Success!... to some degree at least, the evening of the 27th November saw the Oar Raisers first large scale event. After two months of stress and an incredible amount leg work the night arrived with little to no hiccups - noticeable or not there were a few but in true Oar Raiser style we 'got it done'.
Ordering people around and directing the general operation (meticulously I might add) has become the new order of the day for Rower 2 and as such the proof came with the pudding as the night unfolded a creamy, silk smooth schedule bar the cock ups out of his hands. Even in the face of the last minute alterations, necessary changes and unpredictable scenarios R2 kept calm and carried on.
The attendees thronged into the lobby for their mulled wine and pleasantries to the subtle sounds of jazz piano and a roaring open fire, 136 guests took their places at the tables and were informed of the events about to take place. Seated, starters issued and some classical guitar drifted over the chit chat and clinky clinking of cutlery and wine receptacles - it was a decadent and charming affair with a great dynamic. The courses came and went fluidly with smiles and praise for the food. The top table looked on in anticipation of something going wrong but it never seemed to, a relief.
Food done, a spat of comedy leading into the auction which lasted far longer than predicted but raised far more than we originally thought it would. Auction lots came and went with varying degrees of interest and bids, There were some tremendously generous people and the kindness lasted the entire evening with over £500 being raised separately on raffle tickets!...
Truly the people around us are very supportive and we are privileged to have such wonderfully kind friends and family - if you had asked me a month a go if I thought this event would be a success - I would have said absolutely not, too little too late but to have seen everyone glammed up and prepared to spend their money on a charity auction the way did - I am proud, shocked but proud to call these people my friends. I thank you all and I am sure Parkinson's UK will be delighted with our result.
Total count for the night is a staggering £2821 plus some money to come from the Land Lady of The Alexander Arms Cambridge who kindly did shuttle runs in her car to the hotel for a donation, thank you to you Caroline - you wonderful woman.
A further addition to this months fundraising came in the form of a race night at the Frog and Toad pub Gillingham Kent - David, Glenda and Sophie managed to raise a brilliant £300 - a massive thank you family!...
The band (run for cover) played everyone out with great cover songs from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and many more artists, a fantastic performance and one to be remembered not least for the dancing Black tie wearers, Rhod Davies put on a particularly good display of Welsh revelry.
All in all with donations from the table boxes and everything else we have reached over £3K which is to my mind a huge success, owed mainly to you guys that cam and supported us, so thank you all, I am utterly over awed (oared) by you...
The Auction over, we made a few speeches kicked of by Master Auctioneer Sir Colin of Johnny Bowles (I would like to convey my personal thanks to him for his hard work and terrific effort) Speeches of thanks from both R1 and R2 accompanied by a welcome message to bright shiny new baby James - Congrats Bill and Jayne!...(still wish you'd had the baby at the auction the publicity would have been great!) haha
And one last but by no means least thanks, to Abigail for her enormous patience, her dedication to our cause and her ability to keep me on track when all else seems to be falling apart - thank you my darling little toe.
Keep up to date with our progress and we will endeavour to put on some large events in the new year, but from now until Christmas I am training and concentrating only on much smaller fundraisers and sponsorship... If you want to get involved by running an event for us please just ask and we'll get something sorted, don't forget you can also hire us for a days labour at anytime in return for a donation....
We do hope you all had a great time and thank you all once again!
R2.
Sunday 28 November 2010
Tuesday 16 November 2010
Testing times and custom Converse!...
The last two weeks have had us at highs and lows much like an Atlantic tide Ebbs and flows....................................
So Rower 1 has been doing his trailer license training in Norfolk, provided free by a very kind gentleman from www.suttondriving.co.uk
This has been a necessary part of our progression as without the trailer license we cannot move the boat ourselves and although the training ordinarily might incur a large cost we have managed to do a great deal on getting the training free - we will have to cover the cost of the test fee but that is a much smaller sum. R1 claims to have enjoyed the training a great deal and was pleased to have been doing it with an instructor that put him at ease, So from both the Oar Raisers thank you to Sutton driving.
The next trip for R1 saw him going back school, giving talks and lessons to year 8, 9 and 10 of a school in South Bucks... To his amazement the response was brilliant and the children were really engaged by everything he had to say. The school have agreed to do some fundraising for us which is very positive indeed.
