Under A Month To Go

So by now you must have heard about the Skydive I am organising this year down in Salisbury - well with about 12 people now signed up and on their way to their targets, I am really happy to say that in less than 1 month, we will have jumped out of a plane across the beautiful plains of Salisbury, freefallen for 40 seconds from 10,000ft and then glided back down to earth, in tandem, to the envious (or not so) families & friends below.

So far, lots of friends have signed up and have been running their own fundraising events to reach their £500 target including:

• Becky, a Bristol friend who has been running a brilliant bi-weekly pub quiz at the Old England Pub in Montpelier, Bristol, with a beautiful homemade cake as the prize, a great selection of rounds (get yourselves a team down next time, its a great laugh!)
  
• Liz, who's parents organised and ran a superb quiz at their local pub in Dorset on Bank Holiday weekend last week, raising over £400 with their quiz, donations and raffle!!!
  
• Jon, who is running a superb Bingo night on a Monday night at the Waggon and Horses, Pinkneys Green in Maidenhead, Berkshire where you can win cash prizes and drinks, along with pride from getting a full house!

It is brilliant to think that everyone is organising their own events for the charity, but also getting lots of family and friends involved in making donations to reach their target. And even better, it is getting the word out about CF to those who perhaps haven't heard much about the disease in the past and hopefully drumming up support for the charity across the country. 

Could always do with a few more divers though, so with a month to go, how about getting involved yourself!

What A Success!

So the Bank Holiday Treasure Hunt sold out to be a complete success, for the 3rd year running! With 15 teams getting involved, this year in Sonning, Berkshire, a total of £428 was raised on the day, between the treasure hunters donations and the raffle at the finishing post - a massive thanks to all of you who came along!

We had a wonderful day, put together by David & Vanessa (mum & dad) with Cryptic clues, treasure finding & picture hunting, riddles & local facts, a beautiful walk in the sunshine, through the picturesque village of Sonning, visiting the Bull Inn for a quick drink before heading through the Churchyard and onto the Thames Path. A quick pitstop at the cafe by the lock for an ice-cream, and off again on the hunt, finishing back at the Bull Inn for a raffle, announcement of the winning team and prizes!

The winning team, "The Six P***ed Dolls" did a brilliant job on all the rounds, with close second, "The Bristol Blasters" missing out by just a few points. The slides showing all the answers brought a grin to some faces and a look of distraught to others when realisation of either cleverness or stupidity set in!

With a few kind donations from the people of sonning during the day, and a sell out of raffle tickets, we raised a brilliant £428 to go to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust - the highest so far from one of the Treasure Hunts, and people enjoying it so much that some are already wondering how to sign up for next year, the Bank Holiday Treasure Hunt looks to be a great fundraiser for the charity for next year too! 

Thanks again for all those who attended, all the teams, raffle ticket buyers, donated prizes, donations on route, The Bull Inn & the people of Sonning for making it such a wonderful, memorable day and hope to see you again next year!

Please keep an eye on the Maidenhead/Twyford Advertiser who also featured a great article this week on the Hunt, with a picture of lots of the Treasure Hunters starting off at the Wooden Bus Stop!

The Berkshire Bank Holiday Treasure Hunt

What: Cryptic Treasure Hunt for the CF Trust
When: 5th May 2013
Where: Sonning, Berkshire
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As you may or may not know, "the Best Treasure Hunt in existence" (as told by past attendees) takes place each year in aid of the CF Trust in Berkshire, and this year will be held on the 5th May, in and around Sonning (near to Reading, Maidenhead, Henley)!

The Treasure Hunt is an interesting but very flat and simple walk, all on foot (and lasts between 2 - 4 hours) and involves lots of cryptic clues, items to find, pictures to spot, riddles and anagrams, whilst picking up a bit of local knowledge (and stopping a a few watering holes if you fancy!)

Get a Team Involved!

A team can consist of up to 6 people, and is suitable for all of the family and your friends (or if you fancy being competitive, you might want to hunt down those clever folk at work, perhaps a neighbour and your dad), and will finish at a lovely pub in Sonning with prizes for the winning team and a superb raffle, all in aid of the CF Trust.

Each year we accept up to 20 teams, and usually sell out of spaces so we would advise to get a team registered ASAP (don't worry - you can decide on your full team at a later date!) and a £20 donation for each team confirms your registration. You can register on the right of this page! ------------>

I can guarantee this Treasure Hunt will get your mind boggled, bring out the competition in a few of the quiet ones and be a superb Bank Holiday Sunday for you and all the family! Almost every team that has attended the hunt has come back again the next year, so get it down in your diary, register yourself a team and come along for a great day out whilst helping to raise vital funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/events/563996116953627/?fref=ts

Tips on how you can reach your fundraising target!

Number one - get started AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Whether you think its easy or hard to raise the £500 target, its much better to get started as soon as possible to give yourself time to plan and organise, and find new ways to raise the cash if you need to! 

Make sure you write a good fundraising page. Keep it updated, let people know who you are, what you are doing and why. Let them know what the charity is and add a bit of personality to your writing!

A great start for your fundraising is to speak to close family and good friends (who are the most likely to sponsor you a good amount!) and ask them to kickstart your donation page with a few good sponsorships (perhaps in the region of £10 - £20 if possible!). There is a good reason for this - People will generally look at past sponsors to get an idea of how much to donate. For example, if you go to a page and sponsorships are in the region of £2 - £5, you are likely to donate £2 - £10 (you don't want to look like the rich kid in town dishing out £20s!)... if you head to a page and the donations have been in the regions of £10 - £20, then you often wouldn't want to go less than a fiver - you might even get a few £25's thrown in! But do remember - every single penny counts and you should always been grateful for every donation made, however big or small.

