2nd February 2007

The time has come!

The past few weeks have been pretty hectic with endless kit-buying, planning, packing and preparation, but now, after nearly a year and a half, the time has come to head off out to Belize! Many thanks again to all those who have helped me to achieve my fundraising target!

I'll try to post a couple of updates to this site if I manage to get internet access whilst I'm away, or you can hopefully find out what we're all up to by heading over to Trekforce's website: http://www.trekforceworldwide.com.

Bye for now!

   -- Andy

3rd January 2007

2007: finally here!

With the days rapidly counting down I'm now busy buying the remainder of the kit I need and sorting out an array of other odds'n'sods. Donations are of course still very welcome (thanks Ian!) as some items of kit are somewhat pricier than I'd originally expected!

Although I haven't learnt as much Spanish as I hoped, everything else is pretty much on track to come together in time. And a good thing that is too - in one month I'll be gone!!!

15th December 2006

Fundraising Target Reached!

Good news - with the coming of this month's payday I've successfully reached my fundraising target! Thanks to all who helped along the way!

I've now just got to go through the long process of finding and buying all the kit I'll need to survive for my time away. Less than 50 days to go now!!!

9th November 2006

Making good progress!

The past couple weeks have seen a nice boost to the expedition fund, partly due to my first pay-packet arriving and partly due to my parents deciding not to charge me rent whilst I'm back living at home - a saving which has gone straight into the fund!

This means the fundraising thermometer has now blasted past the half-way mark and is rapidly approaching the £3000 level! With only 85 days until I leave - and much less before I need to have all the money raised - these big deposits have made my target seem much more possible now!

Plans for the next few weeks include trying to restart learning Spanish and delving deeper into my own pockets to begin buying the plethora of equipment I'll need to survive in the jungle! Hopefully I'll also be updating the website soon with more information about the projects I'll be working on.

30th October 2006

Busy, busy, busy!

Starting work has given me far less free time than I had hoped - hence the long time since my last update! On the bright side, at least I'm now earning some proper money and can make a decent contribution to the expedition fund myself!

More money should hopefully be on it's way from a few random computer jobs I have lined up and I'm hoping to do another bit of fundraising in November.

Last week I finally got to meet all of the other people I'll be heading off to Belize with at a 2-day briefing event. Amongst other things, we were told about the two projects which we'll be working on for the first two months of our expedition. More details will follow soon when I have time to write more!

Less than 100 days to go now!!!

16th September 2006

Just a quickie...

Well it's about time for another quick update on my progress... I've now finally finished my university dissertation, freeing up a lot of time to kick-start fundraising again. The past couple of weeks have seen a few sporadic cake-bakes, as well as another party at my local airfield to raise money for a number of good causes, including this one.

On the expedition planning side of things, I've now booked flights and arranged insurance cover, so there's definatly no going back now! I'm also looking forward to meeting all my fellow "trekkers" next month at an induction day.

22nd August 2006

Send me your old mobile phones!

Well it's been a while since my last update, during which time I have mostly been working on my dissertation. Still, only another 6 weeks left of uni until I can get back to devoting lots of time to fundraising!

I have made some progress however... firstly, I'm trying to get as many unwanted mobile phones as possible. I've found a recycling company who will exchange them for money; money which will find a new home inside the expedition fund! So if you have an old or unwanted mobile, please pass it on to me!

Also, planning is well underway for a second fundraising party at my local gliding airfield. There'll be lots of fun and games (including a pub quiz and bingo!), food and drink a-plenty, and to top it all off it'll have a 'Hawaiian Beach Party' theme!

In other news, I've hopefully got a job lined up for the few months before I leave for Belize. I'm not looking forward to the daily commute, although it will enable me to earn some much needed money for the still scrawny-looking fund!

And finally a quick website update - you can now find a link on the menu to the left to make a donation online. So if you think I'm working for a worthwhile cause and want to show your support, please give it a click!

3rd August 2006

Trekforce Troubles

Well it's been quite a week! Initial bad news surrounding the closure of Trekforce Expeditions put the future of my work in Belize in jeopardy, however this was relatively short-lived; things will still be going ahead as planned, but under the supervision of a new company called Trekforce Worldwide. I'll skip the details in this new post, but you can find more information here.

