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Windsor
Half-Marathon – September 2009 |
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Jonny Allcock, a good friend
of Jeremy’s from their year out in Indonesia (see photo
gallery) raised an incredible £4,150 to help Jeremy’s
charity help more people get an opportunity to achieve their dreams.
Jonny, accompanied by his sister Claire, raised the funds running
the Windsor Half-Marathon on 27 September.
Jonny explained his preparation
on race-day: “In true Jez [Jeremy] style we managed
to lose all paperwork, running number and chip just 30 minutes
before the start and I found myself at the back of a long queue
for the admin tent panicking and sweating profusely rather than
taking on water and stretching! But Rach [Jonny’s wife]
barged through to the front of the queue and found that some kind
angel had found my envelope on the ground and handed it in some
minutes earlier . . . So all was well and in true Jez tradition
I made it to the back of the starting line as the race began!”
Despite the heat and the hills and describing himself as an “asthmatic
Guinness-drinking man” Jonny completed the full 13.1
miles in a respectable 2 hours 29 minutes.
Jonny
now has his eye on the Reading and Bath Half Marathons in March
2010, and aims to shave five minutes off every year for the next
six years so he can complete a two-hour Half Marathon at the age
of 40.
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The
Big 7 Challenge – June 2009


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Simon
Ferguson and Tim Grimble have completed a challenge to cycle 700
miles in 7 days, from Paris to Nice, traversing 7 of the high
cols of the Alps, raising over £1,800 for the JWCT. The
pair, supported by Peter and Clare Grimble (Tim’s father
and sister), covered an incredible 698 miles (1,124 km) during
their gruelling cycle, notching up 59 hours 50 minutes in the
saddle, and consuming over 17,500 calories.
Tough
climbs included the Col de Glandon, 1,472 m of vertical ascent
over 21.4 km of road, an average gradient of 7%. The cols reached
were Col de la Croix de Fer (2,067m) via Col de Glandon (1,924m),
Col de Sarenne (1,989m) via Alpe d'Huez (1,850m), Col du Lauteret
(2,058m), Col d'Izoard (2,360m), Col du Vars (2,108m), Col de
Cayolle (2,326m), Col de la Couillole (1,678m) and Col St Martin
(1,500m).
Simon
said “we worked really hard for the first four days
and this bought us enough time to pace ourselves through the rest
of the Alps. We could have done more but we were lucky to have
generally benevolent weather and not a single injury or health
problem.” Despite having to divert their route due
to several cols being closed due to snow, and facing a hailstorm
and torrential rain the team hit the welcome sunshine and beach
on the Cote d'Azur within the target time, helped by speeds of
up to 73.3 km/h (45.5 mph) on the downward stretches.
Simon
explained his reasons for supporting the JWCT: “as a
life-long beneficiary of the experiences of travel and active
pursuits and the good fortune of disability-free health I strongly
believe in giving young people, already faced with challenges,
the opportunity to realise their potential.” Both Simon
and Tim had accompanied Matt Willson, Jeremy’s brother,
in the London to Edinburgh challenge for the JWCT in May 2008. |
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Corporate
matching gift donated – June 2009 |
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Capital International Ltd, a
company headquartered in London, made a corporate matching gift
of £6,000 to the JWCT in June 2009. The donation was made
as part of the company’s gift-matching scheme: when an employee
makes a gift to a registered charity such as the JWCT, the company
may match this donation, in full or in part, and some companies
even match at more than 100% of the donation!
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Charmain
& Greg’s wedding – May 2008

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Charmain Mohamed and Greg Andrew
kindly asked their wedding guests to donate to the JWCT instead
of giving them presents at the ceremony on the 31 May 2008. Charmain
and Greg, both good friends of Jeremy, having volunteered with
him in Indonesia in 1993, helped raise £770 for the JWCT.
Greg said "Jez [Jeremy]
was an important friend to both of us, as we all met back when
we were seventeen years old, embarking on a year's adventure in
Indonesia. We loved him very dearly and he would have continued
to be an important part of our lives. Neither of us felt like
climbing a mountain or running a marathon, so instead we decided
to get married to raise money for the charity. Jez would have
been proud!"
Charmain added "I think
Jez would have been tickled pink to hear that Greg and I finally
got together after all those years. As our oldest 'joint' friend
it was incredibly sad he couldn't share celebrating our marriage
with us, so asking our guests to donate to the charity instead
of buying us presents seemed the most obvious and natural thing
to do."
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Donation
received from electronic Christmas cards – December
2008 |
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Phil
Bramall, who provides pro bono accountancy services to the JWCT
through his company Tenbury Ltd, kindly donated the proceeds from
sending Christmas cards by email instead of by post. Phil’s
environmentally friendly idea raised £200 for the JWCT’s
activities. |
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Coastal
Trail Series, Dorset – November 2008

