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
_______________________________________________________

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)

________________________________________________________

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 >>

How to raise £300 in 10 minutes? Sell cakes!

The Windsor and Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra helped us raise a brilliant £330 for the CF Trust by asking us to sell cakes and drinks during the interval of their performance event held in Eton on 24th November.

We had a great selection of donated cakes from friends and family, including Lemon Drizzle cakes, a beautiful selection of cupcakes, chocolate brownies and sponge cakes, along with some super tasty Cherry and Almond tarts and Caramel Shortcake kindly donated by the Handmade Cake Company based in Maidenhead.

Although there were less people at the event than the organisers anticipated (the weather was horrendous!), we set out two tables of refreshments in the foyer, and each item was £1 (lots of people kindly threw in a few extra pounds here and there too!) The cakes went down brilliantly, and the left over cake went to our neighbours who kindly made a donation to the CF Trust and took them along to the church, who were very grateful for some homemade cakes to go with their teas and coffees after the service.

Due to our success and managing to cope with a large influx of people, the organisers of the event have asked us to join them again in March where we will hopefully be able to sell lots more cake and juice to raise lots more for the charity. 

A massive thanks to my Mum, Dad, Sally and Simon for helping on the night and baking loads of cakes before hand, and to Becky, Holly, Olly, Fran, Hannah, Catherine, and the Handmade Cake Co. for all your kind cake donations!

Cakes this Saturday!

So this Saturday we are running the refreshments for the Windsor and Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra, where we are refreshing up to 400 people with beautiful cakes and juices!

Just to say thanks to those who have offered to bake cakes for our event on Saturday, and to our local Homemade Cake Co. in Maidenhead, Berkshire who have also offered to make a donation!

This week, my mum is going to be super busy baking as many cakes as possible, so if you still think you maybe able to help out by baking a cake or two, please just let me know and we would be ever so grateful!

Thanks bakers :)

Group Tandem Skydive 2013

In the last few months, myself and Audrey (my lovely CF South West lady!) have been getting together to start organising a group tandem skydive in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust next year. We now have some more solid plans which i'd like to share and hope you would like to get involved in what we hope to be a brilliant fun and once in a lifetime experience, whilst raising vital funds for the CF Trust.

Where: Salisbury
When: 29th June 2013
Sponsorship: £500 (£225 covers cost of jump, £275 raised for charity)

We are hoping to get between 30 - 50 people involved with jumping on the day, so if you would like to jump, or have any family or friends who may like to get involved, please contact me and I will give you more information as soon as I can!

You can register your interest on the right of my blog so I have you're details and can contact you, else just comment on this blog, message me on facebook, or pop me an email (emily.shimell@gmail.com).

Refreshments at Windsor & Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra Event

We have been kindly asked if we would be able to support the Windsor and Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra at their event on the 27th November 2012, with supplying and serving refreshments to the performers and audience.

With a break of only 20 minutes or so, serving between 300-400 people is going to be a little manic but hopefully with all the experience we have been gaining over the last few years, everything will run smoothly and we will be able to raise much needed funds for the CF Trust.

Refreshments are simply going to be juice and cakes to be able to deal with the amount of people (and also no plugs or kitchen!) and hopefully this will suitably refresh everyone well enough to enjoy the great performance that is going to be going on that evening.

We do need your help though. As you can imagine, cakes, cups, juice and kitchen roll for up to 400 people can add up, both time and money wise. So we are hoping that we can get as many people as possible to help out by offering to bake a cake or two!

We are looking for Victoria Sponge or Lemon Drizzle cakes in either a loaf tin or sandwich tin so we can pre-cut and serve with a drink. If you think you and your friends/family might be able to help out, please just drop me an email at emily.shimell@gmail.com or give me a call, or drop me a facebook message, or even reply to this post and I will let you know more details.

Thanks to everyone so far who has offered to help out baking for the night which we hope to raise around £300 for the CF Trust. And if all goes well, we might even be offered to do the refreshments again early next year!

See more about the Windsor and Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra event here 

Peru Trek Photos!

I've chosen a selection of photos from my Peru Trek. Click on the album below to go to my Google Photo Album!

Peruvian Andes Trek 2012

My Peru Trek 2012 Part 2...

