MAG get-together

Grezza and I went over to Manchester on Saturday to meet up with some of the other folk who'll be coming along on the Vietnam-Cambodia bike ride. I wasn't sure what to expect - Grezz was amused to hear that I hoped there wouldn't be too many people like he and I on the ride! I don't think I could deal with a week of 30 overpowering idiots!

Anyway, seems like a good mix, all ages and abilities. The people from MAG and Action Challenge (who do the logistics on MAG's behalf) seem great too.

I'm going to have to reign in the competitiveness though. If I want to nail down every rider that overtakes me I'm in for a painful week....

...but then again...

Auction!

Looking back at the auction is great. At the time, it was a nightmare! I think if someone had given me £500 and promised to magic it away I'd have taken it! Infact - I'd have probably done a deal at £20 when, at 8pm, there was only 12 people in the room!!!

Anyway, all's well that ends well - and it ended amazingly. We had a room full of great people, some really competitive bidding, some great laughs and all in all raised £2238!! Which is a massive boost toward our total.

Massive thanks to everyone who came. A big shout from the two cycling idiots to Cordelia, Anaabel, Phoenix, My Dad and anyone who helped out! The Alea Casino were excellent and ensured everything went smoothly!

Mail drop!

500 fliers posted, 2 dog attacks and 1 upset man moaning about me posting something through his letter box! No a bad day - and it's still only 2.30! It occured to me that I've not talked too much about what we're doing to get our legs ready for this upcoming challenge - I'll be sure to work on that soon!

Thank you again to all that are contributing, some in time and skills, some with money and some with products for the auction. It's all awesome.

ASDA & Nuffield Health Bike Ride!

Our good friend Annabel arranged a stationary cycle in the front of the Monks Cross ASDA store last Saturday. It went brilliantly. Graham and I sat on the exercise bikes for a couple of hours each before we we shoved off by the cold support team in an attempt to warm themselves up.

The public support was great, loads of people stopping and chatting, curious to know what MAG was about and what we were doing to raise money. I spoke at length to a lady whose son had been badly injured by a landmine in Afghanistan.

She told me, with tears in her eyes, that the anti-tank mine had ripped through the cab of the truck he was driving and virtually killed him. Leaving him with severe internal injuries. It was the courageous efforts of the Chinook pilot and it's escort of Apache Gunships lifting him out of the conflict zone under heavy fire that saved his life.

Chatting with the lady made what we are doing very real. This isn't something that helps out a faceless bunch of people on the otherside of the world, Landmines affect our peers, our friends and our families working in conflict zones. In that instance it was an active soldier - for every mine that doesn't go off during this conflict, another 5 will when a peacekeeping organisation drive over it, or a local family after the conflict.

So, to the lady who turned her nose up and said "I'm not putting any money in, charity starts at home" - have a chat with Sharon and her son - see if landmines are something that York family think is 'close to home'....

The Auction is Gathering Speed!

Wow, I'm knocked out by the results we're getting for the Charity Auction we have planned for the 4th November.

Here's a little run down of some of the stuff donated to the cause so far -

- 5 UK Holidays
- A variety of meals in top Leeds restaurants
- Private Cinema Hire
- Original art work and photography
- A multitude of hair and beauty treatments
- Autographed sports memorabilia
- Bespoke web design packages
- Exclusive male/female orientated pamper days

The stuff is great - although aside from the stuff, the response we're getting from people, our friends and friends of friends, is really unbelievable. I've never questioned the fact that my friends are a great bunch, but seeing how much they rally around when they can help - it's awesome. Without wanting to sound overly sentimental, really makes us realise what great company we keep.

Sorry this blog isn't receiving the attention it deserves, I'll be more regular with my posting from this point onward!

Uncle Jason!

As we wandered our weary legs along our sponsored walk route this weekend, co-walker and great friend Jason Goodwin, offered his services as designer and donor to our cause.

Awesome design. We're getting 2500! I'm going to distribute them around Leeds by cycling really fast throwing them like confetti....

The Trader!