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A
friend and colleague from Jeremy’s Bristol University days,
Pete Goddard, completed an arduous marathon in poor conditions
along Dorset’s Jurassic coastline in aid of the JWCT.
Pete
described his experience as follows: “A night of heavy
rain and high winds . . . wasn't particularly encouraging for
the race on Saturday morning, my foreboding was made worse at
the wet and cold pre-race briefing where I seemed to be the only
person foolish enough not to have specialist fell running footwear.
The course was a figure of eight that went west along the coastal
path to Kimmeridge Bay, then up onto the Purbeck hills and back
inland to near the start at Worth Matravers, where it then crossed
back to the coastal path eastwards until the headland near Swanage,
before returning inland to the finish at Worth Matravers. As we
set off the rain stopped and although breezy, conditions were
pretty good - we even had some sun. Beforehand I thought the hills
would be the biggest challenge but in fact they weren't too bad
- many were too steep (and slippery) to attempt to run up so everyone
had to walk them. It was very muddy underfoot and I slipped and
slid all over the place, including some spectacular flat-on-the-face
moments.”
Despite
the challenging weather and hilly terrain, Pete rounded off the
26.2miles in just over four hours. Pete said “as with
some low points during the training, thinking of Jeremy's drive
and determination got me through and gave me the will to grin
and bear the pain to carry on.” The event on 18 November
2008 raised over £1,000 for the JWCT. |
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Digital
media company employees nominates JWCT for donation - August
2008
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The employees
of Creative Labs UK and its subsidiary 3D Labs donated the proceeds
of a staff charity software sale to Jeremy’s charity. £250
was very kindly donated thanks to the nomination of the JWCT by
Pete Harrison, a former school friend of Jeremy’s from Maidstone
Grammar School, who now works for the company. |
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City
to Surf Run, Sydney – August 2008
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Tym Blackwell,
a friend of Jeremy’s from his days as a Scout, and seven colleagues
from his company in Sydney completed the 14km City to Surf Run on
10 August 2008 in just over an hour. The City to Surf run is one
of the most famous and best-attended fun runs in the world which
always attracts great support from locals and tourists. Runners
set off from the start line close to Hyde Park in the heart of the
city and race along a course that takes in some of the city's leafy
suburbs before ending along the strip at the world-famous Bondi
Beach. Tym’s employers Pareto Fundraising kindly matched the
funding raised by the participants, achieving a total of £720. |
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Climb
of the world’s most northerly 7,000m peak – August
2008

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Oli
Brown, a good friend of Jeremy, braved the tough conditions of
the world’s most northerly 7,000m peak to raise £1,250
for the JWCT commenting after the climb “I think it
was certainly the most tiring thing I've ever done”.
Oli climbed the north ridge of Khan Tengri, a 7,010m mountain
in the Tien Shan range on the border of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
The mountain, whose name means ‘Lord of the Spirits’,
is spectacularly capped by a pyramid of marble. It has notoriously
fickle weather and temperatures that drop to minus 35C and the
route was steep and exposed, and vertical in a few places.
Despite
having a liver/gall-bladder infection which nearly resulted in
a helicopter evacuation, Oli kept giving it ‘just one more
day’ until the team reached Camp Three after a day stuck
in a blizzard at Camp Two. Oli commented “we had absolutely
perfect conditions for the summit. Not long after we left the
tents at 4am it started to get light and soon we were high enough
to get a stunning view over the north and south Inylchek glaciers
(some of the largest in the world outside the Poles) and for a
hundred kilometres in every direction across the central Tien
Shan. Nine and a half hours later we were standing on top and
another 5 or so more saw me back down at camp three. Very, very
tired but content.”
Oli commented
that “Jez was a dear friend of mine who would have loved
to come on this climb. He was a remarkable guy.” He
also said of the JWCT “this is a great organisation
that is making a real difference”. |
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Swim,
Cycle, Run - London to Edinburgh – May 2008


