Blog Archives

Getting close to my fundraising target

31/5/2015

I haven’t blogged in a while, because I have been busy recently with fundraising (particularly eBay sales), but also with driving practice and preparing for my final talk at the Corinium Museum, as well as researching and buying kit.

I am now pleased to announce that I only have another £300 to raise towards equipment – the flight and expedition itself have now been paid for fully. I believe I will be able to raise this with my part-time job, EasyFundraising and further eBay sales. I hope you will all keep following my blog as I intend on keeping it up right until my departure with news of how I am preparing for the adventure.

A huge thank you to everyone who has helped me raise money towards my expedition. Without the donations, sponsorships and grants I would not have been able to participate in this exciting adventure.

More funds raised ...

18/5/2015

Today I managed to sell my electric guitar, and have raised more funds towards the expedition. I had an advert up in the local supermarket, and someone phoned to come and see it. Much to my surprise, it turned out to be a friend from college! I am very glad it has gone to a good home - I never really had time to play it as much as I would have liked to. The violin and classical guitar keep me busy enough.

The Final Car Boot Sale!

17/5/2015

Today we journeyed for 50 minutes to Wotton-Under-Edge for yet another car boot sale – quite definitely the last one! This one seemed much smaller than the other car boot sales, so my hopes weren’t high on making much money, but to our surprise we managed to make £57.00, so this means that after 6 car boots we have managed to raise just over £500.00, which I am really pleased with.

I have been really surprised through doing these car boot sales at how little people are prepared to pay for an item, and it really feels like they are out to get something for nothing! For us, car boot sales are mostly about recycling, and there is never any profit – everything goes at a huge loss, but at least it is better (both for the environment and to raise some funds for the expedition) than just putting unwanted items in landfill.

With hindsight, I now regret not making cakes to sell as these would have gone down well. Growing and selling plants would have been a good venture, but time never seemed to allow either of these plans to be put into practice.

The lowlights from the car boot sales included: the two Gloucester sales which I hated doing, as they were very busy and cramped, resulting in a stressful experience where we felt we couldn’t take our eyes off the stall in case things mysteriously started to disappear. I also didn’t like how all the traders pounced on us the moment we arrived, whilst we were still desperately trying to set up quickly.

The highlights on the other hand, were: the car boots in lovely countryside, seeing the pleasure various items gave to their new owners (especially the children, who often got very excited) and yesterday an elderly gentleman gave me £1 to help with expedition funds, and he didn’t want anything in return (it meant a lot as at car boot sales there is always so much quibbling over the price of an item costing 50p!). Today a lady ran off with a hat (by mistake, of course, though we all thought it was hilarious).

The final car boot sale?

16/5/2015

This morning we went to a car boot sale at Dursley. The location was stunning, overlooking the surrounding hillsides, but the actual selling went really badly and we returned home disheartened. We managed to scrape together £42.00 in takings at the end of it, and the other sellers we had spoken to had said it was a particularly slow day and they hadn’t done very well either. There were lots of people looking, but nobody was actually buying. I haven’t reached my target of £500.00 yet from car boot sales, so we have decided, much to our disappointment, to do another car boot tomorrow morning.

Upon arriving home, we spent the evening finding other items to sell from the depths of the shed, and made up some packages of LEGO and K’NEX, which always seem to sell well.

Another car boot sale!

15/5/2015

The car is packed for our final car boot sale in the morning - not much space for passengers!

Getting together some kit

14/5/2015

Today I have been researching and ordering kit for the expedition - can't wait for it to arrive! I have just returned from Gloucester, having had the Tuberculosis vaccination (BCG). I am feeling relieved that I could eventually find somewhere to have it. Now I just have three more vaccines to go before Peru (which I will have in one month's time).

My expedition hat

13/5/2015

My hat has arrived!

Another car boot sale!

10/5/2015

I have just returned from doing another car boot sale at Aston Down, making £105.40 to add to my fundraising pot! We managed to sell the remainder of a job lot of shirts I purchased in the Autumn, old walking boots, garden and DIY work tools, numerous old toys and books. A good result I think, after spending the week preparing and searching for items to try to sell. The boxes of items that are left are now in the dining room, ready for another car boot sale at a different location on Saturday.

Expedition training and the British weather!

9/5/2015

Out doing some expedition training yesterday, and saw these two beautiful creatures. The poor lizard appears to have lost some of his tail, but at least half of him survived!

We have been desperate for some rain here in the Cotswolds for a long time now, and the earth in our garden looked very cracked. But this week, our patience was rewarded, we have had some rain, and everywhere is starting to turn green. Our garden wildlife pond is now refilling, so the birds can start to bathe again. No sign yet of any juvenile newts, though … the adults laid their eggs a while back.

Volunteering

8/5/2015

Volunteering in the Oak and Furrows brand new bird of prey shed at their new location on Wiltshire Wildlife's Blakehill Farm Nature Reserve. I love these chicks - they look docile enough, but could be quite bad-tempered!

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Photo by Angus Malmgren

Fundraising

I MANAGED TO REACH MY FUNDRAISING TARGET - a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me and helped make it possible for me to take part in this amazing adventure.

THANK YOU also to the following for grants and sponsorship:

The David Haydock Memorial Trust
The Hedley Foundation
The Lord Mayor's 800th Anniversary Awards Trust
The Roger and Miriam Pilkington Charitable Trust
The David St John Thomas Charitable Trust

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