Owner: Team SMARTies Latest News URL:http://teamsmarties.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:34:53 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: All the latest news on our fundraising efforts in memory of Rose Emma McGill Site statistics:Click here
Yorkshire Treasure Hunt 2007-07-02 07:06:00 We'd like to send a BIG thank you to Graham, Trena and the family for all their hard work putting this together! We raised another £100 for Rose's Tribute Fund which is fantastic!!We had a great drive out, sat in the car in Wetherby in a thunderstorm (we didn't get the clues there for obvious reasons!), Andi wandered around a golf club car park searching for 2 different colour roses, we brought back something from outer space (dont ask!) and generally had a good laugh :)Oh and....WE WON! :o)Thanks to all those who lent their support, we really appreciated it!All the best,Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill Read more:Yorkshire
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Weekly Update 8: 6th July 2007 2007-07-06 07:34:00 First of all my apologies for missing last weeks update! With Andrew coming to visit and the treasure hunt I lost track of time!So, 1 month 2 weeks and 5 days till the BritBallRun! Both myself and Andrew are quite excited about it already and the Treasure Hunt helped us to see we can work together and not fall out (too much!).BIG thanks to Keyline Graphix for donating the sunvisor strip for the car. We are hoping to have it in time for our trip to Germany in a couple of weeks. It will say www.rosemcgill.co.uk and should be interesting to see what sort of interest it generates!We've got some fantastic items up for auction including Odys 10.2" Multi Flat 51002 LCD-TV/DVD & Radio, Paintball Days, and BIG Performance £200 Remap Voucher. To check out the rest of our items CLICK HEREHope you all have a good week, more from Team SMARTies world next week!All the best,NatalyaTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgil Read more:Weekly
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Weekly Update 9: 13th July 2007 2007-07-13 13:34:00 I can't believe how quickly the time is passing! 1 month 1 week and 5 days till the madness begins!All energy is currently being focussed on making sure I am well enough to take part! I am hoping my doctors know what they are doing and with a bit of luck the latest bump in my medical road will be fixed before the end of August!BIG thanks to Keyline Graphix for kindly putting together the Sun Visor Strip web address graphic and throwing in a few smaller address graphics all for free! We really appreciate their help and donation! Here's a shot of the smaller graphic...We are working on a leaflet and poster for distribution over the Britballrun weekend and for placing on noticeboards and in offices etc etcI am also putting together an article for Justgiving about our online fundraising efforts. In a recent email to us Simon at Justgiving said "It's fair to say you guys are pioneering this kind of stuff in the UK..." Pretty amazing that our work is being noticed and appreciated by th Read more:Weekly
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Weekly Update 10: 20th July 2007 2007-07-20 06:51:00 All quiet on the SMARTies front this week!Recovering from a tough couple of weeks healthwise has been my priority and I'm pleased to say things seem to be under control again, for now anyway!Next week we'll be missing a post as Andrew and I will be travelling in the Roadster to Germany with a few other roadie owners. They have all decided to have a go at driving the Nurburgring! However, not being quite so crazy as the others, I'm just going along for the photographic opportunities and the company! :o)On our return it will be a busy week for us as the Auctions end and we begin the serious preparations for the BritBallRun!Have a great couple of weeks everyone :o)All the best,NatalyaTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill Read more:Weekly
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AUCTIONS END 2007-08-01 12:13:00 Our auctions ended at 8pm today, 1st August 2007.All winning bidders will be contacted within the next 48 hours with information on how to make payments and details on collection/delivery of items.Any queries in the mean time please email us at fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukAll the best,Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: http://www.rosemcgill.co.uk/Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill
Last Day of Auction 2007-08-01 11:02:00 Thanks to various companies we have been given items to auction off and help us reach our £5,000 target!Today is the LAST DAY of the auction. Please, if you get chance pop by and check out what we have to offer. Items include an Autographed copy of a Gordon Ramsay Cook Book, Paintball Experience - 8 passes, Makeover Days and Odys 10.2" flatscreen TV/DVD.To checkout all the items click on Auction
