LATEST NEWS!

Remembering Rose

2009-01-26T10:00:00.001Z

26th January 1984 - 11th November 2006

2008-12-22T18:51:00.002Z

Thank you all for your support during 2008, it has meant a lot to us.

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
RoseBuddies
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

£10,000!!

2008-11-14T20:48:00.004Z

Earlier this evening, thanks to a very kind donation from our friend Sarah, we hit our £10,000 target!

We are both thrilled and would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported us the past 2 years, it really does mean a lot to us!

A fitting end to a special week.

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
RoseBuddies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Remembering Rose

2008-11-11T08:52:00.002Z

26th January 1984 - 11th November 2006

A message from the International Brain Tumour Alliance

2008-10-27T00:22:00.001Z

Dear friends of Rose Buddies and the international brain tumour community,

Warmest greetings from around the world!

Your activity keeping track of your every-day walked mileage during the International Brain Tumour Awareness Week (26 October to 1 November) will make its mark on the global brain tumour community and help to raise awareness about brain tumours, one of the most devastating of all cancers and one of the most neglected.

The combined distance you cover walking with your pedometers could help us to reach our target of three times around the world at the Equator - 120,000 kms. We are almost there. People just like you have already walked a combined distance of 106,000 kms in the United States, in Canada, in Australia, and in Europe.

Good luck and warmest wishes for every success. Keep on walking! Each and every step you take is one step closer to a cure for brain tumours.

Kindest regards,

Denis Strangman, Chair (Canberra, Australia)

and

Kathy Oliver, Secretary (Surrey, United Kingdom)

The International Brain Tumour Alliance (IBTA) www.theibta.org

Calling all Pedometer owners - can you help?

2008-10-23T11:10:00.003+01:00

Hellooo All :o)

First of all, just incase the word pedometer isn't familiar to you, CLICK HERE to read about what they do!

Now onto the serious stuff!

Sunday 26th November 2008 marks the start of International Brain Tumour Awareness Week. As part of this those of us within the brain tumour community are trying to complete a 'Walk around the world'. Don't panic, I'm not asking you to walk the whole thing yourself! Our target is three times around the world at the Equator, that's 120,000 kms or 75,000 miles.

Those of us attending the London GTG on Saturday 1st November will be adding our miles to the overall total but I thought I'd see if any of you guys have pedometers and feel like helping us out?

All you need to do is put the pedometer on this coming Sunday morning and wear it all your waking (or should that be walking?!) hours from then until Saturday 1st November. At the end of your week just let me know whatever your pedometer says and we'll get it added to the total! Feel free to pass this message on to anyone you may know that has a pedometer too, the more the merrier!

The 'Walk around the world for brain tumours' is important to me because it's something anyone can take part in and it's not about money, it's just a way of raising awareness about something that is obviously close to my heart :o)

So, do you have a pedometer? And would you be willing to take part? If so please leave a comment on this post or send us an email so we can get a rough idea of who's taking part :)

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
RoseBuddies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Things are about to change...

2008-10-02T14:12:00.007+01:00

Today RoseBuddies (that's us!) made a very important step. We are to become an Umbrella Group with the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust, the UK's largest brain tumour research charity.

What is an SDBTT umbrella group?

Regular fundraisers who are either raising money in memory of a loved one, or who are doing so for someone living with a brain tumour, can decide to become an SDBTT umbrella group. This allows the group to raise funds using the name of their loved one but under the 'umbrella' of the Charity. Once a significant sum has been raised we offer each group the opportunity to say how they would like this money spent, whether this be on a research project or in the area of patient support. Umbrella Groups can also use the Trust's registered Charity Number for fundraising purposes.

What does this mean for RoseBuddies?

The first thing it will mean is that we will be known as 'SDBTT RoseBuddies'. And the next big thing that will happen is our website will have a complete overhaul and our new logo will be unveiled!

In terms of fundraising, becoming an umbrella group will allow us the opportunity to decide exactly where the money we and our supporters raise will be spent. For example, we can decide whether we would like our funds to go towards research projects or patient support. As we are just in the process of changing to an umbrella group we are still discussing what we feel is most important to us but whatever we decide we will keep you all informed every step of the way!

RoseBuddies will also be able to use the SDBTT Registered Charity Number and we will be able to actively encourage people to fundraise on our behalf.

Another part of the change will be the launch of our information website, Brain Tumour (BT) Buddies, for high grade brain tumour patients, families and caregivers. This is something I have been working on for a few months now and we have high hopes that it will become an important resource for those dealing with this terrible disease.

I am sure there will be many other changes over the coming weeks and months which we will do our best to keep you up to date with.

It seems only right on such a big day for us that we remember the reason we began fundraising in the first place. Rose is never far from my thoughts and is a constant source of inspiration in all the work I do for both RoseBuddies and the information website.

Whilst I wish that circumstances were different and that we had never had a reason to start RoseBuddies, I am glad we did and very proud of all we have acheived in Rose's memory.

As many of you are aware I have not been in the best of health for sometime now and after leaving hospital in December 2006 I felt there was very little for me to keep fighting for. When Andrew suggested we take part in the BritBallRun in Rose's memory an important chapter in my life began.

Knowing that we could help to maybe make a difference to those travelling the brain tumour road is very important to me and I hope that we are able to keep RoseBuddies and Brain Tumour Buddies going for many years to come.

For Rose XxX

All the best,

Natalya
RoseBuddies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

Quick Update

2008-09-07T22:21:00.004+01:00

We just wanted to say a quick apology to all those who are waiting for our diary from this years BritBallRun. Unfortunately I haven't been able to complete it before my operation so you'll all have to wait just a little bit longer! I should be back at home in about a weeks time and will get the diary up as soon as I can after that!

Thank you to all of you for your continued support...more from us soon!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

WE WON, WE WON, WON!!!!

2008-08-25T22:27:00.003+01:00

Yes, it's really true, the winners of the BritBallRun 2008 are....

US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have had an amazing weekend, met up with old friends, gained some new ones and for the next 12 months we get to share this great trophy as the BritBallRun 2008 Champions...

We'd also like to introduce you to the winner of the first RoseBuddies 'Best BritBallRun Spirit' trophy, meet 'Jasper'...

A wonderful character from Halifax who found out about the event after spotting Andrew's car in the car park at a Zoo here in Sussex! Congratulations on making all of us chuckle throughout the weekend and we hope to see you again next year!!

Sadly, the laptop didnt do all of its job so there were no updates but I promise I will write our diaries up just as soon as we have caught up on some sleep!

Before we sign of we'd like to add a special note to Chris and Paul from Killerviral. Not only were they great company the night before the start but their generous donation of an entry to this years BritBallRun has made a fantastic difference to our fundraising total and we are extremely grateful for the support they have shown us this past year.

We also have MANY thank yous to do for those who helped us over the past 3 days but I'll save all of that for the diaries!!

More from the VERY happy Team SMARTies camp just as soon as we've had a good nights sleep!!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

The eve of the eve!

2008-08-21T04:05:00.005+01:00

Just 48 hours to the start of our second BritBallRun!

It's all go in the Team Smarties 'camp'. We have all our costume items, the car is looking great and we are looking forward to getting to our B&B tomorrow and chilling out with the Killerviral boys!

This year we are hoping to be able to use the laptop in the car which would allow us to update you all with our progress throughout each day (when I'm not map reading!).

Just a quick 'plug', we are only £351.92 away from this years £10,000 and it would be really fantastic if we could reach our target over the next few days. So, if you get chance to pass a link to Rose's Tribute Fund around to your family and friends or if you have an idea for a fundraising event of your own with your help maybe we'll smash through the £10,000 this weekend!

For now it's back to packing, we'll wrote this years first diary entries tomorrow whilst chilling out and enjoying a pint!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

5 Days to go!

2008-08-18T03:37:00.004+01:00

Our auctions finally ended last night and we now know we have raised a FANTASTIC £1,338!!

We'd like to say a BIG thank you to all those who bought items from us this year and to all those who continue to support us.

A special thank you also goes to all those who joined in the Smartie fun at the TRn camping meet earlier this year and to all in the NU Common Stack for filling those Smartie tubes!

Rose's Tribute Fund now stands at £9648.08 or 97% of this years £10,000 target!

When we return from the BritBallRun we will be putting our first batch of RoseBuddies T-Shirts up for sale. The t-shirts will have our new logo on the front and our name and website address on the back. For those of you that haven't seen the new logo here it is...

And here's a photo of Andrew wearing the first RoseBuddies t-shirt, this should give you an idea of how the back will look...

As well as the t-shirts we will have a few items from our sponsors up for auction and the Christmas Cards will go on sale at the start of October! Busy, busy, busy!

BritBallRun news - We will be writing a diary again this year and hope to post a little update each day from the car...if we can get the laptop to work! We will also, hopefully, be able to post a few photos of the car and us in our outfits.

For now it's time for us to rest before the chaos begins!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies / RoseBuddies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

Ending Soon!

2008-08-16T18:21:00.002+01:00

Time seems to be just whizzing by at the moment. Our auctions are almost at an end and we can't wait to add the total to Rose's Tribute Fund! If you fancy a last minute bid you can visit OUR EBAY STORE where you'll find all of the items we have up for grabs! All auctions, except the Everton FC Pennant, will end tomorrow Sunday 17th August 2008 at 7pm! Happy bidding!

Now on to the really serious stuff...7 days from today we will set off for the start of our second BritBallRun. This year we are hoping to use what we learnt from last years event and we're looking forward to meeting up with a few 'old friends'! We had a last minute costume change last week so you'll all have to wait for the photos from our first day to find out just what we'll be dressed in!

We hope to be able to post updates throughout the weekend if we can work out how to keep the laptop powered up in the car but we'll definitely post something from our hotel each night so you know how we are getting on! There will be no facility to send us messages this year but anyone wishing to leave us a message of support can post a comment on the latest post in this section. They will be authorised as soon as we get internet access throughout the weekend!

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Steve at RS Graphics for coming to our rescue and providing all the decals we need for the car this year, YOU'RE A STAR!

Thanks to Steve we know the car is going to look great again this year and that is, of course, also thanks to all those who donated items for our auctions! On our homepage is a list of logos and links of all our sponsors, if you get a spare moment our two please take a look around their websites!

The start of the BritBallRun will also see the unveiling of our new logo which was designed by our friend, Luana! Thanks 'Booboo', we know it's going to look fantastic!

Finally, all that's left for us to do is wish everyone taking part in this years BritBallRun the best of luck...now we're off to continue packing and ticking off items on our 'To Do' lists!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

It's Auction Time!!

2008-08-07T21:27:00.006+01:00

I can't believe it's that time of year again already! Tonight has seen the start of some of this years RoseBuddies Auctions!

As always 100% of all our charity auctions will go to Rose's Tribute Fund which is part of the Clatterbridge Cancer Research Trust. And, it gets better, Missionfish (the Ebay Charity arm) will match the donation AND until further notice a power company will also match the auction total.

That means (for example) if you win an auction with a bid of £34 a massive £102 will be given to Charity!

Most of this years items are related to the North West of England but there are also items that will appeal to people from all over including an official autographed Liverpool FC football!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL OF OUR AUCTIONS

HAPPY BIDDING!!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

July 2008 Update!

2008-08-01T18:13:00.003+01:00

OK, things have been a way too busy so I've failed in bringing you an update before the end of the month! Sorry folks! Instead, I'll just let you all know that I'll be posting a proper update in the next few days which will also include announcements about his years auctions!

Watch this space!!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Happy Birthday Andrew!

2008-07-06T16:09:00.001+01:00

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!

Bid on a DPC Membership for Charity

2008-06-18T20:15:00.004+01:00

Thanks to a very kind donation by Steve Brown and Mark Simms we currently have a years membership on DPC up for auction in our eBay store. Here's a little more information from a recent thread by Steve on DPC:

In another thread, here, Mark Simms, simms, is raising money for charity by asking DPCers to pledge money for each pound that he loses in his effort to drop 46 pounds. The proceeds will go to a very worthy charity, The Rose McGill Tribute Fund, which was set up to raise money for The Clatterbridge Cancer Research Trust. So far, through your generosity, he will raise over $1100 if he reaches his weight-loss goal. As an incentive to encourage folks to pledge, Mark offered a one-year membership to a randomly chosen DPCer. I was that lucky person.

In an effort to 'pay it forward', I asked Mark if I could offer the membership to another deserving person. At the suggestion of Andi McGill, ecce signum, we are offering that membership to the highest bidder on ebay, with the proceeds of the auction going to the same charity. The wonderful part of this is that ebay will match the winning bid, and donate that as well.

Would you please consider making a bid for the free year-long membership? If you are already a member, it will extend your membership for a year. Remember, your bid will be doubled, and the money will go to help fight cancer! You can bid here. Even if the winning bid is simply the cost of the membership, basically a break-even for the bidder, the charity will still get $50. And, you can still pledge money for Mark's weight loss, too!

