War on Cancer BBQ a rip roaring success!

What a fantastic success the BBQ was. A whopping £436.10 was raised on the day/night!

I want to first thank my sister Caroline for turning her annual BBQ into a fund raiser for War on Cancer's Mt.Kilimanjaro 2012 climb for cancer. A massive thank you to everyone who donated to the day, whether it be food, gifts for the raffle and tombola or their time to attend.

Big thanks you's go out to Jeannie for her famous curry and rice...gone in a flash again this year! Joanne for flipping the burgers and sizzling the sausages. To Jeannie and Jackie for cooking the vegetarian chilli and to everyone else who donated food to the BBQ!

Big thank you to Becky ( Harry's mum ) for donating 2 litres of rasberry vodka to the cocktail bar....which were made into the now famous ( round our parts ) Frazzleberry and Blue Lesbian cocktails. A big thank you to my great niece Rayne and her helpers for running the tombola and sorting out the raffle.

And last but no way least.....everyone who attended and made the day/night a resounding success! Thank you for been generous and good sports buying cocktails at the bar ( ran by me ), spending money on tickets for the tombola and raffles and donating the gifts back!

It was a perfect day, a beautiful sunny day spent with old and new friends laughing and enjoying each others company and raising lots of money for my two chosen charities!

An added bonus for me? my sister in law Angela stopped by for a few hours on her way home back up to Barrow and my brother Neil came up from Plymouth to spend the weekend with us and support the cause! was a great day for sure.

Check out the gallery....photos from the event have been loaded! photos taken by Sarah, Jeannie & Jackie...thank you girls!

Thank you for reading...until next time!

Tracy

All preparations under way for Charity BBQ Sat 30th July.

Well it seems to have taken forever to get here, but now we launch 12 months of fund-raising for my two chosen charities which ultimately finishes with the actual climbing of Mt.Kilimanjaro Sept 2012. My hope is to raise a mountain of money for Walk the Walk Breast Cancer and Clic Sargent Children's cancer charities.

I hope that as well has raising money, we will raise awareness and everyone who takes part or attends an event will have very happy memories of laughing and having fun! :) My motto for the year is fun.fun.fun!!

The first of the events is tomorrow..... it's finally arrived...The Pink Palace BBQ extravaganza! Not only will there be a BBQ going, curry,rice,chilli and lots more will be available. Of course you've heard about the cocktail bar lol!....the drinks menu is set.....7 cocktails and 3 shots! There is a raffle,a tombola and stuff for the kids. Everyone is looking forward to it.

We are out to have fun and make everyone smile.....the start of the BBQ for everyone is a walk down the "Pink Carpet" and a photo taken!.....Sarah Victoria Searle is going to be the official photographer for the event...so everyone is going to be snapped by the Papparazzi lol!!!!

Hopefully we have something for everyone and we are hoping to raise a load of cash tomorrow to kick of the campaign in style.

So a big thank you to my sister Caroline for turning her annual BBQ into a fund-raising event for my Mt.Kilimanjaro challenge.

So in the next few days photos will be uploaded to the gallery....keep an eye out for them.

Thank you for reading. Enjoy your weekend whatever you get up to.

Tracy.

Mt.Kilimanjaro climb 2012 challenge team named!

Yes folks we are....drumroll.......The Kilimanjaro Klingon's!! ta-da!!

The boys will be fine, not so sure how we girls will get on not shaving the goatee off first thing in the morning ;) Whoever told us that the leading brand of face cream was good for wrinkle lines was obviously fibbing!! Frown lines to the side....we The Kilimanjaro Klingon's are looking forward to the next 12 months of fun fund-raisers...we really do want to raise cancer awareness a mountain of money for climbing a mountain :). The theme of the next 12 month's is fun,fun,fun!! the money raised will go hand in hand with us all having fun!

We have yet to get out and do a hill climbing session, but a few of us will try and organize one when we are at the charity BBQ this weekend. For those of you who have gathered items to donate, we will be in contact shortly and arrange to pick up.

More information will be put up on the upcoming events page after the BBQ regarding the 3 legged fancy dress pub crawl. I will say the date is set and the pub crawl will set off from The Old White Horse at 7.30pm....meeting time is 7.00pm. So pls get yourself a partner, a fancy dress outfit and come join the fun! We will be ending the pub crawl in the Ferrands Arms and hope that you will stay out and enjoy the rest of the night with us :)

Thank you all for reading and showing your support!