Continuing down...


As we passed beautiful calm lakes and through enchanted wooded areas, the stunning valley ahead came into view. Although still pretty cold, you could feel with every step the warmth increasing and i made plenty of time to take lots of breaks to take in the views and realise where I was and what I had just accomplished. 


After a couple of hours, one of the most beautiful rock formations and waterfalls came into view in front of a huge snowcapped mountain in the distance, one which I have managed to keep as a snapshot memory and hope to remember for years to come! We continued trekking down, crossing streams with the group quite spread out (everyone taking it at their own pace - we wern't going to be coming back anytime soon so we had to make the most of every moment!)


Lunchtime was our next group pitstop. We had a surprise instore that one of our cooks mums lived on the mountain side, a family of indigneous Peruvian mountain people living in a traditional Andes stone house, and we had the wonderful chance of going inside and seeing how these people lived in the Andes. A lady and the young girl sitting outside the front were busy weaving Poncho's whilst we got a glimpse inside the dark and smoke filled hut. The thatched roof inside was black with soot, and one out of the 3 small rooms was full of guinea pigs running around. This house was an amazing experience - something  I could have never imagined being able to experience and was amazed by the way these people manage to live in such a different culture to what I was use to.


After a big lunch and lots of begging dogs (and strawberry jelly made somehow with river water), we continued down for another 4 hours with the drive of knowing we had some cold beers waiting for us to celebrate our achievement and last night of camping. By now the knees and big toes were really in pain but the thought of a real flushing toilet at the camp we were staying at kept each foot moving one in front of another! 


Last Camp


Reaching our last camp was one of the biggest reliefs I have experienced! Seeing the sun shining on a lovely flat camping space and some cold beers the crew had brought along for us to celebrate finishing our trek was wonderful. And the camp even had space for us to hold a campfire and so the final evening was filled with funny stories of the trek, lots of getting to know one another (its strange how you get to know different sides of people depending on what activity you are doing) :) and discussions of what the next day would involve - our visit to Macchu Picchu. Late night and lots of beers had by all, a well deserved chill out night for all :)


Macchu Picchu


The Lares Trek we did was chosen because it is more remote than the standard Inca Trail, which sometimes you will find a few hundred people trekking with you at the same time, whereas our Lares Trek allowed us to view the Peruvian Andes in all its natural beauty, without bumping into any other trekkers or tourists for the duration of the trek. This did mean though that we didn't get Macchu Picchu on our actual trek but had the next day after our trek to go visit one of the wonders of the world.


A few hours coach journey from our last camp to a train station where we jumped on PeruRail. This few hours train journey I must say was probably the most amazing train journey I have ever been on and probably one of the most beautiful in the world. Through the valley of the Andes at the beginning of the Amazon Rainforest where Urubamba River flows, the train journey twisted between mountains and historic Inca ruins and arrived at the town just below Macchu Picchu where we would have to get a coach up to the Wonder.


On entering Macchu Picchu, it totally blew my mind. Much bigger than I expected, we were rewarded with a 3 hour locals tour by our Peruvian Trek Guides who knew the whole history of the ruins, showed us the spiritual, religious and worship elements to the ruins, and allowed to us see the beautiful Macchu Picchu in all its glory.


Macchu Picchu was actually busier with tourists than I expected and on arrival, the clouds were low so were coving most of the surrounding landscape. But with a tour guide who knew the ropes, he took us on a slightly "backwards tour" which would keep us away from the larger crowds and would (fingers rossed) allow us to be in the best locations once the clouds and crowds had cleared.


He was correct! After about an hour, the clouds began to lift and the main bulk of people were leaving the site. The beautiful Peruvian mountains with the Amazon Rainforest all around was the one of the most stunning view I have ever seen (alongside a few beautiful memories from Mt Kilimanjaro). 


Without a need to rush down to the town, I found a beautiful and quiet place to sit and take in the beauty of the man made and natural views I had right in front of me. For an hour or two, sitting in silence, I felt more peaceful than I think I can ever remember feeling. 


In conclusion: The real beauty of Macchu Picchu and the Peruvian Andes was not just the stunning views and awe inspiring landscape but the immense feeling I felt inside, loving, spiritually and emotionally, from visiting and experiencing all these things in person. 