Fundraising progress has slowed down a bit in the past month or so, largely due to the rapidly approaching deadline for my university dissertation. Despite this, I have started to sell a few odds'n'sods on eBay and hope to begin planning another fundraising party soon!

23rd July 2006

Surprise!

After the success of the previous non-uniform day held on my behalf by Bean Primary School, I wrote off to a few other local schools where I had once been a pupil to see if something similar could be arranged. After not hearing anything for quite some time, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a cheque (completely out of the blue!) from my old primary school. A big thanks goes out to headteacher Mrs Turpie and everyone else at Hartley Primary School for their support!

16th July 2006

Things always break at the most inconvenient time...

...and this website is no exception, stopping working just as I go away for a week! It's back up-and-running however (which is kind of obvious if you're reading this!) although will be slow for a few days until it's moved to a new server.

Continued thanks goes to my buddy Tom who is hosting this website. If you need anything internetty, check out his business at www.kewlio.net.

23rd June 2006

Non Uniform Day Results

I've just received a cheque from Bean Primary School for the non-uniform day they held in aid of my expedition fund. I'd like to extend my gratitude once again to Miss Hastings and the rest of the school for raising a whopping £178!

I've also made a couple of minor changes to the website this week. Firstly, I found that the funky-looking 'thermometer' progress bar wasn't displaying correctly for FireFox users, so I've fixed that. Also, I've added a countdown to the top of each page showing how long until I leave for Belize!

19th June 2006

‘Casino Night’ Party Success!

This weekend’s casino-themed party held at the Gliding Club I fly with was a huge success; everyone had a great time and loads of money was raised for my expedition fund and a couple of other good causes. After sharing out the takings, just under £100 was contributed towards my fundraising target. A big thank-you goes out to all those who helped out with the organisation and running of the evening, especially Carol Thomas who arranged the fantastic array of food.

6th June 2006

Email Hiccups, but It’s Time to Party!

I've spent a few days playing with ways to allow donations to be made online, during which time I've discovered that the 'Contact Me' form had stopped sending emails even though it said they were being sent successfully. This has now been fixed, so if you have sent me an email which I haven't replied to, please accept my sincere apologies and do get back in touch!

There is some good news as well - the 'Casino Night' fundraising party I mentioned in my last post is going ahead on July 17th. It will be raising money for a couple of other good causes as well as mine and should be an excellent evening! Check back in a couple of weeks to see how much gets raised, hopefully with a few photos!

31st May 2006

Things are ticking over nicely!

The expedition fund should soon be breaking through the £1000 barrier after Bean Primary School held their non-uniform day for me last Thursday. It'll be a week or so before I know exactly how much was raised, but it should take me to at least 25% of my overall target.

Other fundraising plans currently in the works include a casino-style party at the airfield I fly from and possibly even a skydive!

Lastly, I've updated the website to now include an acknowledgements page to recognise the growing number of people who have helped me in this endeavour. Many thanks to you all!

15th May 2006

Back to Normal!

My exams are finally over :o) so I can now dedicate a lot more of my time to raising money and preparing for my time in Belize.

During the past month, the expedition fund has seen a noticeable boost and is now looking a lot healthier. This is mostly due to a big donation from PJS Associates - many thanks!

Also, being a bit of a computer geek, from time to time I help people with their PCs and I've decided to put any money I receive from this into the fund as well.

5th April 2006

Too much work!!!

The end of Easter term at university provided me with far too much work so fundraising and learning Spanish had to take second priority. And now the holiday period is pretty much dedicated to revision as I have exams in a few weeks! :o(

However, on the bright side, last Friday I gave a presentation to the children at a local school about my expedition. They looked like they thoroughly enjoyed it and the Head Teacher has kindly said she will arrange a non-uniform day at the start of next term to help raise money for my cause. So here's a big "Thank You!" in advance to Miss Hastings and all the kids at Bean Primary School!

Back to books! Bye for now...

6th March 2006

¡Hola! ¡Hablo español!

Or "Hello! I speak Spanish!". Well, a bit anyway. Although the official language of Belize is English, many people's first language is Spanish, especially those living in rural areas (whom I'll be working with). So I've started to learn the language so at least I can make vague sense to the folks over there when I arrive!