in the menu on the left.All proceeds from the sale of each item will go to Clatterbridge Cancer Campaign where Rose received here radiotherapy and chemotherapy.Thanks to you all for reading and for taking a look at the items.All the best,Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: http://www.rosemcgill.co.uk/Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill
Auctions end in 2 days! 2007-07-30 12:48:00 There are just 2 days left till the end of our Auctions! Please pop by and check out all the items which include an Odys 10.2" flatscreen TV/DVD player, a B.I.G Perfomance £200 remap voucher, an Autographed Gordon Ramsay cookbook and lots more!Happy bidding!All the best,Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: http://www.rosemcgill.co.uk/Donate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill
Pledge Deadline 2007-08-09 05:39:00 We currently have 2 open pledges with www.pledgebank.com, both ending on 10th August 2007. Yes, that really is tomorrow!So, if you'd like to join us in one of our pledges and help us to raise a further £300 for Rose's Tribute Fund just click on one of the links below...All the best,Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill Read more:Pledge
, Deadline
Justgiving Article 3! 2007-08-07 05:34:00 We've been lucky enough to be given a 'Guest Blogger' spot over at the Justgiving Blog. If you get a moment go check it out...Team SMARTies articleAll the best,Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill Read more:Article
Update 11: Saturday 11th August 2007 2007-08-11 12:41:00 Today Rose's Tribute Fund hit a fantastic £4,000! With just 14 days to go till the start of the BritBallRun it was great to see us growing ever closer to our target!Things are very busy in the world of Team SMARTies right now! This week has been 'press week', hopefully as articles are printed we'll be able to place them here for you all to see!A few other things happening over the next 14 days...* In the week leading up to the BritBallRun we hope to have a page on the website with details on how you can follow our progress and even send us messages over the 3 days.* Decisions will be made this week about the layout of either a leaflet or business card that we hope to be able to give to people we meet during our travels.* Press interviews and photo shoots will be completed and articles printed.* Ballgowns and suits will be collected and Andrew will begin his battle to fit everything we need into the car!All these things and many more will keep us busy right up until we set off on S Read more:Update
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Countdown... 2007-08-15 16:08:00 10 days before the madness begins! :o)As you may have noticed the website has under gone a few changes, hopefully you can all still find your way around! The Justgiving donation page has now been integrated into the site and you can find it if you click on Donate Here in the menu. BIG thank you to Dave for all his help with the website!Thanks to Prontaprint of Leamington Spa for arrange a fantastic deal on the printing of our leaflets and for accommodating our requirements!Press interviews are going well, hopefully we will be able to get a few copies up on the site soon for you all to see.Between now and next Thursday we need to get lots of rest and I need to get aquainted with my map! :o)Thanks again to everyone for their support. It's great to know there are people out there cheering us on!All the best,Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill Read more:Countdown
Countdown...6... 2007-08-19 14:43:00 6 days to go!As we get closer to the Britballrun I am finding that a little excitement is managing to creep in alongside my anxiety!This weekend has been my chillout time and I'm now feeling refreshed for the week ahead.Dave, our web guru, is putting together a tutorial for those of you who might want to track our progress and send us messages over the 3 days. It will be available on the site from Wednesday. BIG thanks to Dave for all his hardwork!Not much else to update you all on today as we've just been relaxing! I'm sure I'll have more to tell you tomorrow!All the best,NatalyaTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill Read more:Countdown
Countdown..7... 2007-08-18 04:26:00 7 days to go!This time next week Andrew and I should be reaching our 2nd checkpoint of the day. Hopefully we will still be talking to one another and we'll have collected all the things on the first list!After a hard week at work Andrew said last night, "All day today I have been looking forward to the weekend when I can wash the little Roadster and begin putting the decals on her ready for the Britballrin". I hope it's not raining for him today!Hopefully we'll get some pictures of the car over the next couple of days which I'll put in the photos section.Today is my day off! Taking my little brother to a football match and then off to see the Simpsons movie...it's good to relax!Thanks, as always, to all those who are supporting us. It means a lot to us.All the best,Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill Read more:Countdown