I made it! My Peru Trek 2012

On 19th April I set off from Heathrow for a 22 hour travel, 3 flight journey to Cusco, Peru. Not too keen on flying so this was a bit of a challenge in itself, but arrival in Cusco was really the start of my amazing Peru adventure! Here I will try give you a bit of an insight into what we got up to and what was involved in the Trek!


Arriving in Cusco


It was strange to arrive in Cusco with people you had only met less than a day ago, but had already become good friends - i think this is one of the best things about these kind of trips, you get to meet so many people from different walks of life, raising money for different charities for all different reasons, and although I know i'd have never met these people in normal day to day life, we all come together on the trip with something in common and you end leaving with an amazing group of new friends!


Getting of the plane in Cusco was strange - Cusco is already at an altitude 3 x the height of Snowdon, and if any of you have ever been to altitude before, you'd know the reason for acclimatisation! Suddenly feeling light headed and nauseous wasn't the nicest start to the trip but this soon passed once on the coach on the way to our Hotel, seeing my first glimpse of Peru and the new Continent I was now in!


After lots of travelling and time difference, we were still only at lunchtime (Peruvian time) so spent the next few hours having a wander around Cusco, getting continuously called to and jumped out at by market traders and shop keepers selling all the weird and wonderful things you can imagine in a Peruvian tourist town! Taking the walking slow (just standing still it felt like i'd just done a few minutes running on the treadmill!) we wandered to pick up some epic nacho's and had some getting to know each other time before our acclimatisation trek the day to come.


Acclimatisation Day


Our 2nd day in Peru we jumped on the coach at around 7.30am to head up above Cusco to begin acclimbatising in the hills. Our local tour guides (who spent the week with us) Jameile & Alberto took us up to Saqsaywaman (pronounced Sexy Woman), a beautiful Inca area used as a Fort when Peru was invaded by the Spaniards. In the rocks you could see images of Llama - the stones were brought up by hand and, similar to the Egyptian pyramids, archaeologists are still are not sure how they managed this with some of the stones weighing up to 50 tonnes!


Some flat acclimbatising walks around here were strange - having to walk slowly on the flat was a little worrying as you realise how much your body is being affected by the lack of oxygen! After a few hours we moved up to Tambomachay, an Inca spa with natural springs, which for someone who has never experienced these kind of historical wonders before, were just beautiful (but then to be told this was nothing compared to what I was going to see was a little bit daunting! If I was getting excited now, what was I going to be like around these people i'd never met before?! :D ) Then a four hour walk down to Cusco helped our bodies get use to the "Climb High, Sleep Low" scenario that is common for any trekking at altitude. After a good few hours getting to know more of the group, we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed back into Cusco town for the afternoon to relax before our next day beginning of the main Lares region Trek. 


Off to the Lares Region & Hot Springs


Early morning breakfast (around 6am) for an early set off on the bus - we had a 3 hour bus journey through the Andes seeing the beautiful mountains and valleys. We journeyed through the Sacred Valley and via high mountain trails, through remote villages and small towns. A toilet stop allowed us to have a few minutes to see a real Peruvian market with vegetables and fruit I have never seen before, and Avacado's and Papaya the size of melons! 


After another hour or two we arrived at the beginning of the Lares Trek where we were greeted by hot natural springs and although it was very cold and raining, around half the group jumped in for a dip - they were scorching! We had an hour or so to wait until lunch here so a nice relaxing session in the springs was great to fit in before starting on the long trek in the rain!


Not suprisingly (for those who know me) I somehow managed to lose my waterproof jacket here for a short while - thankfully we had our Peruvian tour guides and switched on Skyline crew to help us search it out :)


Starting the Lares Trek


The beginning of the Lares trail followed a beautiful river through a valley, but with the low cloud and cool air, we were well wrapped up in waterproofs catching just a few glimpses of the hills and mountains to come through breaks in the cloud. We started to realise how this "remote" Lares region was actually bustling with indigenous mountain people who would come and watch and greet us, and set up small stalls on the path ways selling their goods, ponchos, hats and scarfs, jewellery and drinks in their beautiful traditional Peruvian bright clothing. 


