Cambridgeshire Branch: Fundraising

Joe Gilbert

After having my original fundraiser of an ultra marathon over Snowdonia cancelled, I've booked in my next challenge which is to run an ultra marathon in the North Yorkshire Moors in October.

To make sure it's a challenge I've spent the last few months eating crisps and drinking beer to make sure I'm in the worst shape possible and then only given myself enough time to do half a training plan...  I'll then train in the flattest part of the country and get Leo to ensure I get hardly any sleep to really make sure it's tough.

I really want to push on to hit my target soon and I'm not far off, if there's anything you can do to help potentially cure the worst thing that's ever happened to our family please throw even just £1 to my just giving page. It is an absolutely horrific disease and it's been really difficult to watch.

JUSTGIVING.COM

Joe's fundraising for my Mum

Help Joe Gilbert raise money to support Motor Neurone Disease Association

Fundraising for the MNDA by Brown & Co, Property & Business Consultants LLP

Having been diagnosed with MND in March this year, I was extremely pleased that from a personal point of view my fellow partners in Brown and Co chose the MND Association as their charity for the current year of 2019.

Various events across the regional offices have taken place so far but more locally the Huntingdon office decided to organise a charity walk around the perimeter of Grafham Water totalling 9.2 miles. This took place on Sunday 22 September with a fantastic turnout and show of support from friends, colleagues and clients alike numbering some 200 in total.

Donations were also kindly received from many parties who were unable to participate on the day; the total raised so far for the walk alone has now reached an astounding £24,500 with monies still coming in.

I am proud to announce that Brown and Co so far has managed to raise a grand total of over £45,000 from all the activities under taken to date. Throughout the rest of the year, further events are taking place; a timed online auction was very successful featuring varied and unusual lots from experiences and holiday breaks to season tickets and memorabilia. The sum of bids for the auction alone at present totals approximately £21,000.

I am truly humbled by the generosity of everyone and looking forward to seeing what our continued efforts can bring.

Chris Purllant
Member living with MND

The Sky's the Limit

Jumping out of a plane from thousands of feet would be a daunting prospect for most of us. Well, no one seems to have told Maz Hunnable, who wasn’t going to let living with MND get in the way of an airborne adventure. Here’s what she had to say about it…

“My sky dive was amazing. The red devils treated me like royalty - they were so caring. I was worried about my legs being taped together, but understood it had to be done. It worked really well and Nathan who I jumped with was fantastic with the help he gave me. I had so many family members there to support me and 4 of them also did the jump. So far I have raised almost 5 grand and I’m really pleased with the amount.”

Bucket Collections at local stations.

Peterborough       £382.70

Huntingdon          £305.09

St Neots                £276.40

Cambridge           £269.32

Ely                          £482.09

Total     £1715.60

The Lyke Wake Walk

In support of Motor Neurone Disease for research and the local Cambridgeshire group, a team of four first time Lyke Wake Walk (LWW) attempts met with success both on the crossing and in fundraising where over £3,330 was raised for MND. There was an unsuccessful walker we also supported and despite failure at the start of Wheeldale, he raised £550 for the Addenbrookes Kidney Patients Association.

They all set off together in the morning light at 04.57 at the LWW stone at Cod Beck and exactly 15 hours later they got to the finish stone at the end of Stony Marl Moor and Beacon Howe at 19.57.
Times for the sections were only notable as they got impetus near the end and flew across Fylingdales in under 2hours 30 mins. The weather was beautiful all day and the surfaces were dry for the most part. All the participants were first time walkers on the LWW and ranged in age from 59 to 69 – none of them had ever walked more than 30 miles before, so it was a great achievement.

Completers were: Carol Deytrikh-White; John White; Jonathan Stafford; Tim Bryson.
Andrew Norton: Cottenham Fundraising Group for MND

Canoe challenge 2019

It was an early start on the Saturday of the last bank holiday weekend in May. Eight brave people set of from Northampton on the river Nene with an incredible 69 miles and 39 locks to negotiate in three days. The weather was brilliant that Saturday and the back-up car went to the first meet point whilst the set up crew went off to the first night’s campsite. Shock horror, a phone call from the team, one of them was sinking and having to bail out his kayak. The set-up crew was summoned to the first meet and they carried a canoe some 400 yards to the lock near Billing. Upon arrival of the team our ex-Seal team/Marine member Adam Cunnington, owned up to not checking his rear bung which was allowing water to enter. Lesson learnt they all set off for the middle Nene yacht club and fish and chips for tea. After a great stay at the yacht club and a hearty breakfast, I can highly recommend this place if you sail or want to learn to sail, so friendly and cheap yearly membership.

Day two started with our only unexpected Eskimo well Leo Amies fell out of his kayak so we had a ten minute wait whilst it emptied. The team set off for the hardest part of the challenge to Yarwell Mill. The weather on day two was awful with heavy rain and the odd thunderstorm. Again big thanks go to Yarwell Mill for letting us pitch up and use their facilities for free. The team made good time and arrived in plenty of time to shower and rest before we had beef stew and bread which was yummy.