Thanks,

Steve

Once again we'd like to thank Steve and Mark and we'll keep you all posted on how the auction goes!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
RoseBuddies / Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Help Mark raise £££s by losing lbs!!

2008-06-10T22:54:00.004+01:00

We'd like to announce the start of a new fundraising 'event'. Mark, a friend of ours from DPChallenge has decided to do a sponsored weightloss with all sponsorship going to Rose's Tribute Fund. Here's a little more information from Mark...

OK, I need to lose a bit of weight, 46lbs in fact. However, I have decided that to motivate myself I am going to do a .... drum roll.. Sponsored Weight Loss.

I am basically looking for as many of my friends, relatives, DPCers, their friends, relatives (etc etc) to visit my page, read all about it and sponsor me. The money raised is for the Rose McGill Tribute Fund which as a lot of you know was set up by Andi ( Ecce Signum) to raise money for the Clatterbridge Cancer Research Trust. All you need to do is sponsor me a small amount for every pound I lose (20p, 40cents etc, whatever you feel) and at the end of September we multiply the amount sponsored by the number of pounds I lose, upto a maximum of 46lbs.

The official end of diet weigh-in will be held in London at some kind of informal GTG and captured by Andi (who I have just volunteered for that enviable task).. Yes, I intend to strip down to a ... ahem, I'll leave that bit as a surprise, in front of a London landmark and have my final weigh in.. Form an orderly Queue please ladies!!

So please, just take a look at this site HERE and take a few seconds to pledge a bit of £££ or $$$

TO entice you further, any DPC members who sign up before D-Day (Monday 16th June) will be entered into a draw and I will donate a free years gift memebership to a random DPCer. I will pay for that myself, unless I can get Langdon to bung one my way..

The site has a bit more info on it, so pop along and have a read and send the link to any friends you think may be interested.

Once again in case you missed it, the website is here Marks Sponsored Weight Loss Page

Thanks everyone!!

We'd like to take this opportunity to wish Mark the very best of luck with his weightloss and we look forward to seeing the new slim man at the end of September!

Anyone wishing to sponsor Mark please visit the links above and remember, every penny counts! :)

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
RoseBuddies / Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

May 2008 Update!

2008-05-25T08:46:00.003+01:00

With the 'ticker' above showing exactly 3 months to the start of this years BritBallRun we thought it was about time we gave you all a bit of an update.

Firstly here are a few ways you can help us reach our £10,000 target...

The Smarties fundraiser is currently in progress and we hope to have a few tubes of change to count very soon! For more details of how you can take part CLICK HERE
If you, your company or organisation would like to sponsor a part of our car for the duration of this years BritBallRun all you need to do is visit our eBay Store and take a look at the various options :o)
We are also still looking for items for this years auctions. The auctions will be held through July and early August via our eBay Store, if you are interested in donating an item please send us an email at fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk detailing the item/items you would like to donate and we'll get back to you as soon as we can :o)

Other Team SMARTies news...

We have begun to put together our costumes for this years event. We finally settled on SMART but slightly mad Scientists as our theme this year...which will be more comfortable for Natalya than last years ballgown!
Although Christmas is over 6 months away we hope to order our Christmas cards in the next couple of months. Thanks to donations from members over at DPChallenge we'll have more unique designs available in our eBay store at the start of September.
Thanks to a friend we are working on our own fundraising event with a Smart twist! Plans are only in the very early stages so we won't announce anything yet, but, once we confirm the details we'll be sure to let you all know more!

To all those who have followed our progress since the start of our fundraising you are probably aware that Natalya isn't in the best of health. Thoughts and prayers around the 12th June would be greatly appreciated as she returns to the hospital for results of some tests which will hopefully allow the Doctors to finally confirm a diagnosis.

That's all from us for now but we'll be sure to keep you all posted on developments in the Team SMARTies 'camp' in the run up to the BritBallRun 2008...

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Smarties Anyone?

2008-05-13T20:45:00.000+01:00

Thanks to a very kind donation from Makro's in Liverpool we'd like to announce a slightly different way that you, your family, friends and colleagues could help us reach our £10,000 target!

Here's how it works...

You email us and ask for one (or more) tubes of Smarties. They will arrive sealed and ready to be eaten! ;) Once you've emptied the tube (or tubes) then your task begins! Between now and 1st July 2008 each tube that you request needs to be filled with as much spare change as you can fit in! Once the tube (or tubes) have been filled there are a few ways you can get the amount you raise to us:

Place all the full tubes in a padded envelope and then post them back to us, however, the postage could prove quite expensive so there are a couple of other ways you could make your donation.

Count all the change and then donate that amount to Rose's Tribute Fund via our Justgiving fundraising page (minimum donation £2)

Again this involves you doing the counting! Then you can send a cheque or postal order to us for the amount you have collected.

Full details of who to make cheques/postal orders payable to and the address for you to return your tubes/donations to will be enclosed with your Smarties :o)
This is a great way for you to spread the word about our fundraising and to get all the people you know involved :o)

So, if anyone is interested in filling a tube or two all you have to do is send an email to fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk stating your name, the amount of tubes you require and the address you would like them sending too. All tubes will be sent second class post and should be with you 3-5 days after you have requested them :o)

Any questions just drop us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as possible :o)

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

Happy Birthday Dave!

2008-05-13T17:43:00.001+01:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR WEB 'GURU' DAVE!

Thanks for all your help the past 18 months, we couldn't have done much of this without you! You're a star! :o)

All the best, Natalya and Andrew x

SOLD!

2008-04-28T18:45:00.003+01:00

As many of you are aware Chris from Killerviral (aka z3r0kuwl) was the BBR2007 winner. The prize was a stonking big trophy and free entry into BBR08. In a massive gesture Chris donated the ticket to Team SMARTies.

The Ebay auction ended last night and made its £500 face value! So, £500 from the auction winner, £500 from Missionfish (Ebays charity arm) and £500 from a company that (currently) would like to remain nameless means (calculator out) £1,500 is added to our fund total (now at £7,731.86).

We can't thank Chris enough for his very generous donation (and of course his co driver Paul) and would also like to say a big thank you to all the websites who posted about the auction in their forums, we couldn't have done it without you all!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

BritBallRun 2008 Entry Auction for 1 Vehicle and 2 People

2008-04-18T12:59:00.002+01:00

Click the banner below for more details!

Quick Update

2008-03-31T19:05:00.004+01:00

Just a quick note to let you all know we are still here! Things are busy for us at the moment but as soon as they settle down we'll be back here to give a proper update on how our fundraising is going!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

February 2008 Update

2008-02-08T18:32:00.000Z

I can't believe we are already into February! Time seems to really fly by these days.

I read an appalling statistic today. Tragically, more children and people under 40 lose their lives to a brain tumour than ANY other cancer. What's more appalling is that brain tumours aren't nearly as well publicised as other cancers such as leukemia. It is also very sad that treatments, funding for research and the standard of care received by brain tumour patients here in the UK is far lower than that experienced in other countries.

We are glad that Rose's Tribute Fund supports the work of the J K Douglas Laboratories which specialises in research into brain tumours and breast cancer and we hope that our fundraising will continue to provide much needed funds for the Laboratory to continue its vital research into treatments for brain tumours.

Now, it's about time I gave a little update on all that's been happening in the RoseBuddies / Team SMARTies corner of the world!

Having asked for ideas on what we should wear for this years BritBallRun it's now been narrowed down to the following three...

1. Mad scientists, white lab coats and truly messed up hair.

2. Smart wear from yesteryear as in the tweed and goggles for the guy and big flowing dresses and bonnet for the lady (think chitty Chitty Bang Bang)

3. Thelma and Louise (Andi in drag?!)

We haven't had a chance to discuss the pro's and con's of each option but once we have we'll let you all know which we decide to go for!

Work has started on sponsors for this years BritBallRun. We are hoping to get many more items for our auctions between now and the August Bank Holiday weekend. Thanks to all those who have already donated items, we are extremely grateful for all your help.

Through 2008 we are hoping to use various photography projects to help raise funds for the Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology.

This year we will be returning to Scotland to watch and photograph the Tunnocks Tour of Mull. We had a great time in 2007 and we were really pleased that our photography of the event enabaled us to help Rose's Tribute Fund. Hopefully we'll be able to have the same, if not better, success in 2008.

We are working on a number of projects which, at the moment, we are keping underwraps but as soon as we have some definite news I will be sure to post it here!

Over the next month or so there will be a few changes with our website. The main one will be the layout and content of the homepage. We have been really pleased with how our fundraising has been going and as we take on more projects we want to be able to incorporate those into our website. So, watch out for the new look!

That's about all from us for now. Once again thanks to all of you for your continued support, it's greatly appreciated.

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Remembering...

2008-01-25T20:15:00.000Z

Rose Emma McGill

26th January 1984 - 11th November 2006

What should we wear?

2008-01-08T14:39:00.000Z

After some 'interesting' suggestions we have put together a poll on what we should wear for BritBallRun 2008.

CLICK HERE to place your vote!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Welcome to 2008!

2008-01-01T19:13:00.000Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

From all here at www.rosemcgill.co.uk

December 2007 Update

2007-12-09T23:17:00.000Z

What a year we have had! It was, of course, with deep sadness that we began our fundraising but, over the months we have taken great comfort from the people we have met, the kindness so many have shown and the opporunities we have had to talk to people about Rose and the Charities we are supporting.

Yesterday we watched our latest eBay auctions raise a fantastic £262 for Rose's Tribute Fund which means our fundraising total now stands at £6,101.76!

We couldn't have got this far without our many loyal supporters and it's only right that we say a BIG THANK YOU to you all and wish you a Merry Christmas from all here at rosemcgill.co.uk.

So what next? Well, 2008 has a lot instore for Team Smarties and RoseBuddies Auctions including an auction of a space in the BritBallRun 2008. More details about this will appear here in early January.

We will also be asking for ideas on what costumes we should wear for the BritBallRun. We will remain as Team SMARTies so we need some great ideas of costumes that fit in with this name...and can be easily worn in the Roadster!

2008 will also see a few projects coming together to help Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology directly. Again, we'll tell you more about this in the New Year!

For now we hope you all have a great Christmas and wish you all the best for 2008.

See you in the New Year,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies / RoseBuddies Auctions
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

SOLD OUT!

2007-11-19T13:39:00.000Z

Our Christmas Cards went on sale almost one month ago and we are very pleased to say they have now all been sold! We have received great feedback from all who bought them and raised over £400 for Rose's Tribute Fund!

A BIG THANK YOU from us to everyone who bought a pack!

We are already planning next years cards and hope to have some great new designs to tempt you all with!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

November 2007 Update

2007-11-13T20:30:00.000Z

Time seems to be passing so quickly. The ticker tells us it's 9 months 1 week and 5 days till the next BritBallRun, before we know it we'll be off cruising the country, wearing silly costumes and collecting very odd items from more baffled shops and passersby again!

We thought it was about time we gave an update on whats been happening in the Team SMARTies/RoseBuddies Auctions 'camp' but before we do I'd just like you all to take a moment to look at this beautiful girl...

It has been 12 months of lows and highs for all involved in the fundraising for Rose's Tribute Fund but throughout we have had the biggest smile to keep us going. As those who knew and loved Rose hold thoughts of her close right now I'd like to take a moment to say thank you to her for giving me a reason to go on.

I have faced many challenges this year, the hardest of which have been this last month or so. Each time something has happened and I've found myself thinking 'why me?' I've been able to pull myself together and plough all the energy I have left into fundraising for Rose's Tribute Fund. The smiling face above really is an amazing motivator!

Team SMARTies / RoseBuddies Auctions News:

On Friday 9th November 2007 I headed over to the Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology for a tour of the facilities and to see where the money raised through Rose's Tribute Fund is being used. Firstly I'd like to thank 'The Susan's' and all those who took time out of their busy days to show me around, answer my questions and share a little of what makes Clatterbridge the way it is. It is comforting to know that through Rose's Tribute Fund we might be able to make a difference to someone receiving treatment at Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology and that the research done at the J K Douglas Laboratories, which is all funded by donations, may one day help in finding a cure for Brain Tumours and other cancers. I learnt so much from my visit to the centre and we are looking forward to working with both charities in the future.

Our Christmas Cards have been flying out of our eBay shop for just over 3 weeks now and we have raised a fantastic £358 for Rose's Tribute Fund! There are just 5 packs left so if you haven't grabbed yourself one yet then head over to our eBay Shop before they're all gone!

Thanks to the generosity of this years BritBallRun winners, Team Killerviral, and with the co-operation of the event organisers the new year will see RoseBuddies holding a unique eBay auction! We will be auctioning entry to the 2008 BritBallRun for 1 car and 2 passengers and we can't wait to see who the highest bidders will be!ALL of the winning bid will be donated to Rose's Tribute Fund and thanks to eBay the donation will be matched 100%!