A real highlight of our day was when a few of us girls managed to catch a few minutes ride on our ambulance donkey, a few minutes to catch our breath in the altitude! We were also passed by a group of local potato farmers and managed to get a photo with them in return for a handful of coca leaves each (bought at the Peruvian market on the way!) 


We arrived at our first campsite around 5pm which was at a local school in the valley. Not like a school we would recognise, more a few buildings and a grass area with stone walls and a hole dug in the ground as a toilet. One of the strangest things that continued throughout the trip was the amount of random dogs that appeared around camp and on the trek - i was expecting this to bother me but these dogs were so lethargic that I was fine, even when they poked their heads into the tents and hung around begging at dinner!


Continuing with the Trek...


The next day began at around 7am with a steep trek for about 3 hours around and up the valley. Gaining altitude, we lose 1 degree per 100m rise so being well wrapped up again was a necessity! The beautiful views of lakes and mountains were breathtaking and every direction was never a disappointment. We hit a few tough steep climbs on this part of the trek and with the lack of oxygen being my main problem, i had to take it slow to reach the peak of the day. Rewarded with some stunning views of mountain lakes, seeing one of our donkeys try to do a run for it and some yummy chocolate snacks (and a not so yummy oaty/sugarpuff/nut/cereal bar which the donkey appreciated more than me), we continued to trek for another two hours to our lunch spot, where the sun greeted us for a few minutes of sunbathing, a yummy (but rather filling) meal and a cup of coca tea got us prepared for our next few hours to camp! Another 3-4 hours trekking after lunch included quite a bit of drizzle, (and my attempt at getting waterproof trousers on required another two people's help to make it a success) which was a little disheartening - with low cloud and drizzle you do start to worry that the scenery is going to be covered and the beauty of the Andes isn't going to be seen! But with our super fast group, we managed an an additional 200m above where we should have been camping, and therefore reached our camp at 4,100m, so there was definitely a feeling of acheivement and positivity in the group even before hitting the high point!


I must now mention the beautiful food we were served throughout the trek... The cooks managed to dish up some wonderful meals up the mountain and really stuffed us with stews, chicken, lamb, rice dishes, tasty soups and even jelly for desert. I'd definitely recommend the peruvian mountain chefs if theres ever a chance of you getting to try the food, you'd be amazed! :)


Summit Climb


The next day was our summit climb. From 4,100m we had another 500m to climb in altitude to Mount Haton Paso. Slowly setting off from camp, we meandered our way up the high and steep mountain trail and although having lots of small breaks to catch my breath every few minutes, I couldn't stop for long as it was now getting really cold but these hours up to the high point were really tough for all of us, especially when you know your body can do more but the lack of oxygen just isn't letting you!

The team were great with everyone encouraging and helping each other along and I think this really helped for all of us to manage to make it to the summit of our climb at 4,600m! Pretty windy and cold up here but time to grab a few photos and take in the scenery and the beautiful lake that appeared below us and realise what we had all just managed for our charities and ourselves! 


Feeling rather chuffed with the acheivement of 4,600m we began our trek down the other side of Mount Haton Paso where the knees started to work a little harder than previously (and anyone who knows me and my knees, they don't really get on). But with the pass behind us keeping us sheltered from the wind, it was much warmer and comfortable to take it slow and really take in the beautiful scenery of the moutains, sheer slopes, lakes and landscapes all around us.


Will be continued...

3 days! What (apparently) I am to expect...

So just 3 days until i head off to Peru for my Andes challenge! I have been told a bit more information from the tour operators and some fellow Kilimanjaro trekkers as to what to expect so thought i'd share a bit here (and then can compare when I am back with what it was REALLY like!!!)


The trail takes me through the sacred valley in the Peruvian Andes to the Lares region, a remote area which is rarely touched by other tourists. We are told we are very privileged to be able to spend time in the area and will meet some wonderful locals and get a real insight into Peruvian life! 


Altitude - no one can train for altitude and it is likely that most if not the whole group will experience some form of altitude sickness but apparently this can (and is most likely to happen) on arrival into Cusco! Hopefully sickness, headaches and nausea will pass quickly, but I think I will just need to grin and bear it! 


