[Closed] Twin Towers. Sponsorship With A Difference.

Added to the prize draw by the exceptionally generous Tony (Jedi) Doyle is a voucher (worth £95) for a skills day with UK Bike Skills!

Somebody is going to win a UK Bike Skills coaching session or a set of still boxed Hope wheels or a huge Television etc, for £1. Sounds bonkers but that's the truth of it. Somebody will donate and £1 of that donation is going to win something worth so much more. Donate just a £1 to this amazing organisation and in August you could be getting an email or a text from me asking for your address because I need to send you your prize!

More prizes being added as the weeks go by.   https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/twintowers540miles

Thank you very much. Every pound is massively appreciated.

Nobody tempted by a session with UK Bike Skills or a set of brand new Hope Hoops for £1?

I'm surprised.......

How long is the just giving page running for? Should be able to donate later on in the month.

Impressive fundraising idea, good luck with it.

Thanks gnusmas. The raffle draw will be the weekend following the ride (anybody and everybody welcome to join in as well)  so Saturday 11th or Sunday 12th August depending on who's doing it at the hospice. We're hoping for somebody with a degree of celebrity status. I'll look a right prat if the total is £150 or something. I'm starting to panic here a bit but I suppose there's loads of time yet 😉

A bump for the evening lurkers.

good luck with it dude

10p a mile, that's what I got for my school sponsored walk 🙂

Thank you so much again for the voucher Tony!

Mr Nettles! You are a legend! How far did you walk? 🙂

Anybody else? Some really good prizes and more to be added. Just think. Spend a quid or two, barely even notice it and then in August, get a text or email asking for your address because you've won a skills day with Jedi worth £95 or a box fresh set of Hope wheels....

We had to walk 20 miles, and a bird shat on Neil Beecher's packed lunch in Lyme Park.

Let us know what your route is, if I can be a wind break through any of it I will do.

Hehehe! I bet that get a mention every time he comes into contact from somebody who was there.

Route is a straight a line as I can make it from Blackpool to Newhaven. I think it will go through Royal Leamington Spa and Oxford. It would be lovely to ride for a while with you.

Well, if you need somewhere to stay on the first night you can stay at ours. A quick google tells me 200 miles from Blackpool Tower to our place, that can probably be tweaked to be a bit more direct. It’s then 140ish to Newhaven from ours. Offer’s there.

What a very kind offer! Thank you very much.

I'm going to start distributing raffle tickets this week. I've not checked because I can't get into Gmail at work but it'd be great if I could get your mobile numbers (I promise they won't be sold to PPI firms etc.) or email address and I can let people know what their winning numbers are.

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Huge thanks </span>also to the guys who have just donated via this forum! It's massively appreciated, it really is and it's a real motivator to get out and get some miles done in the hail and snow.

An unashamed bump with the begging bowl out. More prizes added and more still to come, Any contributions hugely appreciated.

Thank you very much for the donations / entries so far,  Hedley.....I hadn't thought about the wet stuff in between.... . I need a plan (or permission to do laps on the ferry).

Get a cabin on a late-night ferry at the end of day two, get some kip, then day three is from Dieppe to gay-Pareee.

Just had a quick look, there's a 23:00 from Newhaven, gets in to Dieppe at 05:00 (it's a four-hour crossing though, extra hour is time difference).

£28 as a foot/bike passenger, extra £60ish if you want a cabin. If you want to risk it, you can normally get cabins when you get on the ferry, if they have spare ones, for less than the pre-booked cost.

What's the score with gift-aid? Went to donate and add gift-aid but one of the check boxes says 'I am not making a donation as part of a sweepstake, raffle or lottery'

Just checking you're not making potential trouble for yourself as much as anything

Thanks for the logistical research Si. I'll have two of the fundraising team out on the road in a hospice van veryfiying at various (undesclosed to me) points along the way right into Paris so I don't cheat. Somebody let slip that I was dragged up on Offerton Estate.

Connect. Pretty much everyone who has donated / sent some funds including our works CEO have gift aided but it's entirely up to you. Either way would be very gratefully received and I will take personal responsibility for any fall out regarding the Inland Revenue and gift aid.