Publicity this week includes a feature in Deritend Industries in house magazine and County wide the County Council employee information paper (article entitled 5 minutes with Chris Howard) Lastly as I'm sure you've all seen on our face book page, Sandira Reddy an artist form Canvas Warriors has customised our very own Oar Raiser Converse trainers and kindly donated them to us, she is also going to donate a voucher for one pair of custom trainers painted trainers that will be a lot in our up and coming auction event on the 27th November. The Black tie dinner and auction is well under way and there are now very few tickets left so get in quick if you have a friend or another person interested in coming. Tickets can now also be purchased from The Alexander Arms Cambridge (The Landlord and Landlady have been very supportive -thank you Charlie and Caroline...
You can also catch a short time lapse film of our trainers being painted on you tube - just type in Canvas warriors painting a shoe!... it's actually amazing!
That's all for now folks so please keep reading as we have news breaking daily like eggs rolling off a table top.
So Rower 1 has been doing his trailer license training in Norfolk, provided free by a very kind gentleman from www.suttondriving.co.uk
This has been a necessary part of our progression as without the trailer license we cannot move the boat ourselves and although the training ordinarily might incur a large cost we have managed to do a great deal on getting the training free - we will have to cover the cost of the test fee but that is a much smaller sum. R1 claims to have enjoyed the training a great deal and was pleased to have been doing it with an instructor that put him at ease, So from both the Oar Raisers thank you to Sutton driving.
The next trip for R1 saw him going back school, giving talks and lessons to year 8, 9 and 10 of a school in South Bucks... To his amazement the response was brilliant and the children were really engaged by everything he had to say. The school have agreed to do some fundraising for us which is very positive indeed.
Publicity this week includes a feature in Deritend Industries in house magazine and County wide the County Council employee information paper (article entitled 5 minutes with Chris Howard) Lastly as I'm sure you've all seen on our face book page, Sandira Reddy an artist form Canvas Warriors has customised our very own Oar Raiser Converse trainers and kindly donated them to us, she is also going to donate a voucher for one pair of custom trainers painted trainers that will be a lot in our up and coming auction event on the 27th November. The Black tie dinner and auction is well under way and there are now very few tickets left so get in quick if you have a friend or another person interested in coming. Tickets can now also be purchased from The Alexander Arms Cambridge (The Landlord and Landlady have been very supportive -thank you Charlie and Caroline...
You can also catch a short time lapse film of our trainers being painted on you tube - just type in Canvas warriors painting a shoe!... it's actually amazing!
That's all for now folks so please keep reading as we have news breaking daily like eggs rolling off a table top.
Wednesday 10 November 2010
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Stress, Fundraising and Negotiating:
Before anything else please let me just say a big welcome to Olivia Grace May Tann, she entered the world at 00:40 Monday morning she is another God child for me to add to my collection. She is, however, the first girl 6lb 4 and brilliant!!!... welcome, welcome, welcome...
Since our last blog update we have had a rather chaotic time attempting to organise a Black Tie Dinner and Auction evening...
For those of you with tickets, many thanks - your official tickets will be with you shortly and all the necessary info will be sent to you along with your opportunity to tell us of any special dietary requirements.
We still have seats to fill and would like to really push the numbers up on this event in order not just to produce more funds but in order that everybody really has a good time... So if you have a friend that would be interested or family member you'd like to bring please let us know as soon as you can. Auction prizes now include works from a local artist as well as hot air balloon ride and horse riding session. Get a table of 10 and we will consider giving one ticket for free!
We ran a Crazy Hat Party at Nusha bar Cambridge on the 23rd of October, it was a lot of fun, and many people were impressed with the impromptu Brazillian girls booty shaking contest! including both the oar raisers (photo's available on Facebook.
Thank you to everyone that attended we raised a fair amount of money given the lack of hats, a good time was had by all as the music pumped into the late hours and the fancy costumed Salon Rouge goers passed in and out to have their photo's taken with us - an interesting way to raise funds...
This week has also seen the County Council social reporting team make a short video about the Oar Raisers to post on YouTube and Facebook - as soon as we have the link we will post it for people to see.
please keep reading and following our progress, we will be Halloween quizing in the Alexander Arms Cambridge this Sunday.