Apparently the food will be wonderful - lots of local authentic Peruvian stews, fish and lamb - and if you know me, I will be definitely making sure I fill up and try pretty much everything I can (i'll use the excuse that I need the energy...)


So a typical day will involve lovely early mornings... 5:30 wake up, tents cleared and everything packed ready for breakfast and the daily briefing at 6.30, ready to head off by 7! Our trekking days consist of approximately 7 hours trekking a day, passing some amaing inca sites and ruins, stunning scenery and high mountain peaks whilst we hike up and down the mountain passes in the remote region. Day 6 will involve hiking up the mountain of Hatun Paso, our highest peak at 4600m (15,000ft). 


Day 7, our main trekking days are complete and our hard trekking efforts are to be rewarded with a visit to Machu Picchu on a breath taking train journey to Aguas Calientes. From here we move to Machu Picchu, known to be one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world. Macchu Picchu is actually one of the lowest points of the whole trip and I have been told that it will feel such a relief to be there as altitude will be much less and it really is a rewarding day once the trekking is complete. 


Our final day finishes with our celebration meal with the group and a chance to reminisce about the weeks trek!


Everything sounds wonderful and although its going to be really challenging, i can tell it will be one of the most rewarding things I will ever do. 


I will update you on the challenge when I return on the 28th! xxx

2 weeks to go!

In 2 weeks time I am off to Heathrow to catch a plane to Madrid, to catch a plane to Lima to catch a plane to Cusco! Not too excited about this part - I can't stand flying so this part of the trek must have completely slipped past me when signing up! But all adds to the challenge I guess so must grin and bear it!

I am amazed at the generousity of all my family, friends and strangers who have helped me reach yet again a massive target (now over £7,250) for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. This will give me a huge boost when i'm out there so thanks again to all of you

I have some more info on the trek "schedule" so I will update you all on this in another post a bit later!

Hit the £7000 mark!

Today I hit the £7000 mark for this years sponsorship and event fundraising for the CF Trust. I am sincerely grateful to all of you that have helped me reach this figure for a second time in memory of our beautiful friend Kirsty. Cystic Fibrosis remains the UK's most common life threatening hereditary diseases and relies on support from the public to help research into finding a cure.

Every penny counts and I am so pleased that so many of you have helped out by sponsoring my challenges, coming to our events and spreading the word about Cystic Fibrosis.

If you'd still like to sponsor, please go to www.virginmoneygiving.com/EmilyShimellForCF

Under four weeks until I head off on my trek, more information about my trek will be up soon!

All my love xxx

Gene Therapy Trials To Go Ahead

So pleased to hear the news that the groundbreaking gene therapy treatment trials will be going ahead with phase 2. After huge uncertanties over the last year of whether the CF Trust could reach the funding to enable to next stage to go forward, the money has finally been raised by fundraisers, donations and medical funds. This is a huge step forwards towards finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.

Click here to go to the full story on the CF Trust website >>

RACE NIGHT TOTAL!

Thanks to everyone who came along to our Race Night on Saturday evening. We had a fun filled evening with horse races, beautiful food, great company, a bar, a great raffle and loads of wonderful prizes, we sold out of entry spaces, and raised a grand total profit of £1510.98 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Thanks to all of our race night runners, our chef, bar staff, coordinators, raffle ticket sellers and all of you who came along and supported the event, our race sponsors and companies who donated prizes. This has been our biggest event organised and biggest amount raised for a much deserved charity, the CF Trust.

RACE NIGHT REGISTRATION

Please see below post for more information on the race night.

You can now register for the race night via the link RACE NIGHT REGISTRATION on the right!

Before you register, please take a look at the owners and jockeys page. Own a horse or be a jockey! See your name on the big screen! Each winning horse owner and jockey for each race wins a bottle of wine!

You can purchase these at the same time as you pay for entry. Just add £1 per horse and per jockey onto the fundraising page and tell us on the registration page which horse/s you'd like in the comment box during registration! Owners and Jockeys can also be for those unable to attend the event so how about turning your boyfriend into a jockey for the evening or even buying your wife a horse?!

We look forward to seeing you on the night. Please note our last event sold out and people were unfortunately turned away! We do expect a similar number to register this time around so please book early to avoid disappointment.

