Trust-ing in people's goodness

I'm writing this short blog on a train travelling from York down to London where we're about to have the first meeting of the trustees of the Glanfield Hospitalite Trust. It's an exciting occasion because I know there's so much energy and enthusiasm out there amongst people who want to make the world a better and more loving place, and GHT is going to do its best to help them help others.

Almost as exciting... once the trustees have got through the agenda - a heavy one for our first meeting - we're going to have a curry together. It's hard work doing stuff for charity!

Cycle for the hills

Dear All Matthew here (or Monk if you want unconditional love)

I’ve just literally finished a rather epic month of training 6- 8am, working 9-5 followed by marking A level papers till 1am every night.

Now the marking is out of the way training has started in earnest as I can bike until the sun doth set.

Unlike city boy Patrick I’m currently a fen boy (fenner?) and, as you know, it’s as flat as a pancake round here. So, in order to find any respectable hills to train on, I have to cycle a good 5 miles out of Shelford. The Saffron Walden monster hill is about 1/5 (don’t know what that means) and seems to do the trick i.e. induce extreme muscle / lung pain and a variety of naughty swear words.

Patrick’s going to introduce me to Muswell hill and Highgate hill in London this Saturday morning, so please spare a thought for our tired aching gastrocnemius’s(es’s’ss?) and tibialis anteriors muscles as we curse the gradient of the hill.

Since Patrick has already completed the infamous 'Islington to the Pyrenees' marathon in 2008 he has been a great source of knowledge and inspiration. He’s been particularly helpful with all my random questions in the last 3 months and offered excellent advice, as well as being a good friend.

I have to say that I’ve never been this enthused about something to do with sport before. I feel a mixture of both excitement and sometimes extreme anxiety about the big bike ride. I genuinely believe that we are raising money for a brilliant cause, which has really helped me focus on the daily task of hill climbing and hedgehog swerving.

Hopefully I’m going to be able to keep up with Patrick in France, through the wind and the rain .... and the hills, let’s not forget those darn hills !!!

Best wishes and hope you’re enjoying the sun. xx

Helping an Orphanage

In January 2010, much of Peru was hit by heavy flooding. It was the worst seen in decades; over 3,000 homes were destroyed and thousands of residents had to evacuate, struggling in a constant battle to prevent their homes being consumed by the rising flood waters.

At the time, GHT was not a registered charity, but looking to seize the initiative we were able to work in conjunction with The Latin American Foundation for the Future (LAFF), registered UK Charity # 1125872, to assist in the coordination of an emergency relief effort to support an orphanage in the area of Azul Wasi, to evacuate, construct flood barriers, and provide shelter, food, water, supervision and care for the children.

As part of LAFF’s Appeal, GHT was able to use its contacts within HSBC Latin America to acquire vital tools and volunteers from surrounding areas to help build defences against the flooding riverbanks.

LAFF recently advised that the children were successfully evacuated from the home and temporarily housed whilst with the help of volunteers created a flood barrier wall to protect the home. They are now working to repair any temporary damage, and the children are safely back at the home, and able to start back at school in the new academic year.

GHT & LAFF are extremely grateful for all the volunteer support and donations received at this crucial time which ensured that the home now still stands and the children remained safe throughout.

For more information on The Latin American Foundation for the Future and their continuing work in the area, view here.

45 days/6 weeks to go....

Well, there are 45 days/6 weeks to go…gulp.

The training is going well and I’ve been trying to make 100 miles per week but it’s hard since there is so much stopping and starting in London with traffic lights, pedestrians, cars etc. etc. Through July I’ll be ramping this up a bit during the week and doing more at weekends – to get through about 200 miles a week.

My only real option for continuous training during the week is the route around Regent’s Park – I usually do it around 8 times which makes about 28 miles (including getting there and back) – but it’s also really important to train for hills as there are surprisingly quite a lot of them along our route as I found out last time, so I’ll be going further afield out of London to get more road miles under my belt.

