To date I have given Stanmore £9530 and Piam Brown £11,169 (plus £150 in cheques made payable direct). The rest will be given in the next couple of weeks.
Below is the thank you letter to all who took part in the Ride for life fundraising from Jane (Piam Brown ward).
Sept 22nd
The total now stands at £22,300.78 The Mike Walton haircut happened earlier today at Swanwick - full report and photos will be posted here soon.
Sept 19th
The total this morning stands at £21,792.78 Two cheques valued at £10,640 (that was the total then!) were presented to Jane Buchanan from the Piam Brown ward yesterday. She spoke on behalf of the Piam Brown ward and The RNOH children's ward and thanked ALL involved in the Ride For Life appeal. Thank you to all that attended the presentation. - Hope you enjoyed the DVD! Below is me and Matt presenting the cheques to Jane.
Sept 14th
The total this morning was £19,260.80 As we were at Stanmore today for outpatient appointment
we presented them with a cheque for half of the money collected so far (£9,630). Below is me and Matt
handed over the cheque to Julie who is the wards play nurse.
Sept 8th
I have wrote to the ward sister at Stanmore to ask her what she wants to spend the money on. Below is her reply.:
Sept 7th
Over £17.5 grand ....and still coming in....... Make a note in your diary of the next Ride For life spin off. Mike Walton who is an Air Traffic Watch supervisor at Swanwick (also an avid Man Utd fan) has agreed to have his hair cut (very very short) whilst wearing a Man City shirt. Colin Chisholm (NATS senior manager) has agreed to do the dirty deed. The event takes place in Swanwick's main reception at 3pm on 22nd September 2004. Please come along and support.
Sept 4th
Loads more money has come in over last few days. Total now stands at an incredible £15,904 plus we've got all the gift aid to add. If anyone pays direct into the account please let me know the exact amount by phone or email so I can keep track.
Don't forget the Hair day on 22nd September 04. This will take place at Swanwick main reception at 3pm. Please turn up to give your support to Mike Walton eho will be saying goodbye to his hair in a City shirt.
Aug 31st
We now have £11,690.50 in the bank and there is still more to come. This is in addition to the gift aid bonus that the charities will receive.
The DVD is now ready. It runs for 24 minutes and details The mini ride for life, yoga session, skydive as well as the main ride. It also features the local publicity that the ride has had. On sale from 18th Sept 04. We are asking for a voluntary donation of £3 to cover the production costs. Also for sale is a commemorative photograph of yourself on the ride - £2 each - again voluntary.
There will be food on the 18th - Julie has kindly offered to do a buffet.
Thanks to Natasha Crolla and Tracy Costigan who raised £187.50 for The Ride for Life. They walked 22 miles along The Rossendale Way.
Are we going to start the sunday runs again - send me an email if you are interested.
Aug 19th
NINE GRAND is the new total!!!!!!! Matthew's school St Jude's has been nominated as The best school in the WECANDOIT community awards run by the Portsmouth News. This was all due to the Mini Ride For Life which raised £2105 towards our total. If the school wins then there will be a big posh ceremony and it will really make Matt's day. Please please vote by emailing guy.walker@thenews.co.uk
Aug 18th
Sorry this page not been updated for a while.
Firstly thanks to all who have given me their sponsor money - we are well on the way to breaking the £10K mark which has exceeded all expectations (I honestly thought it would have been about £500 when we first thought up the idea).
Gareth managed to photograph all but two of the riders on the day so expect your framed memento either thru the post or on the 18th Sept at the do- of course a small voluntary donation to cover costs/boost the fund will be gratefully received.
I am currently working on a DVD of the day (again you'll be charged a small amount for copies!!). Watch this space.
Anyone interested in starting up the sunday rides again then give me an email g.donnelly1@ntlworld.com
Aug 10th
You should all receive an email / snail mail letter in the next couple of days. I have arranged a low key get together at Locks Heath Working Men's social club , Duncan Rd, Park Gate, Southampton on 18th September 04 between 1pm and 3pm. Here we can present the final cheques to the hospitals and sell you some photos!! Click here for map.
