Charity Chill Out Night with Usborne Books and More

By Lee Burton

Fancy a chilled out evening with a chance to maybe cover some Christmas shopping??

The Wessex Royale Hotel in Dorchester has kindly donated the function room for this fundraiser on Sunday the 3rd November from 1900 hours FREE ENTRY.

Present will be a selection of traders promoting their business, some offering on the spot services or indeed the opportunity to buy products. So far confirmed we have (in no particular order):

• Usborne Books Independent Trader
• Scentsy
• Herbal Life
• London Bombay - Imported Indian Craft
• Weight Watchers
• Gellish Nails
• Ann Summers
• Jamie At Home
• Tiny Treasures
• Avon
• PartyLite
• Head and Neck Massage
• Cake, Craft Stalls and some more yet to confirm

Also we will hold the obligatory raffle with items donated by these and other companies to be drawn on the night.

The bar is offering a partner sitting service to keep them from being under your feet and seeing what you spend.

All funds raised are going to The Steve Charles Help a Friend Fund - Rian's Appeal, supporting a Dorchester Thomas Hardye School student's family cover travel expenses and coffees on their daily trip to Southampton whilst Rian undergoes lengthy treatment.

Click here to RSVP.

An Evening Coastal Walk

By Benny Wain

Well this is the first blog I've done ever in my whole life.

For once I managed to finish work a bit early yesterday, so I managed to persuade Jack to pick me up and it was off to the Lulworth car park to meet up with Tommy and Lee.

It was a beautiful afternoon/evening and as Tommy later pointed out, probably one of the last evening coastal walks we would be doing as the nights are drawing in.

To be honest I was dreading it...and the flash backs of nearly being sick the last time (for over doing it) had been haunting me for months.

So off we went, waking up Lee from a post work snooze in his car, and headed up the first hill. This walk is always a killer because you go straight onto the steep hill at the start.

As I hadn't done this walk for a few months I had forgotten about the land slide, so as we got to the top I stopped to have a look at what mother nature had done to the coastal path. Jack pointed out that soon the Caravan Park at Durdle Door would have cliff top views and we headed inland on the new detour.

It wasn't long before we hit the killer hills so I just tucked in behind Tommy and kept my head down. He was setting a nice steady pace and that's how it stayed until we got to the monument.

After a quick banana we turned around and headed back. It was getting late and as we were heading back up the final steep climb we were overtaken by a squaddie guy running! We were all very impressed by this until he stopped for a breather at the top.

It wasn't long before we were back at the car park. We managed to complete the walk in about 2 hours 20 minutes.

Although I haven't been doing much walking recently, I have been cycling a lot, and this seems to be paying off as it didn't kill me yesterday and I didn't ache this morning.

Finally it was pointed out that if we go for one walk a week we only have 16 more walks left...eeeek !

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Saturday Morning Training Walk

By Lee Burton

Saturday morning. A small group of the team met at our house to start a training warm up of bacon and sausage sarnies. Tommy was in need, after all he had a Friday night with a few drinks clearly forgetting his age. Then the four of us - Tommy, Jack, Jaime and moi, set off on a more gentle but longer round robin around Dorset. Not hitting the altitude but making sure we put miles and hours on our feet.

A few hills thrown in for good measure but none good enough for Sir Daniels who continued to chunter on his way around. The weather was excellent, better than expected. 3 hours, 10.5 miles and plenty of banter all the way around with each individual being systematically bullied through one form or another. I think I won the overall Jaime 'F-off' requests.

Tommy managed to pass all three of his shirt front sponsors on the trip so they know they are getting value for money and he is putting his miles in.

Rounded off with a cuppa on our patio and some forward planning.

Until the next walk.

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Update From Lee Burton

By Lee Burton

Things have gone a little quiet at the moment but various fundraising events are popping up.

Moby's in Weymouth have started collecting 10p from every pint of guest ale sold until the end of the year.

Moby's is also the venue for our quiz night on 8th May - starts at 8pm.  Teams are a maximum of 6 people, £5 a head including nibbles.  Come and test your knowledge.