Tracy

Happy Monday :)

Well we are building up to the BBQ this Saturday ( keeping fingers crossed for good weather )We will be off preparing our own bits. I have sorted out my cocktail list as I said, can't wait to get behind the bar now lol!

It's going to be a lot of fun and of course photo's will be taken and posted of the event. We hopefully will raise a few pounds and start off our fund-raising year with a bang :) Everyone has to wear something pink...doesn't matter if it's a charity band or a piece of clothing....failure to do so will result in a little fine!!....People you have been warned!

This week ( or the rest of it ),my plan is to hit the gym around 07.30am. I am trying to step it up a bit, not too much so I can't keep it up or even worse it knocks me back and I can't workout... but it's only through hard work we can improve ourselves,so I will be pushing myself sensibly to make sure I achieve my challenge of reaching the summit of Mt.Kilimanjaro.

After the BBQ, we will complete our travels around the pubs in Bingley to confirm the rest of the pub crawl. Posters will be put in all the participating pubs and of course on-line. Live local?.. get yourself a partner and a fancy dress outfit and get out there with us!.It will be a great night of fun that will raise awareness and hopefully lots of money for the cause .Hope to see you all there!

A big thank you to the participating pubs for offering free soft drinks to those taking part and donating a gift to the raffle. It is very much appreciated.

Anybody who is coming to the BBQ....PM me and I will give you directions :)

Enjoy your day, I will blog later in the week, hopefully it will be to launch the shop and the tab where you can comment and interact with me!

Tracy

Happy Friday

Happy Friday!

Happy to report our first sale in the shop yesterday! A random e bay shopper bought a charity glow in the dark band! we are officially open lol!!

This evening Caroline ( my sister), Maureen and myself are going around the pubs in Bingley to confirm we are ok to organize the 3 legged pub crawl in Aug. We hope that they all sign on for it ( sure they will with the wet sales they will get from it )...no-one said organising fund-raising events was easy....Gin & Tonic....I say, it's all tickety boo!

I got my cholesterol blood results back...mmm not the best as I said the other day, anyway my GP phoned to discuss my results and what the plan of action is. The result came in at 7.7, which is very high. It is believed my cancer drug is causing the elevation and so I will be going onto meds for it. My doctor said the meds will halve my cholesterol level quickly and thus take me out of the danger zone. He said however long they keep me on the cancer drug...be it 5 years or 10 ( I balked at 10 yrs! ) I will have to stay on the cholesterol meds to control it at an healthy level.

I won't lie and say I was ok with all this, I was pretty emotional about it all and discussed whether it was plausable to come off the cancer drug because of all the other things going on. He said they don't want me off the drug even though I have other serious illnesses that have developed since the cancer diagnosis.

I have to have my bloods rechecked in 8 weeks and then a consultation the week after that to check the drugs are doing what they should be.

Will keep you posted on the continuous medical drama that is my life lol!

Enjoy your weekend everyone

Tracy

Cocktail and BBQ date confirmed - July 30th!

Morning everyone!

The cocktail list is finalized ( at last lol ) can you be tempted to have a slurp or two of one of the wonderful cocktails I, The Pink Palace Cocktail supremo shaker will be making for your enjoyment! ( ok, only volunteer....beggers can't be choosers! )

Here is the list so you can peruse at your leisure and hopefully it will wet your appetite for the BBQ day :)

Pinky Cosmo, Strawberry Daiquiri, Blue Lesbian, Frazzleberry, Cheeky Vimto,Tom Collins and Harvey Wallbanger. These will all be available for a small price and all monies raised will go to the chosen charities of the year. My labour, smile and undoubtedly dodgy sense of humour will all be free. Why not meet me at the best place at any party.....The Bar.....come on you know you want too!

A raffle, tombola, food, even a book sale and of course an afternoon and evening of relaxing company and great fun and humour will definitely be on the cards. Hope to see you there!

First item in the shop!

Hello everyone

Very happy to announce I have listed the first item in the shop!. Unfortunately you will have to wait a little longer.. But shortly you will be able to link straight to it from this blog!

More items are been sorted as we speak, hopefully you will like them. We will be shipping worldwide if anybody orders. Payment will be paypal so no hassle for anyone.

