Goodbye January...

30/01/13

Now that January is coming to an end, I think it's time to sum it up! So here goes...

Lonely, I'm Mr Lonely, I have nobody.

That empty, dark and cold room above is an accurate summary of January 2013. Really, nothing has happened! I should have arranged a bake sale at college, heard back from a Charitable Trust and attended a car boot sale, but I didn't! After numerous phone calls, I couldn't get a hold of the people in charge of the car boot sale. I also should have heard back from a certain charitable trust, but have not yet. They promised - so I hope to hear back soon! I'm afraid I don't have an excuse for the bake sale...I'll sort that tomorrow! (promise) January wasn't such a waste of time however and I shouldn't be mean...I have earned £30 through doing nothing! My Uncle John donated £20 and my friend Ruth donated £10! I'm also due a £100 donation from my Brother... any day now he says...

Ruth and me, thanks Ruthyness.

Fundraising flew by between July and December, leaving me out of breath with £3800 to prove it. Perhaps a lazy January was necessary to relax and get things in order...but now it's time to get the ball rolling again! I'll give myself a personal target of raising at least £150 before March 1st. Hopefully, with a Sponsored Climb on the 23rd and a bake sale at college, I'll make more than that! 

And here is me during the fundraising uprising...

February is the new January. It's definitely a fresh start, I'm on track with college and have paid off the unwanted Avon bill that working with them resulted in. I also have my passport application ready to send off, horray! Oh and I have a date for my Africa themed photo shoot at college, Wednesday 6th! Hopefully it goes well...if it doesn't I'll pretend I never mentioned it :D Project Trust just had "Africa Week" and there were loads of stories/poems/photo's going up on their Project Trust Facebook page, it was great!

Hope you all had a wonderful January and are enjoying my new Photos-to-lighten-the-blog-Idea...if there is in fact anyone who reads my blog! WOO, just went to check my Virgin Money Giving and I have a £50 donation from my Uncle Ian, amazing! People are so generous! Click HERE to donate! February come at me...

TOTAL £3865

31/01/13

As you can see, I kept up to my promise! I officially have an upcoming Cake Sale at college! Wednesday 13th, Reid Kerr College, 10am-2pm and outside the main canteen! I will be selling all sorts of cakes and biscuits, valentines goodies, handmade cards and I will even hold a raffle to win a massive box of chocolates...Last year my class had to hold a cake sale and my table alone raised £80! I'm looking forward to it (: P.s, I had a feeling most people would look up Project Trust, realize they are too old and not buy a cake (sad world) ...hence "and other companies."

Training Dates...

25.01.2013

The 2013 Training Dates  have been released! I have been checking the Project Trust website daily and they finally appeared on Wednesday 23rd. Click HERE to see a list of all Training Dates!

Training is a 5 day residential course held on the beautiful Isle of Coll - where I had my Selection Course in June 2012 and more importantly, where everything began. The difference between Selection and Training is that you spend the entire Training course living in the Project Trust building. On Selection we were split into small groups and lived the 4 nights in a local residents home. It was a fantastic way to experience something different, we were truly thrown in at the deep end to see how we would cope!

I've been told that training is also a lot more intense than selection, there will be a lot of information to squeeze into those five days. The thing I look most forward to however is meeting my Project Partner and the people I will be spending my year with! I can't wait to get back to Oban and back to Coll.

A beautiful view from our bedroom, selection course on Coll.

My South Africa training week runs alongside the Malaysia and Hong Kong Volunteers' training too! And the big news, my training dates are 15th-19th July!!! The steps in between are of course fundraising (which I am loving), attending a parents meeting, finding out all about my Project and preparing myself for my year overseas! Speaking of, I have been cooking dinner almost every night. I hope I am at a Project where myself and my partner cook for ourselves, I love cooking! I have finally got around to renewing my passport! I sold a donating Ipod Touch for £90 and will be sending off my application this week. P.s I have decided to lighten up every post up with at least one picture.

