brainstrust

Thomas Carter contacted brainstrust in the autumn of 2007. His mother was desperately ill with a brain tumour and he wanted to do something that would help. And along came the Velo Vosges Challenge - for seventy teams of four to cycle nearly 500 miles in three days riding in relay from Arras near the English Channel over the formidable Vosges mountains to the fairytale village of Riquewihr.

We were able to complete our cycle ride at the beginning of October whilst Mum was still alive, cycling with her in our minds. We had two teams of four, consisting of myself, my brother Chris, dad Jonathon, Simon, Ben and Tamsyn Derrick, Will Goodison, and Eleanor Wratten. We cycled 500 miles in three days, from Arras in the North of France, to Alsace in the East, going over the Vosges Mountains.

Now that is doing something - and in the process Thomas and his team has raised £2700 for brainstrust. We're proud of you Thomas!

Fifteen of Brahm's best took to their bikes out for a long ride this weekend. Brahm is a leading marketing agency based in Leeds. Their friendly trip statitician has thrown up some interesting facts about their achievements, which all came in 6s:

• They covered 60 miles (about 90% of which were off road)
• Ian Rossin burnt 6000 calories
• They climbed just shy of 6000 feet
• The group consumed 60 000 pints of brown booze on the Saturday night
• Paul McGuigan got lost for 60 mins
• Mike Cooper swan dived into a 16 inch deep puddle (alright, that's a tenuous '6')

But thanks to all their wonderfully supportive colleagues, friends and family and with the help of the Dolphin Inn they went the distance and raised a brilliant £1,245 of sponsorship for brainstrust. A big thank you to Will Jones for encouraging Brahm to support us this year.

You can still sponsor the Big Brahm Bike Ride '08 on their Justgiving page:

The Balaka Curry Night raises over £400 for brainstrust!

Well, we did spice up our September and an Indian Summer has followed! Our first curry night at  The Balaka in Winchester was a huge success, raising over £400 for brainstrust. Good company, excellent food (more than we could eat) and the brainstrust ambience means that this will be the first of many. So don't worry if you missed this event - our next is planned for January, when I reckon we will be in need of some serious heat!

Thank you, all at the Balaka. And a special thank you to Catherine for the loan of the coffee mugs (without saucers)!

Come along and join the fun. Spicy will it be!

A very special event, not least because the run was in memory of Mike Hebbard, who tragically did not survive his brain tumour and passed away. Since then his wife, Nita, and daughter, Paula, have been championing the brain tumour cause for brainstrust and have raised over £1000 (so far). Thank you!

So on a misty, damp 31st August, a group of runners from the Havant Athletic Club and Portsmouth Triathletes gathered together in the Forest of Bere to run in Mike’s memory. They all knew Mike and it was good to hear them sharing memories of running with him.

Nita and Paula were the stars. Nita because she began the race, and Paula because she ran the race!

The sun sort of shone – spasmodically. But this didn’t dampen the spirits of the Joint family, which raised a magnificent £2069 for brainstrust, in memory of Pamela.

Pamela’s sister, Sue, landlady of The Stag Inn, put on a wonderful day, which began with a car boot sale and was followed by a whole variety of activities, including a hog roast, a string quartet, a bucking sheep and face painting.

Thank you to everyone who came along and enjoyed this special day at The Stag Inn, and a big thank you to everyone who helped organise all the fun.