Bertrams Keep Walking

[caption id="attachment_4056" align="alignleft" width="200"] All ready to start...[/caption]

The HR team at Bertrams may have had to withdraw from the Ridgeway Walk owing to ill-health, but it hasn't stopped their determination to raise money for the Walk's charity, Sense.

On 19th August, Frances Plant and Sarah Bunting walked along the scenic Bure Valley Railway, with Fran walking both there and back to complete a total of 18 miles. Even more impressive as the day topped 28 degrees centigrade!

Helen Ives - the remaining team member - is due to complete her walk on September 1st/2nd with her family. She'll be taking her two-year old son Samuel along for the ride in a backpack! Looking forward to seeing how you get on, plus your photos Helen :)

At the time of writing the team have raised £303.70. You can help them reach their £500 target by visiting their Just Giving page

 

The Chicks Also Go Bowling

[caption id="attachment_3762" align="alignleft" width="300"] Team Alley Cats[/caption]

Our second report today is also about a bowling event. This time, Debbie Nichols of Wakefield House has a tale of The Chicks and 3 Amigos...

As part of the Chicks and the Beanstalk's fundraising for their Sense and Ridgeway Walk efforts, a tenpin bowling night was held on July 9th in Swindon. The opportunity was taken to involve the 3 Amigos bowling team, a team of visually impaired players, who you may remember were mentioned in Dispatches last year.

[caption id="attachment_3765" align="alignleft" width="300"] The 3 Amigos play in distinctive purple shirts[/caption]

After an exciting night's play, Ann Stone (Alan Stone's wife) was best female with 210 points and Dan Wilson playing for the 3 Amigos was best male player with 317 points. The 3 Amigos were the best team with an impressive total of  1256 points.

£710 was raised (with possibly more donations to come) which will be split between the 3 Amigos and Sense.

The 3 Amigos are again on the hunt for glory at their national championships, so we wish them well in their campaign.

It's a time when the word "Strike" has a positive meaning!

Ridgeway Walk Completed!

Congratulations to our Ridgeway Walkers! All 3 teams successfully completed their challenge on Sunday morning after a marathon length trek along the ancient Ridgeway. Chicks and the Beanstalk from Wakefield House crossed the finish line after ten hours, with the other two teams taking eleven and eleven and half hours respectively.

We'll feature their travellers' tales as soon as they've recovered sufficiently from their trek to tell us all about it. In the meantime, here are some photos of Borehamwood's The Good the Bad, The Ugly and Mark (first 4 photos), then two of  Chicks and the Beanstalk.

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All set ready to go[gallery]

Those Boots Are Made For Walking

As Community Week draws to a close, our thoughts turn to the walkers set to tackle the Ridgeway Walk this weekend.

At midnight on Saturday our teams - Borehamwood, Chicks and the Beanstalk and NottinghamSixthSense will don their walking boots to tackle the 26 miles to be completed within 12 hours. Unlike most marathons - which are relatively flat - they have the ups and downs of the Ridgeway to tackle too!

Debbie Nicholas (from Chicks and the Beanstalk) said:

We’re looking forward to the challenging 26 mile walk. Last weekend we walked 16 miles, which included the hill up to Barbury Castle, so we know exactly what’s in store for us as we head towards the finish line.  We’ve been busy, both training and fundraising.  The time and effort the team has put in shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s been very rewarding and fun at the same time!

On Sunday, Smiths News staff, family and friends will be waiting at Barbury Castle to congratulate them on their achievement.  I also hear a rumour that Mark Charlton aims to be there, fresh from completing his From S to N bike ride (floods permitting!)

I'm sure everyone at Smiths News wishes all the teams well. Fingers crossed the weather is set fair for you this weekend and be sure to take plenty of photos, so we can see how you got on!

A Good Day for a Cream Tea

[caption id="attachment_3265" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Giving you a 'flavour' of the afternoon[/caption]

The weather was relatively kind for the cream tea fundraiser Wakefield House's Chicks and the Beanstalk held on the 17th June in Liddington. About 35 people came to sample all the goodies on offer and £867 was raised towards the team's target for their Ridgeway Walk this Sunday :)

Good luck to them and all the other Ridgeway Walk teams flying the flag for Smiths News!

