Training Expedition Weekend

This weekend, World Challenge had a training expedition weekend in Hemel Hempsted, I'm not going to lie...I was absoluetely DREADING it however once I got there and also once I got home I realised how good it was! Throughout the week we had the most horrible weather which even included snow on Tuesday! So I was expecting something similiar on the weekend which is why I was dreading it so much! 

As soon as we got there we met out leader called Bert, we then got our tents to put up which was one of the funniest parts of the trip. The boys took AGES putting one tent up and their faces throughout was hilarious.

Due to another leader not being able to make it, another group from my school had to join ours which was a shame as we was going to use this as a bonding session between our group however on the other hand we had some great people join and made the experience even better than it might have been! 

At around 12ish Bert said to us we were going on "a short walk, only 3 and a half to 4 hours" WHAT?!?! 3 hours of walking?! It was the hardest walk of my life! Espesically because the first field was thick wet mud up to our ankles, it was literally like playing 'stuck in the mud'. Then on I thought I couldn't do it with my fitness level and wasn't ready for World Challenge at all but then we realised once we were in the middle of the field there was no turning back and we either had to go backwards or forwards so of course we went forward! 

 

 After around 5 hours of walking (crazy, I know!) we went back to the campsite and cooked dinner! We had Beanfeast and rice which was a powder bolognese, looked much worse than it actually tasted! We were dreading it when we were cooking it but once we started eating we realised it wasn't actually too bad!

 

 After dinner we sat around the campfire with hot chocolate and biscuits playing games and having a laugh which was one of my highlights of the trip, I can't wait to do something similar out in Zambia as it's so relaxing and you can just review your day! 

We had to wake up at 7am on Sunday to cook breakfast and go on our next trek. For breakfast we had scrambled eggs (we cracked eggs in a bottle before we came!) and frankfurter hot dog sausages, we then also decided to cook noodles to fill us up a little bit more! After breakfast Bert said we would be going on another '20 minute or so' trek..it ended up being a few hours long again! But this time we learnt a lot of skills on the way like how to cross a river, how to use a rope if need be and how to use a shelter as a group.
 We had our last meal together (pitta bread sandwiches which we made in a park) and then made our way back through some more farmers fields including the muddy one we were greeted with the day before again! We even met a horse on the way...

 I'm so glad World Challenge organised this weekend because now I've learnt loads of new skills and bonded with my group! I also now know how much I over pack and that I need to join a gym to get my fitness levels up!! I've also realised how excited I am for Zambia! WOOOO!

My Group :)

Now it's time to plan some more fundraising events!

Rianna x

Coffee Morning

I have started to run out of ideas for fundraisers but luckily my family haven't quite yet! My mum is a very keen cake-maker and a few weeks ago she decided to make a chocolate cake and a hugeeee coconut cake, as my family were eating it together she thought out loud "maybe we should do a coffee morning and I can sell my cakes as a fundraiser". From that moment on we started organising!

This wasn't just like any other common cake sale, this was a gathering at my house in which around 25 people came. My mum made 6 different cakes to lay out on the table and people came in and helped themselves to which ever one they wanted while my mum made them a hot drink like tea or coffee or for some people prepared them a glass of juice. 

  
My mum had a great idea which was not to charge people, instead have an anonoymous donation box for people to donate whatever they felt was suitable. I thought this was such a great idea because normally with fundraisers I'm putting a price on something and saying how much they have to give me to take part in the event but this time people had the chance to come up to me, ask me whatever questions they felt was revelent and once they knew about my cause the would donate whatever they thought was right.

I held the coffee morning on Saturday 20th October at 10am-2pm so that way early risers could come for their morning cup of coffee but also late rises could still come later on in the day! 


It was a great atmopshere as  a lot of  my neighbours came and lots of my mum's friends as well as some of my own so it was a great way to have a catch up (and a gossip!) while enjoying a varity of cakes with the radio in the background.



 After everyone donating on the morning of the event (and some others who couldn't make it so sent me a card and donation through the post) I made a great £280!  


I would like to thank everyone that came and once again supported me.


Rianna x

6-A-Side Football Tournament

Even though it didn't work out as planned, my 6-A-Side football tournament was a 

great success!

The original plan was to have 16 teams play, kick off was suppose to start at 11am and should have finished at 5pm. But one thing I have learn't with fund raising is that A LOT of people make promises then go back on their word! I had a 'secure' 12 teams ready to play until the week of the tournament when teams started to drop out, this happened all the way up until the night before the tournament so I was then left with 8 teams on the day.

Even though it was half of the amount I wanted, it still turned out great! Kick off was a little bit late so we were running behind on time throughout the day however since we only had 8 teams we had nothing to worry about.

