The “Make My Mummy Better” campaign has
been set up to fund treatment that I am receiving
in Germany for metastatic breast cancer
Registered Charity Address:
Friends Supporting Friends
Make My Mummy Better Campaign
Old Courthouse
High Street
Fairford
Gloucestershire
GL7 4AD
Registered Charity No. 1113977
Older Events
Pimms and Strawberries Afternoon - Sunday 7th September 2008
A big thank you to Pat and Gordon Bateman for hosting the event at their house.
It would have been great to have had the sun shinning, sitting in the garden with a glass of Pimms. But unfortunately the weather was not on our side. It was, however, a very enjoyable afternoon, thanks to the Bateman family. Both adults and children had a lovely time.
The afternoon raised £368.
Three Peaks Sponsored Challenge - 26/27 July 2008
NEWTON VEHICLE RENTAL in Warwick kindly donated two vehicles to be used for the challenge. We would like to thank David James, Assistant Branch Manager, for organising the donation for us. It is greatly appreciated.
Mani has asked me to tell you about the 3 peaks challenge which I (Amanda, Mani’s sister-in-law) completed along with Simon (Mani’s husband), Mohan (Mani’s Dad), Gordon (my Dad), Kyle (my brother), Stella and Mike (friends of mine), Pam, Kiran and Jo (friend’s of Mani’s cousin).
Well, the great news is that we did it!!!! We conquered all 3 Peaks, sadly not in 24 hours but we were pleased with our 27 hours, and as we staggered down Snowden it certainly felt a great accomplishment. Besides this we raised over £7,000 which is fantastic and certainly helped spur us on at moments when we felt like sitting down and giving up!!!
I would like to say a big thank you to our drivers, Harminder and Jeevan (Mani’s brother and sister) and Chris. They not only drove us safely between mountains but came up trumps by producing a bundle of McDonald’s burgers when we arrived at the bottom of Ben Nevis and chicken and mushroom pot noodles for breakfast when we came down Scarfell Pike – at that moment in time - delicious!!
BEN NEVIS
After a long drive we arrived at Fort William and started our 1,344m climb just after 5 pm. Personally I found Ben Nevis the hardest and most daunting by far; I’m not sure if it was the unrelenting rubble path climb or the fact that a few people had told me it was easier than Scarfell Pike (which I had climbed previously). We finished our descent and arrived at the base of Ben Nevis around 2 hours behind schedule and in the pitch black - not a great start. But we had some good memories, most notably the wedding party we met on route to the summit, the groom and most of the male guests were in kilts and the bride, who was sporting a pretty white dress and climbing boots, looked as pretty as a picture.
SCARFELL PIKE
Our next challenge was 6 hours away in Cumbria – Scarfell Pike a mere 978m above sea level. Our drivers, despite no sleep, drove us safely through rain and fog to The Lakes. This was a slightly easier climb than Ben Nevis and once above cloud level we had some beautiful scenery to raise our spirits and weary limbs. We kept bumping into the same group of lads we'd met on Ben Nevis the night before who were doing the challenge too which was nice because we reached the summit of both mountains at more or less the same time!
MOUNT SNOWDEN
So to our final destination, the 1,085m peak known as Mount Snowdon in North Wales. We arrived and were on our way by 4pm, this time accompanied by Harminder (Mani’s brother/my husband) who decided to join us for the last climb. We took the Miners Track, which was supposed to be a ‘challenging’ track but seemed to stay flat for ages. This put us under a false sense of security and soon we saw the incredibly steep track looming ahead of us! We met our group of lads again on the way up and we struggled up together. We finally met up with the train track and followed it the last bit to the summit. The boys we had met along the way were already there – with a bottle of champagne which they shared with us - delicious!!
On the last descent, Kyle and Harminder went back down the Miners Track but the rest of us followed the railway line - completely fatigued, knowing all the while this would be the end of our poor toe nails this last bit felt like it took forever as it's a very long route but a lot easier on the knees than the Miners. We reached the bottom at 20.45 relieved that it was over but kind of not wanting it to end!
So all in all our challenge took us around 27 hours to complete and mileage wise, from door to door we had travelled approximately 1,250 miles (including the drive to Ben Nevis) which is about the same distance as driving to Lake Geneva and back!!! We were all trying to work out which of the three peaks was the hardest and it's almost impossible to tell. They were so different and each one had it's own good points and challenging aspects.