Twitter support is picking up at a nice pace, if you want to follow, you can join on the home page down the outer right edge...also if you want to sign up to this blog ( I would be very happy to have you aboard this adventure we are starting out on )

On a personal level - I have been to the gym again this am...went well another 90 min workout, even did a little hill climbing on the treadmill :). Determined to go working out 5 times a week if health allows it. Doctor phoning me in the morning about my cholesterol level, the bloods have come back at 7.7, not sure until tomorrow if it is good or bad cholesterol and what this means for me. Could possibly have caused by my cancer drug. Lots of questions wanting answers, hopefully tomorrow will be the start of that.

Meeting this week to finalize events

Happy Monday! I hope everyone has a good week ahead.

Feeling pretty good today,did 90 minutes in the gym today, even sneaked in a little extra on the workout ( shush it's a secret )

Hoping to have a money counter/accumulator up and working the early part of this week so we can all see how the fundraising is going!

Anybody want to advertise their business for twelve months? or know someone who wants to? get in contact..For a fair and reasonable donation ( nothing silly like £5.00) we will advertise your business on the homepage on a slide-show at the bottom giving optimum exposure.

We are having a mini mtg tomorrow pm to finalize the BBQ details for the end of the month. Heard that the rain we are having right now may be around for a while. If thats the case...we will be having a wellybob BBQ!!...gazebo's at the ready or watered down cocktails on the menu!! One thing for sure...it won't dampen our spirit even if it does our clothes :)

Ok today,I thought I would write a little piece on Clic Sargent, this is the second charity I have chosen to raise money for. For those that missed the piece on Walk the Walk...just read back through the blogs :)

Clic Sargent is a children's cancer charity. It was founded in 2005 after a successful merger between Clic and Sargent cancer care for children. Sargent cancer care for children was founded in 1976.Clic Sargent give clinical, practical and emotional support to children and young people who have been diagnosed with cancer. They help the whole family cope with the trauma of a cancer diagnosis and treatments. They offer "Home from Home" to the families who live far away from the hospital.This means the family can stay with the child if the child is well enough and if not they are on the hospitals doorstep. From the children or young person point of view it is critical to have their family near by as they will be going through enough with all the treatments without adding the stress of missing the family.

When a child is diagnosed with cancer treatments may take up to 3 years. A really big part of what Clic Sargent does is help the family cope with the trauma of the cancer, life after treatments and unfortunately in some cases bereavement.

The work they do is invaluable to making a child or young persons life as comfortable as possible throughout the whole process of fighting and surviving cancer.

Having cancer treatments is very invasive and very hard on the body.Emotionally for many it is hard to come to terms with, so for a child or young person to cope with all this is very difficult and the need of the family close by is critical. They do amazing things and this is why Clic Sargent is my second chosen charity.

Thank you for taking the time to read!

Enjoy your day

Tracy

Some Mount.Kilimanjaro facts.

Morning everyone!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend,those of you in the UK, I'm sure you're not enjoying our lovely British weather. It is a fairly usual rainy summer day here in West Yorkshire, I'd load a photo for you all, but I don't want anybody sat in the sunshine feeling sorry for us Tykes!!

This coming Tuesday we will be having a meeting to finalize the BBQ, watch out peeps, I'm apparently the new Tom Cruise.....I'm running the cocktail bar! this is going to be dangerous for two reasons. 1. I tend to make drinks a tad on the strong side ( oops watch out ! ) 2. Been told not to try throwing the bottles about like in the movie as they do want to sell some drinks and make some money for the two chosen charities!....I have been warned 

Mt.Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania and is close to the Kenyan border.

It is the tallest free standing mountain in the world and is also known as the Roof of Africa, it stands at 19,340 feet.

Only around 40% of all attempts to reach the summit are successful and almost all failures are due to altitude sickness.

Mt.Kilimanjaro contains virtually every eco-system on earth,when climbing,it will take you through several climates and vegetative zones.

It is predicted that Mt.Klilmanjaro's plateau ice may be gone in the next 30-40 years, but the slope glaciers will remain much longer.

Ok off for now, I will be doing a piece on Clic Sargent in the next day or two. Stay happy everyone.

Until next time Thought I'd give some more facts about Mt.Kilimanjaro.

Morning World!

Morning world!

Just a little blog today, I will be working very hard all weekend to try and get the e bay shop up and running.Don't worry about missing the launch of it.....I'm sure you'll all hear from me lol!