Meet the teams

Elite Squad

Da Bosses

Skill 7 FC

Magic Bears

Wembley Rangers

Superstars

Cansdales

The end result
The 8 teams where split up into two groups of 4 who played each other, the two runners up and winners then played for 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st place. However, since there was no score the match had to go into the worst case scenario...penalties!

8th place - Elite Squad
7th place - Magic Bears
6th place - Cansales
5th place - Wembley Rangers
4th place- Da Bosses

3rd place - Superstars

2nd place - Skill 7
1st place -TBS

Runners up Skill7 's team captain Sav with his trophy, given to him by Scott from Cansdales

Our tournament winners TBS' team captain, Andy, with his trophy and TopGolf voucher given to him by Scott from Cansdales

Behind the Scenes
Of course there is A LOT of organising when it comes to events like this, so here are a few pictures of the people who made the day happen!

The First Aiders from AB Medics, Chris & Maria

Our amazing refs, Anne Greg & Ian

 

Our tuck shop ran by Christie & my mum Lesley

 Thank you's

I would like to say a thanks to Queens' School for the venue! 

A HUGE thank you for my parents for being amazing organisers and running the tuck shop! 

Another HUGE thank you for all the teams that took part and supported me! 

A big thanks to TopGolf for supplying our winners with a free membership and game! 
Watford Youth FC supplied us with the bibs and footballs which was a great help so I would like to thank them for that!

Last but by no means least a MASSIVE thank you to Cansdales for sponsering this event and helping it happen! 

 

Overall I raised over £500!!!

Thank you all again, your support is amazing! 

Rianna x

Wacky Hair Week!

Last month in my local town, Watford, there was a mini festival over the weekend which a close family friend went too. While she was there she came across a lady with a hair dressing stall. However, ordinary hair styles were not on offer! I'm a little bit stuck for words but I'm sure this picture says it all!...

So as you can see her hair is GREEN! Carole also had her hair twisted around wires to make them look like trees and plants that stood upright. Then to top it off, she had a rhino sitting in the middle of her head! Crazy I know?

For those of you whom have seen my hair, you would know that mine wouldn't be able to do anything like this and if it did it would have taken about a week to get it out and back to normal, so I 100% wouldn't have anything like this put in my hair which is a reason I am so grateful to Carole for doing something so crazy and then donating the money to me! 

Carole got her hair done like this and then carried on with her normal life like shopping and even taking the kids to school which is were people decided to sponsor her. After explaining my cause and why she is doing it, many friends and family sponsored Carole as she promised to keep her hair like this for a whole week. 

In the end Carole raised an amazing £100! 

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to Carole Stroud for doing something so crazy on behalf of my fund-raising and donating all of the money to me.

Rianna 

xx

Football Tournament

Are you looking for a great team building event or simply an event for friends to get together for the day and have some fun? Then you're in the right place! 

My next big event is a 6-a-side Football Tournament which has kindly been sponsored by: Cansdales Charterd Accountants, based in Little Chalfont, Amersham.

The football tournament will consist of: 

• 16 teams drawn into 4 groups of 4.
• The top 2 teams from each group (totalling 6) will automatically qualify for the knockout stage.
• The remaining 2 free slots for the knockout stage will be awarded to the 2 best statistical (games won, goals scored and conceded) teams that finished.
  

 

I am not only looking for football players but supporters would be highly appriecitaed! There will be ice cream vans, burger vans and cake stalls to keep you all fed.

I hope to see you there!

Rianna

 

Curry Night Review

So I've just got back from my Curry Night at the Indian Sizzler in Watford. Indian Sizzler wanted to help me with my funds as much as possible so offered me half of their earnings from the meals tonight. We had a great turn out as just over 30 people came and since it was £15 per head I raised over £200! 

We also did a raffle which included  two bottles of wine (one red, one white - both donated by J&L Indulgence Events), a box of chocolates donated by RME, a candle from Partylite and a Forever Living facial. We sold the raffle tickets £1 a strip and ended up raising £52!

Unfortunately Iwas so engrossed in the night I forgot to take pictures! However overall the night was brilliant. Everyone seemed to have fun, I've had great feedback and noone went home on an empty stomach! 

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came and supported my event and hope you enjoyed it us much as I did!

Rianna x

Only a month until Indian Sizzler

Only 4 weeks to go, dont forget to book your table!

Rianna

Curry Night at the Indian Sizzler

My other fund-raisers have mostly been people giving me money and not getting much back, (other than Christie being quiet for the day or people clearing out their wardrobes!) so for my next fund-raiser I thought it would be a good idea to give back to my supporters. 

I have organised a curry night with a local Indian Restuarant called the Indian Sizzler. This way, when people put money towards my cause they will get a lovely meal back! 

Key Information:

What?

