Well, last weekend was our mammoth fundraising evening to help raise funds for Maggie’s cancer caring centres as part of the Team Jones 2011 marathon challenges. The weeks leading up to it were stressful as we wanted to ensure the night was as perfect as possible and that all who were coming were going to enjoy themselves and that we would raise as much money as possible - that’s a lot of pressure on only a few people; would we sell all the tickets, had we got enough raffle prizes and, if so, were they good enough to get people to actually buy some tickets, would people actually turn up, was the music the right style to get people up on the dance floor, had we raised people’s expectations too much on what to expect on the night??! Honestly, I now have a huge amount of respect for party organisers who go through this week after week after week! The team at Maggie’s were incredibly supportive and provided us with the largest ream of banners I have ever seen, a box full of balloons and some t shirts to wear on the night (wardrobe crisis averted – thank you Charley @ Maggie’s!) which helped us dress the venue and made it look totally amazing and special.
It was a long day preparing the venue, putting up tables and table centre pieces, helping the band set up (I say helping but should really state that dancing & singing along to their sound check was as far as we went!) setting up the raffle prize table and making sure there were enough nibbles on the tables for our supportive family & friends but when 7pm came, we were as ready as we would ever be...and we really shouldn’t have worried! As a stream of guests arrived, they were greeted by Chris & Kev on the door and gently approached (I think hounded is really such a harsh word!) by Suzie, Sam & myself to buy raffle tickets for our fantastic draw later in the evening. I mean, who could resist the chance to win a Wii games console, a massive choctastic hamper, a trial flight in a glider, a family ticket to Cadbury World, bottles of booze, cuddly toys, a family photo session, a pink plunger and afternoon tea for two at The Randolph to name but a few! The fantastic live music, courtesy of Steve & Paul Mellin aka 20th Century Pop (www.20thcenturypop.co.uk) went down a storm and got everyone up on their feet, and surprised us all with copious amounts of costume changes & impersonations, truly brilliant (Freddie Mercury was a personal fav). The raffle went down a storm, despite a few issues with similar colours of raffle tickets but the compere, Prof John, did a sterling job of keeping everything on track. By the end of the night, the bar had been well visited, the snacks on the tables snacked upon and some serious shapes thrown on the dance floor. As the evening wound down at Midnight, we were faced with the task of tidying up and heading back home to grab a few hours sleep before tackling the Adidas Silverstone Half Marathon the following morning. Now, that’s commitment and I hasten to add that we all refrained from drinking alcohol during the evening – give or take a well deserved ½ pint or two!
To keep it brief, the Half Marathon was hard to say the least and in hindsight, wasn’t the cleverest of ideas we had, but knowing that we had secured a place for Maggie’s sealed the deal for us and we were committed to getting round, no matter what. Tiredness and lack of energy overwhelmed us every step of the way but we all made it round in one piece with finishing times between 2 hrs 13mins and 2 hours 52mins....and Suzie gained a NBF in the form of Katie Price en route!
The weekend was exhausting and challenging but completely worth it when I received the news of the amount of money we had raised on Saturday evening. A whopping £2717.34!! In one night!! To hear that all our family and friends had supported us by contributing so much money to our fantastic cause was completely overwhelming, astounding and pleasingly-shocking. And it made me incredibly proud knowing that everyone is wholeheartedly behind what we are doing, every step of the way.
We couldn’t have asked for a better night and cannot thank our family, friends & sponsors enough for their continued encouragement and support. It really means such a lot to us all and will make such a difference to helping us get around our marathon courses and, ultimately, helping Maggie’s to continue to provide their valuable support services to people and their families living with cancer.
We are now at an amazing £3847.34 on our fundraising target which, without wanting to labour the point is, bloomin’ fantastic! We are hopeful that we can meet, and hopefully exceed our £4,000 target so watch this space. And if you are feeling generous and want to support us, please visit www.justgiving.com/teamjones2011
But let us not forget that myself, Sam and Suzie have five weeks until the Virgin London Marathon with Chris and Kev have ten weeks until the Edinburgh Marathon so training is now firmly at the front of our minds. The most overwhelming task of all is yet to come..........
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