Close to the Edge

Yorkshire man Jonathan Skinner will be raising vital funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust this August by motorcycling 4,000 miles around the entire coastline of the British Isles.

27 year old Jonathan embarks on his amazing challenge on August 1st from Harrogate and will be riding 400 miles a day for two weeks camping overnight at stops along the route. He heads north from Harrogate with his first spot in Fife.

Jonathan has chosen to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust because his aunt has Cystic Fibrosis (CF). He said: “I wanted to do something to raise money for my aunt and I love motorbikes so this seemed like the perfect challenge. I was inspired by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman who motorcycled round the world. Although I’m not covering as much ground as them it’s still going to be a tough challenge, and has only been completed by a handful of riders.”

Jonathan has already raised nearly £6,000 for the CF Trust. To find out more and donate go to www.closetotheedgetour.co.uk

Making a difference

Last year we came into contact with some people called See The Difference. They had recently set themselves up as a charity that helps other charities through video fundraising. The idea is simple – you watch video appeals on their website and donate to any causes that you like. The twist is, you then get feedback from the people you helped, so you can see the difference you’ve made.

We decided to ask for money for start-up grants, so we can help more people with CF make a home for themselves and gain independence. A young man called Alex who had received a start-up grant kindly agreed to be filmed, so we made a video about him and his fridge. The website has now been launched and our appeal is, at the time of writing, one of the most viewed. You can watch it – and, of course, donate to it – on the See the Difference website

Go Michael!

We're pretty amazed by 12 year old Michael Turner from Winchester who is planning a 115 mile sponsored walk this May half term and has already raised £17,500 in sponsorship money for the CF Trust. Wow!

Michael, who goes to The Pilgrims’ School in Winchester, is doing the walk because his 4 year old cousin Maddie was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) 18 months ago.

It will take Michael 7 days to complete the walk, leaving Farnham railway station on Friday 28 May and finishing at Canterbury Cathedral on Thursday 3 June. His father, grandfathers and uncle will join him for a day or two along the route, which is the modern incarnation of the old Pilgrims’ Way.

The Pilgrims' Way was the historic route taken by pilgrims from Winchester to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent. Much of the traditional route of the Pilgrims’ Way is now part of the modern road network and walkers wishing to follow it to use the North Downs Way as an alternative.

You can sponsor Michael here http://bit.ly/mjt_ndw - what an inspirational young man.

London Marathon 2011!

Do you want to do something amazing for the CF Trust?

Entries for ballot places in the 2011 London Marathon are now open - they'll close when 125,000 applications are received which took just 4 days last year.

If you want to apply do it today at the link below and if you're lucky enough to get a place you can use it to run with us in our biggest fundraising event of the year!

Good luck!

http://www.virginlondonmarathon.com/marathon-centre/enter-virgin-london-marathon/

It's a fair cop!

Congratulations to Cat Pawlikow, age 29, who has CF and who works for Northumbria Police as a Community Support Investigation Officer. She just won the award for Outstanding Staff Member of the Year! Cat's job involves investigation of arrest packages, interviewing and charging prisoners, preparing files for court, obtaining statements, self-defence courses, first aid, drugs analysis and whole range of other skills. Well done Cat and keep up the good work!

The Big Cake Bake!

This year's CF Fundraising Week is 17-23 May and we have a special theme this year....The Big Cake Bake!

We all love cake, whether it's a victoria sponge, carrot cake or a cupcake and we want you to use cakes to help raise funds for the CF Trust. Whether it's a coffee morning or a cake sale all you need is a venue, generous slices of cakes and cookies, plenty of liquid refreshment and generous guests! You can host your event during CF Fundraising Week or at a time convenient to you earlier or later in the year.

Your guide to The Big Cake Bake is now available, along with posters and invitations, please contact our Events Team for a fundraising pack on 0300 373 1100 or email events@cftrust.org.uk - don't forget to include your name, address, postcode and a contact number - and you can get baking to help see off CF!

Find out more at www.cftrust.org.uk/help/nationalcampaigns/thebigcakebake

Employee of the month?

Lots of CF Trust employees do their bit outside of work hours to help raise funds for our vital research. Andrew Moran from Donations Support (He's the one on the far right in the photo above) told us a bit about what he is doing for the CF Trust this April.


My name is Andrew; I work on the Donations Support Team here at the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. For the last four years I’ve worked with my colleagues sending out what I would imagine to be thousands of thank you letters to all our lovely fundraisers and supporters. It’s a very rewarding job and I’ve always enjoyed working on the team.

My not-so-secret passion outside of work has always been live music. I started learning drums at school and since then I’ve been lucky enough to play all over Europe in various bands.

Recently I was given the opportunity to combine my two great interests by playing a gig in aid of the Trust. My current band Not Cool have been kindly asked by charity gig promoters Positive Action to play one of their fundraisers on April 3rd, nominating The Cystic Fibrosis Trust as their charity of choice for this particular concert

Over the last year Positive Action has raised hundreds of pounds for charities like Shelter and U-Turn. They recently held a very successful benefit concert for those affected by the earthquake in Haiti.

We’ll be joined by our friends Chapter Sweetheart on the night, and we are actually releasing a limited edition CD just for the gig featuring a couple of tracks by both bands. The venue will be the Victoria pub in Mile End, the premier music venue in that area, and all of the proceeds taken on the door (a cheap as chips £3 will get you) go to the Trust.

I’ll be honest – As you can imagine from our name my band is a bit noisy and may not be to everyone’s taste. But if you’d like a great Saturday night out at a good live music venue with a friendly atmosphere, and fancy raising some money for the Trust in the process, then please come along. Remember to come and say hello, it would be great to ‘place a face’ to some of the wonderful letters I get to read!

www.myspace.com/notcoolisaband
www.myspace.com/chaptersweetheart
http://www.myspace.com/thevictoriae3