I have decided to stop updating the pledged sponsor form as the money has started to come in - it has therefore been removed from the home page - the main totaliser will be updated as regular as I can. Please remember to get your sponsors postal address if they are gift aiding , pub or work addresses don't work!
I will post a selection of pictures of the RFL on here when Gareth gets back off leave. I also have some pictures of the British Gas sky dive from last weekend.
Aug 6th
Sorry there's not been any updates for a bit - Matt's been on chemo this week. The £6K mark was reached today which is superb. Please keep posting me the cheques (and Sponsor forms). James's yoga class raised £287 in the end - thanks a lot mate. I am trying to organise a date for a post ride get together to present the cheques etc. It'll be nothing fancy one sat afternoon (in Sept)for a couple of ours for all ride for lifers, supporters and families. Please leave your bikes at home. The sponsored sky dive is happening in Oldham on Saturday and Shaun will be there to witness.Mars bars and Twix's for sale in System control!!
Aug 2nd
Well .......where do I start ....not got time to write much but here it is.
It was a great privilege to get so many kind, generous people in the same place at the same time to support these two very worthy causes. Hope you enjoyed the day , thanks to everyone involved from the corporate sponsors, riders, suppporters , support crew. Special thanks to Dave Evans and Phil Burton for making it all possible. Hope you all had a chance to meet up with Matt. That horn was heard at 4am on Sunday in our house!! Buy Fareham and Gosport edition of The News this tuesday as we're in it.
Watch this space for details of a post ride get together (cheque presentation etc) beginning to mid sept - Swanwick area.
When collecting sponsor money please get any cheques payable to RIDE FOR LIFE. Don't forget to get donations gift aided. If you want to pay money in to the Ride's account email me for the number.
I will post a new page here soon detailing who completed the ride for proof of achievement etc but am happy to provide a letter if you prefer.
Ged
July 29th
The money collected so far went thru the 5 grand barrier tonight with thanks to a generous donation from a reader of the Harrow Times.
Don't forget the yoga class tomorrow - there's at least 4 of us attending. Matthew has been discharged from Stanmore early as his physio went so well so will be there on Sunday.
DON'T FORGET YOUR SUNBLOCK - IT'S FORECAST TO BE 28 o C.
July 24th
Some great news to report today.
The mini ride for life organised by Sheelagh Pickard (Matt's teacher) made an incredible £2105 !!This has almost doubled the total to about £4600. Matthew had the operation last monday on his femur. The surgeons were very happy with him, he is ingood spirits and will hopefully be discharged next Friday.
The Ride for life fundraising has been put into full swing up at the Stanmore end. All the RNOH staff have been emailed, details have been in the Harrow Times/Harrow observer, there are sponsor forms all over the hospital. I picked up 384 Mars bars and 384 twix bars from Mars in Slough this week. A box of ech (96) were given to both children's wards at Stanmore. I will save some back for the kids in Piam Brown as we have so many.
We got some brilliant coverage in the Southampton Echo this week. I will try to remember to bring it along next week.
Finally, I rode the first leg this week from Stanmore to Windsor. I can only remember 2 hills (the upward variety) and it took me about 1 hour 50 minutes. Coming back was 2 hours 15 mins!! See you all next sunday - eat plenty of pasta!!
July 17th
THIS WILL PROBABLY BE THE LAST UPDATE BEFORE THE RIDE AS WE ARE GOING INTO STANMORE RNOH FOR 2 WEEKS
Anyone for Yoga - James Robbins has very kindly offered to donate his yoga class subs from his 30th July session to the Ride For Life.
His classes are held in Southampton 6:30 - 8pm cost is £5 - all welcome. Please click here for further details.
July 15th
The News (Portsmouth and Fareham daily evening paper) and The Southampton Echo have agreed to cover the Ride For Life. A faeture will hopefully be in both epers shortly - so buy them .
July 14th
Great news tonight.
1st : Masterfoods (Mars) have given us £200 towards the fund and 750 mars bars (I've worked that out at 8.6 each!!)
2nd: Danone (Evian Water) have donated 240 bottles of water!!
3rd: The dispalys from the CTC (Lockheed) have raised £840 !!
