March Update

Special thanks to everyone who has sponsored us recently:

- MAN

- Newsquest

- WHR Marketing
- Suiko
- London Property Management
- CLM
- S & S
- DAN-Palletiser
- N G Baileys
- Energy Matters

If anyone wants to help raise money for Scope, you can now sponsor us online by going to http://www.justgiving.com/paulandsu

See below for all the other companies who have also sponsored us.

An update on all the events so far:

A Quiz Night was held on 22nd March in Uxbridge and was very successful. Over 18 teams entered with over 110 eager competitors. The winning team got a bottle of wine each, and the losing team, a bottle of water each.

Suffice to say, the Trinity Mirror Print team did end the evening as prize winners and if you are in the Watford area in the next few weeks it is safe to say that water is freely available.

We’d like to thank Nicholas Smith, Community and Events Manager of Barclays Bank, who not only got us the venue, organised the food, wrote and marked the questions, but is also now arranging for Barclays Bank to match the total raised on the night. This will give us a sum of £1,400 to add to the kitty.

A couple of weeks ago the trekkers went up to Scope’s Head Office in London to meet our fellow walkers and to get the low down on what is actually involved with the trek itself. We all found this very informative, especially with regards to the overnight temperatures, which apparently go down to about minus 5! Peter was adamant that his bargain £4.99 sleeping bag from Lydls was all he would need, but he was overruled by his wife and had to put it into the Quiz night raffle as a raffle prize.

Training

Thoughts have now turned to training – and our first injury problems have arisen even before we’ve really started! In December Peter suffered a back injury playing squash, and although his back has recovered it’s left him with severe weakness in one thigh. He’s been doing repetitive stepping exercises in the gym to try to get the strength back, and reckons he’s already climbed the equivalent of Mt. Toubkal – and without any altitude sickness problems!

Brian has been doing a lot of cycling – one of his favourite forms of general fitness training. Recently, while travelling down a fast stretch of road – at some 30mph – he was knocked off his bike by a car driver changing lanes without looking round properly first! Amazingly Brian came away with only cuts and bruises, and he’s already ‘back on his horse’.

Brian is going to the Lake District in April for a weekend’s walking and in May, he and Peter and a couple of other friends will be spending a whole week there walking.

Paul and Su training started last weekend by getting the bikes out for a bike ride around Wimbledon Common. Unfortunately Paul spent most of the morning fixing punctures and the gears on Su's bike, so not as much cycling was done as originally planned.