Meet “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and Mark”

[caption id="attachment_2729" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Left to Right: Cheryl Fowler, Mark Lapworth, Daniel Porter and Nisha Thaker"][/caption]

Borehamwood are the latest Ridgeway Walk team to introduce themselves :)

Nisha Thaker says they're embarking on the walk because of the fantastic work Sense does in supporting and campaigning for deafblind adults, children and their families...

...Our team are braving the 26 Mile Ridgewalk from Midnight on Saturday 30^th June 2012 in aid of the Charity Sense (who support and campaign for deafblind people and their families). It is a tough challenge but we know that we can do it with the support of our colleagues, friends and families. Please take a look at our Just Giving page and donate anything you can!  Thank you!

The Ridgeway Walkers Are Briefed

[caption id="attachment_2678" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Who's been up hill and down dale?"][/caption]

Hard on the heels of meeting Chicks and the Beanstalk, we have news of the Ridgeway Walk briefing day held in Oxfordshire earlier this month. The aim was for the teams to meet the organisers, to learn lost more about the event, ask lots of questions and come away well motivated to get on with their training.

We've had updates from three of the teams on how the day went...

Vicky Porter reports:

The Borehamwood Group Team (The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and Mark) attended the information day. It was very informative and was a great help with regards to what kind of kit needs to be taken, the challenges we face, safety procedures & first aid.

As a Support Driver, for me it also explained more about what my actual role would be in the Walk.

There was also a representative from Sense who explained more about the Charity itself and how the money will be used.

The Team came away really excited and even more determined to Raise the money for what they see as a really worthy cause.

Debbie Nicholas from Wakefield House said:

[caption id="attachment_2679" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Who's been out in the wilds?"][/caption]

Jan [Cannings] and I attended from Chicks & the Beanstalk. We found it an informative day. The guy running the meeting was a mountain leader from the adventure company organising the walk. He is very passionate about all things walking and put a lot of enthusiasm into the day. We were given an overview and we now know that the 26 mile walk starts at Burydown near West Isley.

We will be coming off the Ridgeway for part of the walk and know where the check-in points and safety points are located. I was surprised to learn that apart from toilet facilities at our start point, there will be no other facilities en route therefore walkers being encouraged to go ‘eau naturale’!! He talked a lot about kit, hypothermia and health and safety…..anyone would have thought we were climbing the rock face in the middle of winter….not the (flat) Ridgeway in the middle of summer…..but he meant well!

There was also a representative from Sense who gave a short presentation on fundraising and showed a video of various people they support, which was very moving.

All in all, it was an enjoyable and informative event.. Jan and I followed up with a 7 mile walk in the countryside and along the Thames, which was lovely.

Carol Patterson from Nottingham Sixth Sense added the information given at the briefing was extremely useful and gave an update on how training's going:

[caption id="attachment_2677" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Did you use your Sixth Sense to guess Nottingham's the answer?"][/caption]

As well as training alone Nottingham’s team have had the opportunity to train together with a couple of long walks the last one being a trip to Kinder Scout which was about 9.5 miles. Our next training walk is scheduled for 13^th May where we will be around the Kinder Scout area again but have a route planned for 20 miles.

I have attached a couple of photographs from our previous walk [see left and throughout this post - Ed], we need really to get one of our chaps at Nottingham to take on of us all together.

Thanks for the update on how things are going everyone. Those views of the area around Kinder Scout are beautiful Carol!

Meet Chicks and the Beanstalk

[caption id="attachment_2635" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Richard, Debbie, Jan & Anita"][/caption]

We are Richard Webb, Debbie Nicholas, Anita Kellett and Jan Cannings aka Chicks & the Beanstalk from Wakefield House, and for this year’s Community Week we are donning our boots to walk the 26 mile RidgeWalk on 1^st July in aid of Sense.  Please donate today to help us reach our fundraising target of £2,000 to help Sense provide valuable support and services to those with impaired sight and sound.

It is easy to make a donation by visiting the team's Just Giving page. On there they say:

Chicks & the Beanstalk will be grateful to receive your donation, however large or small, to help our cause :-)

They also say they're training very hard - let us know how you're getting on!