Catch-Up! Events/Fitness

Hi All, 

Sorry I haven't been keeping you all updated but I have started my A Level exams (ahhh!) so have been doing lots of revision and of course actually sitting the exams! 

But this post is just a quick catch-up to let you know how I'm doing with my fundraising and to tell you how CLOSE Zambia is!!! 

Curry Night

Unfortunately a few days before/on the day quite a few people said that they couldn't attend my curry night however I still had around 30 people come and it ended up being a great night. 

In the end I raised £210, I would like to thank everybody who came (or contributed even if you couldn't attend) and I'd like to thank the owner of the Indian Sizzler, Mo, for the fantastic food, service and patience! 

Cassiobury Fun Run

One of our local parks organised a 10k fun run over the may bank holiday weekend, unfortunately I didn't know in enough advance to take part but instead I helped out and was a marshall. 

It was such a hilarious day because so many of the World Challengers from my school took part - not ones just from my group. They haven't given us a fixed price as to what we are getting paid yet (as we are still waiting for our payment and they have called it a 'kind donation') but last year the World Challengers got paid £50 so hopefully it will be somewhere around that number again! 

Pictures from the day...

 

L-R: Molly, Jenny (my group), Sara (my group), Me, Harriet, Kirsty

Lewis, Harry and Jake

Michael and I collecting tags!

Bleep Test

Our school wanted to see how ready we are for our treks etc by testing our fitness (haha.) Let's just say I am FAR from prepared. 

Although I have been going to the gym recently and going on powerwalks for an hour or so, when it comes to running I just crumble so the bleep test didn't work too well with me. Luckily I wasn't one of the first to drop out, so I felt a bit better about myself! 

So the average for a 16 year old girl is to get to Level 7 (baring in mind it goes level 1 -1.1, 1.2, all the way to 1.8 each level). I got up to 5.2 which isn't close to the average but it is honestly better than I expected myself to get! 

 At least I now know how much work I have to put in to make myself fit! 

 Rianna x

Back to the Indian Sizzler we go!

 So I'm getting extremely close to my target and have just organised my next (and possibly last) big event.

Since my curry night last July raised over £200 I have decided to do another one and hope it will be even more successful

especially as a lot of people were unable to make it due to holidays or other commitments

All information is here:

I hope to see as many of you there as possible!

Rianna x

Bar 92 Party

So Jake and I were getting pretty worried about the turn out of the party, we didn't think a lot of people would turn up even though we did advertise it like crazy! Especially because we needed mostly over 18's to attend, we found it hard to get our parents friends there because the venue was a 20 minute or so drive from where most of us live. However for those who did attend would probably agree with me that Bar 92 is a beautiful venue and would recommend it to anyone passing by or hiring a bar in Rickmansworth!

Even though we really didn't want too we were SO close to cancelling the event. Then however the week of the party, we had a phone call to ask if there was still enough space for another 12 people and then at school a few days after we sold another 7 tickets! So of course cancelling was out of the question.

In the end we had around 50 people come and enjoy themselves, the bar was always flowing and the music was great. At first it was really hard to get people up and dancing but then the DJ played Candy by Cameo - even though that went down in shambles as only two people knew how to do it (me included!) - the party then started!

Here are also a few pictures from the night:

"It's like candy"

Hayley&Christie who have supported me at every event so far!

A few school friends who attended

Jamaine - the best dancer of the night!

The managers of Bar 92 - thank you so much!

Jake and I made more than £250 between us so we would like to thank everybody who came because we appriciate it so much! We are now both 1 step closer to our target :) 

Thanks again, Rianna & Jake x

It's party time!

My friend Jake and I have decided to be a tag team and do a big event together; we are holding a party to celebrate the new year and hopefully raise some funds!

There has been a new wine bar just opened on the high street in Rickmansworth which the owner has very kindly lent to us for an evening in February once we told him about our cause, however because it is a wine bar and not any other normal bar it is for over 18's which is why we are struggling to fill the place up because obviously we are only 16 and 17 ourselves so we can't invite many of our friends! However, a lot of our parents friends and families have said it seems like a great idea and should be a fun night so we hope this will be a success! 

Here is all the info...

 

Hope you can make it!

Rianna & Jake

xxx

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