Our personal fundraising challenge

[sallyc]

Hi All

As many of you know I cared for my Grandad until he moved into a care home in 2010.

On 8th June, my lovely, lovely husband has set himself the HUGE challenge of swimming the full length of Lake Windermere in the beautiful Lake District, to raise money for Alzheimer's Society.

The lake is approx 10.5 miles long and up to 225ft deep

He has been doing, and continues to do, loads of training - and this will soon become even more as the weather gets better and the evenings get lighter.

We have put in lots and lots of planning to make sure he will be as safe as he possibly can be, and still have lots more to do.

I plan to use this thread to update on how we're doing, how we get on on the day, and how the fundraising is going.

We have set up an online sponsorship page at www.justgiving.com/owen-chapple

If anyone feels able to spare a few ££'s to support him and help us raise vital funds for the charity, we'd be so grateful

[florence43]

All done! Rather him than me

Best of luck to Owen and please keep us updated on the fundraising and the event itself!

xxx

[elaine n]

Another one done! Good luck to you Owen!

[scarletpauline]

Just donated. Well done Owen, what a star! Love Pauline xx

[sallyc]

Annie, Elaine and Pauline - Thank you so much for donating.

We really do appreciate it xxx

[piedwarbler]

Hi Sally

I have donated and I've given a bit extra to make up for it bombing out on Annie when I tried to give her some. I hope she doesn't mind you getting it as I thought well, it will all end up in the same charity pot xxxx

[sallyc]

Thank you so much Pied xxx

[florence43]

Pied,

You're so generous! Sally and I clearly want the same outcome and any fundraising is fantastic!

Thanks Pied, and thanks Owen for being so brave!!!

P.S ... There's another crazy husband raising money soon (July)! My Dan will be sky-diving and raising money for The Alzheimer's Society. One of his clients invited him, and although falling from the sky wasn't on his bucket-list, the charity is what swung it. There will be a lot of people all falling out of planes & raising money for the A.S, so watch out for more cap-waving nearer July, chaps!!!

[sallyc]

I'm sat watching David Walliams' Thames swim for Sport Relief and feeling very emotional about Owen's swim.

What David did was in a different league!!! But.....I look at the team he had for support. And I think about our motley crew in a boat, in the middle of a lake, with no expertise (apart from my very own superstar, who'll be in the water!!).

I'm feeling all sorts of emotions watching this. I know it's not the same. But, for us, it's a big deal. I just hope we can raise loads of money for Alzheimer's Society.

[sallyc]

Hi All

Just a quick update....

The date is definitely set for Friday 8th June.

Mum and Dad are up in The Lakes as we speak, and have been doing loads of research for us. We're heading up there this Sunday for the day (with a stopover at my Grandma's in Yorkshire Sat night and Sun night) to sort out as many of the arrangements as we possibly can.

We have booked our accommodation for the week of the swim. We have lots of lovely people coming to help us on and around the big day. Owen's Dad and Stepmum are coming over from France to help . My parents will also be there, my Uncle and some family friends will also join us.

Also, our very own lovely Pied is hoping to be able to come along and meet us and help us to cheer Owen on

We have sourced a boat for hire and are meeting with the man on Sunday to make the final arrangements. They've been so helpful. They have arranged that they will meet us the evening before the swim to do all the relevant paperwork and briefing beforehand. They will leave us with a key, and we will be able to pick up the boat as early as we like on the Friday morning. Just as well as, having looked at all the timings etc, I reckon we will need to pick up the boat at approx 5.30am to give us time to get to the starting point with Owen's start time planned for 7.00am.

It's all getting v exciting now. So far we have raised a FANTASTIC £280!!!!

And we're now planning the next phase of our fundraising. We'll write an article to go in Owen's works monthly magazine, and will write to their community team to see if they would be prepared to donate anything. I will put a sponsor form up at school for staff to donate. And I plan to put a bit in the local paper a couple of weeks beforehand, with a follow up after.

Owen's going to have a short swim in Lake Windermere while we're there this Sunday to get a feel for it all. I will take some pics then, so that we have some to use prior to the event, and then will obviously take lots and lots on the actual day.

So there we have it - it's full steam ahead with planning etc now. We're aiming to raise at least £1000 for Alzheimer's Society.

If anyone would like to support us our fundraising page is www.justgiving.com/owen-chapple

[jan.s]

Done. In the words of Tesco, every little helps!!

X

[sallyc]

Thank you Jan. And also thank you to Bastan, too xxx

[sallyc]

Hi All

Well on Sunday we went up to the Lake District. My lovely Mum and Dad have spent a few days up there and have done lots of the planning and sorting stuff out for us, before Owen's big swim in June.

We got there in the morning and Owen donned his wetsuit and went for a dip in lake Windermere. The air temp was approx 4 degrees C. I dread to think how cold the lake was!!!!

We have sourced an electric day cruiser to use as a safety boat on the day, and hired a kayak so we have someone who can be right alongside him if he needs it. We spoke to the Lake Warden and have arranged the starting and finishing points.

Here's a few pics from Sunday....







The latest fundraising total is £310.00

If anyone would like to support Owen you can do so at www.justgiving.com/owen-chapple

[Izzy]

Hi Sal. I promise I'll get round to it. Good for him!

[piedwarbler]

Oh my word. How brave is he? It looks freezing! Xx