After a flurry of t-shirt sales, various pledges and sizeable contributions from my colleagues at Northern Rock and Andy Preece the fund has tipped over the £21,000 mark and currently stands at a very pleasing £21,549.34. Back in 2007, it took me from John O'Groats to 2 days from Lands End to raise that figure. The final total back then was £34,108. I really do wonder sometimes where this year's total will end.
Thank you, thank you, thank you most sincerely to everyone who has made a donation. I make no apology for repeating this important message. Every single donation, no matter how large or small, is greatly appreciated and makes a huge difference to St Benedict's Hospice and The Children's Foundation.
I reported the news of the £21,000 landmark to the charities this week. I send them a regular email simply entitled "Update". These landmark emails get the title "Special Update".
Thanks also must go to Libby Nolan and her team at The Children's Foundation for packing and posting all of the Run Geordie Run t-shirts. Almost 800 have been sold to date and they have posted the majority of them.
The total won't be staying put for too long as Northern Runner have taken up the option of sponsoring www.rungeordierun.com for a 3rd year. I can now also apply to the Northern Rock Foundation for the matching of some of the money raised in 2011. Sadly, the matching limit has been reduced to £500 from £1000 this year but every "little" helps!