Countdown...8... 2007-08-17 14:55:00 8 days to go!I asked Andrew how he was feeling about things a few days ago and he said he is still excited! I, however, am just incredibly nervous!There is so much happening here right now that it would take me forever to write it all down! Rather than do that I am just going to leave you with a wonderful smile, take a look...Rose is what it's all about and peeking at this photo every once in a while helps to keep me going.All the best,Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill Read more:Countdown
Countdown...9... 2007-08-16 04:16:00 9 days to go!Last night I asked Andrew how he was feeling now the Britballrun is almost here, he said 'a little excited' which is better than me! I'm just nervous!Today I have an interview with the Liverpool Daily Post and if things go to plan Andrew will be interviewed for a piece on Radio Norwich.The next few days will be the calm before the storm. Dave, our web guru, will be putting together a tutorial for all of you who might wish to follow our progress over the 3 days of the Britballrun. We hope to have this available for you all early next week.I've also been thinking how cool it would be if people who spotted us along the way could send in their 'snaps'! If you spot us over the 3 days don't hesitate to ask us to pose for a picture then Email your images to us and we'll feature them in our Photos section!Lots more to tell you all about but you'll have to wait till tomorrow now!All the best,Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.ro Read more:Countdown
Countdown...3... 2007-08-22 11:38:00 3 days to go!Actually, for us, things kick off tomorrow! We have a photo shoot for the Liverpool Daily Post in the afternoon and hopefully we'll have a photo of us with the car and in our outfits up on the website by tomorrow night!The Daily Post feature will appear in Saturday's newspaper.Andrew completed his interview with Radio Norwich and you should be able to hear him in each news bulletin on Saturday morning.I have picked up my shoes today and will have one more practice run with my dress before packing everything away for tomorrow. Hopefully, Andrew has collected his suit today too, I'm awaiting confirmation on that one!All the graphics are now on the car and I am really looking forward to seeing how it looks. Again, we should have some photos of the car up in the gallery tomorrow evening.The leaflet layout is now with the printers and we will be collecting them on Friday afternoon.All thats left is for me to pack, get an early night and try to keep calm!More from Team SMARTi Read more:Countdown
Countdown...4... 2007-08-22 11:34:00 OK...I'm sorry! I missed a day! But, if you hang on a few minutes I'll make sure today's post brings you all up to date!All the best,NatalyaTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill Read more:Countdown
Countdown...5... 2007-08-20 15:48:00 5 days to go!But just 2 and a bit days till we set off on our travels!Andrew has a radio interview tomorrow and if technology works as it should we hope to make the interview available in the latest news section later this week.The tutorial is now ready and will be up on the site in the next few days. It will help you all download and use the tracking software so you can keep an eye on where we are over the 3 days, send us messages of support or point out where we took that wrong turning!That's it for today from Team Smarties world, I promise to make bigger updates tomorrow and Wednesday!All the best,Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill Read more:Countdown
Making Progress 2007-08-25 20:50:00 It's fun to check our progress along the way. Thanks to the Vehicle Tracking Ltd, you can watch our progress too. Go to our tutorial and see how!Here's a navigational map during day one, we're driving through Ettington.Day one we made good progress.Day two's progress, another good day.And the early hours of the morning on day three.Here we are now, trying to get some sleep in Birmingham.If you want to check our progress, follow the tutorial link above. You can even send us a message, directly to the navigation unit in the car! How cool is that?Natalya and AndrewTeam SMARTiesEmail: fundraising@rosemcgill.co.ukWebsite: www.rosemcgill.co.ukDonate at www.justgiving.com/rosemcgill
Blogging For Rose 2007-08-25 11:09:00 ROSE EMMA McGILL 26th January 1984 – 11th November 2006 Today we are setting off on our 3 day, 1,000 mile fundraising event in memory of Rose. Right from the start it has been our intention to use our fundraising activities as a way of sharing Rose and her beautiful smile with all who read about her. Rose was an up and coming designer and was featured at the New Designers Exhibition in London in June 2006. Sadly, that same month the family was devastated when Rose was diagnosed with a Grade 4 malignant brain tumour. Following surgery to remove the tumour treatment was started straight away and on 26th October 2006 Rose graduated with honours from Liverpool Hope University. Just two weeks later Rose was admitted to hospital and sadly passed away on 11th November 2006. As we navigate around the UK, bloggers across the world are coming together to help us share Rose’s story and her wonderful smile.Thank-you to everyone taking part for making this day that extra bi Read more:Blogging