Thank you very much for considering making a contribution and in turn entering the draw.

Steve

Thanks again to all that contributed through this forum. Your generosity is heart warming. It astounds me that St Ann's probably the biggest hospice in the UK, like all hospices are charities and in St Ann's case, they have to generate £16,000 PER DAY just to keep the doors open. well, that's my minor rant out of the way.

To those that have contributed some cash, please could you leave me your email address or mobile number (I promise I won't pass them on to anybody at all - not even to the fund raising team) at Twintowers540@gmail.com so I can email or text your ticket details to you.

Again, thank you very much indeed. It would be great to see you out on the road on the day if possible? I'll post up the route and timings nearer the time....and when we've had chance to even plan a route or we could leave it to the excellent Mr Nettles and just go where he tells us? 🙂

Just looking at various routes for the English section. It has to incorporate, or pass not far from Heald Green (Stockport) so I can call in at the hospice for a photo shoot.

Google maps is suggesting Blackpool, Preston, Chorley, Salford, Heald Green, Alderley Edge, Congleton, Stoke on Trent, Wolverhampton, Royal Leamington Spar, Oxford, Guilford, Newhaven. Any better route suggestions?

Anybody feeling generous (or lucky)? I could do with a few more quid to jump start momentum again. Still very early days but it all helps and I'm very grateful.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/twintowers540miles

Donated.

As mentioned previously, 10p per mile is what it was in school so have matched that too 🙂

Good luck with the journey, keep safe.

gnusmas! Thank you very much indeed! That's really generous. Thank you. Any chance of you making it out on to the road with me for a little while on the 7th or 8th August? It would be fantastic to get to do a few miles with you and with anybody who has very kindly contributed so I can say "Thank you" in person.

I'm just in the process of getting your draw tickets photographed for you.

No problem, glad to help. Also done the same for Bullheart. After all the help we had last year, i wanted to try and give something back.

Looking at your route, unfortunately don't think I will be able to join you. If i can manage it somehow i will let you know. I live in Carmarthen, West Wales. If you ever find yourself down this way though give me a shout and i will see what i can do.

I may be doing the Sarn Helen again this summer Gusmas. Thank you again for your massive support.

I'd be interested in opinions of routes from Blackpool to the south coast if anybody has them?

Nearly reached the target of £540 within 10 days. Members of this forum are largely a special bunch....in a good way 🙂

Bargain Booze have donated a hamper (6 bottles of wine) to add to the prizes if anybody else is tempted to stick a couple of quid in?

Wonderful idea. Good luck. I've just bunged £10 to you.

Thank you very much! I'll get your tickets organised this evening for you. Hoping to have some Adidas sports gear to add to the draw soon.

Thanks very much again and good luck in the draw.

Just £18 short of my £540 target in one week! Thanks so much. I thought it would take up to August to get anywhere near that!

I love this place. Still hoping for route suggestions and volunteers to come and ride for a bit.

Hey Steve, so glad to see you are back on good form, and I don't say that lightly. Good luck with the ride, I'll pop you some cash on Friday when I'm paid. When you do pick a route pop it up, I would gladly lend you a wheel for a few hours somewhere midway.

I've bunged a few quid in, good for you, its a bloody travesty that the work done by hospices has to be funded by this kind of thing.
I'm a bit far out to join you for any of the ride but enjoy yourself.

Monksie - £20 into the pot and contact details mailed.

Looks like a L'Eroica bike on the trainer.

Wow! Thank you very much indeed for the contributions. I'm gobsmacked but really grateful. Over £540 in 8 days! I've barely got started on the prize collecting and I am WAY behind on issuing out tickets. Really sorry but I'll get on to it this evening and get them all done for everyone.

It would be great to do a few miles with you Stevie and anybody else along the route. I would love to be able to say thank you in person to everybody.

The bike on the turbo hasn't had a pedal turned in weeks. I really need to up my game or I'm going to fail miserably....

I get so frustrated that hospice's have t rely so heavily on donations. I remember volunteering and a young mum of two who was supposed to be going on holiday with her youngsters had a paddling pool, sandpit, inflatable palm trees, sun loungers and more in her room with ice creams and a guest visit of a donkey at her room window.  They've had Christmas in October, Premier league football players in to visit.... they just find a way of doing stuff. Putting life in to hours where they can't put hours in to life.