Since our last blog update we have had a rather chaotic time attempting to organise a Black Tie Dinner and Auction evening...
For those of you with tickets, many thanks - your official tickets will be with you shortly and all the necessary info will be sent to you along with your opportunity to tell us of any special dietary requirements.
We still have seats to fill and would like to really push the numbers up on this event in order not just to produce more funds but in order that everybody really has a good time... So if you have a friend that would be interested or family member you'd like to bring please let us know as soon as you can. Auction prizes now include works from a local artist as well as hot air balloon ride and horse riding session. Get a table of 10 and we will consider giving one ticket for free!
We ran a Crazy Hat Party at Nusha bar Cambridge on the 23rd of October, it was a lot of fun, and many people were impressed with the impromptu Brazillian girls booty shaking contest! including both the oar raisers (photo's available on Facebook.
Thank you to everyone that attended we raised a fair amount of money given the lack of hats, a good time was had by all as the music pumped into the late hours and the fancy costumed Salon Rouge goers passed in and out to have their photo's taken with us - an interesting way to raise funds...
This week has also seen the County Council social reporting team make a short video about the Oar Raisers to post on YouTube and Facebook - as soon as we have the link we will post it for people to see.
please keep reading and following our progress, we will be Halloween quizing in the Alexander Arms Cambridge this Sunday.
Monday 4 October 2010
All at once...
Well now, what a brilliant last weeks the Oar Raisers have had...
Firstly a thank you to Cambridgeshire County Council Pensions, HR and
Legal departments for their efforts at a fundraising raffle on behalf of
Parkinson's UK - you've all been incredibly supportive thus far and it
is greatly appreciated.
On Sunday 26th of October both the Oar Raisers went down to Richmond to
attend the Woodvale seminar, arriving some four hours later than
intended (traffic was appalling) we were hacked off, tired, hungry and
somewhat disheartened. However, finding that the other competitors had
left and the remaining faces were all the event organisers from Woodvale
we took the opportunity to go over every concern we had. It actually
ended up working in our favour as we had valuable time with people we're
going to be dealing with over the next 14 months. They proved to be a
fantastic source of information and were very friendly and welcoming,
they even showed us a Hungarian designed ocean rowing boat that they
were moving to a harbour. It is difficult to convey any understanding of
just how exciting it is to see a boat similar to one which you are going
to live on for up to three months but she was a beautiful and aggressive
looking boat as though built to spear through steal - I ran my had along
the surface, tentative and electric.
On Monday 27th of October Rower 2 closed the HeaterMeals deal and
secured food supplies from the company with the potential for some
financial support later. A big thank you to Mr Jeffry Fox at HeaterMeals
we both look forward to working closely with him on our campaign.
The Saturday 2nd of October arrived and at 8 am we began our second
twelve hour row at Dw Fitness, I was not looking forward to this session
as I felt under prepared physically but setting up and watching Tom
glide through his first shift put me at ease a little. By the end of the
day we were both coaching each other through and motivating one another.
Tom sustained major glute spasms and a few heal blisters - the pain was
obvious from the discolouration in his face let alone the look of a man
about to break... But he pushed through and completed and that is what
this challenge is really about, it's a battle against yourself as much
as anything else, the metal aspect begins to grind you and convince you
that you have no more to give, that everything you had wasn't good
enough and that you just have to stop... but if you're an Oar Raiser you
will not be beaten, and he wasn't. Pushing yourself beyond your physical
capability is essential training and conquering your own will to give up
is vital in surviving. Rower 1 I applaud you!...
Please also note that the deadline for tickets to our Black tie dinner event
is this Friday (08/10/10) we are still looking to fill a fair number of places
so if you have friends family or colleagues that would be interested then
please invite them and confirm with us...
Also visit www.oarraisers.co.uk
Firstly a thank you to Cambridgeshire County Council Pensions, HR and
Legal departments for their efforts at a fundraising raffle on behalf of
Parkinson's UK - you've all been incredibly supportive thus far and it
is greatly appreciated.