1 day to go! 2007-08-23 20:34:00 I can`t believe how quickly this has all come around! It seems just ashort time ago that we were deciding whether we`d take part!As I am typing Andrew is outside attaching various pieces of videoequipment to the car and giving it a little polish.We have been and collected the leaflets today and we are really happy withhow they turned out. We`d like to say a BIG thank you to Ralph atProntaprint near Leamington Spa for getting everything sorted out for us.I hope that you`ve all been able to follow the tutorial and download thetracker. Thanks to all those who have sent messages, it`s always good tohear from you.As the device that displays the messages is on Andrew`s side of the carit`s unlikely that we will be able to reply to any messages sent whilst weare drving. Please don`t think we are ignoring you, safety first and allthat :o)Apologies also for not being able to post updates as frequently as we`dlike. Unfortunately where we are staying at the moment has very littlemoble phone recept
2 days to go! 2007-08-22 20:33:00 The worst bit is over! I have shown the world me in my dress and all wentwell!We had a photo shoot with the Liverpool Daily Post today over at theClatterbridge Centre for Oncology. It was actually a lot of fun and goodto see the sun shining! We`d like to say a BIG thank you to Susan Higham,Susan King and all the girls that made today that little bit easier on us.For all those in the area the article should appear in Saturdays Daily Post.After some very tasty sandwiches and a good rest we headed off to our B&Bdown near Warwick, which is where I am writing this from! It`s a lovelylittle place with very friendly owners. We managed a hobble down to telocal pub and had some very tasty fish and chips washed down with abeer...and a lemonade for me!It`s early to bed for us tonight, up for breakfast at 8.30am and then arestful day ready for our hectic weekend!For all those who might be wondering...at the end of the unofficial day 1Andrew and I are still talking :o)More from Team SMARTies wo
Home.... 2007-08-27 12:55:00 After 3 days, 25+ hours driving, 10 checkpoints, 2 countries, way too many strange 'must get' items, and coming in a pretty damn good 5th place, half of us is home.As Andrew travels the last leg of his journey I'd just like to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who have supported us over the months and of course the past 3 days, it's meant so very much to us both.To Dave, our Web Guru, you have done a grand job in letting everyone know how we've been getting along and we are both so grateful that you're always there for us.Another BIG thank you to Batman, Spiderman, The Flintstones, vicars, the hilarious RAF boys, Ali-G and The Pimpmaster and all who took part in this years Britballrun. You guys made this experience absolutely superb and I know we will have many, many good stories to tell for years to come about all of you.To Natalie and the guy whose name I just don't know (I'm so sorry!), thank you for the affort you put in with the videoing and photography. I know it can't
Monday 27th August 2007 - Day 3 2007-09-03 06:00:00 Parked UpWhen the alarm went off this morning it was clear it had to be wrong. We'd had just a few minutes sleep, at least it felt like we had! But, unfortunately for us, it really was time to get up and head down for breakfast and the big quiz!Watching some of the other participants appearing really made us chuckle, obviously staying in the bar till the early hours of the morning hadn't done them any favours! After a quick glass of orange juice we made our way to the quiz room.There were 15 questions and considering we didn't know any of the facts 12 hours ago we didn't do too badly at all getting 11 out of the 15 correct! I think the best question of the morning was what's the ratio of sheep to people in Wales? Lots of sniggering and poor jokes followed, the correct answer was...3.5 sheep for every person in Wales!Lining Up with Spiderman and Chris for Team KillerViralOnce the quiz was complete we made our way to the car and joined the line up for the mornings drive. Today we wo Read more:Monday
