The Challenge
This November, D Social will be attempting to cover a combined distance of 2400km over a 24 hour period. We will be using eight gym machines (ergometers, cycling machines and treadmills) concurrently and continuously. There are 64 members of the Social (School House) and three resident staff, so this will mean that each of us will have to take at least five half-hour turns on one of the machines. Together, we plan to travel at an average speed of 100km/hour over the 24 hours, so everybody will contribute to the target, whether rowing on an ergometer in the first slot on Saturday 3rd November at 6pm, or running on a treadmill at 4am, or cycling home the finishing straight at 5.30pm on Sunday 4th November in the final session of the day.
The Charities
We are doing this in aid of three charities. We hope to raise a significant sum of money for their causes, but we realise this depends entirely upon the generosity and support of those we are writing to. We have chosen to support Rosie’s Rainbow Fund, Helen and Douglas House, and Friends of Amasango. Rosie’s Rainbow Fund supports sick and disabled children and their families in local hospitals, schools, and in the community, operating particularly at the John Radcliffe Children’s Hospital, the Royal Berks Hospital in Reading and Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Helen House and Douglas House are Oxfordshire hospices which care for children and young adults with life-shortening conditions and support their families; they offer specialist symptom and pain management, medically-supported short breaks and end-of-life care. Friends of Amasango is a charity that supports Amasango Career School, which provides an access to education to some of South Africa’s most vulnerable street children; the school not only gives children access to food, clothing, toiletries and shelter, but, crucially, gives them the opportunity to build themselves a promising future through education.
