A slow start

It's been an incredibly busy week at work, but I have made a small amount of progress with my challenges.

I met with some of my fellow trekkers and the Springboard team in London yesterday evening, having spent most of the day at a taxing meeting in Kingston. I eventually got home at half past midnight, 20 hours after pulling the front door to at 4:30am! Anyway, they are a very mixed group (in terms of what they all do for a living!), but we got on really well and shared many interesting ideas about fundraising.

One idea is to sell raffle tickets, with the winner gaining a free place on the Great Wall of China trek in March 2011! Watch this space...

I was delighted to see that Justin & our HR team are donating 50p for every Elior response completed in the Sunday Times 'Best Companies to work for' survey. This will help to swell the coffers!

Sadly, there has been very little interest in the Elior Walking Club, with NO offers of help, and only three people potentially committed to complete the training and challenge. On that basis, I will have to think of other fundraising ideas, and scrap the walking club ..... unless the next week brings in more applicants & helpers, that is!

The date for the 'Krypton Factor' challenge has been set as Friday 12th November. Teams of four are required to complete seven 'fun' challenges at Grafham Water near Huntingdon. The event will include tasks which will test general knowledge, skill, problem solving, dexterity, balance .... etc! The over-riding objective is to have a lot of fun, but I'm certain that it will also be highly competitive. Entry fees are £120 per team, which includes lunch and refreshments throughout the day. Every penny will be matched by Elior, and the total raised will go to Springboard.

Please remember that you can donate directly at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/StewartSmallwood
Many thanks to those who have sponsored me so far!

In the beginning...

This is my first ever ‘Blog’, and quite a milestone for a mild technophobe like me!

Hopefully, you may already have read about my challenges over the next seven months, if not you can ‘read all about it’ or even sponsor me by clicking the following link:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/StewartSmallwood

Through Springboard, I have already managed to place 6 young people into work experience or placements within my region. Interviewing the candidates was a revelation, with each and every one on-time, immaculately dressed, knowledgeable about Elior and passionate about their future careers. I’m told that they were all very nervous, but they didn’t show it!

Part of my commitment is to give on-going support and career advice to each recruit, and working closely with Springboard I aim to widen Elior’s involvement in this very worthwhile initiative.

In terms of the fundraising element of the challenges, a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes. Since Mike Audis gave me the great news that I was to be ‘the chosen one’, what with the detailed registration process, drafting details of each event, establishing contacts, creating a ‘theme’ (thanks to Gary Ashworth for the Logo), writing walking club risk assessments and lots more besides, it’s been pretty hectic!

The ‘Elior Hillwalking Club’ is about to get off the ground, with a ‘taster’ walk on Sunday 26^th September, followed by increasingly testing training walks every few weeks. I hope that we get a good team together to take on the ‘Cloud Seven Circuit’ on the weekend of 12^th & 13^th March 2011. This 33 mile slog is described by the Long Distance Walkers Association as:

 

 “a strenuous route over high ground between Leek, Buxton, Macclesfield and Congleton. The route is named after the group of seven hills called ‘Cloud Hills’, and includes over 7,000ft of ascent & descent”.

Each participant, including yours truly, will be raising personal sponsorship towards the overall target for Springboard, and they will earn every penny in sore muscles and the odd blister! 

I’m really excited about the other events too. The ‘Krypton Factor’ competition will set teams of four head to head in seven challenges at Grafham Water near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. It will be a lot of fun, and a great opportunity to get clients involved, although the number of teams will be limited to twelve.

The ‘Jail Break’ is less restricted, and teams of two will be asked to complete seven challenges in their local area. I haven’t decided on all of the tasks yet, but rest assured they will get people thinking and using their powers of persuasion. Without giving too much away, once entries and entry fees have been received, I will send out a list of seven challenges to be completed over seven hours on a single day. The 4 weeks allowed for planning will be crucial to success, and photographic evidence is essential.

I hope that everyone will give their support to the seven challenges and fundraising wherever, and however they can, as this will ultimately help to give opportunities to some enthusiastic young people who just want to be given a chance in life. If you have any ideas to raise even more money, (or if you want to critique my Blog!) give me a call or email me.

Thanks for reading this, watch out for the next update….

Best Regards, Stewart.