New Year will also see the start of the sponsorship 'work'. With lots of ideas already being thrown about, 2008 looks set to be just as exciting as the 2007 event! We're keeping quiet for now but watch this space to find out what we'll be getting upto in the run up to the big event in August!

Struggling to find the perfect Christmas gift or maybe you're exhausted from all that shopping!? Thanks to www.ineedpampering.com we have another fantastic Makeover Day for 2 to auction to help us raise money for Rose's Tribute Fund. We will be holding the auction at the start of December and we'll make sure we let you all know once it's in our eBay shop.

That's about all the news from us for now!

Before we go we'd like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of you that have supported us this past 12 months and to Dave, our Web Guru, for all his hardwork! We couldn't have fixed our eyes on the new £10,000 target if it wasn't for the encouragement and help you have all shown us along the way.

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

2007-11-10T09:26:00.000Z

26th January 1984 - 11th November 2006

The Rose Beyond the Wall

Near a shady wall a rose once grew,
Budded and blossomed in God's free light,
Watered and fed by the morning dew,
Shedding it's sweetness day and night.

As it grew and blossomed fair and tall,
Slowly rising to loftier height,
It came to a crevice in the wall
Through which there shone a beam of light.

Onward it crept with added strength
With never a thought of fear or pride,
It followed the light through the crevice's length
And unfolded itself on the other side.

The light, the dew, the broadening view
Were found the same as they were before,
And it lost itself in beauties new,
Breathing it's fragrance more and more.

Shall claim of death cause us to grieve
And make our courage faint and fall?
Nay! Let us faith and hope receive--
The rose still grows beyond the wall,

Scattering fragrance far and wide
Just as it did in days of yore,
Just as it did on the other side,
Just as it will forevermore.

~ A. L. Frink ~

Christmas Cards On Sale NOW!

2007-11-04T23:56:00.000Z

Over the past few weeks the Christmas cards have been flying out of our eBay Store to places across the globe and, the feedback we have received has been wonderful! We were so pleased with the images and the quality of the printing, it's been great to hear others feel the same!

To check out our cards visit our eBay store...

ROSEBUDDIES AUCTIONS

More from us soon :o)

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Christmas Cards On Sale NOW!

2007-10-22T22:23:00.000+01:00

After a well deserved holiday we are back and have wasted no time in getting the first of our Christmas Cards on sale in our eBay Shop! Check out the following links to see the designs and to purchase a pack or 2 of our Christmas Cards...

12 Unique Charity Christmas Cards

6 Unique Charity Christmas Cards

100% from the sale of each pack will go to Clatterbridge Cancer Campaign in memory of Rose McGill. Better still, eBay will match every donation so double the final sale price will go to our chosen charity!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

October 2007 Update

2007-10-10T09:57:00.000+01:00

Well, the BritBallRun seems so long ago now! According to the ticker we have 10 months, 2 weeks and 2 days till we do it all again! We are both quite excited about it already and hope that we have learnt from this year...for example, we need to bring a clipboard and smaller map!

We have now finished the auctions of all the items we were given for this years event and our fundraising total stands at a fantastic £5024.47! With this in mind and knowing we have no intention of stopping we have decided to increase our fundraising target to £10,000!

It's always great to have something to strive for and we are missing seeing our little bar increasing with each donation! So, here's hoping we smash through our target before the BritBallRun 2008! :o)

Our Christmas Cards will be going on sale from Sunday 21st October so don't forget to keep checking in on Our eBay Shop for further details!

Team SMARTies are off for a well deserved holiday this week, should you have any queries please use the Contact Us form on our website and Dave, our Web Guru, will get back to you!

See you all in a couple of weeks!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

Don't forget to visit our BRITBALLRUN section to read the Event Summary and Our Diaries from 2007

Pricing...

2007-10-09T17:45:00.000+01:00

We need your help! If you have time please take a look at our poll and let us know what you think we should charge for our Christmas Cards this year...

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Grand Christmas Draw

2007-09-30T22:33:00.000+01:00

Tickets are now available for the Clatterbridge Cancer Research Trusts Grand Christmas Draw...

1st: Weekend Break for two - Harding Tours
2nd: Be Renewed Spa Day voucher - Thornton Hall Hotel
3rd: Christmas Hamper - Park Group Plc
4th: Beauty Treatment Voucher - Saks at David Lloyd Fitness Centre (Cheshire Oaks)
5th: Andrew Collinge Hairdressing Makeover Voucher
6th: Marks and Spencers Voucher
7th: Matalan Voucher

Plus many more!

50p per ticket or
£2.50 a booklet (5 tickets)

If you wish to obtain tickets for the draw please use the CONTACT US form on our website and make sure to let us know how many you would like!

The draw will take place at 1.00pm on Monday, 17th December, 2007 at JK.Douglas Laboratories, Bebington, Wirral

WOOHOO!!

2007-09-29T18:52:00.000+01:00

After the sale of some of our remaining auction items and just over one month after we completed the BritBallRun we are extremely excited to announce that Rose's Tribute Fund has just sailed past the £5,000 target that we set for ourselves...

We are both grinning from ear to ear right now and wanted to share our excitement with all of you who have supported us along the way!

Is this the end? OH NO! We intend to continue fundraising in Rose's Memory starting with our own collection of unique christmas cards. As soon as they are available in our eBay shop we'll let you all know!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

eBay!

2007-09-20T21:30:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to the highest bidder on our very first eBay auction! Once we clear up the paperwork Rose's Tribute Fund will rise by a fantastic £130.66!

We can't wait to see what our next auction will raise. You can find our eBay Shop HERE!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Ch ch chchanges!

2007-09-15T20:29:00.000+01:00

As many of you will have noticed by now, there have been a few changes around here! Please take a look through the menu on the left and explore some of the new sections including BritBallRun, Sponsors and Our Auctions.

Seamless link here...

The new look to the website also coincides with the opening of our eBay Shop. Following on from the auctions we held via the website earlier this year we have decided to open an eBay shop to give us a wider audience for any future auction items. You can navigate to the auction page by clicking on 'Our Auctions' in the menu on the left.

At the moment we are still putting the finishing touches to the RoseBuddies Auctions shop front and trying out the auction template that our web guru, Dave, put together for us. We currently have 1 item listed which you can find via the shop front or by clicking HERE.

As we put together more of our auction pages we will let you all know here in the latest news section.

For now it's back to work!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

We're Still Here!

2007-09-12T14:50:00.000+01:00

We thought it was about time we popped in and let you all know that we are still around!

After catching up on some well needed sleep we have spent a lot of time discussing where we go now with our fundraising! Over the coming weeks, with the help of our web guru, Dave, we will be setting up the next step in our fundraising. There is a lot of excitement here in the Team SMARTies camp, but, for now we'll have to keep you all in suspense! Keep checking in here and as soon as we have everything ready we'll make a post to fill you all in on the details!

In the meantime if you have any fundraising ideas of your own that you think we might be able to use please get in touch with us either via the Contact Us section on the website or by sending us an Email!

More from us soon!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

What happens now?

2007-09-04T12:00:00.000+01:00

A question we have asked ourselves numerous times this past week or so!

Here's a few of our thoughts:

Rose's Tribute Fund will carry on with all proceeds from our fundraising efforts continuing to be donated to Clatterbridge Cancer Campaign in memory of Rose.

www.rosemcgill.co.uk will continue to be the base for Team SMARTies and any future RoseBuddies Auctions.

Over the next few weeks various changes will be made to the website so that everything is up to date and people can find what they are looking for a little easier.

Plans are currently underway for a BritBallrun get together near Christmas which we hope will allow us to meet up and have a beer, dinner and lots of laughs with the folks who took part this year. More about this as and when we get the details!

At some point we will also make an annoucement regarding next years Britballrun!

For now we are off to send out many thank you notes and to think of ways to fit a wheelchair in the back of the Roadster! Anyone with any ideas on this please drop us a note!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

SCROLL DOWN TO READ OUR DIARIES FROM THE BRITBALLRUN 2007

The Route

2007-09-04T09:00:00.000+01:00

To give you all an idea of where we went on our travels Paul (from Paul and Sarah!) has put a little map together...

Day 1 - shiny sunset orange (to the left)
Day 2 - slightly grubby (to the right)
Day 3 - dirtier again (slightly south!)

We'll try our best to get a map up of the exact route that Team SMARTies took as well. That's Andrew's job so if it doesn't appear soon you all know who to blame! ;o)

SCROLL DOWN TO READ OUR DIARIES FROM THE BRITBALLRUN 2007

Important Announcement

2007-09-04T00:30:00.000+01:00

Team KillerViral

The winner of this years BritBallRun not only got a great trophy but free entry to next years event. Chris from Team KillerViral had a few words to say about the big win and prize over on www.theroadster.net:

"We had an incredible time, met some wonderful people saw some amazing places, laughed more than I have for a very long time and most importantly I feel that the car really enjoyed it too! The organisers did a fabulous job and I can't wait to do it all over again next year! All that said... One of the main reasons I feel embarrassed is that I don't think we were the true winners. We had a good sat nav (and the best car for the job clearly), had a few strokes of luck along the way and I have a pretty good memory which really helped. The real winners however were Ecce and Talj. I am brim full of admiration for what they achieved, how much they raised and the work they put in. They are the true champions and deserve all of our respect and admiration. Three cheers for team smarties! Hip hip..."

We were both moved by Chris' words but had not expected his next move...

"After giving it a bit of thought and chatting with Talj, Ecce and the Britball guys, I've decided to donate the free entrance we get for winning this years event to team Smarties. I was mainly in it for the fun of it and partially in it to raise awareness of Killerviral.com. Team Smarties however raised loads of cash for a great cause (although of course they had a great time too) and it makes more sense that they should have it"

What does this mean for Rose's Tribute Fund? Well, thanks to the kind donation from Chris and Paul, although our fund still shows £4,500.99 it is actually £5,200.99! We are absolutely delighted to have achieved the target we set for ourselves.

When we visited Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology a few days before the Britballrun it brought home to us just how important the work they do there is. So many people are effected by this terrible disease and they have so much to go through. Clatterbridge offers a peaceful, clean, friendly environment for those receiving treatment and we know that every penny of the money we raise will be put to good use.

So, from Team SMARTies, a VERY BIG THANK YOU to Chris and Paul. The beers are on us next time boys :o)

SCROLL DOWN TO READ OUR DIARIES FROM THE BRITBALLRUN 2007

The Winner is...

2007-09-04T00:00:00.000+01:00

After 3 fantastic days it was time for the winner to be announced! We had had a great night with these guys on Friday and they were brilliant entertainment throughout the weekend :o)

Chris and Paul of Team KillerViral

Worthy winners and driving the best car there (of course!)

2nd Place went to...

The Flintstones aka Mary and Garry

3rd Place...

Paul and Sarah

From Team SMARTies CONGRATULATIONS to all of you. Hope to see you in the line up of BBR2008!

CLICK HERE to see some photos from the end venue

SCROLL DOWN TO READ OUR DIARIES FROM THE BRITBALLRUN 2007

Monday 27th August 2007 - Day 3

2007-09-03T12:00:00.000+01:00

Parked Up

When the alarm went off this morning it was clear it had to be wrong. We'd had just a few minutes sleep, at least it felt like we had! But, unfortunately for us, it really was time to get up and head down for breakfast and the big quiz!

Watching some of the other participants appearing really made us chuckle, obviously staying in the bar till the early hours of the morning hadn't done them any favours! After a quick glass of orange juice we made our way to the quiz room.

There were 15 questions and considering we didn't know any of the facts 12 hours ago we didn't do too badly at all getting 11 out of the 15 correct! I think the best question of the morning was what's the ratio of sheep to people in Wales? Lots of sniggering and poor jokes followed, the correct answer was...3.5 sheep for every person in Wales!

Lining Up with Spiderman and Chris for Team KillerViral

Once the quiz was complete we made our way to the car and joined the line up for the mornings drive. Today we would be in the car till around lunchtime and would be following line by line instructions rather than using a map or Sat Nav. This I didn't mind as it meant if we went wrong I could blame the instructions, however, as well as reading the instructions it was also my task to complete the 10 clues on the sheet.

Cars were once again let loose at 1 minute intervals and soon we were heading around the little lanes of Warwickshire searching for various clues and making sure we didn't miss any turnings!

I was pleased to see that the 10 clues we needed were completed pretty quickly and that all I had to do then was read out the instructions. This made the drive a lot more interesting for me and also meant I could enjoy the wind in my hair and the sun beaming down on us through the open roof :o)

Car 74 - Paul and Renee

After a short time of driving 'alone' we soon managed to catch up with the Vicars in their yellow lotus and Grez and Chris in their Mini. It felt good to be joined by a few of the other BBR'ers and as there were no clues to collect and mileage didn't count today it meant we could all stick together and have a little fun!