Race Night 3rd March

The race night is going to be held on the 3rd March and will be held at Pinder Hall, Cookham. I'll try to explain to you how the race night works and I hope it gets you excited for a night of adrenaline pumping, horse racing, face smiling and yummy food!

The race night consists of 8 races. Each race has 8 horses and 8 jockeys riding them (Simple!). For each race, you can choose the horses you want to win and buy your tote tickets at the tote table. Once the betting is closed, its time to stand back and watch the race will full commentary and cheer on your horse over the finish line.

The total taken on each race will be split 50/50. 50% towards the charity, 50% into the winners pot. The pot is then split between all the winners so look forward to coming away with some winnings on the night!

We will be serving hot supper for all attendees half way through the night, wonderfully catered by Vanessa (my mum). (And for those who have had any food by Vanessa before, you know thats a real good reason to get down on the night!)

The night will cost £6 entry per person which includes your supper.

Each race will be sponsored by a local company, group, individual etc. in return for advertising on the night (on the race screen, on the sponsors table, in leaflets etc) so if you think you maybe able to help with this, please message me!

There will also two bottles of wine up for grabs on each race for the owners of each winning horse and horse jockey. Its just £1 to buy a horse or jockey and then a 1 in 8 chance of winning! These will be sold in advance of the races (if you would like a race sheet and think you can get family/friends or take this to work and get some filled out, i'd be very grateful!)

This night is going to be a real fun evening with a great raffle, a special race where you have the chance of naming the horse anything you like (your wife/partners name? Your own name? anything goes!) a great value bar and supper, so please come and support my last event and help raise vital funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

For all of you who attended the Mega Music Quiz Night, I hope you had a really good night and hope to see you again at the Race Night! 

Volunteers Needed, Bristol, 11th February

I have kindly been given a day bag packing to fundraise for the CF Trust at Tesco, Kellaway Avenue, Bristol on 11th February 2012.

I will be needing as many volunteers as possible for the day and hoping that together we can raise around £300 for the Trust. I have a few friends who have offered to help but to raise as much cash as possible, we need to be able to cover as many cashouts as we can and be able to give breaks and lunch to those volunteering! If you think you could spare a couple of hours on the Saturday, I would be ever so grateful. 

Please let me know if you'd like to help out and I will get more information to you as soon as I can. Either email me - emily.shimell@gmail.com, comment on this blog, or contact me via my facebook/facebook fundraising groups. Many thanks

2012, 4 months to go!

So its January 2012, meaning only 4 months now until my trek in the Andes! I have set my targets and goals for training including lots of gymming, swimming and hill walking along with further fundraising events for the CF Trust - our Race Night will be held on the 3rd March in Cookham, Berkshire.

If you don't know already, I am climbing to over 15,000 ft in the Andes, a 6 day trek for up to 8 hours a day, through mountain passes, Peruvian forests and villages, to the top of Mount Hatun Paso and finally to Macchu Pichu. I aim to raise £4,000 for the charity and hope that you can support my fundraising by sparing any pennies you may have and sponsoring my trek! You can do this by visiting www.virginmoneygiving.com/EmilyShimellForCF or via the link at the top of this blog.

I greatly appreciate every penny and hope that we can all work together to see off CF.

Love on the Transplant List

A couple of days ago, a show was aired on BBC Three called "Love on the Transplant List". This programme follows Kirstie Mills (the girl I previously posted a link to, to her blog), a 21 year old girl who lives with Cystic Fibrosis. Its shows her extraordinary experience of living on the transplant list, the fear and uncertainty, the realities of having constant pain, taking endless medications, relying on oxygen machines 24 hours a day to breathe and doing all of this whilst planning for her wedding. Please try and watch when you have some time, it gives a very slight insite into how it must be living with Cystic Fibrosis and really reiterated the reasons behind our fundraising efforts. Click link below to go to BBC iPlayer. (Available until 5th December)


http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/watch#p00m1v39

Mega Music Quiz Night Total!

Thanks to everyone who came along on Saturday night and supported our Mega Music Quiz Night for the CF Trust. After all costs taken (bar/licence/hall) we raised a total profit of £1300 on the night which is much better than hoped for and so a massive thanks to all who put teams together, bought drinks/raffle tickets, made donations (including the winning team who donated their £100 prize and the winner of the heads/tails game!) and to all supporting companies who donated the great raffle prizes we had on offer!

