Supporting an event

One way in which you can help is to participate in the various events that we have during the year and possibly even organise one of your own. The list of possibilities is almost endless but the main idea is to have fun, raise some money for Afasic, and increase awareness.

Below are examples of some of the events that you could take part in:

The London Marathon
Afasic has guaranteed places each year for this famous event and asks runners to raise a minimum of £1,000 in sponsorship each. Relatively few people get the opportunity to take part in this great event and those that do often see it as achieving a lifetime ambition.

This year (2008) we had a team of five runners take part in this event and I am pleased to say that all our runners who started the event made it safely to the finish line (despite some spectacular blisters and changing weather conditions including sunshine, rain and hail!), although in various states of distress, to receive their much-deserved medals.

Our thanks go to Jayne Cresswell, Julie Everett, Adam McLeod, Gary Griffin, and John-Paul Sullivan for all their efforts on behalf of Afasic, it really is greatly appreciated.

A big thank you also to Jon Carson and James Stephenson who couldn’t get a place for the London Marathon but, unperturbed by this, entered the Barcelona Marathon instead and came across the finish line together in a very respectable time of 3 hours and 52 minutes. We hope to have raised over £7,000 in much needed sponsorship from these two events, which is very welcome.

If you are interested in running the London Marathon and raise money for Afasic in 2009 or beyond then please contact Mark Thompson at central office for further information. Afasic has guaranteed places each year for this famous event and asks runners to raise a minimum of £1,000 in sponsorship each. Relatively few people get the opportunity to take part in this great event and those that do often see it as achieving a lifetime ambition. Please consider promoting our places for this event amongst your staff and possibly offering to match the sponsorship they raise as an extra incentive. People who are lucky enough to get their own place are very welcome to join our team!

Afasic Bike Ride
In July 2008 eight brave souls took part in our second charity bike ride, setting off from Avonmouth on the Bristol Channel and passing through Bristol, Bath, Devizes and Salisbury, before crossing the Solent and reaching the official finish at Yarmouth. Along the way we saw some wonderful countryside, visited two very welcoming schools who looked after us wonderfully and recovered in a number of local hostelries.

One of our riders had to make a visit to hospital after a nasty tumble but luckily hadn’t done any major damage; we had punctures, cycled up a number of rather large hills, and enjoyed the sunshine (as opposed to the rain last year!). We didn’t get lost (too often) and overall we had a great time, there was a real team spirit and everyone mucked in. The total distance pedalled was 190 miles.

Congratulations and thank you to the riders - Jonathan, Rose, Julia, Stuart, Anthony, Damian, Dado and Mark. We hope to have raised about £4,000 from this event.

A very big thank you to Alan who drove the support bus all week, Sarah and Gemma who helped him and looked after the riders, and to Rowdeford School and St Catherine’s School for their warm welcomes and hospitality. Finally a special thanks to Jonathan Edwards who was the inspiration behind our bike rides. For a full account of the bike ride you can look at the “Bike Ride Diary” and view the gallery of images (coming soon).

The Hydro Active Women`s Challenge
In 2007 we had over 30 ladies of all ages take part in this annual event for Afasic. The majority were at Hyde Park in London where conditions were ideal for running, sunny with some cloud and a cooling breeze. Some of our runners had dressed up as schoolgirls and ran along passing a netball between themselves, other runners and the crowd!

In Birmingham we had a team of grandmother, daughter and granddaughter take part and have a great time. Three of our runners from Lincolnshire realised that they couldn’t make it down to London for the start time so decided to have their own event locally so as not to miss out ! We were very pleased that a group of 7 ladies from our corporate partner Lansons Communications took part in the Hyde Park run for us. The event raised over £5,000 in sponsorship for Afasic, which is a record for us!

We are very grateful to everyone that took part in this event and all those who supported them, thank you.

Treks, Bike Rides, Climbs and More
Afasic works with "Charity Challenge" to offer our supporters the unique opportunity to raise thousands of pounds for Afasic whilst undertaking an adrenaline-pumping physical challenge in any corner of the world. There are more than 25 different challenges to choose from including treks, mountain bike rides, mountain climbs, white water rafting and sailing expeditions. They take place in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Europe throughout the year. There are four levels of difficulty so there really is something for everyone.

To participate you will be required to raise a minimum amount of sponsorship for Afasic (this will vary depending on the challenge chosen but the most common amount is £2,500). For a full colour brochure detailing all the challenges available please contact Mark Thompson. You can also look at the website for Charity Challenge on www.charitychallenge.com or for the Global Adventure Challenges on www.globaladv.org.

Well done to Laura Furlong and Caroline Lindsay who successfully completed the Great Wall of China Trek in October 2003. Between them they have raised over £5,000 for Afasic as a result - you can read the full story of their adventure.

We are also grateful to Tilly Christie (pictured right) who successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in December 2003. You can read Tilly's exciting account of her climb.

Bethan Jones also made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro in August 2004 for Afasic.

Carol Concert
A Carol Concert was held on the 13th December 2007 at the Guild Church of St Andrew, in Holborn, London to celebrate the work of Afasic.

From the amount of applause during the evening and the time it took people to leave at the end, everyone who attended had a very enjoyable time and appreciated the mixture of carols, music, readings and songs.

Our thanks go to the Brighton & Hove Youth String Ensemble and the Brighton Singers, conducted by Andrew Sherwood, and the signing choir from St Mary's School in East Sussex for providing the entertainment. Our thanks also go to A.S. Byatt for her poetry readings, Patrick Magee from Moor House School, who read the poem "The Work of Christmas Begins" by Howard Thurman, Sir Peter Baldwin who did the address for Afasic, and to John Bercow and Richard Hogwood who did the Bible readings.

Last, but definitely not least, we must say a big thank you to all at St Andrew for hosting the event and their support throughout, to Colin Midlane for leading the service so well, and to Christopher Butler and Speechly Bircham for their financial support that made the whole event possible. It was a great event and from the feedback we have received people are looking forward to the next one!

© Afasic, 1st Floor, 20 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R 0BD
Registered charity no. 1045617
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