4th :The giant posters/sponsor forms are going up outside restaurants tomorrow.
It's all happening now..............
July 12th
We are very grateful for the donation received today from a small engineering firm from Dorset. Asbury (Electrical & Mechanical Services) Ltd from Parkstone have donated £25 towards our fundraising effort. Thanks go to Pete Merrick for organising this.
The 100 mile mark has been broken in training . Phil Burton did it closely followed by Pete Merrick who completed 70 miles - nice one lads.
Tomorrow is the 'mini ride for life' at Matthew's school. We are expecting about 100 mini riders and myself , Phil Burton, Paul Roberts and Maria Lee will be representing the main ride for life (and trying for more sponsorship).
July 6th
First, I will NOT be out this Sunday as I'm working Sat night. There is a 50 mile ride
from near Cheriton (Mulberry's pub) to Rotherwick and back - start time tba.
**BREAKING NEWS**** Pete Merrick has has his legs shaved for the ride!! Feel free to take the mickey on the day.
You will all be receiving a phone call/email with more details of the arrangements in the next week.
Below is a copy of the flyer circulating British Gas in Oldham in aid of the Ride.
July 2nd
Less than a month to go!! Myself and Phil Burton drove to Stanmore today to prove the route. All riders / teams will get copies of colour map and detailed instructions on the day. The route will also be marked with arrows etc. The 1st two legs Stanmore to Rotherwick) appeared is mostly all down hill (and flat) with just a few up hills. The 3rd is a bit undulating but nothing too bad and the 4th leg had a few biggish hill over the South downs (not on the Beacon Hill/Winchester hill scale)
This sunday (4th July). Both me and Phil are working . Moss is heading north towards Odiham ,returning on some of the Ride For Life route. If you want to join up with him, he will be passing Bastin's (Botley Rd, Park Gate) about 7:30am. I will be out next sunday and fancy a long ride (75 miles) as it will be be last til the Ride.
The mini Ride For Life at Matt's school has already attracted 54 mini riders!!!
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June 29th
Lots of good news to report today.
1. Mark Rigby has organised sales of PC monitors at the new Tech centre to staff and has so far collected £300 - and still coming.
2. Emcor have agreed to pay for all the fuel costs for transport on the day plus a substantial donation to the fund. Thanks go to Martin Everett for sorting this one out.
3. Another £75 has been received from ebayers for the donated costumes bringing the total to £150
4. Matthew's teachers has organised a sponsored cycle run open to all of Matt's school on July 13th. The PFA have also agreed to do a BBQ with all proceeds going to the Ride For Life.
5. The Winchester branch of The Manchester City Supporters Club has kindly pledged £100 to the Ride for life. This is instead of the usual 2 free pints for the members at Christmas. Many thanks to Andy Stevenson and the rest of the committee for this.
6. Mike Walton who is one of the Air Traffic Control Watch managers at Swanwick and a dedicated Man yoo fan has agreed to do a sponsored headshave whilst wearing a Man City shirt. Watch this space - will be towards the end of August. Get your money ready!!
Keep the good news coming in......
June 27th
Todays ride was attended by Ged and Paul Roberts (100 miler) who rides a (noisy) raleigh M-Trax. Shaun didn't get up (again). We did the route via Beacon Hill but added the Cheriton loop in bringing the total to 52.5 miles - 4 hrs 20mins. I can't make next sunday as I'm working but if I hear from anyone who is going I will place a note here.
June 26th
Arrangements for this sundays ride (tommorrow). Meadow Ave 0700, Primate rd roundabout 0710, Fareham Fire stn 0725. So far there is myself and Shaun!
June 24th
Many thanks to Hazel Bates a medical equipment rep who has donated 6 mini travel first Aid kits for the ride (via Julie and the surgery). See sponsors page.
June 23rd.
In addition to the macunian riders we now have a rider who is making the trip from North of the border. Mike Keenan, whom I joined NATS with back in 1984 as agreed to join in. Please see rider page for further details. The total number now stands at 32 one hundred milers, 24 relayers and approx 20 support staff.!! Thanks to all who have volunteered to help raise the funds for PB and RNOH. I will post out (email) details of the day nearer the time.
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