Indian Sizzler are offering a 4 course meal which includes a starter, main, side and rice for £15 per head.
 There will also be a raffle with prizes on the night

When?

Sunday 15th July at 6.30pm

Where?

97 Longspring

Watford

WD24 6PU 

(off of St. Albans Road)

Free car parking available opposite

To book your place please contact me by:

Email: rianna-worldchallenge@hotmail.co.uk

Telephohne: Lesley 07828 754286

                       Fitzroy 07973 217226

Places are on a first come first serve basis, so get your tickets early!

Just a quick update!

Unfortunatley I havent been able to do any events this month because it has been the start of my GCSE's so it has been non-stop revision! Even though I've had no time to actually put on a fundraiser, I have been planning ahead and have been sorting out which month I'm going to do what;

What have I got planned?

Name the teddy raffle - June

Curry  Night - July

6-a-side football tournoment - August

Skydive - August 

Quiz Night - September 

Bag2Future - October

Bag2Future Collection

After asking plenty of friends and family to turn their wardrobes upside down and inside out to donate clothes towards this fundraiser, I collected 41 bags all together which added up to 220kilos. Through this I made £110 so I would like to thank everyone who donated clothes and promoted this event for me! 

Rianna x 

Sponsored Run!

As a lot of people know, I am not the biggest sports fan and it takes A LOT to get me to run somewhere but, World Challenge is all about challenging yourself and trying new things..right? So on Sunday I ran a 5K sponsored run! This event was organized by World Challenge in Wellington Country Park, near reading. If I avoid the reminder of the weather and mud, it was actually a lot of fun!

  

There was around 600 people there from all over the country also taking part in World Challenge as well as spectators cheering us along, there was also an interviewer who got people up on the stage (including me!) and asked them where they are going/what they have been doing for fundraising etc, so it was great to hear a few fundraising ideas but I did get a little jealous when I heard about the great countries other people are going too like Costa Rica, Argentina and the Amazon! (But to be fair Africa sounds so much cooler then all of them!) 

Scott, Grace and I getting interviewed

Originally this was a 5, 10 or 15k sponsored run however because the weather was so bad and literally turned the track into a mud bath, it got limited down to a 5k power-walk which I was actually quite happy about because after seeing the conditions the field was in, I was not looking forward to running in it at all! 

 

Believe it or not, the track we had to run on was 10 times muddier than this! 



  Of course a bit of rain wasn't going to stop my fellow Challengers and I, so after our 15 minute 'aerobic warm up', we had the 5 second count down and off we went!!

It took me much longer than I wanted it too but because of the weather being so bad and we had to walk instead of run, but in the end I finished in 46mins41 seconds (which I am still extremely proud of!!) and even got a World Challenge goodie bag which included a new logoed top and cap, so it was smiles all around. I also raised £175 from this event so it was definitely worth it!



Me and a friend from my group, Scott, with our new goodie bags!



Once again, I would like to say thank you for everyone who donated and encouraged me to take part!

Rianna x

Sponsored Silence

I have a number of friends who are supporting me with my World Challenge funding by helping me organize events and offering me moral support.

On the 16th April one of my friends, Christie, did a sponsored silence for me. This meant she couldn't talk for the whole school day (around 7hours) and for people who know Christie this was a VERY hard task for her to do! 

We asked people to fill out a sponsor form to see if people were willing/how much they would donate, if she actually did it the challenge and we got 79 people saying they would sponsor!  So we thought it was definitely worth it! We made a promise to everyone saying if Christie spoke during the time she was suppose to be silent,  they wouldn't have to pay but when she realized she had raised over £100 for me, she was certain she would do it!

 

Christie was equipped with her whiteboard, marker pen and a board rubber just in case someone spoke to her!..

...But as you can imagine for a 16-year-old chatter box, spending the whole day silent wasn't the easiest thing in the world so we had to take a dramatic step to help her achieve her goal!

 

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to Christie for all of the effort she put into this fundraiser and for raising me a whopping £138!!! 

I would also like to thank everybody who donated! 

Rianna x

Bag2TheFuture

On the World Challenge website there is a list of great fund-raising ideas, I saw one called 'bag2thefuture'. My mum and I looked into it and thought it sounded quite good as its 100% free to take part, you just have to contact the company on their website or by phone. All you have to do is fill up bags of good and reusable clothes/shoes, the company then pick up the bags and weight them. The more the bags weigh, the more money is earned!

So we sent off my details and around a week letter a huge bag came in the post full of little sealed bags like this:

They have all the information and rules on them, including what items are allowed in the bag. At first I wasn't completely sure if it was a good idea as we could sell good clothes at a car boot sale for possibly more money but then again selling all the old clothes my family and I have at booties would take months, so this is a great way of getting money and making more space in wardrobes quite fast! 

