Well the bowling evening was a sucess, even though there were a few last minute cancellations! Im sure a great time was had by all, there certainly were some funny bowling techniques, not that I can say much as I was beaten by Megan (whos nearly 3!!!) in both games!

The prize draw was won by Susan Trust, she took the prize of a 1kg tin of chocolates, which she kindly shared with everyone!

The evening managed to raise £100, many thanks to everyone who attended!

The bowling evening is almost upon us! Tomorrow evening will be my first official fundraising event, hope everything goes well.

This Sunday (18th November) a group of us are planning to go walking in the Itchen Valley area, we will be meeting outside The White Swan pub (weather permitting!!!) at 12.30. Usual rules apply: contact me if you would like to attend (just incase I need to cancel for some reason, saves you standing there like a lemon!) and small donations on the day (all money raised going to the NAS) it would be lovely if you could make it.

I would also like to thank Carole Richardson for her donation today.

Well we finally had a nice sunday on which to go walking. 4 of us went walking in from Ashurst to Beaulieu Road station, in total the walk was 6 miles, which took us around 3 hours (that did include a small refreshment stop for drinks and ice cream! and time spent with me posing for the photo for my press release!!! Many thanks to Karen and Michael Player and Mark Burgess for coming today, and also thanks to Mark for the photos as today of all days my battery was flat!!!!

Photos from our walk

The bowling plans are coming along nicely, the lanes have been booked and I have 25 confirmed guests. There is still chance for anyone else to come, just let me know as soon as possible and you can be added to the booking, Tenpin have said that this will be ok but they cannot guarantee that they will be able to accomodate extra people on the night.

Somebody asked if they could be placed on the same lane as a friend, there are no hard and fast rules on this evening, you play with whoever you like! The only rule I will stipulate is that everyone must have fun!!!!! Hope to see you all there!

I found out last week that the Daily Echo will be printing an article about my fundraising sometime soon. I just need to send them a photo of myself in walking gear, hoping to get a tshirt with the NAS logo on it to wear for the picture. I will inform you all when I am to star in the local paper so you can all rush out and buy it! haha!! Hopefully this may bring in a few extra pounds for this worthwhile charity.

Another thankyou goes to Mark Burgess for his kind sponsor today!! And also thanks for getting me out and walking yesterday, without your encouragement I would have missed yet another weekends walk!

Bowling evening plans are going well, hoping to get a good crowd to come along. Hoping to raise £100 from the evening. Dont forget Tuesday 13th November at 8pm!!! Be there!!!

Preparations are under way for my first fundraising event! I am organising a bowling evening at Tenpin in Millbrook on Tuesday 13th November, starting at 8pm. The cost per person will be £10 which will include 2 games of bowling. Hope most of you will be able to make it and Im sure we will all have fun! If you would like to attend could you let me know by 31st October so I can confirm numbers with tenpin.

I would also like to thank Leon McRae for his sponsor today, his generosity never ceases to amaze me as I have not seen this guy for 15 years or more! Thanks again Leon!

Due to unfortunate circumstances I was unable to start up the walking group again toady as planned, hopefully I will be back on my feet and raring to go next weekend! although due to commitments next weekend it will be on Saturday instead of the usual Sunday. Hope some of you can make it!

I would like to thank Mark Hilton for his very generous sponsor on behalf of his company.

Mark Hilton owns 2 companies which specialise in manufacturing and selling glasses and trade prices. I will add the details of these companies below in case anyone is interested. It would be nice to get him some new customers in return for his kind donation.

Sales Optical Services

Address:
8 Ashfield Trading Estate,
Ashfield Road,
Salisbury,
Wiltshire,
SP2 7HL

Telephone:
01722 326860


City Optical Ltd

Address:
Unit 28/City Industrial Park,
Southern Road,
Southampton,
Hampshire,
SO15 1HA

Telephone:
02380 631716

For further information contact either of the above telephone numbers.

Thanks again Mark for your donation

Just a quick note to thank my mum and dad for their sponser today :)

Hoping to arrange a a fundraising bowling evening soon, hope some of you will be able to attend

I am back from China and should really get myself stuck into fundraising!!

I would like to thank Wendy Short (who I met in China), Laura Dell and Sarah King for their kind sponsers!

This brings my current fundraising total to £111!

I would just like to say a huge thankyou to my first official sponser on my justgiving page, and also thanks to Deborah West from work for her sponser today.