We hoped staying close enough to the Vicars might mean if we 'sent one up' the 'Almighty One' might think it was from them and answer it accordingly ;o) I think Andrew's prayers were answered as no matter how many chances the Lotus got to pull away it just couldn't manage to shake ickle brcX off its tail :o)

A mini adventure!

The drive was really lovely with some fantastic roads and countryside and apart from one tiny little mistake we had a great run made all the better for the chat over the walkie talkie with Grez and Chris in the Mini. Thanks to you both for making us chuckle!

As we pulled into The Heritage Motor Centre I was a little sad that this weekend was coming to an end. There had been all sorts of emotions flying around during the 3 days but now wasn't the time for a good cry!

We were one of the first to arrive at the final destination but pretty soon the other cars joined us and everyone had a good chat and admired each others cars. Thanks to Spiderman and Pete I was given a chair to sit on whilst we waited for the final few to arrive.

Unfortunately the moment I had been looking forward to was completely missed by us as I had a very slow trip to the toilet, when we arrived back the RAF boys had made their grand entrance and were parked up...I really am too slow! I am looking forward to seeing the DVD and hope it has some footage of their final big entrance!

Yup, us again!

As Andrew placed my chair to the rear of the RAF boys lotus I was a little concerned that there maybe a chance I would be 'hit' with something but feeling confident that the gentlemen wouldn't pick on a poor defenceless young lady I ignored my gut instinct and rested my legs.

However, I should have known better! No sooner had I sat down than I had to jump up and move as fast as my legs could carry me to avoid being drenched in water that was being sprayed at me from the 'guns' on the back of their car! Luckily I escaped but the camcorder got a little soaking :o( We spent a few more minutes waiting for the final car to arrive but there seemed to be no sign of it! As we began to get ourselves together to head indoors for the presentation I took the chance to grab our bottle of water and whilst the big mean RAF man wasn't looking I took aim and fired! Perfect! My water had manged to hit it's target perfectly and I was feeling a little chirpier knowing I'd got my own back ;o) (sorry boys)

Once we were indoors and seated it was time to find out who had won this years BritBallRun...you'll have to wait for our next post to find out who it was! For now I'll leave you with this...

Thanks to Team KillerViral who have managed to put together a quick video from the weekend. CLICK HERE to take a look at just some of the fun that was had over the weekend :o)

Diary - Day 3

2007-09-03T11:50:00.000+01:00

Team SMARTies

Monday 27th August 2007

T's Diary...

When I woke up this morning the first thing I thought was I hope I can walk! Having been like this for a long time now I have got used to my body and know that rest, more often than not, helps to relieve some of the pain, swelling and discolouration. I was pleased when I stepped out of bed to find that it was a little easier to put my foot down today and the purple colouring had disappeared.

I hadn't been looking forward to having to tell Andrew I couldn't carry on so I knocked back a double dose of painkillers and hoped I'd be rid of most of the pain without totally knocking myself out! Thankfuly it did the trick and I had a brilliant day.

I was a bit anxious when we set off as I didn't want to miss any of the clues we needed but once I had the first few I felt a lot better. We drove through some beautiful little villages and down some great windy roads, I think Andrew was a little upset that he kept getting stuck behind such slow moving traffic but I didn't mind how fast we were going!

It didn't seem so warm today so we had the roof down for most of the drive and apart from the fumes when we were behind the vicars it was very pleasant :o) Judging by my rather red bits it was warmer than we thought and I should have been a little more careful with my application of suncream...something to remember for next time!

No sooner had we set off than we seemed to be heading back. It was great to get to spend a little time as a 'convoy' and Grez and Chris in the Mini were great entertainment via the walkie talkies! I don't think I was the only one who was a little sad to see us drive straight past the Aston Martin plant ! But we were headed for bigger and better things, the finish line!

I couldn't believe that the event we had been waiting all year for was almost at an end!

A little moment of reflection...

When Andrew asked me if I wanted to take part in the BritBallRun with him I don't really think I knew what I'd be letting myself in for! I've been able to travel to places I have never been before, meet some fantastic people, see some lovely cars, do things I wouldn't normally dream of doing, experience many different emotions and all of these things have been done alongside my best friend.

Just over 2 years ago life was very different for me but when things suddenly changed I was lucky enough to have someone step up and lend an ear when I needed one most. We've been through a lot the pair of us and I am so pleased that we were able to take part in this event together.

Here's to best friends and next years BritBallRun!

Andrew's Diary...

Monday came only too soon and after breakfast and a quick bit of revision it was off to the classroom to see the current positions and take our test. As we thought, we were still in 5th place and baring a disaster from either us or the 4th place car thats were we would finish. 11 out of 15 for the quiz was not a bad score (thanks Talj)

I'd parked the BRCx away from the rest of the BBR'ers cars on Sunday (right outside the Hotel) and after packing for the final time we set off to the car park to meet the others and prepare for the final (short) trip. This was about 70 miles and strictly following directions on 3 pages of A4 (with 10 observations to make).

We were travelling around the Cotswolds and scenery much like on Saturday (read stunning). After 30 minutes or so we caught up with Grez and Chris and their mini. As we drove through Broadway admiring the wonderful village and counting flagpoles Talj forgot about directions so had to retrace out steps. As I did a 3 point turn in the centre of Broadway the unholy Vicars arrived in their Lotus and as we pulled up behind them Grez and Chris arrived back in the village (they had obviously got lost as well). The 3 BBR'ers continued to collect the last few clues and had a little fun indicating right when we should have been going left. Most of the journey was behind caravans horses and the general public but we did have a couple of blasts up to almost 70mph (I think that secretly the vicars were impressed with how my 698cc 3 cylinder motor kept up) mind you, never follow a lotus with the roof down as both Talj and I seemed to be suffering from the fumes. We were all having so much fun Talj had stopped following directions and sadly the vicars path was not as straight as we thought and all 3 of us ended up in a car park trying to work out where we had gone wrong. Methinks the Vicars called their boss and they were soon off again whilst I got directions from some amused passers by.

Much of the past hour Talj was chatting away to Grez and Chris and their chirpy banter carried on (a very dry humoured pair). It would seem that Batman wasn't too honest with the directions as 'bear right' actually meant take the second exit on the roundabout and, as most people got 'lost' at the same junction as we did we are blaming it on Andy :)

I was both happy and sad when I saw the signpost to the Heritage Museum as it meant we would be finishing where we started on Saturday morning and all too soon we arrived back at the Museum and were greeted by Batman and an assortment of soft drinks.

We had an hour before lunch and the prizegiving and Talj was found a chair to sit in (as if 3 days sitting in a car wasn't enough lol). We were all waiting for the RAF guys to arrive wondering if the smoke would be on as it was on Saturday and sure enough it was but sadly Talj and I missed it as Talj needed to be 'somewhere else'.

We set off a few minutes before the rest so had a free run on the buffet, we had to beat RAF Jim because he is always hungry! The final scores were announced and yes, you guessed right - we were fifth. A big congratulations to all that took part and most especially to our ever smilling organisers - you made the event what it was!

I'd clocked up about 1,100 miles since Thursday and with just over 400 miles left to drive today Talj and I said our farewells to all except Chris and Paul - fantastic news their Bluewave Roadster was triumphant and they were busy being interviewed as the newly crowned BBR2007 champions (more about them in another thread).

After a quick dash up to Leeds to drop Talj off with relatives I headed back down to Norfolk and the bed that I was now longing for.

Sunday 26th August 2007 - Day 2

2007-09-02T15:46:00.000+01:00

ickle brcX

No lie in for us today! We were ready and in the car for the 9am start and soon found ourselves heading to Cambridge for today's first checkpoint. For 15 - 20 minutes at the start of our journey we had a little fun with the Blues Brothers in their cobra but that all came to a sudden end when they pulled into the services to refuel....again!

Andrew and I weren't so excited about driving to Cambridge or the prospect of today being mostly East Anglia based, not that there is anything wrong with that part of the country it's just we enjoyed the rolling hills and element of surprise that Wales gave us yesterday. Today we would be driving around rather flat countryside in areas we both knew fairly well.

As we travelled the lonely road to Cambridge we decided we'd try and collect 2 of the days 'must get' items, so, we pulled into a services to pick up a MacDonalds sugar pouch/packet and a blue smartie! Now, blue smarties went out of production quite some time ago but thanks to having a little brother who likes cookies I knew that blue 'smarties' could still be found on cookies...but not in this services!

The first control sheet also included a riddle. I am useless at things like this and, after reading it before we set off, Andrew didn't seem to be much better. A little silence followed and then Andrew asked me to read the riddle to him again. It seems men don't always read things through properly (isn't that right Andrew?) and once he'd processed the correct wording he said '182'. I have every faith in Andrew's abilities (honestly) so I wrote it down and looked forward to getting back tonight and seeing if he was right!

Time seemed to go quite quickly and it wasn't long before I recognised the streets of Cambridge and began to look for our first checkpoint of the day. Cambridge is full of footbridges over the river but thankfully we knew that this one was opposite a particular house number so whilst Andrew slowly drove along the road I began number spotting and soon found 71. Thanks to my disabled badge we were able to stop quite close to the bridge and Andrew was sent to look for the answer to the first clue.

The RAF boys (Lotus) and Team KillerViral (Roadster)

The only item we needed to collect in Cambridge was the cheapest pay and display ticket we could get. Easy you might all say! Well you'd be wrong! Parking in Cambridge on a Sunday is free, this meant that the pay and display machines wouldn't accept our money and there was no way we could get a ticket! This item was quite important as it would have seen us getting 50 points added to our score (team with the LEAST points wins!). We resigned ourselves to the fact that there was nothing we could do and began to drive to our next checkpoint. Before we left Cambridge I asked Andrew to stop for a moment and listen to an idea I had come up with!

The night before, over dinner, the RAF boys had been talking about thinking outside the box. So, with an unhappy silence in the car I was busy trying to think outside the box. Explaining my idea to Andrew I fully expected him to say 'stop talking nonsense woman' but he actually managed half a smile. So, as Andrew went off to try and execute my idea I hobbled over to the local shop and managed to find our blue smartie. It would seem that landlords in Cambridge aren't very obliging and once again it looked like we'd end up without our pay and display ticket.

This called for some drastic action so I adjusted myself accordingly and headed for a car valeting place on the corner of the street where I thought I would try my luck and see if they could provide us with a receipt for parking on their forecourt. The first slightly tanned young man I saw stopped and asked if he could help. I explained 'my' situation and he then called another of his colleagues over and their boss. A few minutes and a little harmless flirting later I exchanged 1p with 'the boss' and he handed me a 'pay and display' ticket. Job done! Getting back in the car I desperately hoped that I'd not have to do anything like that again for a very long time!

'That' Pay and Display Ticket!

From Cambridge we headed for Kings Lynn. The journey seemed to be taking a while so I decided to keep myself busy and wrote Andrew a list of instructions for when he got out at the next stop:

1. Press walkie talkie and tell T the answer to the clue
2. Complete brass rubbing and then use enclosed wet wipes to clean your hands (don't wipe them on your trousers!)
3. Check paper shop or knock on someones door and obtain an old or new copy of the Lynn News
4. Now have a cigarette and head back to the car

Perfect teamwork I'd say :o) At this point our control sheet was telling us we should be 35% into Day 2 and we were pleased to see that we were making good time :o) From Kings Lynn we went to Peterborough where I got talking to a couple of bikers whilst Andrew searched for something 'Posh'.

We'd like to take a moment to say thank you to the kind gentleman in Peterborough who asked what we were doing and then went to a cashpoint and brought back a donation for Rose's Tribute Fund :o)

I'd like to have written more about Peterborough but in Andrew's search for our 'must get' items he mislaid the information sheet...sorry Andrew but you didn't think I'd keep quiet about that did you? ;o) From Peterborough we made our way to Leicester, not before stopping so I could stretch my legs and we could have lunch. On opening my door I was greeted by a rather disgusting smell and asked Andrew to kindly move away from the drain as there was no way I could eat lunch with this smell in the air! Once we had taken a wander we got back in the car to find a message on the NavMan...

"are you in a lay by just past peterborough on the a 47?"

Thanks to Andrew's work colleague for really making us chuckle! Due to the smell and a rather odd sandwich containing mashed up pear we didn't stay for very long and we were soon back on the road to Leicester and searching for a used bingo ticket with our car number on (33).

Leicester was quite a good stop and we managed to find the bingo ticket, used cinema ticket and a toilet quite quickly! We could also see the Walkers Stadium where we needed to collect our next clue which would open the envelope containing what we hoped would be our final control sheet for the day! We weren't disappointed.