On Sunday 26th of October both the Oar Raisers went down to Richmond to
attend the Woodvale seminar, arriving some four hours later than
intended (traffic was appalling) we were hacked off, tired, hungry and
somewhat disheartened. However, finding that the other competitors had
left and the remaining faces were all the event organisers from Woodvale
we took the opportunity to go over every concern we had. It actually
ended up working in our favour as we had valuable time with people we're
going to be dealing with over the next 14 months. They proved to be a
fantastic source of information and were very friendly and welcoming,
they even showed us a Hungarian designed ocean rowing boat that they
were moving to a harbour. It is difficult to convey any understanding of
just how exciting it is to see a boat similar to one which you are going
to live on for up to three months but she was a beautiful and aggressive
looking boat as though built to spear through steal - I ran my had along
the surface, tentative and electric.
On Monday 27th of October Rower 2 closed the HeaterMeals deal and
secured food supplies from the company with the potential for some
financial support later. A big thank you to Mr Jeffry Fox at HeaterMeals
we both look forward to working closely with him on our campaign.
The Saturday 2nd of October arrived and at 8 am we began our second
twelve hour row at Dw Fitness, I was not looking forward to this session
as I felt under prepared physically but setting up and watching Tom
glide through his first shift put me at ease a little. By the end of the
day we were both coaching each other through and motivating one another.
Tom sustained major glute spasms and a few heal blisters - the pain was
obvious from the discolouration in his face let alone the look of a man
about to break... But he pushed through and completed and that is what
this challenge is really about, it's a battle against yourself as much
as anything else, the metal aspect begins to grind you and convince you
that you have no more to give, that everything you had wasn't good
enough and that you just have to stop... but if you're an Oar Raiser you
will not be beaten, and he wasn't. Pushing yourself beyond your physical
capability is essential training and conquering your own will to give up
is vital in surviving. Rower 1 I applaud you!...
Please also note that the deadline for tickets to our Black tie dinner event
is this Friday (08/10/10) we are still looking to fill a fair number of places
so if you have friends family or colleagues that would be interested then
please invite them and confirm with us...
Also visit www.oarraisers.co.uk
Tuesday 21 September 2010
Latest and first long Row:
Ok guys, it's competition time... As you know we are now branded as the Oar Raisers and have T-shirts for sale, If you buy a T-shirt from us we want you to take a photo of yourselves wearing it at a location of your choice... So far we have one picture from the lovely British seaside town of Wells-next-the-sea but there are photos to come from Ireland, Scotland, India, Thialand and Afghanistan!... There is a great priz for the best picture (judged by us) and there is also a boobie prize for the most boring or mundane...
So please please please send us your pics which we upload here and to a flikr stream - by doing this you are helping to promote us and our cause and help the charity, it's global social network advertising campaign with you guys driving it!... so as I always say "Get it Done!...
Ok that bit done, I also have to tell you that we survived our first long row on Sunday, We arrived at the gym at 7:30 am and set ourselves up for the day - side by side we waited patiently for the first shift to begin. At 8:00 am I began the first 2 hour slog, the longest either of has rowed continuosly. It was clear to me that I would have to keep a steady but realistic pace, concentrating on technique and making sure I wasn't exerting any unnecessary energy, with this in mind I manged to keep my thoughts active and push through the first few barries of pain, only to look up and realise I had another 1hour 40 minutes ahead!... as I kept my movement smooth and constant Tom and I talked and made sure of how we felt about this next 12 hours... A real help actually is talking to each other, no matter the subject even if at times we both had to talk drivel. Had we not I'm not sure i could have completed the row without dying from an overpowering sense of boredom.
Rowing on water is a gloriously exhilerating feeling and conjures all manner of thought trains but sitting in front of a mirror on an Ergo is quite the antithesis... So much so that we summoned a laptop and DVD's to get us through, delivered by the dutiful Abigail who also sat for sometime boosting our morale and making sure we had enough food. On a row that long we were burning in the region of 5000 calories and we are still supposed to be gaining weight, so as not to be eating at a defecit we literally devoured a whole chicken, one loaf of bread, one pack of cookies, four chicken breats wrapped in bacon, some chicken skeweres and two bowls of pasta with four fish cakes oh and a pack of beef jerky!... I was also lucky enough to come home to a massive roast beef dinner (thank you Abi).