I've been photographing and sending images of people's raffle tickets but there a few who haven't left any contact details. It would be great if you could get in touch if you haven't so I can add your details to the prize draw. I wouldn't want anybody to miss out.

Just 10 days in and the target of £540 is now disappearing in the rear view mirror.Fantastic stuff! Lots and lots of prizes to be added to the draw so chuck a quid or so in if you'd like to be included?

Really very big thanks to everybody who have done so, so far. You're all ace! 🙂

A 6 bottles of expensive wine hamper has just been delivered courtesy of Bargain Booze.

Thank you very much for the donation Jimdubleyou. you're very kind. I'm just organising your tickets.

Can anybody recommend a sports physio in the Manchester / Peak area? What I thought was an ITB injury just isn't getting any better three weeks on. My knee is ooked with an f on the beginning and I have a very big bike ride to train for.

Massive thanks to Simon for the donation. I'll get your tickets organised. Still months to go and the funds are edging toward £1000 which is brilliant.

I'll get organised this weekend and add some more prizes that have been donated.

As ever, huge thanks to everybody who have donated and "Go on. You have to be in it to win it!" to those thinking of donating.

I've had a message from Just Giving. It was mentioned above (some way up) but as this is essentially a raffle fundraising event in the back of a (rather large) challenge, gift aiding your contribution is not allowed.

Your very generous donations without gift aid are still VERY much appreciated.

I seem to be stuck at a rather unfortunate number. Especially for the superstitious. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/twintowers540miles

Now added to the prize fund is a £40 gift card for any Nando's restaurant or takeaway. Somebody is going to win with a £1 ticket one of the excellent prizes, not least a day's instruction with Tony (Jedi) at UK Bike Skills, or a flat screen TV etc.

I seem to have stalled at £666 which is a bit unnerving. I'd really appreciate a little nudge up and it could very well win you one of the excellent prizes already donated or yet to come.

*nudge *

Cheers Si  🙂

I found this languishing on page 5.

Looks like training can finally start in earnest this weekend. My knee ligament has responded rather well to a very frustrated hammering with my fist and apart from being a little black and blue from bruising, it doesn't seem too sore at all.

Huge thanks to Paul. Let me have your contact details and I'll get your tickets organised. Thanks again. I'm very grateful.

Can anybody recommend a sports physio in the Manchester / Peak area? What I thought was an ITB injury just isn’t getting any better three weeks on. My knee is ooked with an f on the beginning and I have a very big bike ride to train for.

Tim Budd over at Global Therapies in Glossop is ace if you're not sorted or it flares up again:

http://www.globaltherapies.com

Tell him I sent you 🙂

Donated and emailed(?)

(#sponsorship-bump)

Donated a few quid.

Good luck!

Thanks very much for the recommendation for a physio, BWD. I'll give it a few more days and if it's not improved, I'll go and see Mr Budd and name drop you while I'm there (for better or worse).

Huge thanks also to z1ppy and scc999 for the donations. I've emailed copies of your tickets. Really grateful and so close to going over the £700 mark. Brilliant stuff!

Things are beginning to improve, much like the weather. Training rides are now being completed. I'm also getting some custom riding jerseys made for both training and the ride itself. If you have a business and you'd like to put your company logo on one of the panels in exchange for a donation, just drop me an email and we can get it organised.

Of course, if you'd just like to donate and be in with a chance of winning a prize, the link to the Just Giving page is on page one of this thread.

Thanks very much if you've already taken part and thanks in advance if you are going to.

If I can get the total to £750 before 11:00am tomorrow (Sunday), I'll do a 100 mile road ride regardless of the weather conditions.

Time to get this thing going again. Bikes are fixed, injury has cleared up and time has flown by and I am so far behind in training and fundraising, it makes me panic.

Anybody else interested in making a contribution? £1 could get you a day learning with Tony at UK Bike Skills, a brand new, still boxed set of Hope 29'er wheels....all sorts of prizes and more to be added now I'm getting myself in to gear.