I have had a little health scare this week, but although I'm been referred to a specialist, my doctor has said I can still workout at the gym unless it gets too painful, so having had a few days off until I was checked out, I will be back following my instructor's work-out from tomorrow morning....7.30am sounds like a good time to get the body up and at em! ( don't put the work in,won't be making it to the summit )

Thank you to those of you who have taken time to sign up and follow, I really appreciate the support,please keep posting up on Facebook and Twitter, really want to get this out there to show there is life while surviving cancer and that we can achieve anything if we set out heart on it. I just want to raise awareness for those who are or have been fighting cancer and a big up to all who care for or support someone with cancer!

Help spread the message and help me to raise a mountain of money for climbing a mountain!

Happy Friday everyone, hoping you all have a great weekend!

Tracy ( aka Jellyhead or geeky depending who you talk too )

P.S.

For those of you who live fairly local.....If you have any unwanted gifts ( promise I won't tell!! ) or are having a clear out and think you have stuff for a car-boot, please PM me and I will collect it....we will be doing car-boot sales regularly over the next 12 months. Thank you :)

Great response to the blog launch!

Wow! great response to the launch of the blog! Thank you to everyone who has taken time to have a look,I would say I'll have a cocktail for everyone who can't make it to the charity BBQ......but then I'd have to have my stomach pumped....or even worse I might start singing in public lol! ( now that would make everyone's ears bleed!! )

I want to just take a little time over the next few days to tell you some things about the charities I've chosen. Today I'm talking about Walk the Walk.

Walk the Walk has been going for just 14 years, this year after the London Moonwalk ( where we Team L'Oreal took part...Jeannie,Sue,Helen,Caroline and myself )the money raised by this grant making charity has raised in excess of £70 million!, and over 250,000 people have walked one of the events.It's a fantastic charity and unlike many who have followed suit with walking type events,this is open to men as well ( they get breast cancer too) and it was fantastic to see so many out waking with their decorated bras on too!

Walk the Walk is the brainchild of Nina Barough, she woke up one morning and thought powerwalking the New York marathon would be fun and a great way to raise money for breast cancer....at this time Nina didn't know anyone affected by breast cancer personally,however fate stepped in and two months after completing the Marathon,she herself was diagnosed.

Walk the Walk especially looks at projects that don't find funding that easy,and those who would possibly take years to achieve their goals.Walk the Walk supports research but also fund physical and emotional support for those who have cancer now.HRH Prince Charles is the patron of the charity and has been so since 2004.

Walk the Walk is an avid supporter of "The Generation Study" which plans to track the health of 100,000 women over a 40 year period,the largest study of it's kind.

The motto of Walk the Walk is.....Raise money,Raise awareness,get fit and have fun!

Keep your eyes and ears open.....you never know when an event may happen near you!!

Thank you for reading, Happy Thursday!

A sad loss to our Mt.Kilimanjaro challenge 2012

I sadly have to report our old friend Sue "giggly geek" Barker cannot join us on our challenge climb for cancer in 2012 :( . This is on medical grounds,I have however told her ( not that it helps much ) that I will succeed in my climb for the both of us. Sue would and has in the past proved to be a very valuable member of the team and we will all miss her presence on the mountain greatly.

Training has kicked off for me,I have a long way to go so thought it best to give myself a good year to get my stamina and endurance levels up. We strive onwards and upwards dear followers!

Lemosho route Mt.Kilimanjaro

This is the route we will be climbing next September. So far confirmed climbers for this ultimate challenge are :- Jeannie Parker ( my partner ),Dave Slater,Graham Anderson,Kirsty Hitchon-Anderson and of course myself Tracy Gould. Still to confirm are Sue Barker,Angela Anderson and Joanna Dejong. The summit is 19,340ft and when climbing we will climb higher and then come back down lower everyday,this is to help acclimatise and avoid altitude sickness.

Hello there!

Hello everyone War on Cancer web site is finally here!!

Want to say a heartfelt thank you to my nephew Damien for donating his time to design this for me!. Not everything is finalized but should be over the next few days, but love for you all to have a read and maybe feedback any thoughts.

So here we go,

The Ebay shop will be launched very soon and I hope you will all take time to have a look, New items will be added over time. All monies raised through donations and sales in the shop will be in aid of Walk the Walk breast cancer and Clic Sargent children's cancer charities.