Supporters’ Stories

Our latest challengers to take on Mount Kilimanjaro in 2011! 

Leaving to trek Kilimanjaro!

Becs and Bex are trekking Kili this year to raise vital funds for Jed.

Jed is a 10 year old very intelligent young boy who is confined to his wheel chair due to Cerebral Palsy. He attends main stream school and keeps all his classmates entertained with his wicked sense of humour. His favourite subjects are History and Geography and has a tremendous appetite to learn. He desperately needs a motorised wheel chair which will cost 15K. This chair will allow Jed to have his independence to manoeuvre around school and home, allowing him to be responsible for his own movement.

‘We have been training hard and putting the miles in so that we reach the summit of 5,895m. We hope that we can raise enough money to contribute to the 15K and get Jed mobile independantly’!

Keep an eye out for updates on how they get on!

 

Molson Coors aka ‘The Snowdon Ramblers’ take on the highest mountain in Wales this November!

A team of Molson Coors (UK) employees from across Trading Team, Marketing, Finance and Logistics are preparing to climb the highest mountain in Wales, Snowdon, during a two-day Autumn walk in November.

Helen Wallace, Sally Greaves, Karl English, Matt Bird, Gethin Davies, Shona Pollock, Joanne Jackson, Nina Warren, Nicola Johnson and Nicola’s two children, are hoping to raise £2,800 for Molson Coors (UK)’s corporate charity, Whizz-Kidz.

Helen Wallace said: “We thought this was a fantastic opportunity to get together as a team across the business and raise funds for a really worthwhile charity.

Fenella Bain, Corporate Fundraiser at Whizz-Kidz said: “It’s brilliant that colleagues from Molson Coors UK have come together to take on this mountaineering challenge for Whizz-Kidz. The team’s sponsorship will help give disabled children the chance to enjoy their own independence and freedom outdoors; the chance to simply be kids. We wish the team the best of luck and hope it’s not too cold!”   

 Congratulations to the Snowdon Ramblers!

 Snowdon – DONE!

To make a donation please visit the team’s Just giving page  www.justgiving.com/snowdonramble and watch this space for more details of their adventure.

Team Tesco take on the 2010 New York Marathon! 

Team Tesco members: Adam Smith, Phil Spenceley, Tony Clissold, Steve Sharman, Michael Williamson, Richard Holbourns, Dan Travers

Whizz-Kidz has long had a relationship with Tesco’s after we had a fantastically successful partnership as their charity of the year in 2006. 

Adam Smith, one of the team leaders says “It started out as a discussion between Phil and myself about dedicating 2010 to raising some money for charity.  By January there were seven of us signed up to run the New York Marathon!  With 3.5 months to go until we run in New York, it is safe to say that all seven of us are enjoying the challenge to a) get fit and to b) raise as much money as possible for Whizz-Kidz.

We have involved family and friends, as well as work colleagues with our fundraising – from partner’s schools to a ‘World Cup’ themed 5-a-side football tournament with our business contacts which raised £8,000 alone in one day!

It’s fair to say that the challenge of completing the marathon for such a great cause is pushing us all out of comfort zones and motivating us to go the extra mile.  Let’s hope that in November we do Whizz-Kidz proud and all cross the finish line injury free and happy!”

Alex Barclay, Events Fundraiser says “It is great to have such a motivated and dedicated team, such are the Tesco Corporate Purchasing guys, on board for this year’s New York Marathon and we feel privileged that they have chosen to support us for this brilliant event.  We certainly feel proud to have them on the team and look forward to supporting them all the way to the finishing line in Central Park!”

Team Tesco have already raised over £44,000 for Whizz-Kidz which will go a huge way to helping some of the children on our waiting list.  If you would like to sponsor or read more about Adam and the team, please visit their fundraising page www.justgiving.com/NYCP-Blue
 

Kersi Printer of Old Windsor, is proud to have made a difference

At approximately 1330 hrs on the 11th October 2009, I finally reached my goal and arrived at Everest Base Camp (5,364 m) along with my fellow trekkers.  My journey started on the 2nd October 09 when 11 of us left Heathrow Airport for Khatmandu, all complete strangers from various parts of UK, all supporting different charities (mine being Whizz-Kidz), but with one common goal, which was to reach Everest Base Camp, treking through some 80 kms of rock falls, mud slides, torrential rain, high winds, bitter cold, low cloud and heavy mist, stomach churning suspension rope bridges, scary cliff hanging paths, and some scarier wooden plank crossings, not mentioning the odd runaway Yak on already narrow paths.