This was a particularly hard training session both physically and mentally, post game I think we both felt quite drained and somewhat subdued. There was no nicer feeling than getting into a bath that evening, except of course the problem with getting into a bath is you adopt a certain mode of entry (I am sure this is standard for much of the bathing world) - using both arms on the sides of the bath you lower yourself feet first then legs fully submerged your rump slowly takes the strain and pressure from the arms as you lie back and drift off into warm comforting serenity. This is not as simple as all that for us, any amount of pressure on the backside, no matter how small, is just not an option. Sitting on the floor is no good, sitting up in bed in the middle of the night and yelping like a smacked puppy is a shameful occurance I think we will both have to learn to live with... walking is also not that easy. Surprisingly though cycling is a good option on the way to work Monday morning as I can stand up and just coast down the path with no real effort...
We have no sent out the invtes for our November black tie do, so if you have one please respond by the 8th of October as per your invitation. This week sees The Oar Raisers back on the river, doing their weight lifting session and ever so slightly sore...
So please please please send us your pics which we upload here and to a flikr stream - by doing this you are helping to promote us and our cause and help the charity, it's global social network advertising campaign with you guys driving it!... so as I always say "Get it Done!...
Ok that bit done, I also have to tell you that we survived our first long row on Sunday, We arrived at the gym at 7:30 am and set ourselves up for the day - side by side we waited patiently for the first shift to begin. At 8:00 am I began the first 2 hour slog, the longest either of has rowed continuosly. It was clear to me that I would have to keep a steady but realistic pace, concentrating on technique and making sure I wasn't exerting any unnecessary energy, with this in mind I manged to keep my thoughts active and push through the first few barries of pain, only to look up and realise I had another 1hour 40 minutes ahead!... as I kept my movement smooth and constant Tom and I talked and made sure of how we felt about this next 12 hours... A real help actually is talking to each other, no matter the subject even if at times we both had to talk drivel. Had we not I'm not sure i could have completed the row without dying from an overpowering sense of boredom.
Rowing on water is a gloriously exhilerating feeling and conjures all manner of thought trains but sitting in front of a mirror on an Ergo is quite the antithesis... So much so that we summoned a laptop and DVD's to get us through, delivered by the dutiful Abigail who also sat for sometime boosting our morale and making sure we had enough food. On a row that long we were burning in the region of 5000 calories and we are still supposed to be gaining weight, so as not to be eating at a defecit we literally devoured a whole chicken, one loaf of bread, one pack of cookies, four chicken breats wrapped in bacon, some chicken skeweres and two bowls of pasta with four fish cakes oh and a pack of beef jerky!... I was also lucky enough to come home to a massive roast beef dinner (thank you Abi).
This was a particularly hard training session both physically and mentally, post game I think we both felt quite drained and somewhat subdued. There was no nicer feeling than getting into a bath that evening, except of course the problem with getting into a bath is you adopt a certain mode of entry (I am sure this is standard for much of the bathing world) - using both arms on the sides of the bath you lower yourself feet first then legs fully submerged your rump slowly takes the strain and pressure from the arms as you lie back and drift off into warm comforting serenity. This is not as simple as all that for us, any amount of pressure on the backside, no matter how small, is just not an option. Sitting on the floor is no good, sitting up in bed in the middle of the night and yelping like a smacked puppy is a shameful occurance I think we will both have to learn to live with... walking is also not that easy. Surprisingly though cycling is a good option on the way to work Monday morning as I can stand up and just coast down the path with no real effort...
We have no sent out the invtes for our November black tie do, so if you have one please respond by the 8th of October as per your invitation. This week sees The Oar Raisers back on the river, doing their weight lifting session and ever so slightly sore...
Wednesday 8 September 2010
Mega Busy, Massive Excitement, Hard Work...
Hello everyone and sorry for the delay in our latest update, the last few weeks have been hectic to say the very least...
Firstly the apology is necessary due a technical problem with my Macbook which annoying took far longer to sort than originally anticipated. As a result of the uncharacteristic bad customer service displayed by the Apple store I have been incommunicado, I must say, however, that after a talk with the store manager and an apple Genius my irritation has been quelled. I now have a brand new Macbook with a full 1 year warranty and half a year more to transfer from my old cover, further to this the new model is far more advance and the processor of a much higher spec... At no charge to myself!... That is customer service!
