Fundraising News

Feeling Hot Hot Hot - British 10k runners

13 people took part in the London British 10K Run, raising lots of money for Cecily’s Fund, and helping hundreds of children go to school in Zambia.

The run took place on July 11th, starting at Hyde Park Corner and finishing in Whitehall, passing Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge, and the Houses of Parliament along the route. Despite the heat and the long distance, the runners managed to finish in excellent times: Ollie Tubbs took just 48 minutes.

“The adrenalin and excitement does help give you a bit more energy on the day,” said Nanette, who finished in just over an hour.

A huge thank you to everyone who took part this year – and if you think you’d like to take part in a fundraising run in the future, have a look at our Challenges Page, which contains details of many future runs.

Swiss school has fun with their run for another year

The International School of Lausanne have recently raised 6,869 Swiss Francs (£4,172) for Cecily’s Fund!

6,000 Francs came from a sponsored run organised by Nicholas Marquardt, Giorgio Degola, and Kevin McDermott, three Year 11 school students, aided by the support of John and Mary Ivett. Students from Year 3 also took part, thanks to the supervision of Rose Harrison.

The run was part of the “Course à Travers Pully,” which spans 10 km of beautiful Swiss countryside, surrounded by mountains, lakes, and vineyards. Over a 100 people ran the course for Cecily’s Fund.

More money was also raised by a very sucessful talent show, sponsored by the student council and organised by Lara Davidson, a Year 9 student. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to these events. We are enourmously grateful to The International School of Lausanne for their long-term commitment to Cecily’s Fund; over the course of eight years the money they have raised has helped more than a thousand children go to school in Zambia.

Nick Moglia - MARATHON MAN!

We would like to say an enormous thank you to Nick Moglia who enthusiastically rose to the challenge of running the Virgin London Marathon 2010.

Before runnign the London Marathon, Nick, Group Managing Director of Zycko, said: “...this is an extremely worthwhile cause and one which deserves a special effort, which is exactly what I will be giving it” And that is exactly what he did on Sunday 25th April. Nick finished 3,262nd out of nearly 37,000 starters and was an amazing 206th in his age category, both well within the top 10% - an amazing achievement.

He has raised over £25,000 so far, enough to support 1,000 orphaned and vulnerable children in Zambia through primary school for a year. Cecily's Fund is currently supporting 10,000 children so Nick has effectively raised enough to support 10% of the children on our books.You can still sponsor Nick and help him to achieve his target or raising £26,200 (£1000 per mile!)

All of us at Cecily’s Fund feel incredibly fortunate to have found such a dedicated supporter, and we are truly grateful for all the training, effort and energy Nick put in to completing the Marathon and raising so much money and awareness for Cecily’s Fund. We would also like to thank everyone who has so generously sponsored Nick and particularly everyone at Zycko for their support. (www.zycko.com - International distributor of leading edge IT solutions)

If you are inspired to take part in the London Marathon for Cecily’s Fund next year, the 2011 ballot opens shortly on May 4th. Or, if a marathon is a mile too far, there is still time to book your place on the London 10K in July!

First ever Brighton Marathon - A huge success!

It was a beautiful day for the first ever Brighton Marathon. Cecily's Fund had five runners taking part to raise funds for children in Zambia. We would like to thank them all; Jane Chandler, Jane Carnaghan, Zoe Arthur, Chris Holdsworth, and Jonathan Baldwin. A great team effort, who so far have raised almost £5,000.

Cecily's Fund supporter Jane Chandler said, "I had ringing in my mind as I ran, 'run for Cecily's Fund', and as I ticked off the miles I was cheered on by individuals saying, 'come on Cecily's Fund'. Our orange Cecily's Fund vest definitely had an impact!"

Zoe Arthur, long time supporter of Cecily's Fund and marathon runner, said of her experience, "it was a scorching hot day down by the completely flat, calm sea in Brighton, with about 9000 people starting in the end. I managed to run the whole thing, not stopping for anything - stretching, toilet, pain, 'the wall' etc and my second half marathon was ten minutes quicker! I actually enjoyed this one! I finished, along with plenty of others, with a cooling dip in the sea (the ice bath theory of cooling the muscles to reduce swelling and stiffness of legs the following days!) I love the seaside!"

If you would like to take part in next year's Brighton Marathon and raise money for Cecily's Fund, please contact us.

Tough Guy Challenge - Dan and Ross raise funds for Cecily's Fund whilst enjoying the mud!

Long time Cecily's Fund supporter, Dan Quy and friend Ross Sayers, successfully completed the grueling Tough Guy Challenge. Raising over £650.00 so far, Dan and Ross endured mud, freezing lakes, acrophobia, claustrophobia, barbed wire, fire and electro shocks...all in the name of fun! (and Fund Raising!)

Thank you so much guy's we really appreciate you taking part in this incredible challenge for us!

Tenner a week challenge raises over £3,000

" I would recommend the challenge as a good way to lose weight and save money..."