I was begining to get very, very uncomfortable and was fighting the pain in my leg the best I could but I already knew this wasn't a good sign :o( As we hit the motorway heading for Warwick Andrew remembered that we had a quiz tonight and we suddenly realised what all the 'Did you know?' sections on the control sheets were about! I began reading them out in the hope that we'd remember at least some of them but it really was no use. I couldn't concentrate on anything other than my leg and Andrew needed all eyes on the road so we decided to leave it for now and hope that we'd get a bit of time to revise before dinner.

'Our baby'

I was suffering a great deal by the time we reached the end venue in Warwick, my foot was going funny shades of purple and putting it to the floor caused me quite a lot of pain. Not good news, but, a sip of Andrew's nice cold beer made me feel a little better :o)

Once we had gone through all of the items we had collected with Batman it was then the moment we had been dreading. At the navigators briefing on Saturday morning Andrew had been given an egg and told that the egg must be returned on Sunday evening with no damage or cracks. Andrew placed some 'packing' in his top hat and put the little egg in the middle then put a little more 'packing' on the top and we hoped that it would be good enough to keep it from breaking! Thankfully, as a new top hat would cost us £200, the egg was perfectly intact and we received our minus bonus points! :o)

There was just enough time for us to get changed before dinner and divide the control sheets in 2 in the hope that we could each remember enough from our sheets to get us through the quiz. I wasn't doing too badly with my sheets...

Aberaeron is famous for honey and especially honey ice cream and honey mustard.
70% of it's inhabitants spoke welsh (2001 census)

There were a few more too but I felt confident that I would do ok should the quiz contain any questions about my sheets! Andrew took advantage of my very slow hobble over to the pub to go through the facts on his sheets, don't think I didn't know you were trying to get me to remember your sheets too Andrew!

~~Unfortunately~~ Thankfully our quick revision wasn't needed! Sadly the pub we were at for dinner provided a very poor service and waiting times meant it just got too late to do the quiz. We had been saved...until the morning!

What on earth is this??

Although waiting for dinner and drinks became a little annoying after a while we were entertained by allsorts of stories and jokes which made the time pass quite quickly. It wouldn't be right for me not to at least tell you one of the things that made us chuckle...

With my legs giving me a lot of trouble it fell to a few of the other participants to help me to and from the toilet during the evening. The funniest of those trips was the first when I was escorted by one of the RAF gents. As we approached the door we both burst out laughing, what on earth was the symbol on the door?? Definitely something worthy of a photo and a mention here I thought! After much laughter about just what might possibly be wrong with this poor fellow on the door Porky and Algie decided that this wasn't a bad case of constipation but the new symbol for Apples iBog! Laughter is most definitely the best medicine and sitting with these guys there was certainly plenty of it!

Another successful day, now all we had to worry about was whether I'd be able to walk when I woke up, what the mornings drive would have instore for us and if we'd done enough revision for the quiz!

Here's a few shots from the evening of Day 2...

The Lovely Natalie (camera lady) :o)

Front to back: The Blues Brothers, Team KillerViral and Paul and Sarah

They teach them allsorts in the RAF but not how to text!

From Left to Right: The 'scenic' boys, Car 74, Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne

Diary - Day 2

2007-09-02T00:01:00.000+01:00

Sunday 26th August 2007

T's Diary...

Today had been going really, really well until we were almost home and I began to feel quite unwell. I've spent most of the evening trying to find a position for my leg that would ease the swelling, discolouration and pain but just had no luck at all. Standing up seemed to make the discolouration disappear but I couldn't do that for very long. I am just hoping that the rest tonight might help and that I'll be ok to carry on tomorrow.

Apart from not feeling so good I have had a great day. Finally I was comfortable in the dress and a lot less self conscious which really helped me to relax. We found some of the T/Andrew banter early on in the day and I was pleased to be having a laugh and a joke whilst attempting to look like I knew which way up the map went ;o) I was also really pleased that we managed to collect all our 'must get' items for the day and the egg managed to make it the 2 days without a single crack! Things have gone well!

This evenings meal was a bit of a disaster due to extremely poor service! However, the company more than made up for the wait and before long it was time for me to get some rest. I really hope that I will be feeling better in the morning and that I can make it to the 'finish line'. It's hard to feel that you may not be able to complete something you have worked so hard for :o(

Andrew's Diary...

Cambridge
Kings Lynn
Peterborough
Leicester (Walker stadium)
Warwick

After what seemed like only 10 minutes sleep we were up again and preparing for day 2. A task we were given on day 1 was to protect an egg from any damage for 2 days and it had its own little nest in my Top Hat. Talj was feeling a little worse for wear after day 1 but like the trooper she is she brushed off the pain and after breakfast we were soon heading to Cambridge.

I've driven the route to Cambridge many many times and for me this stretch was rather boring and along the way we picked up some MacDonalds sugar sachets. The Navman was busy with messages this morning and, if I use it again next year will have it on the passenger side as I shouldn't reply whilst driving ;)

We picked up the clue for our next destination but got stumped on finding a cheap Pay and Display ticket (the meters are turned off on Sunday's as its free parking). After a failed attempt to get a cheap ticket in a car park (cost me £1.10) for a 30 second stay Talj dreamt up an idea of paying a business to park on their land. I tried this at a pub but failed miserably and, when Talj returned with another item (blue Smarties) she adjusted her dress and headed over to a valeting shop. We parked up there for a minute and displayed our P&D ticket that cost a penny (well done Talj).

Next we drove over to Kings Lynn and we found the reason for the chalk in our pack (Brass rubbing). After checking out the flood levels at the church it was over the road to the Guildhall to do the Brass Rubbing and quite a queue of BBR'ers was building up to rub their brasses! There was a guy outside the Guildhall waiting to cover the brass with a poster and I asked him if he had a copy of the Lynn News. He returned a few minutes later without a paper but with a big bunch of keys and he took me next door to the Gaol Museum and handed me a bunch of papers. For a small donation I was promised this stash of papers would not fall into any other BBR'ers hands.

Next was a drive to the centre of Peterborough and we parked up close to the Cathedral and I set off to gather the required treasure. We had to change radio frequencies as we were sharing our band with a local Taxi Firm and ended up on the same band as the shop detectives lol.

Talj radioed me to say that the 'posh' item I needed was nothing to do with horse and hounds or Victoria Beckham but that Peterborough FC are also known as 'The Posh'(I should have known that). Talj wasn't that clever that she worked it out herself, 2 motorcyclists had stopped at the car and were chatting to her about the event and my car (one of the guys had an 80bhp Roadster). They had no money on them but went away to the cash point and came back with a generous donation. I'm sure the donation was for the BBR but they had spent a while leaning through the open roof (I'll say no more).

It was now well past lunchtime and the only place we could find to stop was a layby on the A47 and Graham H (my old boss) sent a message via Navman wondering what we were doing lol.

We then headed into Leicester to pick up a used Bingo Ticket with our car number on it and a used Cinema Ticket before heading off to the Walker Stadium to find our final destination for day 2 - its was Warwick.

As we headed 'home' I remembered we were having a quiz tonight and suddenly we realised that on each clue the 'interesting facts' at the bottom of the clues were there for a reason. Talj read the facts out in the car but none of it was sinking in (plus I'd lost the Peterborough clue)

Again, we were greeted with beer and soft drinks at the car park as we all chatted about the days 256 mile drive before changing ready for what would be a rather long dinner!

Just before we left for dinner we split the interesting facts and wrote down the important facts hoping to have time during dinner to revise (Talj had just about learnt all of hers and was starting to learn mine). I won't go on about the service at dinner because I enjoyed the almost 2 hours of banter waiting for the starters to arrive. The quiz was postponed as it was now so late which meant we might be able to learn some more before breakfast.

Talj was now having great difficulty walking and in great pain so we went to bed agreeing if things were no better in the morning we'd have to miss the final day.

Saturday 25th August 2007 - Day 1

2007-09-01T10:07:00.000+01:00

The Start

07:30 All entrants to this years BritBallRun were asked to meet at the Heritage Motor Centre, Warwickshire. Great line up when we arrived and luckily we pulled up in time to see the RAF boys make a grand entrance! Coloured smoke billowing from the back, very loud patriotic music blasting out of the speakers and one of the guys sat on the back of the lotus waving a large GB flag! What a great start to the weekend!

Navigators had then been asked to head over to the meeting room for Day 1's briefing! Thankfully the organisers were aware of my bad legs and made Andrew do the walk to collect the information for the first day!

Parked up in Wales

Cars were let loose at 1 minute intervals and it wasn't long before we were following the first set of instructions and heading for Checkpoint number 1! From this point on it would be down to the 'skill' of navigation to get us from checkpoint to checkpoint whilst keeping the mileage to a minimum.

From Worcester to Llangurig we opted to get TomTom to take us the shortest route. We also programmed the Navman for this part of the journey but after about half an hour of the male voice on TomTom saying one thing and the female voice on the Navman saying something completely different we decided they were sounding far too like us and we couldn't stand it! TomTom won and we followed him through allsorts of tiny little roads around the back of beyond before hitting checkpoint number 2!

Strange Toilet in Aberaeron!

Over the next 8+ hours we visited Llangurig, Aberaeron, Abergavenny, Hereford and a fair few other places! Having never really been to Wales the scenery really blew us both away and Andrew could be heard more than once saying 'these really are perfect roads for the roadster'! Some of the strange items we had to collect along the way included a leek, a red dragon, a daffodil and a postcard from Aberystwyth! Around 7.30pm we pulled into Solihull which we would call home for the night!

The Jewel of Cardigan Bay

Being cooped up in the car hadn't done my legs much good and when we arrived at the hotel I needed to feel the wind in my hair before dinner so Andrew headed for the bar and I hit the streets of Solihull for a very, very slow hobble and a little fresh air!

Dinner and drinks gave us some time to get to know a few of the other entrants. Sat at our table was half of the blues brothers and the RAF boys, Porky and Algie...what a great laugh! Steak for dinner and a couple of pints (for Andrew) then before we headed to bed I had to endure the moment I had been dreading!

At the navigators meeting in the morning Andrew had been given a sheet with 52 different playing cards printed on it. It was my task to memorise ALL of the cards in the right order for a memory test to take place after dinner! Due to illness and my medication I don't have the greatest memory so had agreed with Andrew that I'd do my best to remember 5! Even he looked shocked when I told him I'd managed to get 14...I can even remember them now...3 of Hearts...2 of Clubs...erm...

Diary - Day 1

2007-09-01T10:00:00.000+01:00

Saturday 25th August 2007

T's Diary...

What a day! It feels like I have been in the car forever. I was kind of in awe as we weaved our way around Wales today, I really had no idea that it was such a beautiful country. Everywhere I looked was rolling hills, streams, sunshine and...erm...lots of sheep!

I will never forget us pulling up in a tiny little welsh town by the name of Llanguilo. It appeared to have just one shop which doubled as the local pub! I needed to stretch my legs so me, my ballgown and walking sticks began to hobble along the road in this little village. I stood for a moment to admire the view and saw a lady heading towards me, prepared with my 'Good Morning' she replied and then said 'You look really beautiful'. Now, I don't speak welsh but hoped that I had heard her right! I'm more of the jeans and t-shirt type of girl and dresses are something I have only been seen in on very, very rare occasions. This event was probably the most public of those occasions so to have somebody I had never seen before remark on how I looked really made me feel...special I suppose! Thanks to the lady in the little welsh village on the way to Llangurig!

As well as seeing some great places I've also met some great people! Once we left Worcester we didn't see many of the other entrants till dinner...apart from the RAF boys! They have been great entertainment and I can't wait to see what they'll do next! The evening allowed us the chance to talk to some of the other participants too and get to know a bit about what had brought them here.

I had a really lovely conversation with Natalie, the camera lady, after dinner. Just a simple question lead to the exchange of stories and those are the moments that change lives. I'd like to say thanks to Natalie for listening, asking questions and sharing some of her evening with me.

It's very late here now and as I write this my thoughts can't keep from straying back to the reason we are here. Rose. Team SMARTies has had a tough day but whatever has happened I am proud that Andrew has got through and that we have been able to continue to do what we set out to do all those months ago...to share Rose with those we meet on our travels...

Andrew's Diary...

After a reasonable nights sleep the alarm went off at some ungodly hour and quick as a flash I was up, washed, dressed and began packing the car.

There was a light mist and the car needed demisting but sadly the control arm broke so I had to open the roof (shame) and just after 07:00am off we set wondering just what the BritBall run 2007 had in store for us. Turning a bend I hastily stopped the car to save us ploughing into 100+ Hunt Hounds going for their morning walk. They made a path for us and as we slowly drove through them a couple of the hounds peered into the window (ickle brcX is quite low).

Some 10 minutes later we arrived at the start and were welcomed by Batman who directed us toward Spiderman and our parking spot and the other cars. After a few brief introductions to the Flintstones, Blues Brothers, RAF Guys, KillerViral and the others we set off to the navigators briefing (I went to save Talj making the longish walk).

