Sponsored by Sixt

£6000!

This morning we reached £6,000! 

This will provide 300 hours of home care to terminally ill cancer patients.  

Thanks so much everyone for your support and genorosity.

Aidy Boothroyd reaches summit of Mount Kilimanjaro - interview

Early this morning a 29 strong party from the Football League, climbing on behalf of Marie Curie Cancer Care, reached this summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. 

Speaking on talkSPORT, Aidy Boothroyd said "Climbing Kilimanjaro is the hardest thing I've ever done". Follow the link to listen to the full interview live from the mountain.

http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/saggers-and-quinny/blog/2011-06-15/boothroyd-climbing-kilimanjaro-hardest-thing-ive-ever-done

Northern Expedition

Our expedition began leaving down South with a very a full car thanks to, Lisa's luggage (we think she was rehearsing her Kilimanjaro packing), Mel's long legs and unexpected hitch hiker Ant (who for some reason thought it would be quicker than the train).

After an hour or so of Ant wondering what he'd got himself into, and the packed lunch of Wine Gums melting in the heat our road trip took an unexpected twist when Mel glanced out the window only to be greeted by the worlds hairest bottom smiling at her from the van next door.

After 4 and a half hours (an hour and a half longer than it should take) we arrived in Wigan to attend a fundraiser kindly organised by Lisa's brother, Keiron (now known as KeironEvents.)

Unfortunatley due to unforeseen traffic circumstances (and the need to look more human and have some of Rose's famous hot pot) we arrived half an hour late for our own event.  After convincing Lisa's dad to drive illegally down a bus lane and "do a u-ey", we snuk very unstealth like to our reserved front row seats.

During the interval KeironEvents presented Mel and Lyndsey with a gift to help get them through the weekend - "Lyndsey and Mel's Dictionary to understand Lisa's Dad" - a wonderful guide to understanding "northern speak"!

The evening was a great success raising £703.00 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.  KeironEvents did us proud.

Post Fundraiser Celebration

After such a successful event it was only right we went out on the town to celebrate.  A good night was had by all.  Thanks again to KeironEvents for providing the "carriage" home for all five of us......"It's ok I've got a Megane".... thank heavens Mel is bendy!

Wigan Street Collection

The following morning, after Eric's Bacon on Toast and with slightly sore heads we graced the streets of Wigan with our tins.  We had a successful morning fundraising and after Lisa treating Lyndsey and Mel to a northern lunch of pies and pasties we left for home.  After collecting our luggage, we were waved off by the entire Smith extended family who had all come round to "have a look".

Thank you to everyone who helped make our Northern Expedition a fundraising success and a lot of fun.

Mount Kilimanjaro - Facts

Rising 19,340 feet above sea level, Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa and the world’s highest free-standing mountain.

Kilimanjaro - the word means "shining mountain" in Swahili

The structure is composed of 3 volcanoes: Kibo (19,340 feet), Mawenzi (16,896 feet), and Shira (13,000 feet).

Kilimanjaro supports 5 major eco-zones: rainforest, heath, moorland, alpine desert and glaciers.

Kilimanjaro has 2.2 square kilometers of glacial ice and is losing it quickly due to global warming. The glaciers have shrunk 82% since 1912 and declined 33% since 1989. It may be ice free within 20 years, dramatically affecting local drinking water, crop irrigation, and hydroelectric power.

Uhuru Peak on the southern rim of the outer crater is the highest point on the mountain. (This is as far as we can hope to get to!)

Hayes Cricket Club Fun Day in assocation with Hayes FM

On 29th May Lisa attended Hayes Cricket Club Fun Day to carry out some fundraising in association with Hayes FM.

Quiz Night at The Dolphin

Following the frequency of visits by the members of our office to the pub next door landlord Noel kindly agreed to organise a Quiz Night and Raffle in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

With team names such as “We didn’t sleep with Ryan Giggs”, “The Baywatch Babes” (for reasons only known to themselves), “Jis” and “Peaked too soon” it was sure to be a good night.

Selling raffle tickets was an eventful process – the selling pitch of “only £5 a strip” was very quickly stopped by Lisa and Lyndsey for obvious reasons – but the tickets for Peter Kay sold well and was eventually won by the locals bookie …. “bookies always win” said Noel.

With Noel as Quiz Master the questions soon got underway with rounds including “Odd One Out” (there was plenty of Odd Ones Out that night) and “Food and Drink” (the latter half of the title being Mel’s specialist subject).  

Things got slightly competitive when Adrian, Chief Financial Officer, told Jim, Management Accountant, that if Jim’s team (Dongles United) beat Adrian team (AJ United) they could swap jobs for the day.  Everyone was subsequently rooting for Dongles United when Jim promised the whole office pay rises.

With “Jis” deciding that it wasn’t worth finishing the last round, AJ accused of cheating on his i-phone but then announcing that he couldn’t be cheating because he didn’t know how to use it, Jim answering every question with “Bob” and several bottles of wine consumed between “Baywatch Babes” and “Peaked too soon” the quiz was eventually won by “the drunk blokes at the bar”  with “we didn’t sleep with Ryan Giggs” coming in second.

A good night was had by all which continued well into the early hours with a certain member of Dongles United not leaving the pub until 4am.

A massive thank you to Noel for organising a great event.  The Quiz and Raffle raised £305.90 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.