The Blog

I have just received word from Thomas, today that they are back on safe ground, in the comforts of a London hotel room. They will stay there overnight and return to Glasgow tomorrow morning. I'm told they have lots of gruesome photos and even more gruesome stories! It could only be the completion of another charity challenge! I will update the website with all the news tomorrow night.

The time of reckoning has arrived! After raising a total of over eight and a half thousand pounds, Thomas and Andrena will be driven to Glasgow Central Station tomorrow morning. They will then catch their courtesy Virgin train to London Kinds Cross. After a short underground journey to London Heathrow, they will then stay in their complimentary Aurora Hotel room, with their minds focused solely on the challenge ahead. While they are in Vietnam, our fundraising will continue as normal so please dig deep. I will update the website as soon as I hear anything from the dynamic duo. We wish them all the very best!!

This blog entry is to serve as a big thankyou for our most recent JustGiving donation. We understand that imost people, including myself, may have reservations donating to a cause run by, it has to be said, total strangers. And yet our recent JustGiving donation was made by a gentleman who heard about our efforts through a local newspaper article. Furthermore, he has even offered us his leftover Vietnamese currency from a trek he went on not long ago. This in no means takes away from our other JustGiving donations. Every donation gives everyone such a wonderful lift and Gift Aid makes every donation that bit more, at no cost to yourself.

Only days after we got our final sum from Snooks, we got our sum from the Arthurlie Inns quiz night. The night was an enjoyable one and, as much as I couldn't make it, I have spoken to those who went and they all say it was money well spent, which is always good news. The money raised has been added to our fundraising total on our 'Finances' page. For the record, Thomas and Andrea won the quiz so well done to them!

We knew the Snooks fundraising dinner was going to be one of our biggest events of the year, and it didn't let us down. A phenomenal total of £1003.00 was raised from the dinner and this has been added to our total. This money has sent us well on our way, but as usual, we never stop. We are always arranging more fundraising nights to add more vital funds to our total. The next on the calendar is the Blackford Hotel disco and raffle night later this week. So come along if you can!!

Thomas today took part in a photo shoot for our new coverers, the Paisley Express. Thomas had to cycle, in what can only be described as horrendous weather conditions down to Snooks, where he met the photographer and a series of shots were taken inside the restaurant in light of the up incoming dinner and cabaret night. This comes only days after he met the Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy MP, for a series of photographs for a press release. Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

We are delighted to announce that the Blackford Hotel, near Auchterarder, Perthshire, is hosting a charity disco and raffle night on 14th November, 8 'til late. This is the latest in a number of up incoming charity nights we have organised, namely the Arthurlie Inns Quiz night as well as the dinner with cabaret entertainment with Dean Park at Snooks Steakhouse in Barrhead, Glasgow. Please see the 'Recent and Forthcoming Events' page for information on all of these fabulous nights!

We have arranged a fantastic quiz night in B arrhead's local pub, The Arthurlie Inns. The Inns have hosted many many quiz nights and they're always a great success. The only difference between this and previous ones, is that there are some wonderful prizes on offer (see post below)! The night has been arranged for Sunday 9th November. Please see the 'Recent and Upcoming Events' page for more info.

We have received a number of prizes so far for our forthcoming raffle and auction events. These prizes are listed as follows, with those who kindly donated them in brackets:

Certain things happen along these fundraising expeditions that reminds you just how much you rely on the simple kindness of others, both individuals and companies. This is one of those times as today, we received word of free hotel accomodation at Heathrow Airport on the night before Thomas and Andrena fly out to Hanoi. The hotel that gave this priceless donation is Arora International Hotel. The confirmation form also came with a kind letter, offering their best wishes for our trek. Thankyou very much indeed! Please note a link to their website has been posted on the 'Links & Sponsors' page.

Little has been reported so far on Thomas and Andrena's planned training trip to Wales next week, where they will have a chance to up their fitness, get valuable tips and learn more about the challenge that lies ahead. They leave Glasgow this Friday and head for Pen-y-Pass in Northern Wales. They arrive Friday evening and get a short slideshow presentation on what is expected in Vietnam and what is needed between now and then. An early rise on Saturday morning sees them set off on a hilly trek passing Coed Y Brenin and then along the A5 to Llandegla Circuit the following day. PLEASE NOTE: The total of £290.00 that is required for this trip for our two cyclists is NOT coming out of the fundraising account - it is being paid for by Thomas and Andrena themselves. We wish them well.

Andrena received a very kind £40.00 individual donation as sponsorship for the challenge, now a mere three months away! Thankyou to that individual and all who have sponsored us so far. Every little and large helps! Incidentally, we received our first online donation to get our all new JustGiving fundraising off to a flier!

Vietnam may get a lot of bad press for it's colourful history and for the fact its so rarely visited, however a lot of people have been in touch recently who have been to Vietnam on holiday and every remark has been positive - saying it is a beautiful country with fantastic architecture and tourist attractions. Roll on November!

A few technical difficulties prevented us from updating the site the past couple of weeks. We discovered the problem is with Zonealarm firewall, so we managed to sort it and we're back on-line. A lot of updating to do!!

From 07/07 to 25/07, Thomas helped take part in a SEMSA summer academy, which featured sports, athletics and the like for a number of local children. As well as seeing it as an ideal way of keeping fit over the summer months, he also thought it would be ideal to do a spot of fundraising. As such, he managed to raise a total of £65.30, which has been added to the running total. Note, this was given directly to DiabetesUK and as such has since been deducted from our running total.

With Adam seemingly ready to follow through on the tandem sky-dive (forgive the pun), he has planned his first mini-fundraiser to help raise the £295 that is necessary. He intends to ask family and friends to pick a Lotto bonus ball (1 to 49), with each ball costing £1. The fundraiser will run for four consecutive Saturdays and if your ball turns out to be the bonus ball on any of the draws, you win an instant cash-in-hand £20. Not bad, eh?

A big thankyou to Virgin Trains for their kind donation of two train tickets to and from London, where Thomas and Andrena's flights depart and arrive. This gave us a saving of £102.90 per person! Special thanks go to Elsa Redpath for helping us - greatly appreciated and Virgin, doing this for the second year running, are now proudly our first sponsor. See the 'Links' page for their entry.

Thomas and Andrena have now confirmed their chosen route. Unfortunately, it's all on hard copy so it might take a bit of time to transfer them to the website. Keep checking "The Route" page for updates

After the success of last year's CycleUK4DiabetesUK website, we have made another one for our fundraising attempt of cycling the full length of Vietnam