Cecily's Fund Trustee, Veronica Monseratt, her husband Marc and her friends Alice Blair, Ruth Larkin, Rhiannon Davis, Rebecca Welsford and Sarah Tullis have, between them, raised over £3,000 by challenging themselves to live on just £10 a week and asking people to sponsore them. The £10 covered food and incidentals like newspapers, drinks etc. Here's how Alice described the experience;

"I would love to say that the challenge was fun but I think Veronica conned us on that front!... Mostly I survived on porridge and pasta. Fruit and vegetables fell by the wayside as everything consumed had to give good calorie-to-cost value. I would recommend the challenge as a good way to lose weight and save money (I did...) As part of the challenge I did not drink coffee for the whole week which I don't think I have done for more than 10 years - and I was surprised not to feel any adverse effects from that. As a result I have now dramatically cut my weekly coffee consumption having found it was not the crutch I thought. I am also now much more keenly aware of the cost of things and interestingly the things I missed most were not very expensive but things like bars of chocolate, glasses of milk etc.

I would highly recommend doing the challenge - it's harder than I thought it would be - which is perhaps reflected in the level of sponsorship which exceeded my expectations."

Interestingly £10 is what it costs for Cecily's Fund to provide a simple but nutritious daily meal for a child at Bwafwano Community School for a whole year!

Roedean's Got Talent!

After much anticipation, Piers Morgan (Britain’s Got Talent), Katie Derham (ITN News) and Graeme Hawley (Coronation Street) arrived at Roedean school to judge their talent competition in aid of Cecily's Fund.

Jess Roper was the runaway winner after a much-praised performance of Dream Catch Me by Newton Faulkner. “Although I was really nervous”, said Jess, “I had practised the song a lot over half term with my brother and I was delighted when Piers said how much he enjoyed it.”

“The right girl definitely won,” said Piers afterwards. “She had the most unique voice. But I won’t be giving her number to Simon Cowell – he’d have her singing some terrible song!”

“If I was Head of Music at Roedean I would be so proud. The acts were so professional”, said Katie Derham.

“We were delighted to support Cecily’s Fund at such an amazing feel-good event,” said Mrs Goulet, the organiser. “There was a tremendous buzz in the theatre and it was a brilliant reminder that Roedean girls are free to be good at anything they want.”

Thanks to the generosity of the audience, who ended the night enthusiastically involved in a spontaneous auction of a signed copy of Piers’ latest book, the evening raised an incredible £3000 for Cecily’s Fund. More photos to follow.

Sarah Wilson Cycles Vietnam for Cecily's Fund!

In October, Cecily's Fund supporter Sarah Wilson, set off for Vietnam to cycle over 400 miles through some of Vietnams most beautiful countryside. Cycling past the rice paddies, up rugged mountains, through towns and villages, and the white sandy beaches, Sarah said " I had an amazing time in Vietnam despite the mountains, cockroaches and excessive amounts of rice! It was certainly a challenging, but rewarding experiencing, and I'm glad I chose Cecily's Fund. Sarah raised a fantastic £1,800 for Cecily's Fund!

Thank you to Sarah and all who supported her!

If you would like to take part in a challenge event for Cecily's Fund, please see our Fundraising Challenges Page.

Jonathan Thompson holds another enjoyable and successful concert for Cecily's Fund.

On the 14th November, singer, songwriter and guitarist, Jonathan Thompson, returned with some new songs and performed with his band of, Folk, Rock and Classical musicians. The evening was a great success and enjoyed by all. Thank you to all who supported Jonathan and helped him raise over £500 for Cecily's Fund.

St Cecilia's Day Concert is held at Bedales School

Thank you once again to our very supportive friends at Bedales, who held their annual St Cecilia's Day Concert in aid of Cecily's Fund. This year the concert raised over £1,200 for Cecily's Fund.

Cecily was an enthusiastic performer in Bedales events. One of the ways the school helps to keep her memory alive and support the charity is by holding this fundraising concert each year. Thank you all very much.

Sponsor a Friend

See some of the crazy and wonderful events that our supporters are taking part in to raise money for Cecily's Fund.

London Marathon 2010

Nick Moglia has been chosen to take our Silver Bond place in the 2010 Virgin London Marathon 2010.Find out why Nick decided to run or take part in an event yourself!

NEWS FROM SWITZERLAND

 

Pumpkin Soup lunch raises record amount

Yvonne Bomonti one of our Swiss Friends of Cecily's Fund volunteers, was thrilled to learn that the pumpkin soup lunch that she organised on Wednesday 4th November, at St Ursula's in Bern raised CH 1140 (£675)! Fellow volunteers provided a gluten free version, a yummy desert and hand knitted scarves and socks to complete the winter warming sensation and raise more money for the orphans of Zambia. There was also cakes, tea and coffee.

Many thanks to Yvonne and her fellow volunteers for all their hard work and enthusiasm. We hope that others will be inspired by your example, especially as next year our fundraising theme is Feed their Minds, Fund their Futures.

Schule Unterseen

Schule Unterseen organised a Christmas Panto of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Lots of children took part and the costumes and make-up were fantastic, as can be seen by the terrifying wicked stepmother pictured to the left! A wonderful time was had by all and the panto raised CHF 250 for Cecily's Fund. Thank you Schule Unterseen!

Scots Kirk in Lausanne, Switzerland

The Scots Kirk in Lausanne is an International church which worships in the Scottish Presbyterian style. On 2nd March, twelve children from the Youth Group held a concert. They took part in different ways by writing the usic, performing classical music or doing on-the-spot improvisation. Some of the children have been studying for a long time and are accomplished musicians. They wanted to support children less well off than themselves in a direct way. The £450 they raised will support six vulnerable Zambian children in Primary School and another six in Secondary School, for a year. Thanks go to all at Scots Kirk for this wonderful achievement!

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