And that is, for the moment, the end of that chapter!

Today is October the 1st and it is the day the Justgiving page has closed for business!
Everyone has been so very supportive and extremely generous and we have raised a brillo amount for the MS Trust!

Our initial target was £2,500. This was set by the company who run the challenge and not a number we picked out of thin air, had we done so I don’t think either of us would have set out sights quite as high as that! I think there were a few people who even doubted that we would make £1000 but to them, all I can say is….not publishable and would be frowned upon, so I won’t write it!

Last year, the official amount of money raise for the Trust was £60k towards Information, Research, Education and Support. A large amount of money by anyone’s standard – not however very much when you compare it to the millions that are raised on one night during the telethons of the BBC. When you consider this, it is not unreasonable that there would be a target of £1,250 (minimum) per person and that the expenses for the ride should be paid for by the participant before going – at least with that the whole amount raised goes directly to the charity and as well we know, every penny counts!

As I mentioned all the way through the diary, people were giving constantly through the training, we held a number of fundraising activities and soon we had met and exceeded the official target, from then on, everything else was a bonus! As time went on and people kept giving we decided that we wouldn’t stop fundraising and we wouldn’t stop asking for money, it is not a very easy thing to do but this charity is so very important to my family and I that we just kept on; because of this the target was always being ‘upped’ and soon we were £1000 over the target!

Even when I came home from Paris and the trip had not been as successful as I wanted, although I was honest and told people that I had failed to do it, people still gave money to the cause – as I say, everyone has and continues to be amazingly generous!

Considering the kindness, it is no surprise that from a fundraising point of view this venture was a success! It makes all the difficult times throughout the training, the lonely feelings when Penni moved to Birmingham, the devastation both Penni and I felt when she wasn’t able to take part with me (although for an amazing reason which should be here 2 months today!) the muscle strains, the early mornings and late evenings at the gym, the early morning road rides in the freezing weather through the winter and the feeling of complete ‘Wallyness’ for subjecting the people of the Vale of Glamorgan to the sight of me in not only Lycra but padded shorts as well – all worthwhile! (But I still don’t know what I am going to do with 4 pairs of padded shorts!)

So, I guess you have listened to me rabbit away for long enough and want to know how much we raised. So, online, our amount raised was £1,863; Offline the amount raised was £2,437 and the gift aid from online donation was £460.59. So not counting the gift aid that will have been added from the paper forms we sent in, (donations from people off line,) our combined total was £4,760.59 – 59p is very important when every penny counts!

Thank you all again for everything, for being such fab, generous wonderful friends – we love you all loads!
And, until the next time;
Take great care,
Loadsa love, Jo xxx