More details about our next event will be announced soon,

Thanks again

Emily & Family

SOLD OUT! Mega Music Quiz Night

A massive thanks to all the teams who have signed up to take part in our Mega Music Quiz Night this Saturday. We are now closed for registration as we have filled all the team spaces available! 

Because of the huge amount of interest for this event, we will be holding another Mega Music Quiz next year. We are also running a Race Night on the 3rd March 2012. If you would like to register your interest in either of these events, please use the registration page on the right of this blog so I can email you details when more information becomes available!

Thanks again to all and look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Cystic fibrosis cure under threat from £6m cash crisis

Funds dry up as scientists pinpoint effective treatment for cystic fibrosis - 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/18/cystic-fibrosis-cure-cash-threat

Please help us do as much as possible towards this massively important cause to help save the lives of thousands of babies and children.

THE MEGA MUSIC QUIZ NIGHT

Our next fundraiser, The Mega Music Quiz Night, will be held on the 22nd October 2011 at Pinder Hall, Cookham. The quiz night will have music for all ages and involve music trivia, name that tune, picture and lyric rounds, a prize of £100 for the winning team and much more! We will also be holding a raffle and a good value bar and there will be nibbles for your team table!

The doors will open at 7:30 for the quiz to start promptly at 8:00pm. To register your team, go to the "MEGA MUSIC QUIZ NIGHT REGISTRATION PAGE" on the right of this blog. Spaces are limited so please register your team asap. A team can consist of up to 6 members and there is a £20 entry fee for each team, proceeds of which all goes to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. Remember, you don't need to decide on team members just yet, so you can register a team and decide on members and numbers at a later date!

The night is hopefully going to be one of our biggest fundraisers yet and if any of you have experienced David's music quizzes before, you know you are going to be in for a treat!

We look forward to seeing you on the 22nd!

Thank you

http://www.lloydstsblondon2012.co.uk/en/carrytheflame/Nomination/?nid=0363e5d1-4650-41d3-88e2-b2389cbb5ce1

I would like to give a massive thank you to Harriet Jamieson, Kirsty's cousin, who has kindly nominated me as a torch bearer for the 2012 London Olympics for my charity work for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. It really means a lot to me to have such kind words said and I hope that this can help with gaining the much needed recognition for the charity.

£300 from our Charity Car Wash!

Thanks to everyone who came along to our Charity Car Wash on Saturday, where we managed to raise a whopping £300 in the 4 hours of washing. Comments were made on the quality of cleaning we did (one guy even went home to get his other car!) and suprisingly we were even trusted with cleaning a beautiful Aston  :)

The weather turned out really well after the torrential downpours on Friday, hopefully the guilt trip from Lucy and Joe stood redirecting traffic from Tesco car park doesn't turn against us at the next one!

Sounds like everyone had a really good day and hopefully will be running another in the upcoming months, more info to come...

Introduction to my Peruvian Andes Trek 2012

Please click on the image for a bigger view!

Charity Car Wash, Bristol

Kirstie's Road to Transplant Blog

I urge you to take a few minutes to read through this young ladies blog. She is 21 years old and living with CF. This blog gives you a glimpse from a first persons view of living with CF and her desperate struggle to find a lung transplant that will save her life. Please take time to look at the various pages including her "New Lung Task List" which I hope will make you realise some of the things you may sometimes take for granted.

http://kirstie-2ndchanceatlife.blogspot.com/

Bishops Cleeve Street Fair

Yesterday was the 2011 Bishops Cleeve Street Fair, just north of Cheltenham. The Street fair ran between 12 and 4pm with stalls, dance groups, music performances, parachute jumps, vehicle displays and a spitfire flyby all taking part to help raise money for both the community and 6 charities, one of which was the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Each of the charities had a stall, which I decided we would run the Throw-A-Lightbulb game and also have a stand for information and awareness about CF and the Trust.

We had a really busy day right from the start, with constant queues and crowds around our game, and many comments about how great the game was, and even a few asking if they could have permission to make a copy! Within the 4 hours we raised £160 on the game towards my £4000 target and hopefully find out shortly how much will be donated to the Trust from the profits of the Street Fair. A cheque presentation will be happening in September this year.

