Please would you sponsor us to raise funds for patient care at the Hospice.
Will Thurbin, a Prison Governor and member of the Grand Priory of Knights Templar in England & Wales, will attempt to climb Africa’s tallest mountain Kilimanjaro at the end of August, to raise over £5k for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.“It will be a real challenge”, said Will, 43, “the oxygen levels at the summit are only half as much as sea level and no amount of training can prepare you for that, not even climbing St Boniface Down in Ventnor! Kilimanjaro is the world’s tallest free standing mountain boasting some of the most varied terrain that you could find on just one mountain – I’m really looking forward to it” On fundraising Will said, “I have been so encouraged by people’s generosity towards supporting our Island’s hospice. It needs to raise £3.5m a year to support over 700 Island residents with life limiting illnesses. The money raised through the climb will be used to buy some specialised medical equipment that the hospice needs. Businesses such as The Jolly Friar, Newport Football Club & The Heights Leisure Centre and their customers have been very supportive. The Prison Service Charity Fund and the staff at HMP Parkhurst have been very generous towards achieving the 5k+ target. Of special note must be Penny Carter’s excellent fundraising Pop Quiz nights at Newport Football Club and Helen Babington’s incredible feat of swimming the equivalent height of Kilimanjaro in just over 2 hours! I have been so fortunate and thankful in having such a great support network of family, friends and colleagues around me. Along with the Fundraising Team at the Hospice and the staff team at Millets, they have all been truly amazing.” There is still time to sponsor Will at:www.justgiving.com/willthurbinkilimanjaro08
The Trans-Siberian Writing Challenge - September 21 to October 10, 2008.
In simple terms, my trip was amazing! Everything I planned turned out absolutely perfectly.
Better still, I exceeded the target of writing 100 A5 pages during the 18-day trip and actually finished on 120 pages because there was simply so much to write about!
Although I had researched the whole route thoroughly, it was hard to imagine what travelling by rail some 5,000 miles through northern China, Mongolia, Siberia and Russia would be like.
My travelling companion, Bath-based poet Nikki Bennett-Willetts, and I set off from Heathrow on a marathon flight to Beijing via Hong Kong, which meant at least 16 hours in the air!
Our arrival in Beijing was only a few days after the end of the Paralympic Games, so the city was still filled with colourful Olympic flags and displays, all proclaiming the message: 'One World - One Dream'.
Once in Beijing, we were able to visit all the classic sights - the Great Wall Of China (Badaling section); the Ming Tombs; the Forbidden City; the Summer Palace; the Temple Of Heaven; the Confucius Temple; the Lama Temple; Beihai Park; the hutongs; Tiananmen Square; the Peking Opera at Liyuan Theatre and Jingshan Park.
On leaving Beijing, we caught the Beijing-Ulaanbaatar train and rode on that through northern China, into Mongolia, through the Gobi Desert (sadly much of it we passed in the night), through the Mongolian steppes to the highly colourful mish-mash of a city that is Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital.
There we were met by Tseegii, our enthusiastic Mongolian guide, who took us out into the steppes for a few days at Elstei Ger Camp, where I rode a Mongolian horse up to the rather imposing new memorial to Genghis Khan, who made Mongolia so famous. We also shared our ger (tent) with some rather cute Mongolian hamsters, who scuttled in at night when it dropped to minus 10 deg C outside!
We also had a free day to explore Ulaanbaatar, where we saw the Gandan Monastery; another temple (which we never discovered the name of); the Museum of National History and the Museum of Natural History, which was filled with dinosaur remains dug up from the Gobi Desert.
We rejoined the train for another day and a bit to go from Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsk, which is nicknamed 'the gateway to Eastern Siberia'. Here we were met by Sergei, who took us about 120km out of town to the edges of Lake Baikal, which is the deepest lake in the world and holds one fifth of the world's fresh water.
We stayed in an izba, or traditional Siberian wooden hut, which is a lot warmer than it sounds.
Legend has it that those who swim in the crystal clear waters of Lake Baikal will gain an extra 25 years of life, so guess who swam each of the three days she was there, although the water was on average only nine degrees C! Even Nikki, who is in her fifties, plunged in without a second thought!
After our relaxing stay in Siberia - which really is stunning and must be seen to be believed - we caught the train for a three-day journey from Irkutsk to Moscow.
During the train journey, Nikki and I shared our compartment with two Siberian chaps who didn't speak a word of English, but insisted we should join them and their friends for meals and share all their food and vodka. Even my writing was a bit funny after I had eight vodkas during the course of breakfast - not normally what I do at 10am!
Moscow was every bit as colourful and interesting as the guidebooks make it look - even on a dull day St Basil's Cathedral is breath-taking and it is just as lovely inside, while the cathedrals inside the Kremlin must be seen to be believed and the Moscow Metro looks a little confusing at first, but really is the cheapest, fastest way to get about town.