Unfortunately I wont be around for the next few weeks due to my trip to China, but any donation to my justgiving page would be welcome

Just a small group this weekend, my brother, his fiance and I. We walked from Ashurst to Beaulieu Road Station and back again.

It was the longest walk yet (6 miles) and the best weather by far! Was a varied route through woodland, open grass plains and heathland. Well deserved drink, picnic and an ice cream half way round was enjoyed by all!

Thanks to Andrew Player and Kerry Jeffery for their donations and another £6.50 was raised bringing the current fundraising total to £28

For those interested the walk can be found here http://www.nqsouthern.com/digitalpublication/digitalpublications/index.cfm?dpid=133&section_id=1069

Photos from our walk

Once again the weather was kind and the rain held off until we got back into the car (lucky for us!!!) Just 5 of us this time but still an enjoyable afternoon.

We started at Ashletts Creek in Fawley and walked through the country side and to a detour along to Calshot and went into the activity centre to watch the people on the climbing wall! The detour probably added another 2 miles to the journey but none of us complained. We rejoined the route and walked alongside Southampton Water and the Oil refinery. All in all the walk was probably around 6 miles. The walk (minus the detour) can be found here http://www.nqsouthern.com/digitalpublication/digitalpublications/index.cfm?dpid=133&section_id=1157

Thanks again to Karen & Michael Player, Chris Burgess and Amy Scragg

Photos from our walk

Its official, my confirmation from the NAS has arrived along with my fundraising pack! I will be emailing you details of my justgiving page soon! I cant wait to get officially started!!

Will be walking again this Sunday, this time around the Calshot area, if anyone fancies joining me for a spot of exercise and fundraising let me know

Tonight I have walked the 4 miles home to get in practice for all the walking, I know it is nothing compared to what Ill be doing in Peru but it is definately improving my fitness! This is the 4th time Ive done it and Im doing it quicker and getting less tired each time which must be a good sign!!

I have also started taking the stairs at work, its a long old walk up those stairs from the lower ground floor up to the 2nd floor!! If you see me in that lift make sure I have a pretty good excuse!

Well the rain held off and we had a lovely walk!

We started around 1pm from the Bear and Ragged Staff and started of up the hill along a narrow country lane to the church then climbed over stiles in various field which had amazing views over the Test Valley.

It was then back down the hill to cross over the river. A little while later we walked through a large field with hay bales where we stopped for some silly photo oppourtunities!!!

The route continued to take us back and forth over rivers and we even got the chance to spot a heron.

Towards the end of the walk we stopped at a little farm store to look at the various goodies on sale and then finally we arrived back at the Bear and Ragged Staff for a well earned drink.

Many thanks to Karen and Michael Player, Chris Burgess, Eileen Harris, Susan Trust and Amy Scragg for a lovely afternoon and helping to get my fundraising of to a start!

Details of the walk can be found at http://www.nqsouthern.com/digitalpublication/digitalpublications/index.cfm?dpid=133&section_id=1149

(see below for pictures)

Photos from our walk

Sunday marks the day of the first fundraising attempt! although I feel cheeky asking people for money!

At 1pm on Sunday 8 of us will be walking for a couple of hours on a circular walk around the Stockbridge area (guided by Eileen) I will be asking for a small donation on the day.

If anyone fancies it we will be starting from the Bear and Ragged Staff pub in Stockbridge at 1pm and finsh there sometime later on for a well deserved drink! I would be grateful if you could let me know beforehand if you can make it, it would be good to see you, the more the merrier!

At 4pm today I had an email from Classic tours to confirm that my application had been accepted, all I need to do now is wait for The National Autistic Society to contact Classic tours and my challenge pack will be on its way.

This will be a challenge of a lifetime and I hope you will all support me along the way! I have started to walk home from work once or twice a week which takes around an hour, but already that's getting quicker. And now the stairs are back in use at work I will be attempting to climb them every morning instead of using the lift!!

The next step will be to begin fundraising, I have a few ideas but any you have will be greatly appreciated. So far I have come up with:

• Car boot sale
• Walking group (contact me if any of you are interested)
• Quiz night
• Bowling/skittles evenings

I may also try out my artistic abilities later in the year and attempt making Christmas cards and 2008 calendars! but that may take some practice!! oh and I hope some of you will dig deep and sponsor me for this worthwhile cause!