TOTAL £3815

People say photographs don't lie, mine do...

17/12/13

For those of you who don't know, I'm a HNC Photography student. I have decided to combine my photography with my Project Trust adventure and will be arranging an African themed photo-shoot! However, it won't be stereotypical Africa, it will be little special parts of it. The main idea is to have so, so many colours. I will post up the results as they come! The title of this Blog Post is a quote from David LaChapelle, a photographer himself and I think it's brilliant, of course a photograph can lie, you can put anything you want in it! I have so far raised £250 for Project Trust through my photography and I am very grateful for that!

Here are some photographs that have inspired me...

What Lies Ahead...

10/01/13

Just a little post to let you all know what's lined up...

Right Now: Sponsored Diet. I spread the word to all of my contacts on Facebook that anyone looking to start a New Years Diet should get motivated by raising money for Project Trust at the same time. My friend Amy is the first to agree and will start on Monday! I am currently creating a sponsorship form for her and hope that more people will take to the idea.

23rd February: Sponsored Hike - Goat Fell, Arran. If you would like to join this event please get in contact with me. The more the merrier! I so far have six friends helping out and I am still hoping for more. My Brother - who has become suspiciously fond of my leaving for a year - is also joining in! There will be a £50 cash prize for the person who can raise most money!

6th April: Bag Packing at Sainsburys Superstore, Irvine. I am looking forward to this as it is a hugeeee store. Hopefully it will raise plenty of pennies! I will need lot's of volunteers so again, contact me if you would like to help!

12th April: Bingo Night, Ardrossan. I am so pleased that this has been arranged! A family member who organizes Bingo Games now and then has arranged this for me which I am very grateful for. All money from the night will go towards my fundraising and I think it could be anything between £100-£400, amazing!

I am also going to arrange a Cake and Card stall at College and I am super sure there are plenty of Car Boot sales to come! (If you haven't been following my Blog - In the past 7 months I have attended almost 20!)

TOTAL £3805

12/01/13

I have been given a Ipod Touch - 4th Generation to sell! It comes with everything in the box, earphones are unopened, all instructions are there, charge cable... even the apple sticker! There is also a screen protector and leather case for it. Ipod is in perfect condition, it has been reset to factory settings. The only problem is the scratches on the back... but who can stop them from happening? it's impossible! they aren't too bad anyway. So if anyone fances a new Ipod, contact me! I'm open to offers. The money for this is going to cover the cost of my new Passport :)

16/01/13
Good News! For those of you that have been following my Blog, I heard back from the Poetry Competition! Unfortunately I didn't come first and win the £1000... However, they have been so taken with my poem that they have asked my permission to publish it in an upcoming book! I'm very excited :) In more news, I have received a £20 donation from an uncle that has worked many a times in Africa! 

Bargains, Boulders and Bridges...

08/01/13

Bargains

Project Trust have reminded us that we do not need to splash out on a wardrobe... well rucksack full of brand new clothes. They reckon that most of the clothes we already own should be fine. Well, I'm a student, therefor I am skint. I haven't had new clothes in a long time so new clothes for Africa is necessary. 

Fashion is bizarre, Christmas is just over and already our shelves are filled with summer hats and skimpy bikinis. The positive side of this? Shops need to get rid of last years summer stock. I have taken advantage of this and bought some lovely clothes today, they are now being put away for South Africa!