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Matt
Willson, accompanied by friends Simon Ferguson and Tim Grimble,
successfully completed a challenge to swim, cycle and run from
London to Edinburgh.
Following
a chilly 2-mile swim in the Serpentine in Hyde Park in 1 hour
5 mins, Matt joined the team at Marble Arch, London, for a very
early rise to cycle the 439 miles over four days to Edinburgh.
The first two days covering 256 miles via Peterborough and Lincoln
proved to be relatively easy going however days three and four
were much harder with some long climbs through the Yorkshire Moors
and Border Country.
The team
were blessed with an efficient support team (Matt’s father
and brother Tom) who kept them well fed and watered, and the weather
was favourable, meaning that they were able to cruise into Edinburgh
following a relatively easy 47 mile last day’s cycle. The
following day the team were up early again for the Edinburgh Marathon
which Matt ran in a painful 3 hours 50 mins. Matt could barely
walk at the end of the marathon but was pleased to complete without
too many mishaps apart from the odd bike accident and lost team
members!
The
event, which quickly evolved from a pub conversation to reality,
raised over £7,000 for the JWCT and increased awareness
of the JWCT and Jeremy’s story. See articles in the Kent
Messenger and Surrey
Advertiser.
Articles
reporting on how the team fared can be seen in the Kent
Messenger and on TV in the Meridian
News. |
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London
Marathon - April 2008

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Two tough girls, Lucy
Cannock and Lorna Buckwell (see photo), ran the London Marathon
for the JWCT in April 2008, both raising essential funds for the
charity.
Lucy explained in the
months before the endurance event that she had put herself through
“an insane training regime of ‘before sunrise’
starts and a daily dose of pain and embarrassment as I run around
London desperately trying to find miles to run”. The
training paid off and she achieved an official finishing time
of 3 hours 51 minutes. The day after the event she explained that
she was a “little sore” and “not
walking in the most attractive fashion”, however she
raised an incredible £1,300 from the generosity of her family
and friends.
Lorna completed the event
in a fantastic 4 hours 19 minutes despite sustaining an injury
weeks before. After finishing she said “the last 4.2
miles were really tough and it started to hail as I trudged towards
Big Ben but the crowd were really amazing and they definitely
helped me get round. The feeling of elation on crossing the finishing
line is quite something”. Lorna explained that she
had chosen to raise money for the charity set up in memory of
Jeremy Willson because “I probably would not be running
a marathon if it wasn't for the example Jeremy set to live life
to the full and to attempt new challenges.” Lorna raised
over £800 thanks to her efforts.
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Edinburgh
Half Marathon - March 2008

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Sarah
Knight paced the streets of Edinburgh completing the 21.1 kilometres
in a worthy 1 hour 51 minutes 19 seconds, despite minimal training.
As she said before the race “I haven't been able to train
yet . . . Over the last few weeks I've had a virus, food poisoning
and now pleurodynia.” Sarah said after tucking into a
well-deserved pizza following the race “it was such a
brilliant race I really enjoyed it although I was overtaken at one
point by an 85 year-old man! The bunions held up well although I've
just lost 2 toenails. Edinburgh was a great course despite the head
on sea-winds!” Sarah raised £315 for the JWCT for
her efforts. |
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The
JWCT presents at Project Trust’s 40th Anniversary event
– February 2008

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Jeremy’s family attended
the first event promoting the JWCT at the Project Trust’s
40th Anniversary event at the Royal Geographical Society, London
on 4 March 2008. Jeremy was a volunteer for the Project Trust
for his year out teaching English at BPLP in Sulawesi, Indonesia,
aged 18. Jeremy thoroughly enjoyed and benefitted from his experiences.
The event was a great opportunity to tell people about Jeremy,
what he had achieved subsequently, and about the aims and activities
of the JWCT. Jeremy’s family thank Lavinia Maclean-Bristol
(Director, Project Trust), Ali MacDonald and Alison Fraser for
facilitating the display and a memorable evening.
See a full description of the
event and a mention of the JWCT (on page 12) in the Project Trust’s
returned
volunteer newsletter.
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