So thank you very much Miss V. and Mr D. at the GA Apple store, you have been truly wonderful today.
Now down to Oar Raiser business, firstly I have had the most fortuitous conversation with a man that owns HeaterMeals - I contacted him with the objective of getting some kinda of product/services sponsorship for our trip - I had not realised at the time that he himself suffers from Parkinson's. He called to ask if we were genuine and if we would like to meet as he has a particular interest in us as we are doing this in aid of Parkinson's UK... The thing that is really amazing is that he actually sponsored the food supplies for the Ben Fogel and James Cracknell team a few years ago - further to which he wants to help us and has set up a meeting for the end of September in London the day after our first Woodvale seminar. Actually quite a moving and very motivational conversation was had between us and I am more proud to be involved in this everyday ...
We now have two official corporate sponsors, although we are still ten's of thousand's of pounds from our target it is at least looking more realistic and it has instilled in us a new thirst - knowing that people have faith in us drives us harder, better, faster and stronger each day (not to quote DaftPunk)...
So a heartfelt thank you goes out to Deritend Industries this week on behalf of the Oar Raisers.
Several new fundraisers to be announced in the coming weeks, our new Fundraising Manager (Abigail Smith) has removed some of the pressure from us by organising things and getting stuck into some of the admin side of the Oar Raisers glamourous world... It is a hard job for anyone especially someone who has never taken up a challenge on this scale, she has taken to it very well and seems to be making good headway so far - So a thank you from both of us to Abigail.
A new training program this week has been drawn up for the next three months, tomorrow is our first 10k Row on the Concept 2 machines... The program was devised off the cuff and completely out of the goodness of his heart by a PT Instructor (Ben Simons from DW Fitness) massive massive thanks and respect to him for all his help and support.
We will endeavour, now, to keep the updates more regular, especially seeing as I have this new Mac I have no excuse... So please keep reading and following us and if you do have any suggestions, advice or queries please just drop us a line by phone or email. Thank you all and good night.
Firstly the apology is necessary due a technical problem with my Macbook which annoying took far longer to sort than originally anticipated. As a result of the uncharacteristic bad customer service displayed by the Apple store I have been incommunicado, I must say, however, that after a talk with the store manager and an apple Genius my irritation has been quelled. I now have a brand new Macbook with a full 1 year warranty and half a year more to transfer from my old cover, further to this the new model is far more advance and the processor of a much higher spec... At no charge to myself!... That is customer service!
So thank you very much Miss V. and Mr D. at the GA Apple store, you have been truly wonderful today.
Now down to Oar Raiser business, firstly I have had the most fortuitous conversation with a man that owns HeaterMeals - I contacted him with the objective of getting some kinda of product/services sponsorship for our trip - I had not realised at the time that he himself suffers from Parkinson's. He called to ask if we were genuine and if we would like to meet as he has a particular interest in us as we are doing this in aid of Parkinson's UK... The thing that is really amazing is that he actually sponsored the food supplies for the Ben Fogel and James Cracknell team a few years ago - further to which he wants to help us and has set up a meeting for the end of September in London the day after our first Woodvale seminar. Actually quite a moving and very motivational conversation was had between us and I am more proud to be involved in this everyday ...
We now have two official corporate sponsors, although we are still ten's of thousand's of pounds from our target it is at least looking more realistic and it has instilled in us a new thirst - knowing that people have faith in us drives us harder, better, faster and stronger each day (not to quote DaftPunk)...
So a heartfelt thank you goes out to Deritend Industries this week on behalf of the Oar Raisers.
Several new fundraisers to be announced in the coming weeks, our new Fundraising Manager (Abigail Smith) has removed some of the pressure from us by organising things and getting stuck into some of the admin side of the Oar Raisers glamourous world... It is a hard job for anyone especially someone who has never taken up a challenge on this scale, she has taken to it very well and seems to be making good headway so far - So a thank you from both of us to Abigail.
