Page 271 - She's One Crazy Lady!

Suddenly, like in all action-packed
movies, came the cavalry; slowly at
first, then everywhere you looked we
were surrounded by hordes of people
dressed up against the elements,
hanging on to their crazy hats, all
laughing and cheerful, determined
to be there – determined to enjoy
it! Old and young, dogs – all united
and sharing that true British spirit!
Did your heart lift? Mine did! We
were in business! Endless questions
later with people wanting to know a
million and one things, filtering them
through to register, out the other
side, too many to get through the “ doors – what a fantastic feeling! Weather? What weather?
Once again that proud feeling prevailed, seeing wave after wave of hats, regrettably many just functional, not crazy, but hey, they were here, walking for a host of reasons, determination striving forth. No-one can ever know how you and your team must have felt at that moment, or at the finish – the cavalry weary and very wet, so keen to receive their medals and certificates of victory – your helpers dishing them out as fast as they could go – just like Christmas Eve in a supermarket, but with one very big difference – the atmosphere! An atmosphere that is so difficult to describe – you just have to be there. Even today, with the most awful of conditions, the day did you proud, your committee and helpers did you proud and, above all, the walkers, the Park and the general public did you proud.
Do you think that twelve months of praying will give us much needed and richly deserved sunshine next year?”
I won’t bore you with all the changes we made year on year but such changes were necessary – these are some of them:
• ‘Indoor’ space for late entries to assemble and register (the volunteers
were pleased about that!)
• Comprehensive ‘Walk Packs’ put together to send out to walkers on
receipt of their entry forms and payment – containing start cards,
information of the day, sponsor forms etc.
• An online registration system was set up – signing up to Just Giving and
Virgin Money to give people alternative ways to obtain sponsorship. (We always applied for Gift Aid – a Government Scheme whereby we could claim back 25% of amounts raised from those who were taxpayers and had ticked the box for us to go ahead. This was a wonderful scheme, not just for us, but for all Charities and each year we could guarantee claiming enough to cover our rent and electric.
• Other forms of entertainment and activities were brought in – stilt
Even today, with
the most awful
of conditions,
the day did you
proud, your
committee and
helpers did you
proud and,
above all, the
walkers, the Park
and the general
public did you
proud. ”
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