First of all I gave the bags to family members and to a few friends, I wasn't initially sure if I would get a lot of clothes but I was completely wrong! After two weeks I already have 22 bags, we are still waiting for a few more people to return their bags and I still haven't even sorted out my house! My nan filled up 4 bags, one of my friends has filled up 5 bags and still has 2 to give me and others have filled up loads too! Each bag weights quite a lot so I'm hoping the money will all add up! 

This is my house at the moment! As you can imagine, my mum isn't very please! 

I'll keep you all updated with the end result and how much I make from this! If you have a lot of family members, friends or neighbours I would recommend doing this as a fund-raiser!

Rianna x

A good start to the new month

So this week has been a success! (It feels good to say that!) I did two events, but didn't make as much as I wanted too but then again, I made £40. So it's better than nothing, right?


Competition
My 'guess the baby competition' went well, I had 40 people enter and I raised around £20. After lots of people getting the answers right, I had a teacher pick out the winners name at random. The lucky winner, Chloe Hicks, won a £5 voucher. Congrats Chloe!

Car boot Sale
Yesterday my sister, Charlotte, came home from uni and we sorted out all of our old clothes/junk that we didn't need anymore, we ended up clearing out a whole spare room and filled up 3 big bags of clothes and one of shoes! We also had a few boxes of toys, picture frames and other random things.


After looking through the local newspaper we decided to go to Nash Mill car boot sale in Kings Langley this morning which was the first one we have done this year as the car boot sale season has only just started. We got rid of quite a bit but only made £35 between us, which was a shame as we expected to get a lot more!

7AM this morning in the freezing cold, nothing stopped us!

Charlotte is home for another week so we are hoping to do 2 more car boots sales next weekend, hoping that as it is the Easter weekend we will get a bigger and better crowd. Fingers crossed!


I'll keep you posted,
Rianna x

Slowly but surely!

Sorry I haven't posted in so long, I've had so many exams recently and have been extremely busy so haven't had time! But some good news, the money is coming along well!

Last Monday, I went to a local pub for their quiz and curry night to see how it all works. It was so much fun and a great night out, so I decided I'm going to do another one as a fund-raiser! I am hoping to have a raffle there too so I should get quite a bit of money that night (fingers crossed!)

On Monday I had a few lovely donations and sponsor offers including:

• BC Dent Removal (www.removedent.co.uk)
• Cansdales (www.cansdales.co.uk - admin work)

Last Saturday my mum and I did a car boot sale, basically selling all of the junk in our house. First of all we were not starting off too well but once people came in we got rid of half the things we took and made around £35, seeing as the crowd wasn't very big, we thought that was pretty good! We are planning to do two car boot sales a month until we get rid of all the junk and raise a bit of money!  

Following this, my mum and I have put a few items on eBay which she is giving me a percentage from the total of, so hopefully I will get a bit of money from that too! 

I'll keep you posted,

Rianna

Weekly Update

Well this week has been a rollorcoaster!

Firsly I got the news that I have two new sponsors, so thank you very much to:

• MTS (www.mts-events.co.uk - PA equipment for events)
• Grand Property Show (www.grandpropertyshow.com -admin work)

Now the bad news..

I had a school disco booked for Friday 9th March however we had to cancel because of lack of tickets bought :(. My friend and I (also doing World Challenge) promoted the disco, putting posters up all around school, sending emails to the parents, mentioning it in assemblies and going around to all of the classrooms but apparently no-one wanted to go to it. So unfortunately for us, we have lost out on money.

On the other hand, I have two fundraisers coming up!

 I have applied to do the sponsored run near Reading which is organised by World Challenge on the April 29th which I'm sooo excited about! However, I am not in the right form to do it and need some SERIOUS working out time before hand!

I am indescisive whether to do the 5km or the 10km because the girls I'm going with are doing the 10 but I'm not 100% certain if I can do that much! But I don't want to be running in Reading alone!

As well as this, I am doing a 'guess the baby' competition at school! This is where 4-6 teachers give me a picture of them as a baby and I make it into a poster with their names jumbled up so the students have to choose who is who. I will charge 50p to enter the competition, everyone who guesses right will go into a lucky dip and the winner will get a £5 voucher for our local shopping centre, The Harlequin. This should be great fun so I'm hoping a lot of people will take part!

I'll keep you posted on how they both go,

Rianna x

Upcoming Events

Recent Events:

• babysitting (various dates 2012)
• selling refreshments at a school show (28th February 2012)
• eBay selling

Events coming up

• Year 7/8 School Disco – 9th March 2012
• Sponsored Run - 29th April 2012
• Indulgence Evening - Date TBC 
• Bag packing - Date TBC
• Sky-Dive - Date TBC
• 6 a-side Football tournament – Date TBC
• Pub Quiz – Date TBC