A new training program this week has been drawn up for the next three months, tomorrow is our first 10k Row on the Concept 2 machines... The program was devised off the cuff and completely out of the goodness of his heart by a PT Instructor (Ben Simons from DW Fitness) massive massive thanks and respect to him for all his help and support.
We will endeavour, now, to keep the updates more regular, especially seeing as I have this new Mac I have no excuse... So please keep reading and following us and if you do have any suggestions, advice or queries please just drop us a line by phone or email. Thank you all and good night.
Sunday 22 August 2010
First week on the water:
It's now August 22nd and we are not only well under way with our training program but also officially registered entrants to the Woodvale 2011 Atlantic Rowing challenge. There is no going back now, we have been working harder than ever this week in order to secure corporate sponsors and raise extra cash for the charity... We are still to arrange the next big event but I'd like to thank everyone around us this week for their support and encouragement, I would also like say a very special thank you to the People that dressed up in beach wear and donated to the charity in my office last week - so to all of you, Thank you so much for your efforts.
The training although hard is going well and becoming easier on the body everyday, we have measured interval training sessions that highlight our progress on a daily basis this means we are pushing our selves and each other harder, faster and for longer every day. The arrival of our "breathable Parkinson's Vests" has increased our out put too as they are so much easier to train in for long periods... Thank you Sarah Collard and Carol Stork at Parkinson's UK.
Also this week we registered and paid our membership fees to Cambridge City boat club (who, so far have been brilliant and very supportive despite my capsizing the single skull - I would like to point out that it was my first time in a boat that is literally no wider than a piece of A4 paper, and because you sit above the water every millimeter shift in weight counts... It is much harder than I'd anticipated) From the moment I got changed in the Boat shed to the moment we finished, sopping wet and freezing, I loved it!..
There is so much more going on that we can actually keep up with at the moment it's crazy, we have our Branded official Oar Raisers T's printed which are available to buy from one of us so please ask... they're very stylish and quite high quality. The website has gone live and looks immense but need a little tweaking, check it out at www.oarraisers.co.uk
that's all for now but the updates will be coming thick and fast as we get out on the water even more, so keep reading folks and please please spread the word!...
The training although hard is going well and becoming easier on the body everyday, we have measured interval training sessions that highlight our progress on a daily basis this means we are pushing our selves and each other harder, faster and for longer every day. The arrival of our "breathable Parkinson's Vests" has increased our out put too as they are so much easier to train in for long periods... Thank you Sarah Collard and Carol Stork at Parkinson's UK.
Also this week we registered and paid our membership fees to Cambridge City boat club (who, so far have been brilliant and very supportive despite my capsizing the single skull - I would like to point out that it was my first time in a boat that is literally no wider than a piece of A4 paper, and because you sit above the water every millimeter shift in weight counts... It is much harder than I'd anticipated) From the moment I got changed in the Boat shed to the moment we finished, sopping wet and freezing, I loved it!..
There is so much more going on that we can actually keep up with at the moment it's crazy, we have our Branded official Oar Raisers T's printed which are available to buy from one of us so please ask... they're very stylish and quite high quality. The website has gone live and looks immense but need a little tweaking, check it out at www.oarraisers.co.uk
that's all for now but the updates will be coming thick and fast as we get out on the water even more, so keep reading folks and please please spread the word!...
Monday 9 August 2010
Beach Party Fundraising event:
Saturday August 7th 2010, saw the second of the Oar Raiser's charity fundraising night at Nusha Bar Cambridge.
Although slow to start the masses began to appear and many were happy to give generously, the night was a big
success and raised almost £700 for Parkinson's UK.... That is pretty amazing when you consider that most of the
organising for the actual event took place some 3 hours before hand on Saturday afternoon.
All in all people seemed to enjoy themselves and by 22:30 the party was in full swing with particularly trendy dance
moves being displayed and cocktails being made by some incredibly talented bar staff throwing, spinning and catching
bottles, glasses and all sorts of iced treats - it was truly a skillful sight and a terrific night.
I'd like to add a special thanks to a few local businesses who donated gifts to cause that were raffled off at the end of
the evening, helping to raise even more money....
So thank you very much indeed to Cocoa Belle for their wonderful cupcakes and The Fudge Kitchen who gave a very weighty
gift box, along with Pizza hut, Frankie and Bennies, Nando's and Chiquito's who all gave meal vouchers at the last minute.