The Scarborough press isn't too concerned with unfaithful footballers - they'd rather concentrate on a couple of lads with funny haircuts riding their bikes! Good on 'em I say!

A proper update

My back really hurts.

Although you'll be thrilled to hear that my poorly back means I'm not at work today, which in turn means I can bore you all with what we've been up to!

The charity auction is looking amazing. The casino it's being held in are being amazingly generous and have also chucked in a couple of prizes - a meal for two from their michelin starred chef and an evening hire of their private cinema. Awesome.

Through not a huge amount of effort we've managed to bag some great auction lots. We've got meals, hair and beauty treatments, a glamour make-over with photoshoot and print, a family Venture photoshoot and print, clothing, limited edition art work and bundles more. I've also sent off a load of letters to large company store managers asking them for stuff too. Fingers crossed.

On a different note, I've spoken to The Scarborough Evening News today and they're covering everything that we're doing - any fund-raising event plus they'd like to hear from us when we're out on the ride too. Should hopefully mean exposure to a few more people and keep the sponsorship money coming in.

Our team 'project manager' Annabel is working on us doing a 12 hour sponsored ride on stationary bikes in the foyer of a supermarket in York sometime soon too - would be great if it comes off, we'll be able to shake the buckets and get some loose change bundled in...

Scarborough and Leeds sponsored walks are looking good. I don't hold out much hope for the weather though, so I think waterproofs and wellies will be the name of the game!

That's it for now. We'll keep you posted....

Quick one!

Today is a quick post as I've got loads to do...

I've put together an event on facebook - a sponsored walk in Leeds. Check it out here

Should be a good one, nice slow pace and great scenery - plus a cracking pub half way!!

So, the rest of my day involves getting to the library to print out a bundle of letters, then going into Leeds and handing those letters to any store manager that might want to give us something to auction!

Oh, and then I'm going to work!

No rest for the stupid....

Charity Auction!

Ok, here's the general idea...

We find a venue. We find a high(ish) profile host. We beg lots of local sports teams, hotels, holiday firms, event day companies, shops, etc to provide freebies that go on to be auction 'lots'. We invite a bundle of people to said venue where they will bid on said lots and be mildly entertained by said host.

Simple! In theory. Although I've never done this type of thing before, so who knows! It'll either be awesome, or it'll crash and burn! *fingers crossed*

Handlebar Moustache

I got a little paranoid about the amount of money we have to raise this evening. It's a lot of cash and there's really not that much time. So, with nothing but social media at my fingertips I decided to encourage some sponsorship.

So here it is. One Facebook status explaining the lengths I will go to for money. One £25 donation. One beard trimmer - and a month of being looked at funny.

Thank you Helen Jones. Also worth noting that I have two more offers of £25 to secure the 'tache for Oct and Nov.... watch this face ;o)

Some Gig Pics...

These are courtesy of Mike Distras! Many thanks for taking the snaps Mike...

Check out more of his work at Distras Designs

Louise Distras

Kate Hamilton-Farey

Jonathan Walker

Gig Fest

Well our 1st event went well and we managed to raise some funds to go in fund pot!!

Loads of events coming up guys so keep your eyes and ears peeled ( our presence on the internet is unavoidable I'm afraid!!!)

Thanks to everyone who came by last night and catch you soon!!

Next big event is sponsored walk in scarborough!! 2/10 get involved and fill them buckets!!

Grezza and Ste xxx

If you like what you see...

...then please follow our progress! You can follow in a variety of ways -

Follow us on TWITTER
Join our group on FACEBOOK

If you think our work is good, events worth attending and jokes worth laughing at - then you might want to sponsor us a pound or two. We're not greedy - anything you can comfortably spare!

Follow our fund-raising on JUSTGIVING

Photoshoot with Ben Nolan on Sunday. A photographer and image manipulator of good stature! Lets hope he makes us look good - the plan is to get some of the shots in the press *fingers crossed* - we'll keep you posted!