I’ve had a few problems with the bike over the last few days – usual maintenance stuff, but it has been frustrating not being able to get out – for the more technically minded among you – I’ve had to overhaul the bottom bracket and replace the main drive chain – large chainring and chain. I’ve also had to overhaul the rear derailleur. All that’s left is to fit a new cassette – and I’ll be ready to get going again. I’ve got some catching up to do, so I’ll have to pack in the miles this weekend.

Matthew and I are training separately but over the next few weeks we will be getting together and testing out our pacing skills, so we will keep you posted!

Until then I’ll continue to update you all on my progress week by week until the day arrives, so stay tuned and you can understand what I mean when I say blood sweat and tyres!

I should also let you know that we will be filming our exploits and taking lots of pics that we will post on Facebook before, during and after the event, so look out for us and our weary faces!

Thank you all so much for showing your support by donating to us, and I hope that hearing of our plight moves you to generosity for the deserving children we are raising money for. You can donate here: http://www.bmycharity.com/V2/cycleride2010

TTFN,

Patrick Noble

Glanfield Hospitalité Trust Sponsored Cycle Ride

Patrick Noble, Matthew Sharrock & their support team are taking up the formidable challenge of cycling from London to Lourdes in the Pyrenees (a distance of approximately 600 miles in 6 days) to raise money for The Glanfield Hospitalité Trust.

The money raised through sponsorship of the cycle ride will be supporting children and vulnerable adults via two sources – the first, since both Patrick and Matthew have been involved as volunteers, is the Glanfield Children’s Group that has provided respite for children with disabilities & vulnerable adults in the UK for many years. The aim of the group is to offer both a holiday for the children and a much needed rest for their parents who are welcome to join the group if they wish. These holidays provide the children with experiences that their disabilities would not usually permit, such as swimming, a trip to the top of a mountain in the Pyrenees, a day out at the zoo and for some of the older members, a few beers in the pub.

Patrick and Matthew have requested that some funds raised go specifically to enable the Group to provide subsidies for the children and their parents as the cost for this and the activities of the holiday is substantial.

They will also be supporting children at the Derian House Children’s Hospice in Chorley, Lancashire.

The care offered at Derian House is focused on specialist palliative respite and terminal care for children who may not live to reach adulthood. Children, young adults and their families are able to embrace support and friendship in a warm, ‘home from home’ environment, with an honest and flexible approach to meeting their specific needs.

Derian House’s care also continues with bereavement support for the family for as long as required, giving recognition to the need to never forget.

Year on year the cost of providing special care for children increases and with less than 10% of funding coming from official sources the reality is that the Hospice is open 52 weeks a year whilst receiving statutory funding for just nine of those.

The team’s journey will begin on Saturday 14th August 2010 and arrival at their destination is scheduled for Friday 20th August 2010. The team then plan to join the Glanfield Group as volunteer helpers for a week until 27th August.

Sponsor us here.

Three Peaks Challenge 2010

Katy Berezovsky, Lucy Cannock, Stephen Daly, Kathryn Geels & David Pitkin, (accompanied by their resident driver and motivational coordinator Andrew Loynd,) have kindly volunteered to take part in The Glanfield Hospitalité Trust Three Peaks Challenge 2010.

The Glanfield Hospitalité Trust, (GHT) was set up in February this year to support and advance the standard of life for all people in need throughout the world including; those who live in poverty, those with disabilities, those who are physically or emotionally deprived, those who have been neglected, and their families.

GHT aim to provide relief in many forms, such as the provision of vital equipment to enable individuals, organisations and communities to become more self sufficient; food, clothing and accommodation to relieve poverty; work books and materials to educate; and the provision of respite amongst others.

The GHT Three Peaks Challenge will take place on the evening of 15th July 2010 and involves climbing the highest peak in Scotland, England and Wales, within 24 hours.

The Highest Peaks in each country are:
Ben Nevis, in Scotland (1344m)
Scafell Pike, in England (978m)
Snowdon, in Wales (1085m)

Please sponsor us generously to support this truly worthy cause by visiting our GHT sponsorship site here.

Donation Site Now Set Up!

It is now possible to fundraise and donate to the Glanfield Hospitalite Trust through BMY Charity.

View our page here!