Now came the time Talj and I had looked forward to since Christmas, the start of BritBall Run 2007. Stage one was a simple(ish) line by line set of directions taking us to our first checkpoint at Worcester. There were some great roads and we were soon behind Team Alfa and the Evo (all 3 of us sensibly overtaking at safe points) and it was here that I caught the first glimpse of the 3 foot flames popping out of the Evo's exhaust.

A 10 minute break at checkpoint 1 and, armed with our next destination off we set with both TomTom and NavMan turned on. BBR is won and lost on total mileage so we took TomToms shortest route and went down some very narrow lanes and I did get a little worried a couple of times when the grass in the middle of the lane was hitting the underneath of the car. TT and Navamn were not on the same wavelength and each wanted to go different directions at each junction. As we got to our destination it was all eyes peeled for an Obelisk and the answer to the next destination. I pulled over and wandered into a graveyard to check out one that I'd seen but it soon seemed obvious that I was in the wrong place. 1st point to Talj as she had mentioned this might not be the right spot and less than 500 yards up the road we found it. We were parked opposite a pub and outside was a bemused man who had seen most of the other cars pass through and wanted to know what I was driving as he'd never seen one before (he must have missed Killer viral as they were ahead of us).

Just as we were leaving there was a tap on the window, it was the RAF guys (who had also popped into the graveyard). They did the same route as us - in an Esprit!

We were now off to Aberaeron via Aberystwyth (to pick up some hunt items) and this time set TT to the fastest route (the mountain roads looked dangerous). More great roads before stopping at a garage to see what goodies I could find. I walked into the shop and asked if they sold postcards "no" came the reply "but you'll find the leeks over there" and she followed me passing me other items I needed along the way. Just before we left Aberystwyth I pulled up outside a post office in search of the Post Card and another 10 points. The nice old lady started by saying she didn't sell postacards "there is no call for them in this shop" but then remembered she had a couple tucked away. As I paid she asked if I was going to a wedding and said she had just had a nice pair of vicars in the shop and I laughed and asked if they were driving a big yellow sports car (another Esprit).

As we approached Aberaeron the sea mist rolled in and we found ourselves behind the Blues Brothers in their rather tasty AC Cobra (a full 5 litres more engine than we had), they must have been very 'cool' lol. We were soon parked in the harbour and though I hate to say it, Talj's disabled badge was a godsend! The next clue was a house number that could be seen from a bridge so off I wandered whilst Talj stretched her legs. As my eyesight isn't that good I took the camcorder hoping to zoom into the house number. I got on the walkie talkie to see if any other BBR'ers were around and got chating to one of the Blues Brothers "there is no number on the door" he said. Funny I thought, there is nobody outside the house "where are you I said" just as a women touched me on the shoulder, turned me round and said "he's over there".

It was now mid afternoon, the next destination was to be Hereford and across brecon. We left the coast to find somewhere to eat lunch and found a nice layby with tables at the roadside. We did get some funny looks from motorists as an old guy in Top Hat and Tails sat eating lunch at the side of the road with a young lady in a ballgown. The drive thus far today had taken in some stunning roads and scenery and this part was to be no different - absolutely breathtaking! It was kind of Surreal when we were stopped to let a large road cycle race pass by.

In Hereford I got a VAT receipt for a 10 pence bag of sweets then we headed to our bed for the night somewhere near Solihull. We arrived at the Hotel at 19:30, 10 1/2 hours and 326 miles after setting off. Being a bad person I left Talj in the car to make a couple of calls whilst I headed straight for the 2 cases of lager in the carpark and a chat about the days events with the other cars.

During our steak dinner Talj had to do a memory test and after some more chats we headed to bed - in fifth place, very tired but pretty happy with the result.

Diary - The day before...

2007-08-31T13:30:00.000+01:00

Friday 24th August 2007

We decided to keep a diary over the few days of the BritBallRun so here's the first installment...

T`s Diary...

It`s been quite a restful day in the Team SMARTies camp. Lovely breakfast here at the B&B this morning and then I had a hobble around for half an hour. The village we are staying in is very quiet and some how has quite a calming affect on me! I got chatting to a gentlemen who lives next door to our B&B which made the hobble back a little more interesting.

Our B&B

Andrew had arranged for us to visit a good friend of mine over in Birminghm today. Sonny and I have known one another for about 10 years or so through various music related websites. We have always had a good laugh and it was great to finally put a face to the name. Sonny also happens to work for SMART and it was myself that introduced him to Andrew back in October 2006. Within just a few emails Andrew had bought the little Roadster.

View from the Pub

Right now I am supposed to be snoozing/resting but even though I`m pretty tired I just couldn`t get to sleep. Tonight we are going to meet one of the other teams that are taking part in the Britballrun. Hopefully we`ll have a nice evening then it`s very early to bed so we can be at least half awake when we head out at 7am!

Andrew`s Diary...

Guess I'll start where T left off. I was fast asleep when Chris from Team KillerViral sent a text arranging our meet. I repaid the compliment by waking him up early this morning and hopefully we'll all be meeting a the pub later.

The Local

I had a motive for meeting Sonny and he popped outside with his mull grips and sorted out my out of shape roof. He also used a special force (brute) to fix the offside skirt that received a little damage recently at the ring.Sonny also helped us out by emailing a picture to the printers for us (they couldn't read an SD card and my ickle laptop isn't connecting to he web out in the sticks).

After picking up the leaflets we headed back and I had a go at setting up the camcorder/dogcams. Am both excited and a little nervous about tomorrow and am sure we will all have great time.

Perfect end to a summers day

Home....

2007-08-27T18:55:00.000+01:00

After 3 days, 25+ hours driving, 10 checkpoints, 2 countries, way too many strange 'must get' items, and coming in a pretty damn good 5th place, half of us is home.

As Andrew travels the last leg of his journey I'd just like to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who have supported us over the months and of course the past 3 days, it's meant so very much to us both.

To Dave, our Web Guru, you have done a grand job in letting everyone know how we've been getting along and we are both so grateful that you're always there for us.

Another BIG thank you to Batman, Spiderman, The Flintstones, vicars, the hilarious RAF boys, Ali-G and The Pimpmaster and all who took part in this years Britballrun. You guys made this experience absolutely superb and I know we will have many, many good stories to tell for years to come about all of you.

To Natalie and the guy whose name I just don't know (I'm so sorry!), thank you for the affort you put in with the videoing and photography. I know it can't have been easy but you made us feel at ease the whole time and we can't wait to see what you filmed!

To Dan, Andy and Pete well, there really aren't the words! You boys put together the most fantastic few days, the time and affort you put into the organisation and looking after us all was superb. Three cheers for you guys from the Team SMARTies camp!

After lots of sleep, Andrew and I will be back here (eventually) to let you all know how we got along and just some of the things that happened along the way!

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Making Progress

2007-08-26T02:50:00.000+01:00

It's fun to check our progress along the way. Thanks to the Vehicle Tracking Ltd, you can watch our progress too. Go to our tutorial and see how!

Here's a navigational map during day one, we're driving through Ettington.

Day one we made good progress.

Day two's progress, another good day.

And the early hours of the morning on day three.

Here we are now, trying to get some sleep in Birmingham.

If you want to check our progress, follow the tutorial link above. You can even send us a message, directly to the navigation unit in the car! How cool is that?

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

1 day to go!

2007-08-24T02:34:00.000+01:00

I can`t believe how quickly this has all come around! It seems just a
short time ago that we were deciding whether we`d take part!

As I am typing Andrew is outside attaching various pieces of video
equipment to the car and giving it a little polish.

We have been and collected the leaflets today and we are really happy with
how they turned out. We`d like to say a BIG thank you to Ralph at
Prontaprint near Leamington Spa for getting everything sorted out for us.

I hope that you`ve all been able to follow the tutorial and download the
tracker. Thanks to all those who have sent messages, it`s always good to
hear from you.

As the device that displays the messages is on Andrew`s side of the car
it`s unlikely that we will be able to reply to any messages sent whilst we
are drving. Please don`t think we are ignoring you, safety first and all
that :o)

Apologies also for not being able to post updates as frequently as we`d
like. Unfortunately where we are staying at the moment has very little
moble phone reception and we need that to connect the laptop to the
internet. Hopefully when we get to the hotel tomorrow night we`ll have a
better signal so we can update you on how the first day has gone!

Thanks once again to you all for the support you have and are giving us.
It means a lot to us both knowing you guys are out there cheering us on.

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at: www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

2 days to go!

2007-08-23T02:33:00.000+01:00

The worst bit is over! I have shown the world me in my dress and all went
well!

We had a photo shoot with the Liverpool Daily Post today over at the
Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology. It was actually a lot of fun and good
to see the sun shining! We`d like to say a BIG thank you to Susan Higham,
Susan King and all the girls that made today that little bit easier on us.

For all those in the area the article should appear in Saturdays Daily Post.

After some very tasty sandwiches and a good rest we headed off to our B&B
down near Warwick, which is where I am writing this from! It`s a lovely
little place with very friendly owners. We managed a hobble down to te
local pub and had some very tasty fish and chips washed down with a
beer...and a lemonade for me!

It`s early to bed for us tonight, up for breakfast at 8.30am and then a
restful day ready for our hectic weekend!

For all those who might be wondering...at the end of the unofficial day 1
Andrew and I are still talking :o)

More from Team SMARTies world tomorrow.

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at: www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Countdown...3...

2007-08-22T17:38:00.001+01:00

3 days to go!

Actually, for us, things kick off tomorrow! We have a photo shoot for the Liverpool Daily Post in the afternoon and hopefully we'll have a photo of us with the car and in our outfits up on the website by tomorrow night!

The Daily Post feature will appear in Saturday's newspaper.

Andrew completed his interview with Radio Norwich and you should be able to hear him in each news bulletin on Saturday morning.

I have picked up my shoes today and will have one more practice run with my dress before packing everything away for tomorrow. Hopefully, Andrew has collected his suit today too, I'm awaiting confirmation on that one!

All the graphics are now on the car and I am really looking forward to seeing how it looks. Again, we should have some photos of the car up in the gallery tomorrow evening.

The leaflet layout is now with the printers and we will be collecting them on Friday afternoon.

All thats left is for me to pack, get an early night and try to keep calm!

More from Team SMARTies tomorrow!

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Countdown...4...

2007-08-22T17:34:00.000+01:00

OK...I'm sorry! I missed a day! But, if you hang on a few minutes I'll make sure today's post brings you all up to date!

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Countdown...5...

2007-08-20T21:48:00.000+01:00

5 days to go!

But just 2 and a bit days till we set off on our travels!

Andrew has a radio interview tomorrow and if technology works as it should we hope to make the interview available in the latest news section later this week.

The tutorial is now ready and will be up on the site in the next few days. It will help you all download and use the tracking software so you can keep an eye on where we are over the 3 days, send us messages of support or point out where we took that wrong turning!

That's it for today from Team Smarties world, I promise to make bigger updates tomorrow and Wednesday!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Countdown...6...

2007-08-19T20:43:00.000+01:00

6 days to go!

As we get closer to the Britballrun I am finding that a little excitement is managing to creep in alongside my anxiety!

This weekend has been my chillout time and I'm now feeling refreshed for the week ahead.

Dave, our web guru, is putting together a tutorial for those of you who might want to track our progress and send us messages over the 3 days. It will be available on the site from Wednesday. BIG thanks to Dave for all his hardwork!

Not much else to update you all on today as we've just been relaxing! I'm sure I'll have more to tell you tomorrow!

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Countdown..7...

2007-08-18T10:26:00.000+01:00

7 days to go!

This time next week Andrew and I should be reaching our 2nd checkpoint of the day. Hopefully we will still be talking to one another and we'll have collected all the things on the first list!

After a hard week at work Andrew said last night, "All day today I have been looking forward to the weekend when I can wash the little Roadster and begin putting the decals on her ready for the Britballrin". I hope it's not raining for him today!

Hopefully we'll get some pictures of the car over the next couple of days which I'll put in the photos section.

Today is my day off! Taking my little brother to a football match and then off to see the Simpsons movie...it's good to relax!

Thanks, as always, to all those who are supporting us. It means a lot to us.

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Countdown...8...

2007-08-17T20:55:00.000+01:00

8 days to go!

I asked Andrew how he was feeling about things a few days ago and he said he is still excited! I, however, am just incredibly nervous!

There is so much happening here right now that it would take me forever to write it all down! Rather than do that I am just going to leave you with a wonderful smile, take a look...

Rose is what it's all about and peeking at this photo every once in a while helps to keep me going.

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Countdown...9...

2007-08-16T10:16:00.000+01:00

9 days to go!

Last night I asked Andrew how he was feeling now the Britballrun is almost here, he said 'a little excited' which is better than me! I'm just nervous!

Today I have an interview with the Liverpool Daily Post and if things go to plan Andrew will be interviewed for a piece on Radio Norwich.

