The (Concluded) Search for Mystery Train Girl
Event: Keir Moffatt's fundraising
$1,674.90 raised of $754.12 target
317 donations
My Target:
$754.12
$1,674.90 raised so far
How to make a donation
Donate online at - www.justgiving.com/mysterytraingirl
By mobile internet Scan this code on your smartphone to go straight to Keir Moffatt's page.
By text message to donate £10 Text £10
to 70070
My story
UPDATE - WE HIT £1000! Thank you all SO much, for the support and donations. THE SEARCH IS OFF and it's time for this bumbling romantic/stalker (you decide!) to sign off. Best wishes, Keir x
The story so far: On the train back to Bristol from Cardiff last week, a gorgeous girl in my carriage really caught my eye. We barely spoke but, when she left, I regretted not speaking to her more - and asking her out. When I was driving home with my mate, I mentioned my regret and he said "well, you know what they say, you're never more than 3 people away from who you want to know"… half an hour later, and perhaps against my better judgement, I set up this Facebook group to see if my mate's theory was true - to see if I could find the Mystery Train Girl and get a second chance to ask her out…
…by the following evening, to my complete amazement, over 1,000 people had joined the group and many were leaving kind messages of support for my 'romantic' cause!
By Saturday morning, as the group approached 2,000 members, I started to feel like I wanted something good to come of all the attention, in case we didn't find the mystery girl (I was pretty sure we wouldn't). I decided to set up a JustGiving charity page and figured that if every member was willing to donate £1, we'd have a very real chance a raising close to £2,000 - a potentially wonderful outcome to an otherwise rather embarrassingly, self-indulgent quest. I chose Marie Curie Cancer Care - my sister works for them, and both our family and close friends have been affected by cancer, so it seemed like a natural choice.
Again, to my continued bewilderment, Sunday night saw the group fast approaching 10,000 members (including people from America, Australia, Malaysia, Greece and Dubai!!) and we were more than halfway towards the £500 target I had set for the JustGiving page. Whilst this was simply brilliant, it was also at this point that I started to worry about how big the group had become and that I was potentially forcing a lot of attention on this mystery girl - which wasn't fair. I figured it was possible that she did not want to be found (pretty understandable!) and that it was best to respect that. So, much to everyone's disappointment, I called off the search and let the mystery girl remain a mystery.
Since Sunday, the group has continued to grow (albeit more slowly now), and the donations have reached in excess of £800. A couple of local newspapers have also been in touch about this 'online fairy tale' (not my words!) and two nice chaps had written blog posts about it. What started as a bit of fun, with the smallest of hopes of really finding this mystery girl, grew into something far bigger and far more positive than I ever planned or imagined.
So, here we are, 13,324 members and £805.50 raised for charity at the time of writing. At this stage, I want to say the BIGGEST (THE BIIIIIGGEEEST) thank you I can muster to every single person who has shown support, left wonderful messages, and especially donated to Marie Curie. I am overwhelmed, bewildered, flattered and deeply humbled by the entire experience - it's been quite an adventure.
As for the mystery girl, I did receive several messages from people claiming to be 'her' but simply cannot tell if any are real. If she did find this group, I wanted to extend my apologies to her if I caused her any trouble as that was never my intention - I simply hoped for the chance to take her out. However, the search is over and it's time to respect her desire to remain a mystery.
Please, please do keep donating if you can - it would be amazing to see if we can reach £1000... but it's been a wild ride either way.
Wishing you all peace & progress, Keir x
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=108534272523669
My charity
Marie Curie Cancer Care
Charity Registration No. 207994 (England & Wales) and SC038731 (Scotland)
Marie Curie Cancer Care provides high quality nursing, totally free, to give people with terminal cancer and other illnesses the choice of dying at home, supported by their families. It runs nine Marie Curie Hospices across the UK offering free specialist care for patients and support for families. The charity conducts palliative care research to find better ways of caring for terminally ill people and also funds scientists who investigate the causes and treatments of cancer. Charity Registration No 207994 (England & Wales) and SC0 38731 (Scotland)
Donations 317
So, so sweet, Good Luck!! xx
Donation by Hannah Brotherton on 08/05/10
£2.00
lovely idea
Donation by Jo Frei on 08/05/10
£2.00
+ £0.56 Gift Aid
Moff, I'm with Chris. Will match your £25 if you find her. Love ya u crazy foo' xx
Donation by Emma H on 08/05/10
£10.00
+ £2.82 Gift Aid
Good luck, I hope you find her. If I was the girl I wouldn't find you creepy or stalkery I think it's cute
Donation by Tasha D'Cruz on 08/05/10
£2.00
You are mad. But for some reason I am compelled to wish you good luck!
Donation by Esther Blake on 08/05/10
£5.00
I guess I have to take part now this has become a charitable appeal! Good luck.
Donation by Tom Holder on 08/05/10
£10.00
+ £2.82 Gift Aid
Donation by Kat on 08/05/10
£2.00
+ £0.56 Gift Aid
Donation by Ray Morrow on 08/05/10
£2.00
+ £0.56 Gift Aid
I hope you're search goes well for you, i think it's very generous of you to give up you're free time to also benefit others :)
Donation by Adam Reeves on 08/05/10
£2.00
Donation by alix renshaw on 08/05/10
£2.00
+ £0.56 Gift Aid
Surprise! silly spring hormones can actually make the world a better place.
Donation by ProcessDrone on 08/05/10
£2.00
+ £0.56 Gift Aid
Donation by phoebe tavenner on 08/05/10
£2.00
+ £0.56 Gift Aid
Donation by James Foster on 08/05/10
£2.00
+ £0.56 Gift Aid
Well done :)
Donation by Anna Wardell on 08/05/10
£2.00
Good luck and well done! :)
Donation by Natalie Pendell on 08/05/10
£2.00
+ £0.56 Gift Aid
The group idea is genius and making something this good come out of it is genius too. If everyone pays £2 that'll be £4000. : )
Donation by Richard Sutton on 08/05/10
£2.00
Nice one! Didn't think this would take off but I'm pleasantly heartened to see myself proved completely wrong ;) Big props from cardiff!
Donation by laurie hedges on 08/05/10
£2.00
+ £0.56 Gift Aid
If you find her I'll match you and donate another £25.
Donation by Chris Gape on 08/05/10
£5.00
+ £1.41 Gift Aid
What a wonderful thing to come out of such a silly situation. You're a wonderful bloke and everyone should be more like you!
Donation by Emily Johnson on 08/05/10
£2.00
Romance - cancer + gift aid = bargain!
Donation by Sebastian Robinson on 08/05/10
£10.00
+ £2.82 Gift Aid
Donation by Ben Walshe on 08/05/10
£2.00
Well done you! Great idea (: good luck. x
Donation by Jess Fenlon on 08/05/10
£2.00
Donation by Hugo Mason on 08/05/10
£2.00
Good luck - I hope you find her and live happily ever after ;)
Donation by Louise Vergette-Lynn on 08/05/10
£2.00
This is such an amazing idea! Good luck with it all x
Donation by Laura Saunders on 08/05/10
£2.00
Donation summary
- * Online donations$1,674.90
- Offline donations$0.00
- Text donations$0.00
- Total raised$1,674.90
- Gift Aid$292.04
* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.