Thank you to everyone that sponsored us, your generosity overwhelmed me and certainly gave me the determination to complete this challenge – I am already mulling over when I will do it again – and next time I want to complete it within 24 hours.
80's Night - Saturday 19th July 2008
Our 80’s night was a huge success, thanks to the support of all our friends and family.
The venue was the Cotton Club (University owned bar on Redlands Road) and the evening kicked off at 7.30pm. I was very nervous as we had never organised anything like this before. I so desperately wanted everyone to have a really good night. I was a bit concerned that at 8.00pm the DJ’s were playing songs that were perfect to dance to but the dance floor was still empty. Simon kept telling me to be patient and that once everyone had had a drink or two it would be fine. And sure enough it was. Gisella Blackburn and Gail Critchlow started off the dancing. It was great to see them having a good time dancing around their handbags (literally). The dance floor was more or less full for the rest of the evening.
I would like to say a HUGE thank you to 'Reading 107 fm radio DJ's Danny and Nige. They were absolutely fantastic. Without them doing such a great job the night could have taken a completely different direction. Instead, I think, most people, if not everyone, had a good night. I know I did. I haven’t danced so much in over 7 years. This is the first gig that they have done, so they really had to start from scratch. Nige spent quite a bit of time and money buying the music and putting a playlist together. He also sourced all the DJ equipment and lighting and they didn't charge me a penny for anything. They both gave up their Saturday night to help me out. That means a huge amount to me and I am really grateful.
Secondly, I would like to thank Amanda, Pally and Tarj for helping me organise the evening. Especially for the times I was just feeling too tired or ill to do anything.
We have also had quite a few generous donations to go towards the night, especially by friends of Steve Lutwyche (birthday boy), that were unable to attend the evening. So thank you to you all.
I would also like to thank the following for donating items for the raffle and auction:
• Cranfield Golf Academy
• Liverpool Football Club
• Sonning Golf Club
• Zappas Hairdressers
• Steve and Lisa Cock
• Claire Orr
• Andrew Lloyd Webber's Office
• Mercedes Benz
• The Island
• The Griffin
• Jennings Butchers
• Salon One Hairdressers
• Wordplay
• M&S
• Sarah Chambers
• Riverside Restaurant
• Suprema Dry Cleaners
And of course, everyone that attended. Thank you for supporting me. I hope you all had a great time. It was lovely to see so many people on the dance floor.
The night raised £1,600. I am absolutely over the moon with this and I assure you that it will be spent very wisely on my treatment.
St Johns Road BBQ - Saturday 28th June 2008
The 'St John's Preservation Society, Residents Group' held their annual street BBQ on Saturday 28th June. The BBQ is held in celebration of St John's day. Each year the residents choose a charity that they would like to help and this year, thanks to Clare Orr, they decided to donate all the proceeds to the 'Make My Mummy Better' campaign.
The BBQ raised an impressive £400. Considering I have never met any of the people involved, including Clare, as she is a friend of my sister-in-law, I was very touched that complete stangers had done so much for me. I was also really touched with the kind words, written by Anila Martin, in the card accompanying the cheques. The kindness shown by people like the residents of St John's Road boosts my strength and the fight that I need to carry on when things get really tough.
I would like to thank all the residents, The Lyndhurst Pub for providing the food and the Retreat Pub for providing the drinks.
Thank you all.
Some of the residents will also be supporting us at the 80's night at the Cotton Club on the 19th July. I look forward to meeting them and thanking them in person.
Afternoon Play - Friday 27th June 2008
An afternoon of tea, biscuits and play at my sister-in-law's house on Friday 27th June from 2pm onwards.
There was tea/coffee and biscuits on offer together with lots of toys to entertain the kiddies in the garden - with a voluntary donation of £5 per adult.
Coffee Morning - Monday 2nd June 2008
We held a coffee morning with a cake stall at our house. This was our first fund-raising event and it was a huge success. We raised an amazing £425.50.
Thank you to everyone that baked cakes, biscuits, flapjacks, etc. for the day. They all looked amazing and I'm sure tasted great too. I know the ones that I ate were lovely. There were a few people that could not make it to the coffee morning because of other commitments, but still managed to bake items and get them to me. Thank you. Others purchased goodies from the cake stall or made very generous donations. Thank you too.
Mya and Joshua both helped with the baking!!!
Back to Forthcoming Events