The next few days will be the calm before the storm. Dave, our web guru, will be putting together a tutorial for all of you who might wish to follow our progress over the 3 days of the Britballrun. We hope to have this available for you all early next week.

I've also been thinking how cool it would be if people who spotted us along the way could send in their 'snaps'! If you spot us over the 3 days don't hesitate to ask us to pose for a picture then Email your images to us and we'll feature them in our Photos section!

Lots more to tell you all about but you'll have to wait till tomorrow now!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Countdown...10...

2007-08-15T22:08:00.000+01:00

10 days before the madness begins! :o)

As you may have noticed the website has under gone a few changes, hopefully you can all still find your way around! The Justgiving donation page has now been integrated into the site and you can find it if you click on Donate Here in the menu. BIG thank you to Dave for all his help with the website!

Thanks to Prontaprint of Leamington Spa for arranging a fantastic deal on the printing of our leaflets and for accommodating our requirements!

Press interviews are going well, hopefully we will be able to get a few copies up on the site soon for you all to see.

Between now and next Thursday we need to get lots of rest and I need to get acquainted with my map! :o)

Thanks again to everyone for their support. It's great to know there are people out there cheering us on!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Update 11: Saturday 11th August 2007

2007-08-11T18:41:00.000+01:00

Today Rose's Tribute Fund hit a fantastic £4,000!

With just 14 days to go till the start of the BritBallRun it was great to see us growing ever closer to our target!

Things are very busy in the world of Team SMARTies right now! This week has been 'press week', hopefully as articles are printed we'll be able to place them here for you all to see!

A few other things happening over the next 14 days...

* In the week leading up to the BritBallRun we hope to have a page on the website with details on how you can follow our progress and even send us messages over the 3 days.

* Decisions will be made this week about the layout of either a leaflet or business card that we hope to be able to give to people we meet during our travels.

* Press interviews and photo shoots will be completed and articles printed.

* Ballgowns and suits will be collected and Andrew will begin his battle to fit everything we need into the car!

All these things and many more will keep us busy right up until we set off on Saturday 25th August!

On a more personal note...

Some days I find I am getting totally lost in the organising of so many things! My 'to do' list seems to grow and grow and there are even times when I feel 'stressed out'. But, after one phone call this week I took some time out to 'refocus'...

As many of you are aware I haven't been in the best of health for sometime now. When Andrew asked me in December 2006 if I would like to join him on the BritBallRun, without hesitation, I said yes. After a stay in hospital I was left housebound for the first few months of this year, setting up this website and putting all my energy into fundraising helped me feel that I had a purpose, that there was something for me to get up for each day.

During a conversation with a journalist this week I suddenly became aware that this 'platform' we were being given wasn't just a way to raise awareness of our fundraising. More importantly, it was a way to allow those reading/listening/watching to get to know this beautiful smiling girl...

From the very beginning this was what I wanted more than anything, to keep Rose's smiling face in the hearts and minds of all who read about her and I am so grateful for every opportunity we have been given to do just that.

So, as you watch us creeping ever closer to our £5,000 target I'd like to ask you to just stop for a moment and take a look at this Beautiful Angels smile...

Now that's what this is all about!

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Pledge Deadline

2007-08-09T11:39:00.000+01:00

We currently have 2 open pledges with www.pledgebank.com, both ending on 10th August 2007. Yes, that really is tomorrow!

So, if you'd like to join us in one of our pledges and help us to raise a further £300 for Rose's Tribute Fund just click on one of the links below...

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Justgiving Article 3!

2007-08-07T11:34:00.000+01:00

We've been lucky enough to be given a 'Guest Blogger' spot over at the Justgiving Blog. If you get a moment go check it out...

Team SMARTies article

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

AUCTIONS END

2007-08-01T18:13:00.000+01:00

Our auctions ended at 8pm today, 1st August 2007.

All winning bidders will be contacted within the next 48 hours with information on how to make payments and details on collection/delivery of items.

Any queries in the mean time please email us at fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: http://www.rosemcgill.co.uk/
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Last Day of Auction

2007-08-01T17:02:00.000+01:00

Thanks to various companies we have been given items to auction off and help us reach our £5,000 target!

Today is the LAST DAY of the auction. Please, if you get chance pop by and check out what we have to offer. Items include an Autographed copy of a Gordon Ramsay Cook Book, Paintball Experience - 8 passes, Makeover Days and Odys 10.2" flatscreen TV/DVD.

To checkout all the items click on Auction in the menu on the left.

All proceeds from the sale of each item will go to Clatterbridge Cancer Campaign where Rose received here radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Thanks to you all for reading and for taking a look at the items.

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: http://www.rosemcgill.co.uk/
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Auctions end in 2 days!

2007-07-30T18:48:00.000+01:00

There are just 2 days left till the end of our Auctions! Please pop by and check out all the items which include an Odys 10.2" flatscreen TV/DVD player, a B.I.G Perfomance £200 remap voucher, an Autographed Gordon Ramsay cookbook and lots more!

Happy bidding!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: http://www.rosemcgill.co.uk/
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Weekly Update 10: 20th July 2007

2007-07-20T12:51:00.000+01:00

All quiet on the SMARTies front this week!

Recovering from a tough couple of weeks healthwise has been my priority and I'm pleased to say things seem to be under control again, for now anyway!

Next week we'll be missing a post as Andrew and I will be travelling in the Roadster to Germany with a few other roadie owners. They have all decided to have a go at driving the Nurburgring! However, not being quite so crazy as the others, I'm just going along for the photographic opportunities and the company! :o)

On our return it will be a busy week for us as the Auctions end and we begin the serious preparations for the BritBallRun!

Have a great couple of weeks everyone :o)

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Weekly Update 9: 13th July 2007

2007-07-13T19:34:00.000+01:00

I can't believe how quickly the time is passing! 1 month 1 week and 5 days till the madness begins!

All energy is currently being focussed on making sure I am well enough to take part! I am hoping my doctors know what they are doing and with a bit of luck the latest bump in my medical road will be fixed before the end of August!

BIG thanks to Keyline Graphix for kindly putting together the Sun Visor Strip web address graphic and throwing in a few smaller address graphics all for free! We really appreciate their help and donation! Here's a shot of the smaller graphic...

We are working on a leaflet and poster for distribution over the Britballrun weekend and for placing on noticeboards and in offices etc etc

I am also putting together an article for Justgiving about our online fundraising efforts. In a recent email to us Simon at Justgiving said "It's fair to say you guys are pioneering this kind of stuff in the UK..." Pretty amazing that our work is being noticed and appreciated by those at Justgiving and beyond!

That's all for now! More next week.

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Weekly Update 8: 6th July 2007

2007-07-06T13:34:00.000+01:00

First of all my apologies for missing last weeks update! With Andrew coming to visit and the treasure hunt I lost track of time!

So, 1 month 2 weeks and 5 days till the BritBallRun! Both myself and Andrew are quite excited about it already and the Treasure Hunt helped us to see we can work together and not fall out (too much!).

BIG thanks to Keyline Graphix for donating the sunvisor strip for the car. We are hoping to have it in time for our trip to Germany in a couple of weeks. It will say www.rosemcgill.co.uk and should be interesting to see what sort of interest it generates!

We've got some fantastic items up for auction including Odys 10.2" Multi Flat 51002 LCD-TV/DVD & Radio, Paintball Days, and BIG Performance £200 Remap Voucher. To check out the rest of our items CLICK HERE

Hope you all have a good week, more from Team SMARTies world next week!

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Happy Birthday Andrew!

2007-07-05T00:00:00.000+01:00

Hope you have a lovely day!

Yorkshire Treasure Hunt

2007-07-02T13:06:00.001+01:00

We'd like to send a BIG thank you to Graham, Trena and the family for all their hard work putting this together! We raised another £100 for Rose's Tribute Fund which is fantastic!!

We had a great drive out, sat in the car in Wetherby in a thunderstorm (we didn't get the clues there for obvious reasons!), Andi wandered around a golf club car park searching for 2 different colour roses, we brought back something from outer space (dont ask!) and generally had a good laugh :)

Oh and....WE WON! :o)

Thanks to all those who lent their support, we really appreciated it!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Everton FC Autographed Football

2007-06-28T20:47:00.000+01:00

SOLD

The auction of the autographed Everton FC ball has just closed! Many thanks to Steve and team at www.bluekipper.com for hosting the auction for us!

Congratulations go to David Ainsworth, the new owner of the ball, with a winning bid of £200!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Weekly Update 6: 22nd June 2007

2007-06-22T10:00:00.000+01:00

It's been another busy week with plenty to keep me out of trouble!

We are in the process of finalizing the GPS tracking which means you will all be able to visit the website anytime during the BritBallRun and check out our exact location! Many thanks to Simon at Vehicle Tracking Ltd for all his help in organising this.

This past week has seen the addition of a few more items for us to Auction...

* Thanks to Tom and Julie at Spotty Badger Productions we have an autographed copy of their book 'The Smart Scene' up for auction. More details on this item can be found HERE

* Thanks to Andy for donating a Odys 10.2" Multi Flat 51002 LCD-TV/DVD & Radio. To find out more and to place a bid CLICK HERE

The auction of the Everton FC Autographed Football is underway and the highest bid is currently £150! CLICK HERE for more details and to place a bid.

Thanks to Ben at www.nurburgring.org.uk for kindly agreeing to display our banner ad from now until the Britballrun. Anybody else interested in placing the banner on their website/blog or other internet based 'thing' just CONTACT US and we'll send you the details!

Once again we would like to thank all of you for your continued help and support, it means a lot to us!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Everton FC Autographed Football Auction

2007-06-20T16:40:00.000+01:00

Tonight sees the start of the Auction for the Everton FC Autographed Football.

Thanks to Steve and team at www.bluekipper.com for organising the auction for us! It will run for a week finishing 8.00pm Wednesday 27th June 2007.

To find out more about this item or to place a bid CLICK HERE

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Weekly Update 5: 15th June 2007

2007-06-19T21:15:00.000+01:00

Time seems to be passing by so quickly! Just a few little updates for you today...

The Autographed Everton FC Football will be being auctioned for us by www.bluekipper.com over the next few weeks. Thanks to Steve and team for all their help. We'll keep you posted with how things go!
Thanks also go to Ian for providing us with a BIG Performance Remap that we can Auction off to help us reach our target! More details on this to follow soon!
We are currently working on a 'Banner Ad' after Ben at www.nurburgring.org.uk kindly agreed to allow us to 'advertise' on his website from now until the BritBallRun, cheers Ben! Again, more details will follow on this soon!
Whilst browsing the Internet earlier this week I found THIS article, it's great to see that we are getting noticed and BIG thanks to Justgiving for supporting the work we are doing!
A reminder for anyone in the Yorkshire area on 1st July. The Treasure Hunt is shaping up nicely and we are looking forward to getting a little practice in before the Britballrun. If you fancy joining us check out THIS post.

That's about it from us, plenty to be getting on with over the next week including arranging the GPS tracking. With a bit of luck we'll soon be able to tell you exactly how you can track our every move throughout the Britballrun!

Thanks again to all of you for your continued support, it means a lot to us!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Remembering...

2007-06-18T09:08:00.001+01:00

Damian

6th February 1975 to 18th June 2005

BIGPerformance Remap!

2007-06-13T12:19:00.000+01:00

A BIG thank you to Ian for providing us with a BIG Performance Remap that we can Auction off to help us reach our target!

The remap can be loaded/fitted at ANY time and is an off the shelf remap for a 62bhp or an 80bhp Roadster. More information will be posted in the Auction section shortly.

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Weekly Update 4: 8th June 2007

2007-06-08T08:42:00.000+01:00

2 months, 2 weeks, 3 days to go!

Just a quick post today as things are pretty busy here, but, I am unable to talk about most of it at the moment!

Andrew's sunburn has begun to ease and my first physio appointment yesterday went very well. If Andrew can keep his bouts of 'man flu' at bay then there is a good chance we might both be in fairly good health by August!

A reminder for anyone in the Yorkshire area on 1st July. The Treasure Hunt is shaping up nicely and we are looking forward to getting a little practice in before the Britballrun. If you fancy joining us check out THIS post.

We are currently working on a poster / leaflet with details of our fundraising on that can be placed on noticeboards so, if you know of somewhere you could place one (or more) then please CONTACT US and we'll arrange for you to get some copies!

Another BIG thank you to you all for your continued support. Our fundraising total currently stands at £3,197.99 and we both feel confident that we'll hit our target!

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Weekly Update 3: 1st June 2007

2007-06-01T14:46:00.000+01:00

I can't believe how quickly time is passing! The coming weeks are filled with lots of trips and plenty of things to get crossed off the 'to do' list but it's all good fun!

This week Andrew is sunning himself with some equally nutty Roadster owners - hopefully he's having a great time and taking a few pictures which we can stick in the gallery on the site!