It was 5p/mile for my last school sponsored walk, tightarses up in my area obviously.

Chucked some cash in Monksie, will drop you an email as well.

Thanks very much Pyro. I'll get some tickets organised for you. I have loads of off line cash to add to the fund and prizes to be added. I've got so far behind with most of it but the biggest worry is my riding hours and lack of.

I think I'm going to die..............

The advice I got for my first Ultramarathon was "the legs only do what the head tells them to".

Keep your head right and you'll do it fella.

After a few disastrous weeks of injury, aches and pains and buying a new BMC road bike (it's ace), I need to not only ramp up the training but also the fund raising.

I'm going to add prizes to the draw and post up the route with time estimates. Hopefully, I can raise some more cash and get a few people coming out on the tday to do a few miles.

A timely reminder of this daft thing I'm doing, I hope.  Only around 8 weeks or so until the big day.  All contributions gratefully received.

Thank you very much to the anonymous donater and also to Andy Duff (your donation was in before the prize draw closed so I have some tickets for you). It's very much appreciated.

I've plotted a route, very rudimentary to be honest using Google maps and it's put me on dual carriageways for the most part. Is there a better way of doing this? I don't have a mapping GPS and people are now asking for locations and times so they can join in for a while.

Missed this thread until now, cracking idea 👍

Thank you very much Neal. Fancy doing a few miles along the way with me?
> https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/twintowers540miles <

There's a tenner - good luck!

Thank you very much Ogg.

Not long to go now.

Done. Just got home. Knackered and empty. Prize draw tomorrow evening. They might have to do it in my absence.

Great work, Steve. Chapeau 😁👍💪

With everything that has happened and that is going on I completely forgot about this, sorry.

Well done Steve, good effort 💪👊

Fantastic effort Monksie, was waiting for an update! Excellent work, hat's off to you.

Nice work chap 🙂

Thank you very much. Some very unflattering photo's on the St Ann's Hospice Facebook and Twitter pages from Tuesday when I called in on the way through and more to be uploaded later from the journey.

How are you and the family getting on Gnusmas? I don't visit this forum very much anymore but I hope you're all doing as well as you can. Please accept my continued condolences.

Thanks Steve. One day at a time, all I can do to be honest. Struggling a fair bit, no let up at all at the moment. It's one thing after the other constantly and it keeps mounting up.

Well done again for your achievement. Will try and find it on Facebook so I can see the pics.

Copied from the Just Giving page:

<b>More photo's to be added here and hopefully on St Ann's Hospice Facebook and Twitter pages.</b>

<b>Done! Set off from Blackpool Tower at 7:14am Tuesday 07/08/18. Arrived at the Eiffel Tower at 8:55am Thursday 09/08/18. 189 miles (plus 20 miles riding from home to Manchester Piccadilly to get the early morning train to Blackpool) on the first day. 181 miles on the second day. Caught the last ferry on Wednesday night and rode into Paris, 110miles during the early hours of Thursday.  The mileage was shorter as I had calculated the ferry miles as riding miles by mistake.</b>

<b>Huge thanks to everybody who donated and came out on the day(s) to cheer me on and do a few miles on the road. All of your support was fantastic.</b>

<b>The draw has taken place with the wining numbers as follows:</b>

<b>Hope 29'er MTB Wheels : Yellow 326</b>

<b>UK Bike Skills Tuition Day : Yellow 148</b>

<b>Bargain Booze 6 Bottle Box of Wine : Yellow 142</b>

<b>UB40 Double Album Vinyl : Green 483 (redonated by the winner)</b>

<b>Bicycle Smithy Free Bike Service : Green 160</b>

<b>Nando's £30 Voucher : Green 418</b>

<b>One Month Free Membership New Bodies Gym : Yellow 68</b>

<b>Samsung 38" Interactive TV : Green 431</b>

<b>Congratulations to the prize draw winners and thank you again to everybody who took part.</b>

The TV, Wheels and UK Bike Skills Tuition Day were won by forum members. Emails have been sent to obtain delivery addresses.

Massive thanks to everybody from here who took part. Apologies for the formatting.