Each day the weather and terrain would change, on some days we would have all four seasons in a few hours. On Base Camp day we left our campsite in Loboche (4,910 me) at 0430 hrs in total darkness with only our head torches to guide us through a very tough boulder strewn route to Gorak Shep (5,140 m). After a further 3-hour trek on a wind swept very narrow ridge and a boulder strewn moraine with frequent rock falls we finally reached Base Camp!

I reached Heathrow Airport in the early hours of the 18th December 09 along with 10 really good friends all looking tired, but all glad to be back with their loved ones.  If any of you out there want to follow this dream I would say go for it, hard as it was and after all the times whilst on the trek when I nearly gave up with exhaustion, altitude sickness and mental fatigue, it was an experience I will talk about for the rest of your life.  Challenges like these require a lot of physical stamina but at the end of the day in is all in the mind!

A big thank you to all at Whizz-Kidz and Charity Challenge for all their support prior and during the trek without which none of this would have been possible.

The Red Brick Road Team are cycling from London to Paris this July

 “On the 8th July 2010, a group of us from The Red Brick Road are planning (well, hoping!) to cycle from London to Paris. The pain will begin very early in the morning at The Red Brick Road in Soho and continue way beyond the 300 miles it will take to reach the Eiffel Tower.

“We’ve been doing regular training rides both together and individually and have collected a lot of bruises, scrapes, punctures and bites along the way as we’ve got used to our new road bikes and clip in peddles.
“We are fundraising for Whizz-Kidz, a charity that we’ve had close links with this year after making a Cinema ad for them and our agency have kindly agreed to match anything we raise (up to a very generous £5,000!).
“Follow us on Twitter and make a donation at our Virgin Money page.
“We’re hoping that the sight of us struggling to lower ourselves into our office chairs the following Tuesday may be worth a small donation!”

Oliver Hardy and Matthew Taylor: Arctic Circle Race -  April 2010

The Arctic Circle Race is one of the most demanding marathon cross-country ski events in the world taking place in the harsh arctic climate of Greenland. The race itself comprises three days skiing over undulating terrain through the back country of Sisimuit covering a distance of over 160 kilometres in temperatures that can range from 0°C to -40°C. The area is also known to have frequent visits from polar bears!
The extreme conditions and distances have meant that training has been rigorous and diverse, ranging from cycling to roller-skiing! We have also recently completed a week long training trip out in Austria which culminated in a gruelling 50km race.
The race runs from 9-11 April and we are aiming to raise as much money as possible for Whizz-Kidz. So please donate generously and help us help Whizz-Kidz make a real difference.
http://www.justgiving.com/ArcticCircleRace
We will keep everyone posted on how we get on out in Greenland.
Many thanks!
Oli and Matt

Whizz-Kidz is very grateful for Oli and Matt’s support and we wish them the best of luck with their incredible challenge!

The Light Family: Everest Base Camp – March 2009

When my family and I decided we would undertake an expedition to Everest Base Camp to raise money for Whizz-Kidz, I was initially somewhat apprehensive. Our very amiable and knowledgable leader soon allayed these fears however, and throughout the whole trek I was pleased to be able to keep up with the older and wiser members of the family!

The guides paced the trek very well – we started off relatively slowly to get acclimatised properly, and when the altitude presented a larger challenge as we neared Everest, we slowed even more! Being beaten back by the weather on our first attempt to reach Base Camp was disappointing, but this was more than offset by the overwhelming euphoria and sense of achievement when we finally reached our goal on the second attempt the next day.

The expedition was made all the more pleasant by the incredibly friendly porters and guides, who were always willing to share their fascinating local knowledge of the region. The absolutely phenomenal quality and quantity of the food provided for us was truly incredible, especially considering we were camping and that the chef was preparing the food from kerosene stoves carried with the expedition! The scenery and atmosphere have to be experienced to be believed – photos and videos cannot possibly do the Nepali and the Himalayas justice.

The entire expedition was filled with moments that we will never forget, and the experience is one that has certainly brought our family closer together.

Richard, Katrina, Tim and Dominic Light  – Everest BC 2009