The third day was the easiest for locks, only four but was a long slog as the team had long distances to paddle. But they made great time and finished in good time on the bank holiday Monday.
So big thanks to the teams Russell Huber, David Crooke, Leo Amies, Adam Cunnington, Katie Marshall, Jacqui Allen and Isaac Allen. Also huge thanks to Mick Huber and Malcolm Clifford for their help with the event.

Thanks also go to John Miller from Proteus canoe club who taught the team to paddle in a straight line and to the Peterborough Sea Cadets who let us loose on their kayaks with their life vests and paddles.

BIG10SKA Band

This is a picture of BIG10SKA Band who played at the British Legion, Histon, in aid of Cambridgeshire branch. Organised by Maureen West and her family in memory of her son Bret. It was a brilliant evening, raising nearly £2000 for the branch. 

Gunthorpe NISA

A great big thank you to Mr Billy Maher and the staff of the Gunthorpe NISA in Peterborough for their fantastic cheques for £1000. Mr Maher unfortunately lost his father to MND.

Ethan Bennett, Billy Maher, Simon Crooke (branch fundraising coordinator), Shobra Maher and Sandra Starkey.

The Peterborough Farm Machinery Preservation Society 

The Peterborough Farm Machinery Preservation Society held a ploughing day and raised £2060 for the branch. A great day was had by all and the cheque was handed over at a meeting of the group at Childers in Whittlesey.

Garden Party

For the 3rd year running Pam Wilkie opened her lovely garden in Hail Weston for our Garden Party. The weather was very warm but there was plenty of drinks and Strawberry Cream Teas available. Over £800 pounds was raised - half for MND Association Cambridgeshire.

Bucket Collections

Bucket collections at Peterborough, Huntingdon, Cambridge and Ely stations raised approx. £1500 - less than previous years probably due to the timetable disruptions!

Three Peaks Challenge

After a long long journey up to Scotland on the Friday we settled down to a good nights sleep. Late May in Scotland turned out to be quite nice and at 3pm we were sat at the bottom of Ben Nevis in 27C. The seven climbers set off with loads of water and sunscreen. But still it was a hot hard climb. After three hours they reached the top of Nevis and had probably the best view of all three mountains.

After coming down and eating, we boarded the minibus and the back up car and set off down to England to climb Scafell Pyke. We arrived in the early hours of the morning only being 30minutes behind our target times.

The team set of in the dark and started the long slog up the Pyke. The morning showed a fantastic sunrise and along with it a pick up of the wind. The back up team got a bit of sleep after five hours of driving. After an hour and a half we all awoke, worried that the team on the hill were OK. The wind had picked up but it was still hot and sticky.

On the hill the team were making good progress and weren't far from the top of the hill but the wind was blowing a gale and one of the team got a bit of vertigo doing a small climb. This caused the team to have to find another way to the summit. Which meant spending 11 hours on the mountain. This meant we weren't going to do it in under 24 hrs. But the team made it back to the base, had a filling meal of chicken tikka masala and rice and boarded the transport for the trip into Wales.

This trip went very well and we made good time as we turned of the A55 just past Conway we came across good ole Welsh weather, yep the skies opened and the thunder and lighting started. We got to the Pig trail and the team set off. No need for sun cream and tons of water, enough of that was falling out the sky and we soon lost sight of them in the mist. The weather was wet dry wet dry for the five hours that they took to climb and get back down. At the top there was zero visibility.

The whole team tired and hungry made their way to the accommodation, getting there at 11pm on Sunday. We hadn't done it in under 24 hrs but we had done it in under 30 hrs and that alone was a great achievement given the weather. We mostly sat at 12.30 am doing what all good people would do, no, not sleep but eat Chinese of course. The next morning at about we think it was 6am an alarm went off and my eldest Daniel goes oops that's mine sorry everyone, I can't print the reply but let's just say not the flavour of the month lol.

So who was the team? Well, firstly the drivers, me Simon Crooke, Mick Huber and Malcolm Clifford, they were the cooks also. The climbers were Daniel Crooke, David Crooke, Katie Marshall, Laura Whitwell Martin Smith, Leo Amies and Alex Clementson-Walker.

Money is still coming in but at the last count we were just over the £2k mark.

Well done to the whole team for a great effort and a great challenge.

Simon Crooke

Fundraising co-ordinator

Carol Chiverton's Mindfulness Day at Ely Cathedral Centre raised £500

Own and Holly

Owen and Holly completed the Great North Run in 1 hour 57 minutes and have so far raised about £1000

Cambridge Building Society and Cambridge News Awards

Last evening Maire and I attended the reception to hear the results of the tokens collected by the general public and sent in to support this scheme.

The Branch came 6th out of the 16 charities/organisations selected with a cheque presented for £862. This is more than the £570 we received last year.

This is a great effort by our members and others - Maire in particular rallied her Day Centre members and submitted I believe nearly 200 tokens.

The Mayor of Peterborough's Charity Events raised £46,636 in total. The share coming to Cambridgeshire MND Association is £15,525.

This a magnificent effort and our thanks go to all involved.

RAF Band Concert

The RAF Band Concert raised over £1600. Approx. £1100 will go to research with the balance going to support local people living with MND.