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Bonus Ball Challenge!

By Lee Burton

As part of my on going fundraising on behalf of the Steve Charles Help a Friend Fund, I thought of doing a friendly bonus ball game using the Saturday lottery bonus ball.

I am starting tomorrow - yes I know short notice, but may as well get started.

Basic rules:

£1.00 a number between 1-49 on a first come first serve basis.  (You can pre book weeks in advance and no limit to how many balls you buy each week)

Following the draw the money is split 50/50 basis half to the winning ball owner and half to my charity pot.  If the winning ball has not been purchased - the winning 50% will roll over to the following Saturday's draw.

Please send an email lee_burton2000@yahoo.com to enter.

Click here to sponsor Lee Burton:

The Race Night

By Lee Burton

Saturday night saw the 'Race Night' (16th March 2013) which was held at Weymouth Football Club.  Weymouth Football club kindly let us have the venue for free!!

The event was supported by another charity team, the Windy 500 crew, who despite an offer of some of the money, turned it down leaving the pot all to ourselves.  They supplied the horse models and knowledge and Spooky Blackmore’s expertise with the horse racing.  A raffle was also held with a large number of prizes donated by people and local businesses.  The night was a success and we left at the end of the evening with a grand total of £894.00.

I have been busy organising the link between the charity and another local fundraising project, Scarlett’s Starletts – Scarlett is a 9 month old girl from Weymouth who has been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.  Her parents are fundraising to purchase a special physio machine which will prolong her life by clearing the build up of fluids and mucus on a daily basis.  The fund has donated £500.00 towards their efforts and I am pleased to say they have almost reached the £8,500.00 required to buy the machine.

There is currently a raffle being run amongst the wargaming community which has some top notch prizes. This will also hopefully see some local clubs running some little events to pass us some £££!!!

Nicki's Hairdressers of Maud Road Dorchester are also running their regular charity raffle on behalf of the fund this year so Clan Burton are tapping into as many sections of the community as possible ;-)

As for training we have both managed some training sessions but sadly none together, due to work and little people so far we have to share training dates.  I am combining my training with some friends who are working towards three peaks this year so should see some more training time.  I have been dribbling over new kit and purchased a new jacket to replace my buffalo which has served me well for years but far too warm to keep up with Mr Daniels.

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Horse Racing Night

By Lee Burton

As you know this year a group of us are raising awareness of the charity in a bid to help more local people in need. We will be fundraising for a year and to round off the event we are dragging our butts up that small hill known as Kilimanjaro.

To add to the events we have a Race Night on March 16th at Weymouth Football Club from 7:30pm, run in conjunction with the Windy 500 guys 'n' gals who are letting us take all the proceeds from this event.  Not a DVD in sight, a more hands on horse racing affair with the usual compulsory raffle.

The evening will give you the opportunity to own your own race horse (for a few minutes. It's not a real one, so no stabling fees), to race your horse against others, to bet on the outcome and win cash prizes. There will also be a raffle with some excellent prizes to be won.

Tickets are £1.00 each but no need to be present for the draw on the night, apart from missing a good night!

Click here to RSVP on Facebook.

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The Gym is My Coastal Path

By Lee Burton.

Various team members are reporting various training romps, in some cases I think it’s a nerves thing.  Work has sadly got in the way for me so no live coastal paths as of yet.  The best I have managed so far is further fundraising ideas, various plans and the actual start of my fundraising.  The gym was my coastal path before work, a cheeky hour on the cross trainer with the bulk of that time on a high resistance and high gradient followed by some weights and bodyweight work. Still need to shift some pounds to make sure I am not putting extra pressure on the joints.

Kit list is established and I have been checking what kit I already have, what I need to replace and what I need fresh.  Appointment booked in at the surgery for any jabs I need topping up on before the trip.  Fundraising meeting organised for the 6th March.

Still doesn’t seem real, but I am excited all the same.  Now it seems so far away but I bet it doesn’t take long before it is upon us . . . .

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