Raised: 46%
Target: £50,000.00
Raised so far: £22,751.00
Donate now

My story

 

Adam Huntington Whiteley and Hugo Llewelyn have been life long friends and have shared since childhood many of the same interests in life. Upto January 2008 however this sphere of interests had not included kayaking of any kind, not least trying to cross the world's busiest shipping lane with only 8 months of training and a beginner's grasp of french...

However, owing to personal circumstances, we wanted to do something difficult, dangerous and different to raise as much money and publicity as possible for leukaemia research at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, which provides the most extraordinary life line to many of Great Britain's young children with this hideous disease. Adam's father died from the disease in late 2005, and Hugo is a trustee of GOSHCC, the charity that supports the hospital, hence the cause we are supporting.

You may well have heard of our charity, but if not, it is a world-class children’s hospital, with the broadest range of paediatric specialists under one roof anywhere in the .  They welcome around 150,000 patient visits each year, treating those with the most complex, life-threatening or life-limiting conditions, of which Leukaemia is one.  They are also totally committed to finding treatments and cures for some of the rarest and most difficult illnesses, and all the money we raise will be put towards research in the area of leukaemia. See www.gosh.org for more information here.

Consequently, full of severe mis-givings about what we were about to do, on Friday 29th August, after a week of delays caused by bad weather, we set out from Dover at 5 am in the morning to attempt to cross the English Channel in sea-kayaks. The weather was settled, and Dover looked at its best in the dark, and heading towards France.

By mid-day, after 6 hours and 45 minutes of gruelling slog, avoiding the international shipping lanes, overcoming sea sickness, and the notorious currents between England and France, not to mention 3 Great White Shark moments (these turned out to be sea-weed!) we finally set foot on French soil as our picture shows, which was a huge relief for two very exhausted individuals.

Having done a fair number of triathlons, marathons, 1/2 iron men, climbing Kilimanjaro and the like, I can safely say it was the most mentally difficult challenge I have faced, and as physically demanding as any. The relief of making it was enormous.

We are so far up to half way in our target £50,000 and any continuing support would be much appreciated. The other half we hope to secure at our party Just Desserts, in London's Hammersmith town hall on Saturday 27th September - all the details of that are at www.justgiving.com/justdesserts

We are extremely grateful to you for your support in this venture and hope to see you at the party too...

Adam and Hugo

Well done, Hugo, amazing! Donation by Aimee P 17/10/08  

£15.00 + £4.23 Gift Aid

Thanks goes to Kirsty Donation by Salima 08/10/08  

£180.00 + £50.77 Gift Aid

What an epic, well done! Donation by Hugh Wormington 07/10/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Donation from taxi driver who took me home after the ball! Donation by Kirsty 28/09/08  

£4.00 + £1.13 Gift Aid

Good luck! Donation by Christiane L 26/09/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Well done!! Donation by Brigid 26/09/08  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

Good luck! Donation by Eleanor Mason Brown 25/09/08  

£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid

Very well done and wishing you the best of luck! Donation by amy noel 24/09/08  

£50.00

What a great achievement! Well done. Donation by Steven and Clive Boultbee Brooks 24/09/08  

£1,000.00

I still can't believe you managed it! Donation by Harry, Emma, Sophie, Martha, Flora, Isla, Sporran 24/09/08  

£150.00 + £42.31 Gift Aid

Well, I suppose we can come to the party now Donation by Elks again 22/09/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Well done. Party on Donation by Marina Souter 22/09/08  

£50.00

an incredible feat, well done! Donation by caroline h-w 17/09/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Fantastic stuff hugo! Donation by Camilla Fawkner 15/09/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Llongyfarchion! Donation by Mat and Caroline 14/09/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

well done Donation by Chris, Ted and Sarah 11/09/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

plus the kayak lessons and rescue Donation by Andrew Baum 11/09/08  

£250.00 + £70.51 Gift Aid

A fantastic effort - well done boys. Donation by David Emburey 10/09/08  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

Well Done! Donation by Sarah Allen 09/09/08  

£50.00

Well done Donation by David Turner 09/09/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Well done Hugo Donation by Mark and Hils 05/09/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

well done. sorry its late. Donation by anon 05/09/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

Well done boys, you weren't the only one who had doubts!! Donation by Lucy Kerr 05/09/08  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

Well done! Donation by Janet and Eddie 04/09/08  

£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid

Hope mission accomplished by now. Congrats / Good luck* Hugo (*delete as appropriate...) Donation by Laura Johnson 04/09/08  

£75.00 + £21.15 Gift Aid

What a fantastic challenge - really best of luck xxxx Donation by Hugo & Isabel 03/09/08  

£50.00

Nice one gipo dont nick all the donated cash leave some for charity Donation by Paul Gadd 03/09/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Well done Hugo - Everest next? Donation by Justin Brown 02/09/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

All the best Adam! Donation by Graeme Holmes 01/09/08  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

Hope you made it... Donation by Becky Mann 29/08/08  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
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* Total raised online: £14,151.00
  Offline donations: £8,600.00
  Gift Aid plus supplement: £2,411.82

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