#TeamHonkRelay from Southampton to Worthing – Thank you!!!

#TeamSouthampton (aka Lisa Congdon and I) did it! (but you can still DONATE!)

Over two days, Lisa Congdon (Chair of Southampton Twins and Supertwins Club) and I, along with a whole lot of help from the community, took the Team Honk Relay baton for ice cream and cocktails, for a couple of twin family walks, for a run, to see fire engines, on a boat, around some shops, in a sports car, on a ferry, for some more long distance runs and on a train in order to make it all the way to Worthing! Lisa and I are officially exhausted, so don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from us for a few days as we catch up on some sleep.

If you haven’t donated yet, it’s not to late! You can DONATE TO TEAM SOUTHAMPTON HERE!! Every penny makes a huge difference.

Here are some of my favourite photos from the weekend, with shout outs to as many people as possible. I hope I’ve remembered everyone, but if I’ve missed you, please give me a nudge and I’ll add your name (karen.bleakley@yahoo.co.uk)! Thank you so so much for all of your support. At the time of writing, you’ve helped us to raise a massive £1085, which has completely smashed our £500 target.

A big thanks need to go to Penny, Tanya and Annie aka Team Honk, for pulling us all together for such an important cause. It has been amazing to be part of such an exciting event and they’re doing such a great job – the work at Team Honk HQ must take them hours each day.

A special huge thanks goes out to my partner in crime, Lisa Congdon (who I only met two weeks ago!) She’s not a blogger – she just volunteered to help get the baton 60 miles across the region without question and has spent hours working alongside me to make it all happen. Without her help, energy, hard work and contacts, I’d have probably ended up taking the baton alone on the train in fancy dress 60 miles which wouldn’t have been any way near as much fun as this! The Southampton Twins and Supertwins Club also deserve a huge mention to – they’ve got right behind this event and pulled together to make it awesome, even making their own t-shirts. And a massive thanks to Mike Jewett who acted as photographer for the weekend, following us to each point to take some awesome photographs. Many of the shots you see below are his, and he has captured the memories from the weekend for everyone involved.

So thank you to each and every one of you who was part of the fantastic weekend…

Thanks to these businesses and groups who all supported the event in different ways: Quay Fifteen , Shamrock Quay Marina, The Bike Guys, Beauty Bay, TJ Marine, B&Q Fareham,  Worn to be Wild, Whiteley Shopping Centre, Xpress Beauty, Montagu’s Cafe Bar & Bistro, Tooti’s Gelato Bar and the Writers at Lovedean.

This is what we got up to…

Thanks to Tooti’s Gelato on Bedford Place in Southampton who are selling Team Honk sundaes. If you get chance, please go in and buy one as they’re on sale until the end of March. As well as being delicious, a donation from each sale is going in our Team Honk fundraising pot.

Thanks to Quay Fifteen (a new restaurant opening on 13th February) where the weekend kicked off. They sold tea, coffee and doughnuts to a big group of twin families to raise money. Thanks to Rocky Moore (Owner of Quay Fifteen and member of Southampton Twins and Supertwins Club) and  his twin brothers Bash and Raz who ran with the baton. A special thanks also to Rocky’s daughter Lacy (aged six) who collected change from family and friends at a family party to raise £7.40.

Thanks to members of Southampton Twins and Supertwins Club and other local twin parents who took part in the twin family walk with the children wearing animal masks and walking two by two. They include Gabby O’Brien with twins Sophie and Isobel and baby Alice, Sophie Mackenzie with twins Jenson and Gracie, Emily Collings with her children Joseph and Reuben, Sonya Newell with her twins William and Ethan Harvey, Gemma Cooper with her twins Brooke and Hayden and her dad Alan Cooper ( who was taxi for the day!), Emma Bell Guillan with  her twins Amelia and Sophia, Helen Doyle with her husband Andy, daughter Bethany and twins Aiden and Grace, Shona Lewis with her husband Chris and twins  Noah and Joseph, Joyce Momah and her twins Christel and Ethel, Tessa Lamb and her twins  Stefan and Rowan, Natalie Kitchen and twins Jack and Liam and their little brother Ryan, Karen Urben with her twins Emily and Grace and Angel.

A big thank you to Red Watch at Hightown Fire Station who gave the kids something to walk up the hill for! They put on quite a show for them with their fire engines and sirens! 

Thanks to Gabby, Sophie and Emily who ran on with the baton to Hamble.

Thanks to Sally and Tim Rogers of TJ Marine and their daughters Evie and Pip for bringing the baton over the water to Warsash in style!

Thanks to all of the other twin mums who moved on from the earlier walk to join Lisa and I on a 2.7 mile walk from Warsash to B&Q. My brave  4yo twins walked the entire way and I only had to bribe them with a few chocolate buttons. The thought of meeting Buzz Lightyear and Woody at B&Q spurred them on up the hills.

Thanks so much to all of the staff at B&Q Fareham for getting behind this event. The fancy dress costumes looked spectacular and their efforts raised a jaw-dropping £543.30!!! More than our target, all on their own!

Thanks to Whiteley Shopping for letting Lisa and I, along with some of our  B&Q  friends in fancy dress, descend on the shopping centre. We collected £36. 66. Thanks to Montagu’s for some awesome (and delicious) Team Honk cakes. And thanks to Xpress Beauty for the lovely Team Honk manicure.

On Sunday, thanks to local author Zella Compton and her daughter Orla, who took the Gosport Ferry over to Portsmouth with me, with Zella and I walking three legged while Orla pushed Eva in the buggy!

Thanks to another local author, Dee Kirkby who ran 3 miles with the baton along with two local marathon runners – Richard Craddock and John Diape from Portsmouth Guildhall to Baffins Pond.

Thanks to Richard and John who continued to run for a total of 10 miles before finishing in Emsworth. And thanks to Jim Whitmarsh, a charity marathon runner who joined them and continued to Chichester, running an amazing 15.9 miles.

For the last leg of the journey, Lisa and I took the baton along with Eva on the train to Worthing, where we handed it over to @Barechic at #TeamBrighton.

The final thanks has to go to my lovely hubby who has put up with me working on this all hours over the past two weeks, even though we’re in the middle of major house renovations and Australian visa applications. He has driven me around, dropped me off and spent more time than usual looking after the kids while I’ve been busy. So an enormous thanks to him for putting up with me. And a thanks for the bunch of flowers and bottle of wine he just bought me home as a congratulations present for doing so well.

It really has been the most amazing weekend I could have imagined.

You can still donate to our team fund: DONATE HERE

Thanks a million to everyone involved and everyone who has donated. Every pound will make a difference. I’m going for a large glass of wine now to celebrate. xxx

Sport Relief Information

The first ever Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games take place from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd March 2014. The public can join the fun and games by running, swimming or cycling their way to raising cash at over a thousand venues around the country, including the landmark events at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

As one of the biggest fundraising events, Sport Relief brings the entire nation together to get active raise cash and change lives. The money raised by the public is spent by Comic Relief to help transform the lives of some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people both at home in the UK and across the world.