Whilst 'The Driver' is away I've been keeping busy! Here's a quick run down of just a few things I've been working on:

It was great to hear from Moss Bros in Norwich who have kindly agreed to loan Andrew his top hat and tails for as long as we need them, free of charge! They were extremely helpful and friendly - a real pleasure to talk to!

I have 'sold' the front edges of the car - more about this in next weeks update!

We annouced the 'Yorkshire Treasure Hunt' during the week . This is being held on 1st July 2007 starting here in Leeds. More information can be found in THIS post.

I was lucky enough to get to speak to Matt Neal as part of my sponsorship efforts for the car. He was a really friendly guy and extremely helpful! He also gave me a well needed confidence boost - thanks Matt!

This coming week sees me 'tackling' possible sponsors, sorting out the GPS tracking, designing leaflets to take on our trip, organising decals (stickers?) for the car and MANY other things!

Donation's are rising steadily which is really great to see! Our current total stands at £3,147.99! Thanks to all of you for your support, it is greatly appreciated.

A quick reminder that comments have been enabled on posts here in the latest news section so feel free to say hi and let us know any thoughts or ideas you may have!

So, another week closer! As I write this the 'ticker' tells me it's 2 months, 3 weeks and 3 days till the Britballrun!! I can't wait!

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Team SMARTies Attire!

2007-05-31T16:54:00.001+01:00

A BIG thank you to Moss Bros of Norwich who have kindly agreed to donate top hat and tails to Andrew for the Britballrun!

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

The Ball Has Landed!

2007-05-30T14:34:00.000+01:00

We've just received a note and a few photos from the winning bidder of the Liverpool FC Autographed Football....

Great to see that it arrived safely and that it's already being used as a 'model'!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Yorkshire Treasure Hunt

2007-05-27T22:00:00.000+01:00

Following on from a visit I had yesterday from a couple of Roadster owners, Littlelegs aka Trena and Graham, we've come up with what we hope will be a little fun on a Sunday afteroon!

Graham has kindly offered to put a Treasure Hunt together so we can get in a bit of practice before the BritBallRun!

The event is open to everyone, not just Roadster owners, so feel free to 'spread the word'!

Details....

Treasure Hunt in Memory of Rose

Date: 1st July 2007

Time: 12.30pm for 1pm

Meeting Place: Elland road, car park outside Leeds United football shop.

Duration: 3 to 4hrs

Mileage: Approximately 100 miles ending with a light snack in a pub which will be included in the price

Cost: £20

All money - minus the cost of the pub snacks - will go to Rose's Tribute Fund

Prizes:

First Prize - A case of wine and the 'Winners Trophy'

2nd Prize - 4 Bottles of wine

And an obligatory booby prize!

If you're interested feel free to send us an EMAIL or leave a comment on this post so we can get a rough idea of numbers

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Weekly Update 2: 25th May 2007

2007-05-25T09:52:00.000+01:00

The ticker's telling us that today is exactly 3 months till the BritBallRun! Nervous? Actually yes, I am! I'm pretty sure Andrew is taking the one and only job he has in his stride, I however, am struggling to find a piece of paper large enough for my own list of jobs over the 3 days!!

In all seriousness, I am very excited about what the coming 3 months and beyond have in store for us. I have a few little surprises that not even Andrew is aware of but, all will be revealed in August!

Here' a run down of just some of the things going on right now...

I am currently working on sponsorship for the car and organising the outfits.

We are looking in to getting GPS tracking for the event and ways of relaying it to an online map so that you will all be able to follow our progress from the website over the 3 days.

For the time being comments have been enabled on each post here in the lastest news section. It would be great if when you read this post you left a message to us and let us know any thoughts, ideas or words of support you may have for us! The comments have been enabled temporarily and we'll see how things go over the next few weeks before making a decision about whether to leave them switched on permanently or not!

We are in the process of planning a 'Spot the SMARTies' competition which will run over the 3 day event in August. I'm sure most of you can guess what this might entail?! If not you'll have to wait for further announcements over the coming weeks.

Well, that's just a quick peek into the world of Team SMARTies right now! If any of you have any ideas or know of companies that maybe interested in sponsoring the car please CONTACT US and we'll get back to you as soon as we can!

Last, but by no means least, our total to date is standing at a fantastic £3,065! Thanks to everyone for their support, it really means a lot to us!

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Weekly Update 1: 18th May 2007

2007-05-18T13:20:00.000+01:00

When we decided to take part in the Britballrun neither of us was thinking very far ahead and on deciding on our team name we picked something that was relevant to the car and the outfits we will be wearing.

Since then many things have happened and we now both feel sure that we will be keeping our fundraising efforts in memory of Rose going for many years to come. As Team SMARTies is really just our team name for the Britballrun we felt that we would need a 'name' once August was over. With this in mind we asked the members over at DPChallenge if they would help design us a logo for the future. We were very sure of what we wanted included and were very happy when Leisha came up with this logo:

The name RoseBuddies was suggested by our friend, Ruth, and felt right as soon as we heard it.

In the coming months, as well as the name Team SMARTies, you may well hear us mention RoseBuddies and now you all know where it ties into things!

We also thought it was about time we gave the Auction items their very own little section here on the site, so, with a bit of luck you should now see a new addition to our main menu on the left of this page!

The Auction items page can also be found HERE

It's definitely the time to say a HUGE thank you to Dave, our webmaster! He certainly puts up with a lot of hassle and has never once complained - cheers Dave!

Finally we have been overwhelmed by the support each of you has shown us! Donations to date stand at £3,000!!

We'd both like to say a BIG thank you to all of you for your continued support of our fundraising efforts, it really means a lot to the both of us!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Donation Update 2

2007-05-16T00:06:00.000+01:00

We've hit £3,000!

I hope you will join both of us in a little cheer at the reaching of our latest milestone!

We couldn't have got here without the help of all of you and we'd both like to say a BIG thank you to everyone for their support.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank a very special girl...

I'd like to say there is an extra spring in my step but, for those who know me this would almost be laughable! So, the closest thing I can say is that without Rose I wouldn't have this extra beat in my heart. The beat that gives me the strength, courage, hope and sheer determination to do all I can in making sure this Beautiful Angel's smile continues to shine on.

All the best,

Natalya
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk
Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill

Happy Birthday Dave

2007-05-14T18:28:00.000+01:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR WEB 'GURU' DAVE!

Cains Brewery Tour

2007-05-10T15:32:00.000+01:00

Cains Brewery Tour

Cains Brewery has kindly donated us a tour of their Brewery for 6 people to help us raise money for Rose's Tribute Fund. The tour is a fascinating insight into Merseyside's rich brewing heritage.

Tour Dates:

Monday – Friday 6:30 pm
Saturday 1:00 pm

Duration of Tour: 1 - 1½ hours

Included: Light buffet
2 free pints or bottles
(at Brewery Tap Pub)

Restrictions: Must be 18 or over. Not recommended for anybody with walking difficulties due to large number of steps.

The Cains Brewery Tour is a VAQAS ACCREDITED Tourist Attraction.

This brewery tour is for 6 people.

To place a bid please complete the CONTACT US form and don't forget to include the amount you would like to bid!

NO CURRENT BIDS

All proceeds from the sale of these items will go to
Rose's Tribute Fund

Happy Birthday Natalya!

2007-05-01T10:41:00.000+01:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALYA!

April 30th 2007

2007-04-30T16:51:00.000+01:00

FOR MICK

Today Rose's Tribute Fund received an extra special collection of donations which has taken the total to a fantastic

£2,558.00

As many of you are aware, earlier this month we lost a special friend of ours, Mick.

Donations were made to the tribute fund in memory of Mick by many of his friends and family and we learnt today that a fantastic £455.00 has been added to our total!!

We also have a few words from Clatterbridge Cancer Campaign...

Dear Ruth,

Thank you very much indeed for the donations totalling £4030.00, given in memory of your late husband, Mick, we really appreciate your support. It was very kind of you to think of us at this difficult and sad time for you. Please pass on out thanks to your family and friends who contributed to this gift in Mick’s memory.

We are very fortunate to have many dedicated fundraisers. Local support and generosity from organisations and individuals such as you ensure that essential work and improvements at the hospital continues as fundraising efforts make considerable advances to the facilities we are able to offer our patients here.

On behalf of everyone at Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology and Clatterbridge Cancer Research Trust, I would like to thank you for your support. Hopefully your encouragement will continue and help us maintain our essential work.

Yours sincerely

Susan Higham
Clatterbridge Cancer Campaign

Mick, his wife Ruth and daughters Lynn, Leanne and Manda have, and continue to be, huge supporters of Rose's Tribute Fund and all our fundraising adventures ! We'd just like to take a moment today to thank them all for everything they do and to let them know how lucky we both feel to have had chance to meet such special friends.

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew

Team SMARTies

Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk

April 25th 2007

2007-04-25T00:00:00.000+01:00

MICK

We'd like to take a moment today to remember a great supporter of Team SMARTies and a wonderful man, Mick Jenner.

Our love and thoughts are with Ruth, Lynn, Leanne, Manda and all the family today and always.

With love,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

Clatterbridge Newsletter

2007-04-14T00:07:00.000+01:00

Today we received a copy of the Clatterbridge Cancer Campaign spring newsletter. We knew there was going to be a piece on Team SMARTies and were excited to see what had been written!

The first image is the front page of the newsletter...

And the second image is a close up of the article on our fundraising efforts, unfortunately the image on the newsletter hasn't come out very well in my photo, sorry! Hopefully you will be able to read the important bits though! If you have any problems just email us and we'll send you a larger version!

Click on image to enlarge

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

GORDON RAMSAY!

2007-04-13T15:29:00.000+01:00

Sorry to all the ladies reading, I'm afraid this may come as a disappointment but, it's not actually 'the man himself' we have added to our auction items!

However, it is an AUTOGRAPHED copy of Gordon Ramsay's latest cook book - 'Sunday Lunch and other recipes from the F Word'.

We'd like to say a BIG thank you to Gordon Ramsay and all at Gordon Ramsay Holdings for donating this great item to our Auction!

All interested bidders don't hesitate to GET IN TOUCH !

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

I Need Pampering!

2007-04-08T14:11:00.000+01:00

Many thinks to I Need Pampering for sending us two GREAT experiences to Auction!

MAKEOVER DAY FOR TWO!

"Feeling a little bit blue? A day spent in a makeover studio can make the word of difference. You will be pampered and preened like you so truly deserve with a fantastic makeover day"

PLATINUM PAINTBALL EXPERIENCE
(8 Passes) UK Wide

"Paintball is the must-do experience. Brilliant for birthday parties, stag-dos, corporate events and team building. Get dirty, laugh your socks off, and shoot your mates down in multi-mission scenarios"

If you are interested in bidding on either of these items please CONTACT US and we'll get back to you as soon as we can!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk
Website: www.rosemcgill.co.uk

Donations Update 1

2007-04-06T11:12:00.000+01:00

Today Rose's Tribute Fund hit a great milestone...

We'd like to say a BIG thank you to all those who have made donations and to all our supporters! We are both very positive that we will SMASH our £5,000 target!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk

PledgeBank Update!

2007-04-04T12:51:00.000+01:00

Both pledges are going really well with 8 people signed up on each so far! Just 12 more needed for both!!

There are now flyers available for you to print out and 'distribute' (leave laying around!). If you feel like getting others involved click on one of the links below...

£5 pledge flyers:

£10 pledge flyers:

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk

Announcing an Easter Egg Hunt FUNdraiser!

2007-04-03T00:53:00.000+01:00

EASTER EGG HUNT "EGGS-TRAVAGANZA"
After MANY hours of hardwork by two of our supporters, Claire and Ruth, I am pleased to be able to tell you about

The Easter Bunnies Egg Hunt!

A message from Claire and Ruth...
"Why are we doing this you may ask....Well ASK!!!...OK we'll tell you. Firstly we want you all to have some fun but secondly, and MOST importantly, we hope that you will enjoy yourself so much that you will click on that donation box in the side bar and donate £1......that's right that's all we are asking!!!...just £1 for taking part in all this fun! Remember all those £1's will mount up and help Talj and Andi to reach...maybe even surpass!...their goal of £5000 for The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre."

To read the rest of the above post CLICK HERE

For further information, rules
and how to take part
please visit

The Easter Bunnies Egg Hunt!

You can also Pledge your £1 donation at...

www.pledgebank.com/egghunt

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
Team SMARTies
Email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk

Autographed Everton FC Football 2006/2007 Season

2007-04-02T12:48:00.000+01:00

Today we have received an autographed Everton FC football (06/07 season) for auction to raise money for Rose's Tribute Fund!

BIG thanks to Everton FC! Here's hoping this 'lot' generates as much interest as the Liverpool FC autographed football which sold for £250!

All interested bidders don't hesitate to CONTACT US!

All the best,

Natalya and Andrew
email: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.uk