Most of all we should like to thank the management and staff at Nusha Bar itself, you are wonderful people and your
support so far has been unmatched - Thank you all for everything we hope we can continue to have as much fun with
you as we have had already.
Please keep following us and checking for new events, we have a few in planning stages but cannot yet confirm dates..
watch this space, there's 16 more months of fun to be had!...
Although slow to start the masses began to appear and many were happy to give generously, the night was a big
success and raised almost £700 for Parkinson's UK.... That is pretty amazing when you consider that most of the
organising for the actual event took place some 3 hours before hand on Saturday afternoon.
All in all people seemed to enjoy themselves and by 22:30 the party was in full swing with particularly trendy dance
moves being displayed and cocktails being made by some incredibly talented bar staff throwing, spinning and catching
bottles, glasses and all sorts of iced treats - it was truly a skillful sight and a terrific night.
I'd like to add a special thanks to a few local businesses who donated gifts to cause that were raffled off at the end of
the evening, helping to raise even more money....
So thank you very much indeed to Cocoa Belle for their wonderful cupcakes and The Fudge Kitchen who gave a very weighty
gift box, along with Pizza hut, Frankie and Bennies, Nando's and Chiquito's who all gave meal vouchers at the last minute.
Most of all we should like to thank the management and staff at Nusha Bar itself, you are wonderful people and your
support so far has been unmatched - Thank you all for everything we hope we can continue to have as much fun with
you as we have had already.
Please keep following us and checking for new events, we have a few in planning stages but cannot yet confirm dates..
watch this space, there's 16 more months of fun to be had!...
Saturday 7 August 2010
Monday 2 August 2010
A slight delay in our training regime, this week has seen rower 2 aka Chris Howard/me struck down with food poisoning and sever dehydration. After much medical attention and a drip in a tent administered by a paramedic I had recognised from the gym - I am well on the way to recovery, thankfully. Six whole weeks without smoking and going strong, I am fit and well to start full training from the 3rd of August... However I would like to make special mention of rower 1 today, as this week sees him "go under" for a much needed ear operation, we shall be caring for him on his departure from Addenbrookes this Wednesday evening (good luck buddy and enjoy the ride).
Tuesday of this week the Oar raiser's have their first meeting with the regional Parkinson's UK fundraising team, we are hoping to gain the wisdom of their experience and the support of the knowledge in our area.
Saturday the 7th August is the second of our fantastic fundraising event nights at NUSHA bar Cambridge where a beach themed party night will help us not only raise money for the charity but hopefully promote our massive challenge of crossing the Atlantic in 2011. Yes, we are aware that it sounds it long way off but actually most teams spend more than two years preparing and more people have successfully climbed Everest - it truly is a mammoth task!...
We are hoping our blog updates will start becoming more regular as the momentum builds, so please keep following and sending us any comments, advice or sponsorship support - it is all gratefully appreciated.
Off to a wedding in Derby now, So a quick Congrats to the Bride and Groom - Sue and Stuart (soon to be) Smith!...
Saturday 17 July 2010
Initial stages of Preparation:
We are the Oar Raisers - Chris Howard & Tom Dignum, In December 2011
we intend to Row across the Atlantic in the Wood Vale Challenge pairs
class boat race. Alongside this we are raising money for the charity
Parkinson's UK. We are hoping to raise £70K in corporate sponsorship and
a further £70 -£100K for the charity.
We have started this blog in order to document the journey over the next
17 months to share our efforts at fundraising, training and sponsorship
progress, hopefully we will generate enough interest to gain more support
over the coming time year.
incredibly busy researching various things and devising letter's to send out
for sponsorships and support but we have printed letter and stuffed them into
envelopes ready to fire out (a tedious and finger slicing exercise for Rower 1
Abigail - our chief supporter).
We are still strength training until the end of July, then we will start full fitness
and rowing technique training on the 1st of August.... this is the date I intended
to give up smoking for at least the next 20 months - however having just run out
of Goldern Virginia the quit has begun.
So far the event and our page has been received very well, thank you all for your
support and positivity. Please keep following and perhaps check out our coming
Twitter page, where will actively update on the move.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)