Justgiving's blog

3 Screens?!

Hello Blogland.

It's been a while. We've been busy. Too busy probably, but we LOVE it.

Firstly, here's a picture of Will at his desk:

No, you're not hallucinating. He's got three screens. Yes, that's right. Three. 3. A trio.

Acccusations that he's trying to make up for something else are apparently all unfounded, but we shall continue to investigate. Will no longer has a desk, he now has an 'array'.

On a more serious note, we held the first Justgiving seminar for ages, which was all about our new SMS service

We held it at RIBA, which I fully recommend as a fantastic venue and about 180 or so charity folk came down to hear Phil, James v2.0, the awesome John Darnbrough and myself explaining the joy of SMS, as well as what's been going on in the world of mobile advertising and marketing. Suits were donned, coffee was consumed by the bucketful, powerpoint was given a heavy workout and everyone seemed to go away with some new ideas. Job well done to all.

Charles is back as our tester and is doing a great job. James v2.0 is getting used to the number of emails he now gets. Tom is still on a mountain in Scotland somewhere. Andy's getting married and survived his stag do. Mike, our helpdesk temp has swelled the gaggle of bikes in the kitchen. More charities have joined in May than in the run-up months of the London Marathon, which is amazing considering that was always our busiest time of year.

Roll on summer!

- Simon

Long walks in horrible weather...

Does it really feel like late May? Shouldn't we be sunning ourselves in the park yet? I guess not.

I really can't imagine wanting to go on a trek this week, what with the rain and the wind, but it's not stopping Len and Jen Kirley, who are taking on the epic journey from Lands End to John O' Groats in this miserable weather. Their son, Mark, got in touch to tell us about their trek. They are raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust in honour of Mark's daughter, Erin, who was diagnosed with CF last year.

Len and Jen are averaging about 18 miles per day (everyday) and are over half-way through their trip. They started on 24-April and aim to finish on, or near, 22-June. You can sponsor them at http://www.justgiving.com/jenlen

They are also keeping a real-time blog by using their mobile phones-- so you can see photos of where they are and leave them a message - check it out here: http://www.mythreewebsite.co.uk/19696

Speaking of long walks, Justgiving's own Tom M-P has escaped from the office this week in order to trek Scotland- from Inverness to Fort William, to be exact. Him and his GF are planning to camp every night after a long wander...fingers crossed that the rain dies down and they get some sunshine along the way!

- Elizabeth

So did they make it to the finish?

If you were wondering what happened to those brave souls who let the BBC film them while they trained for the London Marathon you can find out by reading more here. I thought it was a bit poor that the BBC didn't even see fit to write about them after the race, having followed them for months, so I tracked down a video of their big day and have given you some edited highlights. You can read it here.

Incredibly they all made it to the finish - and I bet none of them will ever forget that feeling as they crossed the line. Relief and pride doesn't come close to summing it up!

Well done to them all - and a fantastic fundraising effort. Together they raised £67,000! Remember you can STILL SPONSOR THEM on the Justgiving site - follow the links in the article.

- Caroline

Robbie

Last week we said goodbye to our friendly, flame-haired tester and tech support guru, the lovely Robbie P. The Robster is now soaking up the sun in his native Capetown, South Africa, just when it's starting to get nice here in London.

Robbie, you'll be missed-- good luck with your new life in the Southern Hemisphere!

Fundraisers of the month, May 2006

Our Fundraisers of the Month for May are Calumn Twaddle and Duncan Stickle.

Calumn Twaddle was three when his mother died of breast cancer. Now he’s 11 and he and his friend Duncan Stickle are dragging their dads on a 200-mile cycle ride through the north of  Scotland to raise money for Cancer Research UK

Read their story here. Visit their page and sponsor them here.

If you want to nominate someone as a future Fundraiser of the Month, please drop us an email at community@justgiving.com or post details in our forum.

Good luck lads, from everyone here at JG Towers!