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

you'll be there by now Donation by Nick Pink 29/08/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

hope you are safely home and dry. x Donation by sophie fyfe 27/08/08  

£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid

Best of luck Hugo...! Donation by Tom Nichols 27/08/08  

£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid

Good luck Hugo! Donation by Rupert Mead 27/08/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

Easy peasy (as my five year old would say) Donation by Jimmy the Fish 26/08/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

Rather you than me! Good luck. Donation by Charlie Perry 26/08/08  

£50.00

Surely this is not dissimilar to wading the Spey? Donation by Scotty and Caroline 25/08/08  

£40.00 + £11.28 Gift Aid

Good luck! Hope the weather cheers up... Donation by Arabella S 25/08/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

Good luck gents - but have you never seen "Deliverance"??? Donation by Matt Callow 25/08/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Good luck Adam. Donation by David Ager 23/08/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Brilliant Stuff - well done! Donation by John Stevenson 22/08/08  

£120.00 + £33.85 Gift Aid

Great effort. Good luck! Donation by Robin Beale 22/08/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

Boot + Ad, an inspirational undertaking! (lay lobsterpots on your way out, pick them up on the way back, sell lobsters=more cash to GOSH!) Good Luck! Donation by BGT+M 20/08/08  

£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid

Top effort! Best of luck. Donation by Paddy W 18/08/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

£1000 each way (only joking) Donation by Evander Properties 15/08/08  

£2,000.00

May the force be with you! You might just need it! Donation by Dave W 15/08/08  

£100.00

You mad mad boys! Have fun and do try to dodge the boats! Donation by Olivia 13/08/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Good luck Hugo! Donation by Protego 13/08/08  

£1,000.00

Childhood friends? Both Welsh twats then. Good luck mind. Donation by Jasper 12/08/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

Brilliant cause. Good luck! Donation by Lucy & Livvy Borthwick 11/08/08  

£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid

Metal up your ass baby - good luck leave the French men alone they are troubled enough Donation by John Law 08/08/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

Good luck Donation by Tom Fewings 08/08/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

Excellent cause - surely you'd be better invcentivised to come back the other way?! Donation by James Rogers 08/08/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

In lieu of the freinds we would have brought to your party... Donation by Alex and Jo S 07/08/08  

£150.00 + £42.31 Gift Aid

best of luck Donation by Graham Barker 07/08/08  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

You're both mad but good luck! Donation by Murray Kerr 07/08/08  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

VERY BEST WISHES Donation by STEVE&CLAIRE EGAN 30/07/08  

£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid

Blimey! Are you sure? Good luck! Donation by Bob and Pat Percival 24/07/08  

£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid

Next stop Iceland! Best of luck Donation by Joanne Tomlinson 24/07/08  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

Excellent cause, good luck & happy paddling lads! Donation by Ad 24/07/08  

£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid
Donate now
 
* Total raised online: £14,151.00
  Offline donations: £8,600.00
  Gift Aid plus supplement: £2,411.82

* Charities pay a small fee for our service.
Find out how much it is and what we do for it.