The Trans-Siberian Writing Challenge has been two years in the planning, but it's not over yet!
I currently have around £3,200 pledged and will continue to collect donations throughout 2009 and into the spring of 2010. I hope to get the book published, so I can sell it with a percentage of sales to the hospice. I am also available to give talks to interested groups, so I will be busy, busy, busy.
For further information, watch this space or look online at http://transsibwriter.wordpress.com which also has a sponsorship link.
This run I have planned will be something similar, as in I am running. But it will be 5 times longer, in the desert, there will be far less smiles and the only time I will see that much water is when my blisters burst.
The Marathon Des Sables is an epic 6 day foot race, 243km / 151 miles through the Moroccan Sahara Desert with one day of 82km. It is the equivalent of 5 1/2 standard marathons over stony ground and soft sinking sand dunes in temperatures of over 120 degrees. Although water is handed out and my tent will be there waiting for me at the end of each day, to make things a little worse, I will need to carry all my own equipment on my back, This obviously is a stupid thing to do, but something to look back on fondly, one day when I am very very old.
Something this careless requires a massive incentive
I have chosen to raise money for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice on the Isle of Wight. They provide an invaluable and frankly amazing service, helping terminally ill patients to live their last months and days in comfort and with dignity. I have seen firsthand how the Earl Mountbatten Hospice can help those going through the terrible experience of losing someone they love, when 20 years ago my Mum died there at the age of forty. I cannot begin to explain what a worthwhile cause this really is.
This is where you come in to the plan. I need your donations to keep me running knowing on completion of the race your cash will be going to helping so many other families. When my feet have turned to blisters legs to soggy sand bags and skin to crackling, I will have that in what is left of my mind to keep me running, plodding, waddling or perhaps even crawling over the finish line
Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: The Earl Mountbatten Hospice will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you. Bargain
So please sponsor me now! You will be making such a difference to many other families and to me on more of a personal level. Many thanks for your support... Dave
Hi all .....
Having 'conquered' (yeah right) the Bristol half marathon back in September I'm now attempting to do the Bath half in March - the fundraising is for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice on the Isle of Wight, my Grandad set it up 30 odd years ago and is now looked after by them one day a week
The goal is to beat the time I did the Bristol half in 1hr 50 -
Thanks for all donations - your kindness is very much appreciated
Matt
Hi again!
After my last exploits at the Bristol half Marathon I never thought I would be creating this page for another, this time Bath!
The training has now started in earnest after Christmas and boy does it hurt, I really regret now all that turkey and drinking that took place.
The cause I'm running for this time with my brother-in-law Matt is close to our hearts.
Matts Grandad and mine in-law started to set up the Hospice on the Isle of Wight in the early seventies, as nothing existed on the Island at the time and It now remains the only Hospice on the island. What Bruce Charman didn't realise would be that 30 years later he would be using the hospice as a patient. They provided him with amazing care and also the additional support and filip to fight the cancer that he needed. He still visits them now on a weekly basis and has been turned into a budding artist a talent found late in life!
The running of such a valuable service does not come cheap, around 2 million a year and whatever you can give will go forward to making sure that the Earl Mountbatten Hospice continues in the excellent work it carries out for the people of the Isle of Wight.
Many thanks and hope to see some of you down there either running or supporting.
David
Phil and Steve Mountbatten Miles
In May 2009 to coincide with Walk the Wight, Phil Smith and Steve Olding will be riding their motorbikes around Britain raising money for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice & the IoW Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Phil, a Police Sergeant based at Newport, has been riding motorbikes since 1971. In May 2008 Phil’s wife Bessie was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. Wishing to give something back in return to the support & treatment provided for Bessie by both the Hospice and the IoW MND Association, Phil decided to ride his bike around Britain in raise money for the two charities.
Steve, a Commercial Manager for BAE Systems at Waterlooville, has been friends with Phil since school & has been riding bikes even longer. Steve immediately accepted the challenge when Phil invited him to accompany him on the ride.
It costs the Hospice £3.5m to provide its current level of care. About a third comes from an NHS grant but £2m has to be found from public generosity. £5 pays for an in-patient’s drugs for 3 days £120 provides a Day Care place for 1 day £500 feeds an in-patient for 1 week £1500 funds the Home Care Team for 1week
Please help us to help the Hospice & IoW MND by giving online at http://www.justgiving.com/mountbattenmnd Or contact Phil on 07812 395170 or Steve on 07858783716 or see our website http://www.philandstevedobritain.org.uk/
Martin Godden is Weightlifting
Martin is Entering a Weightlifting Championship, sponsor him online at www.justgiving.com/martingodden