Get your page out to all friends and family who you think maybe interested in what you are doing. Email, tweet, facebook, notes, newsletter? You may be surprised who decides to donate to the cause - as the most common hereditary life threatening disease in the UK, it is very likely you may know someone, or someone you know knows someone who is effect by CF. If you do, perhaps they might like to spread the news about your page and skydive too? Do you know anyone who blogs a lot? Or writes for the paper? Even if not, send a message to your local paper - they always love a good charity story and should be happy to include your fundraising page! 

Make sure you regularly (but not too regularly!) repost your page and information about what you are doing. You need to gently remind people so those people who think "oh I must get onto sponsoring them" or "I'll do that later" actually get round to doing it! 

Think of groups of people you are affiliated with. Are you part of any sports clubs? Do you go to the gym regularly? Are you part of a reading group or dance squad or play poker with a regular group of friends? Do you attend a church? Ask them to sponsor you, but also see if they have any ideas as to how you could fundraise! A group event? A press-up competition at the gym? A sponsored freeze with your breakdance crew? A collection box at church or on the bar at work? 

Also think of what you could do with your work. Is there anything you are willing to do that may earn your colleagues sponsorship? Could you offer to do the lunch run or coffee rounds for a week in return for sponsorships? Could you run a sweepstake for a sporting event or a lottery/bingo game during lunch? How about a quiz? Perhaps ask your boss if he/she has any ideas or to find out what you can/can't do! 

Finally, you can run an event. This could be a car wash or cake stall, a quiz night at the local pub, a posh dinner party (where everyone coming donates!), or even bigger events such as a music night or race night! 

Remember - there are probably a lot of friends and family who may be able to help out - not just with sponsorship but ideas, running/organising, contacts etc. For example, a friend who works in a bar might love to help out (charity box? Open mic night? Quiz?). Ask around, think of who you know, think out of the box!

If you have any ideas or need a hand thinking of how to get it off the ground, just ask - I can try and help where I can! Similarly, if you need any charity branded items, letters, sponsor forms etc. you can get this through me or directly from the CF Trust, and on the CF Trust website. There are lots more fundraising ideas on their website which you may find useful!

Please leave me a comment if you use this blog piece and what you think! Would be great to hear some feedback :)

Simple Steps to a Skydive...

Simply, follow the steps below to get involved in the CF Week Tandem Skydive 2013 on 29th June!

1. Set up your VirginMoneyGiving page:
a) You are part of an organised event
b) Search for "June 2013" and "Wiltshire"
c) The CF Week Tandem Skydive event should be top of list
d) You are fundraising "on your own"
e) Fill in your page and make yourself sound wonderful!

2. Register with GoSkydive
a) Call 01722568644
b) Speak to Holly or Becky if you can, but everyone should be able to help
c) Let them know you are booking on the CF Trust Skydive on June 29th
d) They will ask if you want to add on bits and pieces such as a higher jump, a video jumper (this is about an additional £160) – most people will say no to this, but if you would really like to do any of these things, feel free to do so (although you should really cough up the cash personally for any additionals)
e) Pay your £50 deposit via card over the phone

Great, you are set up! All you need to do now is start fundraising and get prepared for the jump of a lifetime!!!

Fundraising Page for my Skydive

So even though I am organising the Tandem Skydive and trying super hard to get people signed up to the event, I am also jumping out of the plane myself (now I am starting to wonder why!) and so have finally set up my fundraising page where I hope to raise £500 for the CF Trust.

If you have decided you don't really fancy jumping out of a plane, but would like to support the event anyway, please please dig deep and donate what you can to support me in my Skydive! 

My page is www.virginmoneygiving.com/EmilyShimellForCF so please give what you can, every penny counts, and help us raise vital funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

If you would like to get involved with the actual Skydive, see my previous posts which gives more information about how to sign up! 

#JumpForCF

Yes, i'm trying it out! #JumpForCF for all your chat about the Skydive, any questions, comments, sponsorships, fundraising events, words of support and anything else that will spur the team on!

Please get involved, spread the word and help make CF Week Tandem Skydive 2013 a massive success :)

You can also follow me on Twitter (@emshimell)!

CF Week 2013 Tandem SkyDive!

What: Tandem Skydive

When: CF Week 2013, June 29th

Where: Old Sarum Airfield, Salisbury, Wiltshire

Who: Anyone 18+ (some weight/health restrictions may apply)

How much: £500 (£50 deposit + £175 jump cost + £275 for charity)

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This year, I have decided to take on the massive challenge of jumping out of a plane (one of the things I said I would NEVER do!) for the CF Trust, and thought perhaps you would like to jump with me, so this year we will be organising the CF Week Tandem Skydive 2013 with the aim of getting 20 - 30 people to take the leap of a lifetime (or perhaps start a new hobby) whilst raising much needed funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust!

We will be jumping on the 29th June at Old Sarum Airfield with GoSkydive, a hugely experienced company who run many charity jumps throughout the year.

See the GoSkydive page here >> 

Here is a Video from Go Skydive which will show you what is going to happen on the day and hopefully excite you enough to want to get involved! >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adOJBg3sDfE

So if you have decided that this is for you, or want to chat to the Skydive team who can give you more information, please can I ask you to give Holly/Becky at Go Skydive a call on 01722568644 (press option 1). They will go through everything you need to know and once registered, will send out to you your skydive pack with T&C’s, arrival details, FAQs and a Medical Form (If over 40 you just need to get this signed by your doctor). 

As soon as you have registered, myself and Audrey at the CF Trust will be informed and get any further details out to you including how to set up a fundraising page (if you’re not sure) and getting sponsorship. I’d recommend trying to get registered up as soon as possible so you leave yourself plenty of time to get sponsorship from all your family and friends!

To find out more information, please See the facebook group here >>