It might seem early to some but I have saved so, so much money! I now have two dresses and two new skirts. These garments should have come to a total of £120 (yes that's crazy for four things, I would never have paid that!) But instead they cost me £32! My skirts were only £1 each, amazing. I now have less money to worry about when it comes to Africa shopping. Get down to M&Co ;) 

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Boulders

My next fundraising event is on! I will be climbing Goat Fell - Arran - with several of my friends. Although we will be walking up a rather steep mountain, It can't possibly be any worse than my sponsored walk! For those of you who have not yet read about my sponsored walk, here is an insight:

The hottest day of the year. We have run out of food. Where is the water? Someone has finished the water. Look at my blisters, do you see my Blisters? She's broken her toe, what will we do? Just keep going, think of the ice cream. Three broken toes, but that's okay. Let's take the long route, good idea. Are we there yet? Are we hell. 4 more miles, make that 9. 12 all together? I meant 15. I have a sore head, get in line. Do we have paracetamol? No, we don't. Let's sit by the road, people stare. Take my bucket, are we nearly there? No, we are not. Let's keep going. Take off our shoes, the pavements too warm. Crawl? No, people will laugh. Run, no, that's not fun. Finally there, skin burnt raw. Free ride home, can't complain. So tired, can barely talk. £400? Worth the walk.

Goat  Fell is a challenge, but it can't possibly be as challenging as the walk from Ardrossan - Largs. Rivers, boulders, rain and midges can't stop us! I have created sponsor sheets for each of my friends and the event will be February 23rd. I'm really looking forward to it, it's fun to know you have achieved something whilst raising money at the same time! There will be a £50 cash prize for the person who can raise most money, this is to encourage people to help out, not to mention an award for the good effort!

Click Here for a link to the event's Facebook page, Or, click Here to donate online!

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Bridges

I am officially half way through my waiting time! It has been 7 months since my Selection Course and it is now 7 months until I leave. I have realized that my use of "!" has dangerously increased over time. I can't hold in the excitement!

TOTAL : £3805

2013, A Happy New Year...

For those of you who are new visitors, you can find a list of dated posts to the left. I leave for South Africa this August for a year of voluntarily teaching and caring for children. I will be a representative of the Scottish Charity Project Trust. It is the opportunity of a lifetime and I can't wait. Read my blog to follow my selection process and fundraising!

01/01/13

How strange it is to write that! I remember 2012 like it was yesterday - ha ha - Happy New Year everyone, I hope you had a fantastic night without ending up face down on the pavement! I spent the evening watching Hootenanny and eating cocktail sausages with my mum, very exciting. I also got an idea from someone else to use leftover Pringle tubes as a way to save pennies.

So with a "New Year" comes "New Year Resolutions". Oh, you know, those promises people make to themselves and then break over desperation for a greasy pie or a lonely cigarette? (I don't smoke so I will never understand) Well I  make the same one's every year. Every. Single. Year. Keep my room tidy at all times. Stop eating crap. Then comes that rant where I can't find the missing pen and destroy my room in doing so. Then comes the Pringles left over from the night before. So I'm not very good at them.

However, this year is different. I have something to look forward to, a target. SO... I have made some "New Year Resolutions!" #1 Raise remaining £1700 #2 Raise extra money for necessities #3 Keep my room nice and shiny #4 Get in shape for South Africa #5 Eat Healthier #6 Be more precise with college work #7 Find a positive side to everything #8 Research into South Africa and try to learn some Afrikaans!

Well, I'll let you know how those go... 

I'm so excited that I can officially say "I am going to South Africa this year" "THIS YEAR." I didn't expect South Africa to feel 10x closer after saying "This Year". It's an amazing feeling. Speaking of feelings, I have a feeling the next eight months will fly by, just like the last year has. Eight teeny weeny months away. I spoke with Iona tonight, a girl I met at the Project Trust coffee morning. It seems that we are just as excited as each other, which is great because I thought I was the only crazy one! Iona is going to Chile and we hope to keep in contact while we are overseas. 

Hopefully there will be more news of fundraising soon. I have several events lined up for 2013. My brother has promised me a £100 donation this month!  I look forward to receiving it! Especially since it's in exchange for making him a cheese toasty several weeks ago. That's my brother in a nut shell.

TOTAL £3750

05/01/12 13

Just a few updates. Fundraising tin #3 at my grans house was finally full! It contained a fantastic £20. I also received a £20 and a £10 donation. Over the holidays I have had no fundraising events yet have managed to raise £80! brilliant.