Thanks to all who came and took part and to Mars and ShakeAway for some of the donated prizes.

Winnersh Fete 2011

Saturday 18th June 2011 we set up our pitch at the fourth year of Winnersh Fete, with fingers crossed the weather was going to hold out. Big black clouds loomed overhead and within 5 minutes of putting the gazebo up, the heavens opened and the expectations of raising money for the charity quickly fell. But as quickly as it had started, the weather cleared and bright sunshine and blue skies were on for the start of the fete!

The throw-a-lightbulb game again proved itself as a great fundraiser, with constant queues and battles between youngsters to win prizes including a skateboard, football, chocolates and milkshakes, with the top score of the day reaching 312, one of the highest scores in quite a few years! The Silent Auction was a slow starter, but once the afternoon went on, the bids came in and between the game and auction (which were only running for 3 1/2 hours) we managed to raise a whopping £400 towards the CF Trust!

The Winnersh Fete was definitely a fete we will return to next year, a great day for the family and a great fundraiser for all the charities that attended - 40 charities and local voluntary groups who provided a really enjoyable afternoon for all.

2011 Fundraising Events so far

So far in 2011, we have run 2 fundraising events, kicking off with our annual Treasure Hunt organised by David and Vanessa (my mum and dad).

This years treasure hunt took place in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, where 15 teams turned up to take on cryptic clues, scavenger hunting and photo finding, ending at the Ship pub. Each team donated £20 to the trust to take part and many helped by buying raffle tickets and pizza's at the pub, who kindly donated £2 per pizza to our cause. This family day managed to raise us £500 towards our target and really started off the year with a bang!

At the Marlow Regatta, 11-12th June 2011, we ran our locally famous "throw-a-lightbulb" game and a Silent Auction with prizes donated by:

• Shakeaway
• Choco-Latte, Marlow
• Legoland
• Ministry of Paintball
• The Waterside Inn, Bray
• Midwich
• The Vanilla Pod, Marlow
• Grove Riding School, Wycombe
• The Marlow Brewery
• Gear4

Together this managed to raise £400 towards our £4000 target, despite the rain on the Sunday which meant the turn out wasn't good! Thanks to all of you who bid for items and played our game!

This weekend, 18th June, we will be running another Silent Auction and "throw-a-lightbulb" game at the Winnersh Fete, Bearwood Recreational Ground, Winnersh. This will include prizes donated by:

• John Nike Leisure Centre, Bracknell
• Mars
• Ministry Of Paintball
• Billingbear Park Golf Course
• Legoland
• Shakeaway

Fingers crossed the weather holds out and we can raise another few hundred towards the total.

Please visit www.virginmoneygiving.com/EmilyShimellforCF to help support the cause.


Thanks


Emily

Welcome to my Fundraising Blog!

Hi all

I have decided to start keeping a blog of my fundraising activities after being asked by quite a few people about what I was getting involved with and the events that we are running for the CF Trust.

For those of you who do not know about my fundraising and challenges, I will give you an introduction here :)

I have been fundraising for the CF Trust now for around 18 months, since my oldest friend Kirsty was admitted to hospital in November 2009 after taking a turn for the worse from CF. In March 2010, our beautiful friend could not fight any longer with this cruel disease and passed away at the young age of 21.

Since then, I have been fundraising alongside a number of other friends and family members to raise money in Kirsty's memory for the CF Trust.

In September 2010, I trekked Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa to Uhuru Peak, the highest free standing mountain in the world. Through sponsorship for my challenge and through other events, we managed to raise almost £7000 for the charity.

In April 2012, I am taking on another challenge where I will be trekking the remote Lares region in the Peruvian Andes, to 4,600m altitude, 8-9 hours a day for 6 days with the aim of raising another £4000 for the CF Trust. This year, we will be running numerous events and fundraising activities to help raise these much needed funds for the charity.

I will aim to keep this blog up-to-date with fundraising activities, events, CF Trust information and our progress. Please visit my donation page to help support the trust. www.virginmoneygiving.com/EmilyShimellForCF

Many thanks

Emily