Leeds Finest - MAG Fundraising Gig

Ok, time for a break from the heavy stuff! Here are some of the performers for the gig on the 2nd Sept at Angels Share in Chapel Allerton, Leeds.

Jonny Walker - Hallelujah - Live in Liverpool

Louise Distras - Spiders - Live

Bring yourself along! £4!

The World Is a Small Place

It's reassuring to hear that the UK is leading the way with donations to Pakistan in this time of incredible need. Reading that news in the Metro was well timed for me yesterday, it offered reassurance - perhaps those traditional Western feelings of 'we've got our own problems to think about' are beginning to subside. Three days before I was having to bite my tongue so hard I could virtually taste blood - I was providing half of a conversation with a small mind who discreetly objected to our charity ride. After explaining the merits of MAG the person in question commented about how the UK needs help more than anyone else in the world, about how our NHS is a sham and how "The UK is not a rich country, we should be asking for other people's help".

The irony of our situation was wasted on her. We were on a well serviced road, on a year old bus, on route taking us past one of the finest NHS hospitals in the country. The hospital my own Mother received exceptional and highly successful cancer treatment at just 6 months prior. My conversation partner continued about our lack of benefits, poor government and something else before her voice started to fade and the whole thing got filed into the 'disregard' folder in my brain.

Charities that work with people in the UK are vital and do tremendous work, of that there is no question. Consider this though - the world is unnaturally divided, divided by imaginary boarder lines or geographical features that are easily traversed. In the time it would take me to walk to my sister's house in Scarborough I could have flown around the world three or more times. The rest of the world is closer than it has ever been, yet these small minds still insist on relaying their well meaning solely on the top 1% of the worlds financial demographic.

There are terrible things happening in the world. I'm not for one second suggesting you dwell on them, I'm just suggesting you consider them now and again. They're not somewhere else, they're happening here, a matter of hours away from the where you sit reading this right now. I admire all charitable work but I certainly think charities that have to work to break down these imaginary dividing walls deserve a nod of appreciation.

Why ride for the Mines Advisory Group?

Let us not tell porky pies here - it was the appeal of Vietnam and Cambodia that drew us to this ride. Though, as the lust of the venue is overshadowed by the sheer hard work that's going to be needed - the love of the cause shines through. The more reading about MAG we do, the more passionate we become about the fundraising ahead.

MAG do unbelievable work in areas touched by the destruction of war. In many cases this work is in areas that were damaged decades ago but still carry the scars of the war today. Estimations suggest, during the conflicts in Vietnam and Cambodia, 10 million lands mines were planted. A lot of these claimed lives then, hundreds of thousands have claimed lives since, millions of them sit waiting to do the same.

Between the two regions MAG have over 750 team members. At the very sharp end of operations these include bomb disposal experts, mine detection teams and explosives dog handling teams. Following them and equally important, a huge team of liaison staff who conduct community meetings, intelligence surveys and much more. Teams in Vietnam alone have have cleared over 6 million square miles of land and have removed 25,000 mines and pieces of ordnance.

For us, it's the human element of what's happening out there that really makes this a cause worth riding for. It's easy to think that the Far East is a different world. We rarely hear about it on the news, we rarely think about it at all - but it's as real as the next city to you, the people are as real as your next door neighbours or your own family. When you honestly take time to consider that, you start to realise what a job MAG are doing - they're saving the lives of the of these real people - the farmers, the kids playing in the park, the women walking to the shops. They've already saved lives and the continual education they provide means that untold amounts children will grow up to enjoy something closer to the freedom we have.

So, we'll be bag packing, sponsored walking, running, cycling and generally breaking into a sweat to keep the funds heading to MAG who'll continue to work to keep people alive. I thought raising £6000 was a big challenge - the more I read the more it seems we've got the easiest piece of the jigsaw.

Test

I phone test hopefully this will work and means the laptop can stay at rods view when the idiots leave!!

Welcome

Really quick one to say hello and welcome to our blog, you all know what we are doing just thought this was a good way of posting on the road and processing our thoughts on the way!

More to follow
G&S