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Sunday 26th August 2007 - Day 2 2007-09-02 09:46:00 ickle brcXNo lie in for us today! We were ready and in the car for the 9am start and soon found ourselves heading to Cambridge for today's first checkpoint. For 15 - 20 minutes at the start of our journey we had a little fun with the Blues Brothers in their cobra but that all came to a sudden end when they pulled into the services to refuel....again!Andrew and I weren't so excited about driving to Cambridge or the prospect of today being mostly East Anglia based, not that there is anything wrong with that part of the country it's just we enjoyed the rolling hills and element of surprise that Wales gave us yesterday. Today we would be driving around rather flat countryside in areas we both knew fairly well.As we travelled the lonely road to Cambridge we decided we'd try and collect 2 of the days 'must get' items, so, we pulled into a services to pick up a MacDonalds sugar pouch/packet and a blue smartie! Now, blue smarties went out of production quite some time ago but thanks to h Read more:August
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Diary - Day 2 2007-09-01 18:01:00 Sunday 26th August 2007T's Diary
...Today had been going really, really well until we were almost home and I began to feel quite unwell. I've spent most of the evening trying to find a position for my leg that would ease the swelling, discolouration and pain but just had no luck at all. Standing up seemed to make the discolouration disappear but I couldn't do that for very long. I am just hoping that the rest tonight might help and that I'll be ok to carry on tomorrow.Apart from not feeling so good I have had a great day. Finally I was comfortable in the dress and a lot less self conscious which really helped me to relax. We found some of the T/Andrew banter early on in the day and I was pleased to be having a laugh and a joke whilst attempting to look like I knew which way up the map went ;o) I was also really pleased that we managed to collect all our 'must get' items for the day and the egg managed to make it the 2 days without a single crack! Things have gone well!This evening
Saturday 25th August 2007 - Day 1 2007-09-01 04:07:00 The Start07:30 All entrants to this years BritBallRun were asked to meet at the Heritage Motor Centre, Warwickshire. Great line up when we arrived and luckily we pulled up in time to see the RAF boys make a grand entrance! Coloured smoke billowing from the back, very loud patriotic music blasting out of the speakers and one of the guys sat on the back of the lotus waving a large GB flag! What a great start to the weekend!Navigators had then been asked to head over to the meeting room for Day 1's briefing! Thankfully the organisers were aware of my bad legs and made Andrew do the walk to collect the information for the first day!Parked up in WalesCars were let loose at 1 minute intervals and it wasn't long before we were following the first set of instructions and heading for Checkpoint number 1! From this point on it would be down to the 'skill' of navigation to get us from checkpoint to checkpoint whilst keeping the mileage to a minimum.From Worcester to Llangurig we opted to get Read more:August
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Diary - Day 1 2007-09-01 04:00:00 Saturday 25th August 2007T's Diary
...What a day! It feels like I have been in the car forever. I was kind of in awe as we weaved our way around Wales today, I really had no idea that it was such a beautiful country. Everywhere I looked was rolling hills, streams, sunshine and...erm...lots of sheep!I will never forget us pulling up in a tiny little welsh town by the name of Llanguilo. It appeared to have just one shop which doubled as the local pub! I needed to stretch my legs so me, my ballgown and walking sticks began to hobble along the road in this little village. I stood for a moment to admire the view and saw a lady heading towards me, prepared with my 'Good Morning' she replied and then said 'You look really beautiful'. Now, I don't speak welsh but hoped that I had heard her right! I'm more of the jeans and t-shirt type of girl and dresses are something I have only been seen in on very, very rare occasions. This event was probably the most public of those occasions so to h
Diary - The day before... 2007-08-31 07:30:00 Friday 24th August 2007We decided to keep a diary over the few days of the BritBallRun so here's the first installment... T`s Diary
... It`s been quite a restful day in the Team SMARTies camp. Lovely breakfast here at the B&B this morning and then I had a hobble around for half an hour. The village we are staying in is very quiet and some how has quite a calming affect on me! I got chatting to a gentlemen who lives next door to our B&B which made the hobble back a little more interesting. Our B&BAndrew had arranged for us to visit a good friend of mine over in Birminghm today. Sonny and I have known one another for about 10 years or so through various music related websites. We have always had a good laugh and it was great to finally put a face to the name. Sonny also happens to work for SMART and it was myself that introduced him to Andrew back in October 2006. Within just a few emails Andrew had bought the little Roadster. View from the PubRight now I am supposed to be sno
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