I now have less than 3 weeks to go before I fly out. The trip is now changing from an adventure somewhere in the future to a reality. Whilst I am really excited I have to admit to some nervousness and trepidation. I have not yet met any of the people I will be riding with. I will meet for the first time at Heathrow airport 2 weeks on Thursday. Being fellow bikers I have no doubt we will get on well. In addition I am reliant on my self preservation instincts not to get carried away and do myself or my Honda motorbike any lasting damage especially in the early stages. No danger there then!
Many thanks to all the individuals and corporate who have sponsored me, I have had a truly fantastic response and great encouragement from all of you. As of today I am at £6,610 of sponsorship of which I have collected £5,920. For those who have sponsored me and not yet paid please feel free to settle via this web site when you are ready. This will gross up to £7,256 when I including the government top up via gift aid for the portion of the sponsorship that will qualify for gift aid.
I still have a number of verbal promises that are not included in the numbers above. I will of course be sending SUBLTE reminders to this list of friends! In addition there have been articles in the local press in Oxford where I work and Gloucestershire where I live. So hopefully some support will come from these; £10,000 is still my target.
One of the real bonuses of doing this trip has been the excuse to contact many people from my past whom I had lost contact with. By going through my old address books, Friends Reunited, Linked-in, suppliers, customers… I have ended up with so many replies that ended up with fascinating dialogues and the chance to catch up.
Many thanks to all the individuals and corporate who have sponsored me, I have had a truly fantastic response and great encouragement from all of you. As of today I am at £6,610 of sponsorship of which I have collected £5,920. For those who have sponsored me and not yet paid please feel free to settle via this web site when you are ready. This will gross up to £7,256 when I including the government top up via gift aid for the portion of the sponsorship that will qualify for gift aid.
I still have a number of verbal promises that are not included in the numbers above. I will of course be sending SUBLTE reminders to this list of friends! In addition there have been articles in the local press in Oxford where I work and Gloucestershire where I live. So hopefully some support will come from these; £10,000 is still my target.
One of the real bonuses of doing this trip has been the excuse to contact many people from my past whom I had lost contact with. By going through my old address books, Friends Reunited, Linked-in, suppliers, customers… I have ended up with so many replies that ended up with fascinating dialogues and the chance to catch up.
Thanks to all of you.
3 comments:
Please support Graham’s fundraising efforts.
One of his chosen causes is Sentebale – a charity founded by Prince Seeiso of Lesotho and our own Prince Harry. With over 200,000 orphans in a country of 1.8 million, almost one third of it's people infected with HIV/AIDS, and the life expectancy for a child born in Lesotho today as low as 34 years – it really is a cause that deserves your support.
Sentebale’s priority is to reach the people who are normally missed by existing aid organisations or governments. In particular herd boys, who live in remote mountain country and do not attend school; victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse who cannot live at home; as well as the deaf, blind and disabled.
Sentebale directs aid to the mostly voluntary, grass-roots community services that are attempting to fill the gaps which existing aid organisations and governments have not filled.
Please take out your credit card and make a donation at www.graham-mclean.co.uk/donate.html
to help Graham reach his £10,000 target.
Supporting Graham at the IP08 Exhibition.
As Graham sets off on his African Adventure this week, his colleaguse will be busy promoting CI-Net’s fully managed wide area network, hosting and internet solutions at the IP08 exhibition in Earls Cours, London on 1st and 2nd October.
At the event, which is about the delivery of converged networks and next generation IT infrastructure for the enterprise, the CI-Net team will be trying to help Graham reach his £10,000 fundraising target.
By having a bike, similar to the one Graham will be riding in Africa, and Graham’s live blog on the exhibition stand it is hoped that many of the 1000’s of visitors expected at this year’s show will be encouraged to make a donation. The three charities Graham has chosen to support are UNICEF, Sentebale: The Princes' Fund for Lesotho, and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.
If you are not going to IP08 don’t worry, you can still help Graham reach his £10,000 target by making a donation at
www.graham-mclean.co.uk/donate.html.
Good luck Graham!
I am so glad to see you are sponsoring the Nelson Mandella Children's Fund.
Just a bit of background for your potential sponsors: The Fund supports organisations that wish to introduce programmes and projects to improve the quality of the lives of children and youth from impoverished backgrounds. The focus is on education, health and fundamental rights for children and young people from birth to 22 years.
Hope you manage to hit your fundraising target, have the time of your life, and don't get too saddle sore in the process!
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