Cheque presentation from Royal Air Force Wyton Area Voluntary Band, money raised at a concert held at Peterborough Cathedral with The Band of the Royal Air Force College in February this year (2017) donated to Motor Neurone Disease by band members and Station Commander Wing Commander Phil Owen. 

Way of the Roses

Over the last May bank holiday 11 brave souls ventured north to Morecombe to start a 170 mile cycle ride over to Bridlington. All 11 were very cheerful as they started off on the Saturday morning from the Eric Morecombe statue on the seafront. We started off in lovely sunshine and a good pace was made by all.

This lasted until the afternoon when thunder hail and heavy rain set in. despite this everyone made it to the overnight stop. On the Sunday we had lovely weather and again made it to the overnight stop point. On the Monday it was a very different day again with all cyclists making it to the east coast at Bridlington however the sea mist had set in meaning Flamborough Head was not visible.

Well done to them all in raising just over £5k for the branch.

Thanks go to Sarah Tim and Katie Bates, Daniel Crooke, Laura Whitwell, Katie Marshall, Miles and Helen Barker, who did it on a tandem, Micheal Fletcher Leanne Lenton and John Hinchcliffe. Also a huge thanks to Mick Huber for driving the minibus and trailer.

Rugby Match

On Friday 5 May at Cambridge university Rugby Club two teams of amateur rugby players came together to play a game and to raise money for MND.

The sides, made up of one from the Constructors and one from the Contractors, played their third charity match. It was a close match with some great rugby played, and some funny rugby too, but a great day was had by all. In total just under £6k was raised and thanks go to Mott Mcdonald and SDC for organising and sponsoring the event.

Zumba

A group of Ladies came together on Saturday 8 July to do a Zumba session at Shirley School in Cambridge. It was a hot day and the ladies did fantastically well to make it through the tough session. I think however the offer of cake and tea afterwards spurred a lot on. Including a raffle, the morning raised £386. Thanks go to Sophie Lucia ad Donna West for organising the event.

Open Garden

Sunday 2 July saw Pam Wilkie open her garden for the branch for the second year. Again the afternoon was well attended and those that came had lovely scones cream and strawberries. They were then entertained by the Hilton Ukulele band. The afternoon raised over £650 and thanks go to Pam and her husband for opening up their beautiful garden.

June Awareness Month

As normal during the awareness month we did our railway station collections starting at Peterborough then every week doing Huntingdon, St Neots, Cambridge and Ely. It was nice to see the campaign posters at Ely and the generosity of people in the county again was superb donating £2,265 to the branch.

Pam Wilkie's Garden Party raised approx. £400 - half to the MND Association

Massed Band Concert raised almost £1000

Sponsored walk around Ferry Meadows raised over £500

Bucket collections at Peterborough, St Neots, Cambridge, Ely and Kings Cross stations raised over £2500

This is the day we had our hair cut off for MND.

Aarron, decided to grow his hair then have it cut off for MND. But would only do it if his Mum would too. Hers came almost all the way down her back. I (Sarah) then some how volunteered, I think to give Rebakah some moral support, thinking it would never happen. Then a date was set, 16th April, in the hope that at least we have the summer for it to grow back!! The 16th came and there was no going back, so we went for the chop!!! A number 2 for us girls and bald for Aarron. Altogether we managed to raise just over £500. Some has gone on ‘Just Giving,’ but Rebekah is hoping to do the Grafham walk/ride later this month and will take the rest of our money there.

We do it in memory of our Mum, Nan and Gt Nan, Cathleen North, who died three years ago of this awful decease and we help make others as comfortable as possible who find themselves with it.

THE CAMBRIDGE BUILDING SOCIETY - CASH FOR THE COMMUNITY raised approx. £600

Rebecca Smith on behalf of Ted Hawkins "Silence Speaks" project raised approx. £600

This year, we've seen some truly remarkable fundraising by our brilliant supporters. Some examples of the kind of things people have done to raise money for MND Association are below...

Kevin Burke's 3-part Challenge

The Sponsored Fishing Match raised over £500

Three Peaks Challenge raised over £700

Mods and Rockers Ride to Hunstanton raised £695

Bucket Collection outside Cineworld Cinemas showing "The Theory of Everything" raised almost £500.

The Ice Bucket Challenge has so far raised over £2000 for branch funds

Flaming June Half Marathon raised £1300

Westgarth Run in memory of Sue Westgarth raised almost £3000

Walk to Defeat Derbyshire 6 Dales Walk raised £9000 to be split between Carol Deytrikh-Whites Fund, Ned Cullens Fighting Fund and the Cambridgeshire Branch.

As well as these events, friends and families of people with MND have run their own small fund raisers which contribute significantly to our funds.

Alister Bundclark completed his bike ride across Spain for the MND Association. He cycled from the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, down to Portsmouth, coast to coast across Spain, taking a ferry to La Palma, and then cycling up to the observatory at Roque de los Muchachos.

It was an incredible experience and so far raised £1838 in memory of his father Peter. A local newspaper has been in touch so hopefully that may mean some more donations in the next week or so to reach the £2000 target.