JOHN'S BUNGEE JUMP FOR MAGGIE'S

...............and now other things too!!

"Accidents will happen......." as Elvis Costello famously sings in the song of the same title.

They will and, on Friday 18th November, in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, one happened to me. A simple slip of my left foot on a grassy hillock on one of the islands, led to me managing to break 3 bones in my right ankle!! Hospitalisation and surgery followed as did two weeks of a completely re-arranged itinerary until we flew home on 2nd December.

The downside of this is that we only managed to complete one of our fundraising challenges, the very enjoyable Bike the Bridge event in Auckland. The other three have had to be postponed. My sincere apologies to all of you who have so kindly contributed to this wave of our fundraising.

Rest assured, though, that we shall meet our commitments to you all and to Maggie's in Inverness, in full. We were already planning to return to NZ in 2018, with some friends who wanted to walk the Routeburn Track in a day, something we did in 2012. This plan looks as though it will go ahead and they'll be joining us for the Tongariro Crossing too!!

Thanks for your patience and understanding and, once again, our apologies for having to let you down.

September 23rd 2016 : 50 days and counting!!!!

As many of you know, Irene and I are off to New Zealand
for our Annual Break this year.

We have been accepted to take part in the Annual Bike the
Bridge Event which takes place two days after we land.

Starting at 06.00 on Sunday 13^th November, hundreds of cyclists stream across the iconic Auckland Harbour Bridge and back.

It is the only day each year when bikes can cross the Bridge and is, of course, all done in aid of Charity.

Looking back, it was 25 years ago when I was diagnosed with my Cancer and 20 years ago when I was given my “All Clear”. Accordingly,
we have decided to continue to raise funds for the Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre in Inverness, who do such a great job.

The donations we receive from our guests who kindly support
our End of Term Fancy Dress Party will go to Maggie’s this year. But we want to do a bit more than that and, when we are Down Under, we are undertaking our “Kiwi Quad” – 4 challenges, which we are both doing during our holiday.

The first is the Bike the Bridge. This is followed by the Tongariro Crossing, a 20 km trek, with 5000 feet of ascent and descent, through
a live volcanic region in the heart of North Island. We are then cycling a
one-day section of the new Timber Trail, a 25 mile off-road route which
includes two of the longest suspension bridges in NZ. Lastly, we are
undertaking an expedition into the Lost World part of the Waitomo Cave system, which includes a 100 metre abseil to get things off to a good start.

With just 50 days to go until the first of our events, we thought it is high time we let you know what we are up to in November. We also
hope you don’t mind that we are cheeky enough to say that, if you’d like to help us in our fundraising endeavours for this very worthy cause, we’d be touched, delighted and grateful.

Since our first event, my Bungy Jump, in 2009, through the generosity of many of our guests and friends, we are proud to have raised in excess of £13,000, with almost £10,500 of that on here, Just Giving.

If you would like to help us keep things going, that would be very kind indeed. We are only too well aware that every penny counts.

Thank you.

*Life's too short to be sorry.

WHY MAGGIE'S?

*I'm a Cancer survivor. "Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt." 'Nuff said.

*There's a real need for what Maggie's does and the way they do it.

*The NHS just doesn't do what Maggie's does.
Don't you just love the look of their superb buildings? (Hats off to the architects!)

*If I can go through life and give someone a leg-up on the way, that's no bad thing in my book.

There you go. If I've struck a chord with you do, please, give as generously as you can. Every little helps. Thank You.

John.