Unfortunatly I've had to remove the adverts from the website - someone with good intentions got a bit too click-happy so Google have closed my account :-(

I've had a couple of responses from the trusts I've written to, however none so far have been able to help - hopefully some of the others I haven't heard from yet might be able to make a donation!

Better news is the progress I'm making with a local primary school. At the end of March I'll be talking to the children at Bean Primary School about this project and what I'll be doing. The head teacher has very kindly offered to arrange a non-uniform day or sponsored event to raise some money to help towards my fundraising goal.

Cake baking has continued as usual, so my continued thanks goes out to all the folks at Anglia Gliding Club for their support.

That's all for now... ¡hasta luego!

7th February 2006

Setting the Ball Rolling

First off, my continued thanks goes out to the folks at Anglia Gliding Club who are still regularly gobbling up cakes most weekends!

The majority of my recent fundraising work has been spent in the Library, where I've been studying the Directory of Grant-Making Trusts to find some generous bodies who may be able to make a dontation. Draft letters have been written, so they should go out by the end of the week.

I have also been in touch with a local primary school who will hopefully be able to help me raise some money. I'm not sure on the details at the moment, however I'll post an update when it's been arranged! This will also goive me a chance to talk to some of the children about what I'm up to and maybe even get them thinking about doing something similar when they're older.

Lastly, the adverts on this site are providing a greater-than-expected income, so please do click on any which interest you!

11th January 2006

One Year To Go!

It's been a log time since my last update... admittedly far too long! With only a year to go it's time to really pull my finger out and get fundraising!

A few more batches of cakes were made and flogged at the airfield before the new year dawned. Chocolate brownies appear to be the favourite, followed closely by super-choc-chip cookies and flapjack.

Whilst the cake-bakes continue every few weeks, I have started to research and write to some charitable trusts whom I hope will be able to make donations towards the fundraising target.

And lastly, a reminder to please click on any adverts on the site that interest you - every penny counts! :o)

16th October 2005

Ads, Exercise and Cakes

It’s nearly a month since my last update, but I’ve certainly been busy! First off I’ve finished off most of the site and added some proper details about what I’m raising money for. Next up is the addition of a few adverts to the site. If any are of interest to you, please do click on them – I get a small amount of money to put in the fund for each click!

Although I’m not too much of a slob, I do believe I need to get in a slightly better shape before trekking through jungles, so I’ve signed up to the gym here at uni. I’ve been going a few times a week so far – I just hope I can keep it up with my slowly (but surely!) increasing workload!

And the cakes? Well I’ve decided to do a weekly cake bake to gain a small source of income from the fantastic guys and gal’s at Anglia Gliding Club (whom I fly with regularly). A triple batch of chocolate brownies went down a treat this weekend, satisfying many a hungry tum and raising £8 in the process. Ok, so it’s hardly a groundbreaking profit, but if I do it every weekend for the next year and a bit, those few pounds here and there will soon add up! Chocolate cookies are next on the menu, and by request, muffins are on the horizon too!

19th September 2005

Signup Sucessfull!

Today I received confirmation of my place on the expedition. Included in the information pack was a list of kit I need to buy, jabs I need to get and what to expect when I get there - all of which has suddenly made me realise what I'm getting myself in for! I know this will be an experience of a lifetime and I'll be making a big difference to the communities I'll be working with, but the realisation that it's actually going to happen is a bit scary!

The website is looking a lot nicer now; only a little more tidying up required. There's still quite a severe lack of content though, however the information I got today will make writing that a lot easier!

I now move on to the tricky job of raising the remaining £3700, plus raiding my personal savings for all the kit and flights! I'll be doing the usual raffle, begging for donations, etc, although any other suggestions are welcome - just send 'em in on a postcard (or just email me) :)

15th August 2005

And so it begins...

www.andys-place.co.uk/belize is born!

This is the place to find out the the latest news about my upcoming expedition to Belize. Content is pretty sparse at the moment and the site isn't exactly pretty, although that should change soon!

Regarding the trip itself - I have the application form almost complete and hope to send it off asap!

Watch this space!!!